What is the “Compact” magazine and why was it banned?

The Federal Ministry of the Interior describes the ban on the “Compact” magazine as a “hard blow against the right-wing extremist scene”. “Nancy Faeser has today banned the right-wing extremist ‘COMPACT-Magazin GmbH’ and ‘CONSPECT FILM GmbH’,” the authority’s statement continues. At the end of 2021, the Ministry of the Interior classified “Compact” as “certainly right-wing extremist”. In recent years, the paper has repeatedly attracted attention with sensationalist titles and articles that can be viewed as anti-minority, anti-Semitic and/or ethnic-nationalist. The ban now imposed nevertheless comes as a surprise to many scene observers. What kind of magazine is “Compact”? Who is its editor-in-chief Jürgen Elsässer? And why was it banned?

The most important questions and answers:

What is the “Compact” magazine?

The “Compact” magazine was developed from the book series of the same name by Jürgen Elsässer. The first issue of the monthly magazine appeared in December 2010. Initially receiving little attention, the paper profited significantly from the rise of the AfD and other right-wing movements such as Pegida. “Compact” became the epitome and role model of so-called alternative media. Pegida and others marched in the streets, “Compact” provided the positive reporting. The magazine was populist and highly simplistic right from the start. However, it really gained publicity from 2015/2016.

As the mood at xenophobic demonstrations became increasingly harsh, the content of the magazine also became more radical. Contrary to the general trend on the magazine market, the circulation of the printed magazine grew. According to the magazine’s own figures, it reached 80,000 copies at its peak, of which almost half were sold.

In the articles, the authors complained about the “Islamization” of Germany, the government of Angela Merkel and the “lying press”. The AfD and other right-wing movements, on the other hand, were consistently well discussed, as were authoritarian heads of state such as Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orban. Over time, the tone of the magazine became increasingly radical. There was increasing criticism that the magazine spread anti-Semitic, racist and conspiracy-theoretical content.

From March 2020, “Compact” was listed and monitored by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a suspected right-wing extremist case – at the same time as the then “wing” of the AfD around Björn Höcke.

Who is Jürgen Elsaesser?

The editor-in-chief of “Compact” magazine, Jürgen Elsässer, has had a long journey: from the far left to the far right. In his younger years, the journalist and publicist wrote for left-wing magazines such as “Jungle World” and “Neues Deutschland”. At the time, he expressed himself in a clearly anti-German and anti-imperialist manner, like many of his colleagues in left-wing media. But Elsässer wrote with unusual clarity. Against anti-Semitism, for example, according to Elsässer in a 1995 article in the magazine “konkret”, “no essays help, only baseball bats.”

From the mid-2000s, Elsässer moved further and further to the right politically. From a left-wing, pacifist, anti-American and anti-capitalist position, he gradually lost himself in conspiracy theories and an Islamophobic attitude, and advocated cross-front approaches between the left and the “democratic right”. His career is often compared to that of Horst Mahler, who went from being a lawyer for the left-wing extremist Red Army Faction to becoming a Holocaust denier and right-wing extremist.

From 2010, Elsässer headed the “Compact” magazine as editor-in-chief. His aim was to build a bridge between the right and the left and to facilitate debates between both camps. In doing so, he attracted readers primarily from the new right and national-ethnic camps. From 2014, Elsässer also spread anti-Semitic narratives such as that of the “financial oligarchy” in which “Mr. Rockefeller, Rothschild, Soros, and Khodorkovsky” were involved.

Elsässer built up a wide range of offerings around the magazine to generate further income and increase reach: an online shop, a YouTube channel, the production company “Conspect Film”, for which his wife hosts a show on weekdays that is intended to provide a counterpoint to the “mainstream news”.

From 2015 onwards, the paper’s anti-American and anti-imperialist line increasingly became lost in racist and conspiracy-theoretical approaches. Elsässer saw the magazine as an alternative, “oppositional” medium. In 2018, he declared: “The task of the oppositional media is to contribute to the overthrow of the regime.”

What are the reasons for banning “Compact”?

For several years, Elsässer brought “Compact” closer to the AfD and other right-wing groups such as Pegida or the Querdenken movement. The paper became the most important mouthpiece of the New Right in German-speaking countries. Elsässer acted as an important hub for the scene, while the “Compact” magazine created a public for right-wing extremist ideas and anti-democratic positions.

The Federal Ministry of the Interior is arguing that the ban is based on precisely these contents: “In its widely read publications and products, Compact-Magazin GmbH spreads anti-Semitic, racist, anti-minority, historical revisionist and conspiracy-theoretical content. It agitates against a pluralistic social system that respects the human dignity of the individual. […].”

There is a fear that “recipients of the media products will be incited by the publications, which also openly propagate the overthrow of the political order, and encouraged to take actions against the constitutional order,” the ministry continued.

What criticism is there of the ban?

After it became public that the Federal Ministry of the Interior had banned “Compact” and the associated company “Conspect Film”, criticism arose – at least about the reasoning behind the ban. For example, media journalist Stefan Niggemeier wrote on X about a “disturbing feeling” in relation to the ban. Several others expressed similar concerns. Not necessarily in relation to the ban itself, but rather that it sets a precedent and could therefore call into question press freedom in Germany.

This is exactly the point that star-Author Martin Debes in his opinion article about the ban.

In the case of Compact, the evidence that it represents an anti-democratic or misanthropic position is relatively obvious. Nevertheless, some users on social networks expressed concern that the Interior Ministry’s ban could lead to arbitrary censorship of media critical of the government.

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