Hans-Georg Maassen, formerly in charge of rooting out violent extremists, is under surveillance on suspicion of posing the same threat, leaving Germany’s security services embroiled in a scandal.
Maassen was sacked as head of internal security in 2018 after he was accused of being soft on the threat posed by right-wing extremists who rioted in the eastern German city of Chemnitz. He himself has since confirmed the information on his social media pages.
His hardline stance on immigration has made him a poster boy for the Reichsburger movement, including those awaiting trial for a coup attempt in 2022.
Maassen was previously head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) but is now under investigation on charges of right-wing extremism. German parliamentarians are now pushing for an enquiry and public investigation into the man who was Germany’s chief neo-Nazi trapper.
Last month, Maassen founded his own political party called the Values Union, which he hopes will appeal to those disillusioned with the current state of German politics.
