Exclusive
Status: 10/28/2021 11:14 a.m.
The Federal Intelligence Service has banned a professor who is training young people for German intelligence services. Previously, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution had checked a book by the professor and apparently recognized extremist content.
Martin Wagener, Professor of Political Science at the Federal University of Applied Sciences, was banned from the house on Monday by the security department of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND). In addition, his security clearance has been drastically lowered – Wagener announced this via YouTube. It is also no longer possible for him to get in touch with his students via a digital learning platform. So far, Wagener has been training up-and-coming intelligence officers in the field of security policy at the “Center for Intelligence Service Training” (ZNAF), a joint training facility of the BND and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) in Berlin. The “Spiegel” had previously reported on the process.
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution warned the BND
According to information from the ARD politics magazine Contrasts A message from the BfV to the BND, according to which there are “safety-relevant findings” on Wagener, was the reason for the house ban – Wagener also confirms this in his YouTube podcast. The domestic secret service BfV had checked Wagener’s book with the title “Kulturkampf um das Volk – The protection of the constitution and the national identity of the Germans” after a tip.
In the work, Wagener asks, according to the blurb, whether the German people still exist and puts forward the thesis that the population policy of the federal government is aimed at “building a multicultural society”. To Contrasts-Information, the examination of the book by the BfV revealed that especially the passages in which Wagener writes of “ethnopluralism” are rated as extremist – his understanding of the term “state people” is also problematic from the point of view of the protection of the constitution. Wagener’s argumentation in his book shows similarities to the argumentation of the right-wing extremist “Identitarian Movement Germany” (IBD).
The concept of ethnopluralism, which is also used by right-wing extremist associations such as the IBD, is considered the battlefield of the “New Right” who strive for culturally homogeneous societies – as free from foreign influences as possible. Ethnopluralism is also seen by social scientists as a form of a racist ideology in which the term race is deliberately replaced by terms such as “ethnicity” or “culture”.
The corresponding passages from Wagener’s book are after ContrastsInformation from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is apparently rated as “an effort against the free-democratic basic order” and is also not covered by the freedom of science. For his book, Wagener also interviewed Martin Sellner, a leading protagonist of the Identitarian Movement.
Professor Wagener has already attracted attention several times through right-wing statements. The BND had already had an earlier book by Wagener with the title “Germany’s Insecure Border – Plea for a New Protective Wall” checked for extremist content. In the book, Wagener had proposed the erection of a wall and modern surveillance systems around Germany, including a border guard of 30,000. However, the examination of the book had shown that it was not extremist.
Wagener sees himself as a victim of a campaign
Wagener himself denies being an enemy of the constitution. He sees himself as the target of a BfV campaign against himself because he had previously criticized the authority. “The goal is clear: the complete discrediting of my person with subsequent loss of the job,” said Wagener via YouTube. Wagner also emphasized in his statement that he did not reproach the BND for having acted in this way following the advice of the BfV.
on Contrasts-The BfV did not want to comment on the matter. “As a matter of principle, we do not comment on individuals,” said the authority. The BND replied to a request similarly: “We generally do not comment on personnel matters”. Wagener will now be given the opportunity to comment on the allegations.