German ban on immigration-critical newspaper lifted – temporarily

Published 15 August 2024 at 16.56

Media. The highest administrative court in Germany has temporarily lifted the publication ban issued against Compact magazine, which openly criticized the German government's immigration policy.

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The ban was imposed in mid-July by Germany's far-left interior minister Nancy Faeser, who then described the magazine as a “central mouthpiece for the far-right milieu”.

Over 200 police then carried out a dawn raid on publisher Jürgen Elsässer's home, as well as the homes of other employees and financiers.

Compact's website and social media were simultaneously taken down from the internet – including the magazine's YouTube channel with 300,000 subscribers.

The magazine appealed the ban and the court has now decided that it should be lifted while the case is investigated , which could take several months.

The court states in its decision that the magazine does have an “aggressive and militant stance” towards certain aspects of the US-imposed German constitution, but that it is unclear whether the ban is proportionate .