Great indignation at the Leipzig Book Fair How the German Minister of Culture turned the entire book scene against him
A state sponsorship prize and three excluded bookshops: A decision by the Minister of State for Culture is causing protests in Germany - and raising questions about cultural funding.
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- The German Minister of State for Culture, Wolfram Weimer, has excluded three left-wing bookshops from a prize, despite the jury's selection, due to unexplained findings relating to the protection of the constitution.
- The bookshops concerned, the jury and large parts of the industry criticize the procedure as non-transparent and legally questionable, demand clarification and warn against political influence on cultural funding.
- The debate led to the cancellation of the award ceremony at the Leipzig Book Fair and to protests against Weimer.
Books should actually have taken center stage in Leipzig this week. Instead, there was a demonstration at the opening of the Leipzig Book Fair on Wednesday. It's about a sponsorship award, three bookshops - and conditions that are more familiar from the USA.
At the center of it all is the German Bookstore Award. It is awarded annually by the German State Ministry of Culture and Media and honors owner-managed bookshops that maintain a special literary range, pursue innovative business models or are committed to promoting reading. The prize money is up to 25,000 euros.
Bookshops can apply for the prize themselves. An independent jury then compiles a list of the bookshops it would like to award the prize to and presents it to the Minister of State for Culture. As a rule, his role is formal - he confirms the selection.
"The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is not allowed to tell us in detail"
But this year everything was different: of the 118 bookshops selected by the jury, only 115 were still on the list after the ministry's review. The non-partisan Minister of State for Culture Wolfram Weimer removed three left-wing bookshops. Because such an intervention is unusual, the decision became public.
The ministry justified the move with "findings relevant to the protection of the constitution". A query by the ministry to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution - the German domestic intelligence service - had yielded hits. State prizes should not be awarded to extremists, Weimer later argued on Deutschlandfunk radio.
What exactly is behind these "findings" - and whether they contain any evidence of extremist activities at all or ultimately prove to be unfounded - remains completely unclear. The public can only speculate: Is it about slogans such as "Deutschland verrecke bitte" on the facade of one of the bookshops? A politically left-wing product range? Or are the accusations actually more serious? No answer from the Minister of State for Culture. And: no idea. "The Office for the Protection of the Constitution is not allowed to tell us that in detail," said Weimer in an interview with Die Zeit.
The bookshops concerned do not want to accept this. They have announced legal action and are demanding transparency. They also accuse the ministry of having misinformed them: The rejection e-mail had stated that the jury had not selected them.
She also opposes the decision to remove the three bookshops from the list. It continues to stand behind its selection, the jury explained in a statement. The deletion is beyond its influence. The three places were deliberately not filled - as a visible sign.
There is also broad support from the industry. For one of the bookshops affected, "Rote Strasse" in Göttingen, March was the strongest March in terms of sales since it was founded, writes the local newspaper "Hessische/Niedersächsische Allgemeine". The bookshop receives orders from all over Germany. And behind the sales counter hangs a picture of Wolfram Weimer, entitled "Employee of the Month".
Book publishers are also showing solidarity with the bookshops. "We expect a clarification," says Kiepenheuer & Witsch, for example. "Our solidarity applies to all bookshops", from Piper. Hanser has invited all 118 bookshops to a celebration.
The German Publishers and Booksellers Association is particularly critical. "The procedure is a shattering of the democratic agreements we have had up to now," said chairman Sebastian Guggolz. "Suddenly the Office for the Protection of the Constitution has a say in the awarding of cultural prizes." The International Publishers Association is also calling for the decision to be reviewed. In a statement, the association said it was very disappointed to see that this was happening in a country like Germany, which is so committed to freedom of expression .
This also raises the question: How lawful was Weimer's action?
Weimer refers to the so-called Haber procedure. This goes back to a recommendation made in 2017 by Emily Haber, then State Secretary at the Ministry of the Interior. Ministries should involve the Office for the Protection of the Constitution before awarding funding in order to prevent state funds from ending up with extremist actors. This may seem sensible in individual cases, but the procedure is legally controversial.
Criteria for extremism are not clearly defined by law
In 2019, the Federal Data Protection Commissioner described it as contrary to data protection law. In 2020, the Bundestag's scientific service warned of a possible "intimidation effect". And in 2022, the Federal Constitutional Court clarified that the disclosure of intelligence service information is only permissible if it serves to protect particularly important legal interests.
Legal scholar Sophie Schönberger therefore sees a dangerous development. "The possibility of political influence in cultural funding is legally much greater than we realize," she told the "Süddeutsche Zeitung". Criteria for extremism are not clearly defined by law and the procedures are not transparent. The bookshops concerned do not even have the opportunity to comment on specific accusations. "We can see where this leads in the USA," Schönberger continued.
The bookstore award ceremony should have taken place on Thursday. However, Minister of State for Culture Weimer canceled the event. The debate surrounding the removal of the three bookshops threatened to "overshadow" the purpose of the event and an "appropriate tribute" to the award winners seemed "hardly possible", it was said.
Protests are therefore taking place. Before Weimer's appearance at the opening of the Leipzig Book Fair on Wednesday, several hundred people gathered in front of the building to criticize him. They held up signs demanding his resignation or calling him a "culture war minister".
Weimer used the appearance to defend himself. "The category of freedom and the category of promotion are two completely different things. Let's be very clear," he said. And asked: "If the Office for the Protection of the Constitution has findings that the free democratic basic order is being violated, does the state then have to promote it?" The audience reacted with boos. "Which one?" people shouted in between. Weimer had no answer to this. "I hear you. There are obviously different views on this," he simply said.
