German Culture Minister welcomed at Leipzig Book Fair this week with boos.
Minister Wolfram Weimer criticized for removing three left-wing bookstores from a list of nominees for the German Bookstore Prize meant to reward the commitment of over a hundred independent bookstores in Leipzig on March 19th.
He justified his actions citing “state security information.”
In a recent interview with Die Zeit magazine, Wolfram Weimer explained he couldn’t provide more details. According to him, “state security services are not authorized to tell us more.”
The controversial bookstores are located in Berlin, Brême (northern Germany), and Göttingen (central Germany).
The Bookstore Prize comes with grants ranging from 7,000 to 25,000 euros from federal government subsidies. However, the selection is made by an independent jury.
Appeal to the German Office for the Protection of the Constitution
Prior to this edition, the Ministry of Culture had never intervened to modify this list.
This was before Wolfram Weimer decided to consult the Protection of the Constitution services, which reportedly identified the three bookstores in one of their databases.
The minister explained that taxpayer money, in the form of subsidies, can only go to institutions with no “suspicions” on them.
According to Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, one of the stores allegedly played a role in “the communication network of the RAF,” the left-wing extremist terrorist organization known in the 1970s. However, as the newspaper notes, “it has been 30 years since the RAF was dissolved.”
In the other two cases, one store would “serve as a mailing address for antifascist groups” and the facade of the third store is tagged with graffiti, one saying “Germany rot.”
Surveillance of Opinions
While the use of the Protection of the Constitution services is legally controversial, as the Constitution itself protects artistic freedom, the cultural world sees Wolfram Weimer’s intervention as an opinion surveillance.
Especially since the minister, without a political label, is no stranger to controversy.
Recently, he was criticized for allegedly trying to get the director of the Berlinale, American Tricia Tuttle, to resign.
At the last festival edition in February, a winner delivered a pro-Palestinian speech. Wolfram Weimer later wrote on X: “This festival is the voice of international cinema, bold and relevant. One thing is clear: there is no place for anti-Semitism here.”
Seldom has the position of Culture Minister caused so much controversy. As noted by the public information website Tagesschau.de, “it is rare for a Culture Minister to be the subject of breaking news.”
Interestingly, one of the three bookstores affected by the minister’s intervention for the Bookstore Prize is flooded with customers.
The “Rote Strasse” bookstore in Göttingen reports sales “like before Christmas” and humorously declares Wolfram Weimer as their “employee of the month.” His portrait is now hanging in the bookstore.
