exclusive
The connections between leaders of the Values Union and the organizer of the Potsdam meeting are apparently closer than previously known. This is the result of research by WDR, NDR and “Süddeutscher Zeitung”. Money is also said to have flowed.
For years, Gernot Mörig, ex-dentist and initiator of a meeting with right-wing extremists in Potsdam, ran under the radar of public attention. Research by WDR, NDR and “Süddeutscher Zeitung” now show: Mörig was well connected in many areas. He apparently maintained good contacts with the top of the WertUnion association over the years – closer than previously known.
Mörig confirmed to the research cooperation that he was present several times at events organized by the former head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maaßen, and the Values Union. Mörig was already there in 2019 at the Hotel Steigenberger in Cologne when Hans-Georg Maaßen gave his first programmatic speech after he had been replaced as head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and from then on appeared as a speaker for the Values Union.
He was also there when the Values Union held an open general meeting in the Kolpinghaus in Fulda in autumn 2022 and invited Jan Fleischhauer to speak. And when Maaßen was elected chairman of the Values Union in Essen in January 2023, Mörig also took part. As a “non-member”, as he emphasizes, he had already left the event in the morning.
Values Union fundraising gala at Emmeram Castle
What is remarkable is that he was also one of the hand-picked circle of a ValuesUnion fundraising gala that took place at Gloria von Thurn und Taxis at Emmeram Castle in Regensburg at the beginning of July 2023. In the invitation, Maaßen, as federal chairman of the Values Union and former President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, asks “to the ValuesUnion eV dinner in the presence of Her Serene Highness Gloria, Princess of Thurn and Taxis.”
“T-Online-News” first reported that Mörig was invited. According to information from WDR, NDR and SZ is said to have even donated a low four-figure amount to the WertUnion association. Mörig did not answer the specific questions about whether he had attended that evening and donated.
However, if someone described him as a “financial and political supporter” of the ValuesUnion or even of the board, they simply do not know the actual context. If I were to describe myself that way, I would have to accept the accusation of presumption,” said Mörig when asked.
Donations generated?
How WDR, NDR and SZ learned from participants and security circles, the donations generated that evening were primarily intended to finance the resistance against Maaßen’s expulsion from the CDU – even if not all participants wanted to hear about it. Some participants said they were unaware of such a dedication.
Costs of almost six figures are said to have accrued for the legal defense. The ValuesUnion association is said to have borne these costs for the chairman. Members had complained in an incendiary letter about the assumption of costs, as “t-online.de” reported.
The evening was said to have been worth it: a lot of donations were raised overall. Minus the costs of catering and service, it was said to have been no problem paying for Maaßen’s legal advice. Maaßen and the Values Union left questions about this unanswered.
According to host Gloria von Thurn und Taxis, the meeting at Emmeram Castle was personally organized by Maaßen. “It was a gesture for Mr. Maaßen personally,” said the controversial noblewoman WDR, NDR and SZ. She herself made her personal network and the location available to her good friend Maaßen, who knows the castle from a number of social events such as hunting parties.
She does not support the Values Union as a party, nor the AfD. It wasn’t she who decided on the guest list, but Maaßen. She doesn’t know her. Not even the dentist from Düsseldorf. This refers to Mörig, who in his past was federal leader of the Association of Homeland Loyal Youth and was in the meantime listed as a right-wing extremist by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Today he denies being a right-wing extremist.
Prominent names
There were also some prominent names among the other participants at the fundraising gala. For example, Eckhard Cordes, chairman of the supervisory board of the listed Bilfinger group, former chairman of the Metro trading group and former top manager at DaimlerChrysler. People who are said to have considerable wealth are also said to have been among the guests, including the founder of the Euroimmun company, the doctor and scientist Winfried Stöcker.
According to media reports, he sold his company in 2017 for more than one billion euros and has made headlines several times in the past. Once it was about very critical statements about refugees, which brought him accusations of racism; He once inoculated an alleged self-developed vaccine against Covid-19 at his private airport in Lübeck.
In response to a list of questions from WDR, NDR and SZ he sent a more than 100-page dossier with “considerations on current events” under the heading “GDR 2.0”, in which it is said that the German state, whose thousand-year-old past one can be proud of, has been ruined since Merkel’s chancellorship .
The numerous guests at the fundraising gala are said to have included the well-known PR consultant, lobbyist and entrepreneur Moritz Hunzinger, the publicist Roland Tichy, and the financial manager and former managing director of the Degussa gold trade, Markus Krall. In addition, several wealthy medium-sized companies and entrepreneurs – almost all of them left questions unanswered. It is unclear who among those present actually donated how much.
According to organizers, the standard donation was actually intended to be 5,000 euros. However, some donated more, others less, and some not at all. Eckhard Cordes is said to have donated the 5,000 euros. When asked, he said that as a politically interested person, he often attends political discussions and salons. “It goes without saying that simply listening does not mean adopting political positions.”
In pictures of the event at the family castle in Thurn and Taxis, the WDR, NDR and SZ, people could also be seen who were also at the meeting organized by Mörig at the Landhotel Adlon in Potsdam. Around the Potsdam meeting, several current and former officials of the Values Union are said to have donated money to the projects Mörig recommended there.
Vice-WU club chairwoman Simone Baum took part in both the fundraising gala at Emmeram Castle and the Potsdam meeting. The research network “Correctiv” reported on the so-called 5th Düsseldorf Forum in January that the right-wing extremist Austrian Martin Sellner was said to have presented his plans for a concept for so-called “remigration”.
Tree is said to be according to information from WDR, NDR and SZ met Mörig at a meeting on Lake Chiemsee in the summer of 2022. Baum’s good friend, the entrepreneur and deputy North Rhine-Westphalia state chairwoman of the Values Union, Michaela Schneider, was also present both in Potsdam and at Emmeram Castle. Both inquiries went unanswered.
Complaints about the alleged “Mörig network”
Some in the Values Union complain about an alleged “Mörig network” within their own club. The network was created when the prominent financial investor Max Otte became head of the Values Union. Otte was considered an advocate of a right-wing conservative course. Some accused him of wanting to bring the WU closer to the AfD – a highly sensitive fault line within the club, right up to the end.
Otte and Mörig are considered to be very familiar with each other. “ZEIT” had reported that Otte had previously attended an event at the so-called Düsseldorf Forum, as Mörig’s discussion group is called.
Mörig responded to a request from WDR, NDR and SZ: “From a third party – within the ValuesUnion – the intention is obviously to create the impression that I have a strong influence on the WU’s internal processes.” This is not the case. Hans-Georg Maaßen and the Values Union left inquiries unanswered.