Hans-Georg Maaßen (born 24 November 1962) is a German civil servant and
lawyer. From 1 August 2012 to 8 November 2018,
he served as the President of the
Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (german: Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz or BfV, often ''Bundesverfassungsschutz'') is Germany's federal domestic intelligence agency. Together with the Landesämter für Verfassungss ...
, Germany's domestic security agency and one of three agencies in the
German Intelligence Community The German Intelligence Community is the collective of intelligence agencies in Germany. Germany has three federal intelligence services and 16 state intelligence services. Because they do not form a single entity and because their responsibilities ...
.
Life and career
Maaßen was born on 24 November 1962 in
Mönchengladbach
Mönchengladbach (, li, Jlabbach ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Dutch border.
Geography Municipal subdivisions
Since 2009, the territory of Mönchengladbac ...
. In 1991 he began working at Germany's
Interior Ministry. On 18 July 2012, Maaßen was appointed by the
Cabinet of Germany to take over from
Heinz Fromm as President of the
Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (german: Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz or BfV, often ''Bundesverfassungsschutz'') is Germany's federal domestic intelligence agency. Together with the Landesämter für Verfassungss ...
.
Several months later, he was sworn in to this post.
On 18 September 2018, an agreement was made to promote Maaßen to a role within the Interior Ministry and relieve him of his previous duties once a successor for his post has been agreed on.
However, after various statements critical of the German government, he was instead placed in "early retirement" on 8 November 2018.
In April 2021, Maaßen was selected as the
Christian Democratic Union's candidate for the constituency of
Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen – Sonneberg in the
2021 German federal election.
He was defeated by
Social Democrat
Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soc ...
Frank Ullrich
Frank Ullrich (, ; born 24 January 1958) is a German politician of the SPD and former biathlete and trainer of the German national team. Since 2021, he has been a member of the Bundestag.
Career
Biathlon was in Ullrich's family as his fath ...
.
Controversy
2013 mass surveillance disclosures
During the
2013 mass surveillance disclosures
Thirteen or 13 may refer to:
* 13 (number), the natural number following 12 and preceding 14
* One of the years 13 BC, AD 13, 1913, 2013
Music
* 13AD (band), an Indian classic and hard rock band
Albums
* ''13'' (Black Sabbath album), 2013
* ...
, German media reported that Maaßen visited the headquarters of the U.S.
National Security Agency
The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collect ...
(NSA) in January and May. According to
classified documents of the German government, Maaßen had agreed to transfer all data collected by the
Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (german: Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz or BfV, often ''Bundesverfassungsschutz'') is Germany's federal domestic intelligence agency. Together with the Landesämter für Verfassungss ...
via
XKeyscore
XKeyscore (XKEYSCORE or XKS) is a secret computer system used by the United States National Security Agency (NSA) for searching and analyzing global Internet data, which it collects in real time. The NSA has shared XKeyscore with other intellige ...
to the NSA.
Snowden question
In June 2016 he questioned whether
Edward Snowden was working for Russian intelligence, and Snowden sent a sarcastic response in perfect German.
Ob Maaßen Agent des SVR oder FSB ist, kann derzeit nicht belegt werden. (Whether Maaßen is an agent of the SVR or FSB wo Russian security servicescannot be currently determined.)
Cooperation with the
FSB had also been suggested by
Oleg Kalugin
Oleg Danilovich Kalugin (russian: Олег Данилович Калугин; born 6 September 1934) is a former KGB general (stripped of his rank and awards by a Russian Court decision in 2002). He was during a time, head of KGB political ope ...
, at least since Snowden's arrival in Russia.
Chemnitz protests and retirement
After the
2018 Chemnitz protests, for several weeks politics and the media focused on a video where a black-clad man comes out of an angry mob and briefly runs after another man. Some sources claim that the chased person is of
Afghan heritage.
In response to the video, Maaßen caused controversy as some sources claim that an angry mob had "hunted" foreign-looking people. In an interview with ''
Bild'', Maaßen questioned whether there was any credible evidence for such "hunts", and stated that his security agency had in fact not seen any such evidence. Maaßen offered no reason for questioning the widely accepted narrative of what had happened in Chemnitz.
Maaßen's statements, which seemed to undermine the credibility of the media and political institutions such as the one he represented, led to calls for his dismissal across the political spectrum (excluding the
AfD).
After Maaßen had been asked to explain his behaviour to a parliamentary committee, the
SPD
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany.
Saskia Esken has been t ...
called on
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Opp ...
to dismiss Maaßen immediately. This move could have escalated to a crisis within the
Fourth Merkel cabinet since the responsible minister, Interior Minister
Horst Seehofer
Horst Lorenz Seehofer (born 4 July 1949) is a German politician who served as Minister of the Interior, Building and Community under Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 to 2021. A member of the Christian Social Union (CSU), he served as the 18 ...
, continued to back Maaßen over the row. In attempt to resolve the situation, on 18 September 2018 an agreement was reached to move Maaßen from his role as President of the
Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (german: Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz or BfV, often ''Bundesverfassungsschutz'') is Germany's federal domestic intelligence agency. Together with the Landesämter für Verfassungss ...
to a role as state secretary in Seehofer's ministry. According to media reports this new position would have been on a higher pay grade. However, this proposed solution caused further outrage among the German public and members of the
SPD
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany.
Saskia Esken has been t ...
, who did not accept what would effectively be a promotion for Maaßen. A renegotiation within the government ended on 23 September 2018 with an announcement that Maaßen would now be an "advisor" in the interior ministry, and no longer be receiving a pay rise.
Shortly after the Chemnitz controversy, Maaßen caused yet another scandal with his departure speech from the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. According to a copy of this speech leaked to the public in early November 2018, in it Maaßen presented himself as the victim of a conspiracy of "radical left-wing" forces in the German government against him, due to his criticism of the government's "naive", "left-wing" security and migration policies. On 5 November, as a result, Interior Minister
Horst Seehofer
Horst Lorenz Seehofer (born 4 July 1949) is a German politician who served as Minister of the Interior, Building and Community under Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 to 2021. A member of the Christian Social Union (CSU), he served as the 18 ...
concluded that a trusting relationship with Maaßen was no longer possible, asking president
Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Frank-Walter Steinmeier (; born 5 January 1956) is a German politician serving as President of Germany since 19 March 2017. He was previously Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2009 and again from 2013 to 2017, as well as Vice Chan ...
to place him in early retirement.
Bundestag candidature
Maaßen's selection as a CDU candidate for the 2021 federal election was met with controversy both within and outside the party. The Greens and SPD were both critical of the decision, while CDU official Serap Güler and state minister
Karin Prien both expressed outrage. Prien described Maaßen as a "marginal actor on the democratic spectrum, with whom most Christian Democrats have little in common." Party secretary
Paul Ziemiak
Paul Ziemiak (born 6 September 1985 as ''Paweł Ziemiak'') is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the German Bundestag since the 2017 federal election. In addition to his pa ...
stated that the party expects "clear differentation from the AfD" from its candidates.
Maaßen stated he sought to win over voters from the
Alternative for Germany, as well as protest voters and non-voters. In July 2021, the non-governmental organization
Campact announced a campaign to prevent Maaßen from being elected. Maaßen was defeated in the direct mandate election for the
Thuringian
Thuringian is an East Central German dialect group spoken in much of the modern German Free State of Thuringia north of the Rennsteig ridge, southwestern Saxony-Anhalt and adjacent territories of Hesse and Bavaria. It is close to Upper Saxon sp ...
constituency of
Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen – Sonneberg by
Social Democrat
Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soc ...
Frank Ullrich
Frank Ullrich (, ; born 24 January 1958) is a German politician of the SPD and former biathlete and trainer of the German national team. Since 2021, he has been a member of the Bundestag.
Career
Biathlon was in Ullrich's family as his fath ...
. As he was not on the CDU party list in Thuringia, he thus failed to be elected to the
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Common ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maassen, Hans-Georg
1962 births
Living people
21st-century German civil servants
People from Mönchengladbach
German Christian democrats
University of Cologne alumni