Compact Magazine wins in court – Ban lifted

A little bit over a year ago I was writing a story about far right media in Germany when the then interior minister, Nancy Faeser, took the unusual step to ban one of the key far right media organisations, the publishing company of Compact magazine and its associated film production unit. The Ministry of the Interior did this based on association law (“Vereinsrecht”), which provides means to ban organisations engaging in anti-constitutional activities in the Federal Republic.

I decided to move the focus on the particular case of Compact and published the article online. In this update I will try not to repeat the background information contained in last years report. You can read it HERE before continuing to read this update if you want.

In short: Compact is a far right magazine which appears in print on a monthly basis since 2010. They also produce daily online and video content. Their YouTube channel exists since 2015. By summer 2024 Compact was the far right medium with the largest reach in Germany. It was founded and is edited by former leftist activist and journalist Jürgen Elsässer.

Red-Brown Alliance

Compact’s intention was initially to bring together elements of the far left and the far right in what in German is called a “Querfront” (and in English is known as a “Red-brown Alliance”). Except for a small section of the nationalist left, this was not very successful, and Compact soon was almost entirely focussed on the populist and far right. This included pro-AfD, pro-Trump, pro-Putin and pro-Iran points of views getting aggressively promoted.

Compact is positively referring to ideologists of the “Conservative Revolution” of the 1920s and 1930s that included authors such as Moeller van den Bruck, Ernst Jünger, Ernst Niekisch and others, some of who advocated a united front of the “proletarian nations” Germany and Russia against the liberal, “decadent” West. However it’s not a purely “conservative revolutionary” publication, instead it picks up on all the different trends in the far right spectrum and tries to merge them into their constant mobilisation.

Elsässer continues using a “revolutionary” rhetoric “against the system”. Proponents of the “system” are depicted as criminals/dictators/war criminals who should be locked up in prison on lurid front pages which have been prominently on display at many newsagents all over the country.

Compact challenged the ban in court. The court granted an almost immediate stay, final decision by the Federal Administrative Court pending. As a consequence Compact could resume publication after a short time.

A year on and the final court decision by the Federal Administrative Court stands: The ban was lifted and Compact is allowed to continue publishing.

“Dear readers, dear fighters for truth, for more than a decade we defend democracy and freedom against dictatorship and lies” Jürgen Elsässer on the fundraising page of Compact.

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Part 1

Context of far right activities

The context of the ban has to be seen in the surge of far right wing activism and its various successes and failures in the last few years. Here is a brief overview:

– Alternative für Deutschland (AfD)

The Alternative für Deutschland was founded as an anti-EU, national conservative, pro-business party in 2013. Since then, and after several splits with usually the more moderate forces splitting off to form their own tiny “parties”, the main body of the AfD has enjoyed electoral successes unprecendented for a far right party in Germany since the Second World War.

The AfD has not only grown more successful over the years, it has also radicalised its positions. Some of its regional sections have driven this radicalisation, notably the “wing” (Der Flügel) around Björn Höcke in Thuringia. Compact has played a role in this radicalisation, supporting the most right wing elements inside the party.

– Querdenker, anti-Vaxxers, conspiracy narratives

The so-called “Querdenken” movement emerged early on in the COVID pandemic as a protest movement against lockdowns, vaccination drives and social distancing measures. While there were organised structures, the movement(s) never became coherent, but had many touching points with the more organised far right. Compact incessantly supported the mobilisation against the vaccination drives with numerous front pages during the pandemic, obviously sensing fertile recruitment possibilities for the far right by connecting the “vaccine dictatorship” with far right conspiracy narratives about a “Great Reset”.

– Reichsbürger

A more fringe phenomenon is the so-called Reichsbürger movement. The “Citizen of the Reich” believe that the Federal Republic is not a legitimate state, but some kind of business entity set up be the allied occupation forces after the war and that the German Reich was (and is) still the only legitimate nation state on German soil. This nonsense has lead to a sub-scene of self-declared pseudo-states and even plans for a coup d’etat.

– Coup d’etat plan of Prince Reuss & co: A group of “Reichsbürger” were planning a coup d’etat which was supposed to install an obscure aristocrat into leadership in Germany remodelled as a monarchy. This coup attempt in the making included a former AfD MP. Preparations for the coup were at a somewhat advanced stage when it was foiled by the state in December 2022. Several dozen of the conspirators are now in court. This was only the latest, but so far the largest attempts at preparing a coup.

– Königreich Deutschland: Another section of the Reichsbürger movement have set up their own fake states with bank-like institutions, “legal” structures, currencies and “kings”. One of these, the “Königreich Deutschland” (“Kingdom of Germany”) was recently banned.

– Identitarian Movement

More important than those groups in our context is the Identitarian Movement, because it connects again to Compact and AfD. The most well known proponent of the Identitarians is the Austrian Martin Sellner, who often writes for Compact. His latest book is called Regime Change from the Right, published by far right publisher Götz Kubitschek.

– “Secret Plan Against Germany”: Sellner was also present at a meeting of “frontmen of right-wing extremist ideas, representatives of the AfD and wealthy sympathisers” (exposed by a investigation by correctiv.org in January 2024) where he presented his “Masterplan for remigration”. This meeting made it clear that networking by far right elements connecting right wing conservatives, populists and extremists is a thing, and that these networks include wealthy sponsors.

– Traditional Neo-Nazis and new youth gangs

Compared to these developments the straight up neo-Nazi parties Die Rechte, Der III. Weg and Die Heimat (formerly NPD) almost look a bit boring, but while their reach is limited, they have their local strongholds.

There is also a trend towards militant and violence-prone gangs of young activists. Some are connected with activists of these mini-parties, especially Der III. Weg. A large number of these smaller groups with names such as “Letzte Verteidigungswelle” (Last Wave of Defense) or “Deutsche Jugend voran” (German Youth Ahead) are formed by extremely young members, often in their teens and networked via Whatsapp, Instagram and Tiktok. Racism, xenophobia and homophobia as well as violent direct action is central to these groups, who are orientating themselves after the 90s Nazi skinhead subcultures. Except that they use social media in their bid for escalation.

– Far right media

The far right mediascape would also deserve a closer look. Beyond the print media mentioned in the previous article dealing with the ban of Compact, there are also networks of far right “influencers”. As mentioned Compact is by no means the only, but it seems to be the most successful media organisation connecting the parliamentary and revolutionary far right scenes and working towards a united front with nationalist and anti-imperialist forces against the West.

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Part 2

Legal Basis – Bans against “anti-constitutional” organisations in the Federal Republic.

The legal basis of the Compact ban was the laws concerning associations (Vereinsrecht). This is a completely different set of rules than what concerns for example political parties.

It’s also different from the legal provisions that have been historically used to ban left wing papers in the Federal Republic.

Bans of political parties

In German law it is extremely difficult to ban political parties, even if their aims are seen as anti-constitutional. The competent institution here is the Federal Constitutional Court.

Ban of the Sozialistische Reichspartei (1952)

The original Nazi Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, NSDAP) and all its component and associated entities were banned by the allies in October 1945. It continues to be banned in the Federal Republic and so are – in theory – any successor-organisations. Different organisations have tried to become the contemporary version of a National Socialist party in the post war years, at the same time evading the probable ban if they would too closely follow in the path of Hitlerism.

Only once an actual Neo-Nazi party, the Sozialistische Reichspartei, was banned as a successor-organisation of the NSDAP in 1952.

Ban of the Communist Party (1956)

The only other party getting banned in the Federal Republic was the Communist Party of Germany, the KPD. It was banned in 1956. This ban is technically still in place, although there is a clear re-constitution in the form of the Deutsche Kommunistische Partei (DKP). Several other parties using the name of the KPD have since been founded as well.

Two attemps to ban the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD), an undoubtedly neo-Nazi party, one in 2003 and one in 2017, both failed for different reasons. The party still exists, now operating under the name “Die Heimat”.

There is a historic precendent on the far right which is closer to the attempted Compact ban: The ban of the Freiheitliche Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (FAP). At first the FAP was meant to be banned as a political party.

However the Federal Constitutional Court deemed the organisation not to be a proper party, lacking certain qualities and procedures, but merely an association.

This made it possible for the interior minister to ban the organisation in 1995 under the laws ruling associations rather than provisions regulating political parties. A challenge against the ban was rejected by the Federal Administrative Court and the ban was upheld.

Bans of left wing papers

A large number of radical left papers were banned in the FRG, mostly in the 1970s and 1980s. In these instances it was mostly specific issues getting banned under a number of provisions such as §88a of the criminal code, prohibiting “endorsement of criminal acts”.

This law was in force from 1976-1981 and extensively used against left wing publications at the time.

Also used were §130a (instructions for criminal acts) and §131 (glorifying depictions of violence). These paragraphs are still part of the criminal code, while §88a was abolished in 1981.

Other paragraphs that could be used are §129/129a (forming a criminal/terrorist organisation) and §130 (incitement to hatred against a national, racial, religious or ethnic group).

Hundreds of raids on left wing papers, editorial offices, print shops and booksellers were conducted by the authorities. Usually specific issues of a publicatoin were confiscated and publishers, printers and booksellers taken to court – and sometimes to prison – for distributing them.

Association law was less used against German left wing groups. Only the internet plattform “linksunten” (a part of the German indymedia) was banned as a anti-constitutional in 2017. (1)

*******

Part 3

The Compact Ban and its Reversal

The interior minister Nancy Faeser must have expected or hoped that her ban of Compact would also be upheld, as was the case with the FAP.

Instead, while the judges agreed that Compact was promoting anti-constitutional content, they saw this only as a part of its output and purpose. They also confirmed that in principle the Association Law (Vereinsgesetz) was the appropriate legal basis for such a ban, regardless of the fact that Compact’s business status was a GmbH (Limited Company) rather than an e.V. (a registered association), and regardless of being a media outlet, which gave it additional special protections.

So while agreeing that the association law was appropriate, the judge insisted that the law had to be interpreted in a narrow way to determine whether the whole of Compact was an organisation which was fully dedicated to the overthrow of the constitution or a media outlet using its right to express different opinions, including, among others, anti-constitutional ones.

In other words, while it could be argued that the whole raison d’être of the FAP had been to bring about a Forth Reich, this couldn’t be said of the media organisation Compact, since it also published all kinds of other drivel alongside its “revolutionary” rhetoric. Hence, the judge ruled, what Compact published, was protected by Article 5 of the Grundgesetz (German “Basic Law” = Constitution), the article that guarantees the freedom of the press.

Unsurprisingly Compact and the far right in general saw this outcome as a big victory. Editor Jürgen Elsässer went as far as calling Compact the “Sturmgeschütz der Demokratie” – comparing it to the tumultous events surrounding the failed attempts at silencing the liberal news magazine Der Spiegel in 1962 – and is presenting himself as someone who “defeated the government”.

Elsässer’s bath robe…

One could argue that Faeser’s – as it turns out ill advised – attempt at banning Compact has only helped them. The number of subscibers on their YouTube channel has grown from 335’000 at the time of the ban by nearly 190’000 to 522’000 (July 2025). YouTube already demonetised the channel and took it completely offline when the ban came into effect. It is back online now, serving as a powerful propaganda tool.

It’s hard to gauge how the events since summer 2024 have affected the overall sales of the magazine and its overall financial situation. Any audited figures I could find were from before the attempted ban. At least some of the mainstream press outlets decided to keep Compact – and in some cases other far right magazines – off their shelves.

…and other fundraising efforts

But Compact has always been somewhat creative in their fundraising. As mentioned in my earlier piece, they were minting silver coins celebrating German-Russian friendship, as well as coins with the faces of Höcke, the far right AfD leader, and Donald Trump, the US president beloved by otherwise anti-Americans. These coins retail at a multiple of the value of the silver contained in them.

Irony: Trump was featured alongside Putin and a peace dove on the cover of Compact in April 2025. But after Trump decided to support Israel’s attempt to knock out the Iranian nuclear program, he was demoted from the Compact pantheon of far right leaders and the Trump “hero coin” was pulled from the fundraising items. Now that Trump is seen as a traitor, the “Ami Go Home” flag is also available again for €14.95 and indeed a whole section of the Compact website is now called “Ami Go Home”.

Instead of the Trump coin a “Jürgen und Steffi Elsässer” coin was minted as a “victory medal” showing editor Jürgen Elsässer and his wife Stefanie. The two are also modelling bath robes retailing at € 149.95. “Confront state power with elegance”, the promotional blurb declares about the black robe with white stitched “Elsässer” and a Compact “C” logo.

How many people would want to impersonate Jürgen Elsässer in the outfit he was wearing when opening the door to the police ready to raid the Compact premises in July 2024? I don’t know…

The reaction of the press

The reaction of the press from the Stalinist Junge Welt to the conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) was positive to the court verdict to lift the ban of Compact. The verdict – according to the FAZ – “strengthened press freedom” (FAZ, 25-06-2025, p. 13), but according to Junge Welt this victory of the free press was only superficial: “On the surface, the attack on press freedom seems to have been repelled, and the fundamental right to write and publish even the most repulsive and abhorrent drivel appears to have been preserved. Is this a victory for a principle, regardless of the content? One may well doubt it.”

Junge Welt insinuates that “In light of the Leipzig [seat of the court] ruling, the annual mention in the Constitution Protection Report (Verfassungsschutzbericht) now appears to be a preliminary step towards a possible ban. A left-wing media outlet cannot expect the same leniency shown to right-wing groups. German case law is well known.”

Junge Welt is referring to the lopsided history in German judiciary practice to have a tendency to strike much harder against the left than the right. Of course this is diametrically opposed to the whiny narrative of the right about a supposed woke/EU/globalist dictatorship.

But whether a ban of Junge Welt – who is regularly mentioned in the annual report of the Verfassungsschutz – is on the horizon is doubtful.

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Part 4

Perspectives:

The pseudo-revolutionary “Blue Wave”

Elsässer might turn out to be wrong in his assessment that with the failure to ban Compact, an attempt to ban the AfD would be doomed to fail as well. Interestingly the opposite might be true: If Martin Sellner’s anti-constitutional ideas were not prominent enough in the pages of Compact to be defining its overall message, then this needn’t be the measure applied to a Party if the party is subscribing to his ideas about “re-migration”. (2)

Whether an attempt at banning the AfD could actually be successful is a different question and we’ll have to wait and see. I find it very unlikely. Not least for the following reasons:

The AfD is a thoroughly pro-capitalist party. And there are clearly those in the conservative establishment who would much prefer an alliance with the radical right than with the Left. That this is not happening yet (except to some degree on a local level), is because of the anti-Western stance of the party.

Several of its local units have been described by the Office for the protection of the Constitution as “proven far right extremist”.

This has already caused some leading AfDers to tune the appearance of their positions, which has arguably caused frictions between some in the party establishment and the New Right ideologists around Kubitschek.

Recent covers of the magazine

Elsässer and Compact will continue to try to push the AfD to the right. It’s recent covers illustrate the drift:

• January 2025: “War or Peace”, confronting Friedrich Merz vs. Alice Weidel, the candidate of the AfD for chancellor – of course positing Weidel as the politician of “Peace”. This was during the election campaign of the last federal elections.
• February 2025: “Super!” shows Elon Musk as Superman carrying (!) Alice Weidel.
• March 2025: “The blue Revolution” shows a blue female figure holding a German flag. It’s about the AfD taking power through elections and getting rid of asylum seekers, “wokism”, “gender madness” and instituting an “economic policy that deserves its name” (whatever that means…).
• April 2025: “Peace” shows Trump and Putin with outstretched hands letting go of a peace dove. Subtitle: “Why the EU warmongers still carry on”.
• May 2025: “The Dictator” shows Ursula von der Leyen in military garb. Subtitle: “Blitzkrieg against the peoples”.
• June 2025: “The Last Pope” talking about “occult rituals, political intrigues and dark alliances” in the Vatican.
• July 2025: “The Arsonist – How Netanyahu sets the world on fire”.
• August 2025: “Women in Fear” shows a young blonde woman with a terrified expression in a public swimming pool getting looks from dark skinned young males.
• September 2025: “The Undertaker” shows chancellor Friedrich Merz’s face over a soldier’s graveyard – “How Merz shovels the grave for Germany”.

What’s next

And so it will go on. The mix of conspiracy narratives (of the “Deep State”, “Satanic” or anti-Semitic/Masonic variety) and pro-AfD, pro-Trump (until June 2025), pro-Putin, pro-Iran and anti-Western, anti-American, anti-EU, anti-immigration, anti-Catholic, anti-Zionist points of views.

It’s an ideology of constant fear, enragement and mobilisation that will continue as long as it surfs on a blue wave and sells papers – and the money from silver coins and bathrobes keeps coming in.

Nancy Faeser probably recognised that with Compact the line between populism and fascism gets blurred to say the least. But perhaps she also couldn’t forgive the magazine for portraying her as a new fascist (!) – on the cover of issue March 2024 – or as the looming evil figure behind the “Asylum Bomb” causing an invasion of dark skinned men, as on the cover of the November 2023 issue.

Her attempt to crush the magazine failed. Whether it will be able to use it’s “Victory!” (headline of issue 9/2024) to usher in the dictatorship of a radicalised fascist racket with Elsässer as some kind of propaganda minister remains to be seen. More likely he will end up as the narcissistic crank and opportunist who thought that if communism – he was in the leadership of the Kommunistische Bund at one point after all – didn’t work, maybe the far right could lead him to a position of prominence.

Christoph Fringeli

(1) A total of 20 far right organisations have been banned using the legal possibilities of banning associations. One far left and 19 Islamist. However most bans on associations have been against organised crime.

(2) https://taz.de/Nach-Compact-Verbot/!6094336/

Press release of the Federal Administrative Court: https://www.bverwg.de/pm/2025/48

The Thumbnail for this article is a collage using screenshots of one of the Compact covers depicting Nancy Faeser and of the Elsässers modelling their bathrobes.

• Other articles by Christoph Fringeli on datacide-magazine.com

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