German court lifts ban on far-right Compact magazine – DW – 06/25/2025
Judges ruled in favor of the monthly publication, citing freedom of expression protections. The decision could also have consequences for the ongoing debate on banning Germany's far-right AfD party.
The decision by the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig not to ban the magazine was a difficult one, according to Judge Ingo Kraft. "However, the Basic Law guarantees freedom of opinion and freedom of the press even to the enemies of freedom, trusting in the power of free social debate," he said on Tuesday, June 24.
The ruling is a defeat for former German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, who banned magazine in 2024. At the time, she justified the move saying the magazine is "a central mouthpiece for the right-wing extremist scene. This magazine incites against Jews, people with ethnic migrant backgrounds and against our parliamentary democracy in the most abhorrent way."
The judges now said there was reason to doubt whether freedom of the press and freedom of expression had been sufficiently taken into account in the ban. They argued that terms such as "remigration" and "cult of guilt" are covered by freedom of expression. This also applied to conspiracy theories and historical revisionist theories.
A 2023 report from the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany's domestic intelligence agency, features an entire page dedicated to — a magazine and multimedia company headquartered in Falkensee, on the outskirts of Berlin.
According to the BfV, the magazine's publisher says it sells 40,000 print copies a month. The number of subscribers to the YouTube channel is significantly higher, at 513,000 as of June 10, 2025.
" sees itself as part of what it calls the resistance movement, and it is seen by other actors among the so-called new right as part of the scene," the BfV wrote. "The main feature of many of its published articles is agitation against the federal government and against the current political system."
Examples cited by the BfV include abstruse conspiracy theories used to agitate against state institutions and pluralist society. "Historic revisionist content and antisemitic narratives round out the agenda," it added.
Moreover, the report said, the outfit maintains ties with right-wing extremist groups like the German Identitarian movement (IBD) and the eastern German regional party the "Freie Sachsen," or Free Saxons.
Faeser had leaned heavily on the constitution, Germany's Basic Law, in calling for the right-wing extremist publication to be banned. Article 9 of the Basic Law, which regulates freedom of assembly, reads: "Associations whose aims or activities contravene the criminal laws or that are directed against the constitutional order or the concept of international understanding shall be prohibited."
Compact's editor-in-chief, Jürgen Elsässer, is a suspected right-wing extremist who belonged to the far left as a young man. Now in his 60s, Elsässer was once a member of the Communist Youth Wing and wrote for the newspaper, ().
He later worked as a reporter for other left-wing media, including (New Germany), which was a key news organ for the socialist East German government when the country was still partitioned.
After his victory in court, the editor-in-chief was triumphant, saying "we have defeated the dictatorial tendencies." Elsässer also thanked the judges, who he said had weighed up all sides in a strictly objective manner.
Elsässer also believes this is a good sign for all those seeking to ban the far-right Alternative for Germany party. "Because if it was impossible to ban it is also impossible to ban the AfD," he said.
A ban on the party has been under discussion for years. In addition to the federal government, the parliament (Bundestag) and the chamber of the federal states (Bundesrat) could submit a corresponding application to the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe. So far, however, there is no majority for this anywhere.
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