Anton Maegerle
Encyclopedia
Anton Maegerle is the nom de plume of a left-wing
German
journalist
and author books on far-right politics and the Neue Rechte
.
.
and abroad. Maegerle's database contains some 550,000 items and data on ca. 17,000 individuals, and is said to be one of the largest of its kind, providing information to journalists and governments agencies, e.g. the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. In 2001 he published a book on right-wing extremism in Baden-Württemberg
together with the president of the Landesamt für Verfassungsschutz Helmut Rannacher. Maegerle also collects information on right-wing extremist, xenophobic
and anti-semitic
acts of violence, regularly publishing chronicles of such events.
In the past he has worked for the German TV
shows Panorama http://daserste.ndr.de/panorama/archiv/2000/erste7396.html and Report Mainzhttp://www.swr.de/report/archiv/sendungen/030721/04/03072104.rtf; the Berliner Zeitung
http://www.berlinonline.de/berliner-zeitung/archiv/.bin/dump.fcgi/2002/0415/blickpunkt/0001/; the Federal Agency for Civic Education
http://www.bpb.de/themen/ZYC7KN,0,0,Impressum.html; the news magazine Stern
http://www.stern.de/politik/deutschland/:Chronik-Rechtsradikale-%DCbergriffe-Deutschland/596068.html; and Die Welt
Die WELT. He is a regular contributor to the Internet newsletter Blick nach Rechts
and wrote for Informationsdienst gegen Rechtsextremismus
until it was closed down in 2006. As a result of his feature in Report Mainz in 2000 several banks cancelled the bank accounts of right-wing extremists.
Maegerle belongs to the critics of the Zeitgeschichtliche Forschungsstelle Ingolstadt
, a portrayal of which published he published in 1996 in the Blick nach Rechts
.
, exposing Maegerles real name. Holocaust denier
Germar Rudolf
published under the name Anton Mägerle in order to discredit the journalist's research on holocaust denial.
In 2007 Felix Krautkrämer, an editor of the right-wing weekly Junge Freiheit
claimed, Maegerle was a far left
extremist, as he allegedly published in their media. Krautkrämer, as well as Focus
' Michael Klonovsky were later ordered by a court not to repeat these claims.
together with Martin Dietzsch:
together with Friedrich Paul Heller:
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and author books on far-right politics and the Neue Rechte
Neue Rechte
The Neue Rechte is a German political movement, founded in opposition to the "New Left" generation of the 1960s. Ideologically, they are linked to the ideologues of the Weimar Conservative Revolution, which included such people as Carl Schmitt, Ernst Jünger, Oswald Spengler and Ernst von Salomon...
.
Personal life
Since right-wing activists have issued death threats against Maegerle, his true identity is secret and he and his family live under police protection. Personal details of his life and career are not known to the public, his articles and books are published under his pseudonymPseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
.
Work
Maegerle started collecting information on the right-wing party Die Republikaner in 1983, and is observing right-wing extremists as well as "right-wing conservative" circles in GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and abroad. Maegerle's database contains some 550,000 items and data on ca. 17,000 individuals, and is said to be one of the largest of its kind, providing information to journalists and governments agencies, e.g. the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. In 2001 he published a book on right-wing extremism in Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
together with the president of the Landesamt für Verfassungsschutz Helmut Rannacher. Maegerle also collects information on right-wing extremist, xenophobic
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
and anti-semitic
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
acts of violence, regularly publishing chronicles of such events.
In the past he has worked for the German TV
ARD (broadcaster)
ARD is a joint organization of Germany's regional public-service broadcasters...
shows Panorama http://daserste.ndr.de/panorama/archiv/2000/erste7396.html and Report Mainzhttp://www.swr.de/report/archiv/sendungen/030721/04/03072104.rtf; the Berliner Zeitung
Berliner Zeitung
The Berliner Zeitung, founded in 1945, is a German center-left daily newspaper based in Berlin, published by Berliner Verlag. It is the only East German paper to achieve national prominence since unification. In 2003, the Berliner was Berlin's largest subscription newspaper—the weekend...
http://www.berlinonline.de/berliner-zeitung/archiv/.bin/dump.fcgi/2002/0415/blickpunkt/0001/; the Federal Agency for Civic Education
Federal Agency for Civic Education
The Federal Agency for Civic Education is a German federal government agency responsible for promoting civic education. It is subordinated to the Federal Ministry of the Interior...
http://www.bpb.de/themen/ZYC7KN,0,0,Impressum.html; the news magazine Stern
Stern (magazine)
Stern is a weekly news magazine published in Germany. It was founded in 1948 by Henri Nannen, and is currently published by Gruner + Jahr, a subsidiary of Bertelsmann. In the first quarter of 2006, its print run was 1.019 million copies and it reached 7.84 million readers according to...
http://www.stern.de/politik/deutschland/:Chronik-Rechtsradikale-%DCbergriffe-Deutschland/596068.html; and Die Welt
Die Welt
Die Welt is a German national daily newspaper published by the Axel Springer AG company.It was founded in Hamburg in 1946 by the British occupying forces, aiming to provide a "quality newspaper" modelled on The Times...
Die WELT. He is a regular contributor to the Internet newsletter Blick nach Rechts
Blick nach Rechts
The Blick nach Rechts is a German-language information service which appears every two weeks on the Internet. Its concern is the current "information about activities of the extreme right" , which in the opinion of the initiators aren't properly noticed by the common media.- Structure and purchase...
and wrote for Informationsdienst gegen Rechtsextremismus
Informationsdienst gegen Rechtsextremismus
The Informationsdienst gegen Rechtsextremismus was a German-language internet portal devoted to collecting information about persons, organisations and publications which promote right-wing extremism, Antisemitism and Holocaust denial...
until it was closed down in 2006. As a result of his feature in Report Mainz in 2000 several banks cancelled the bank accounts of right-wing extremists.
Maegerle belongs to the critics of the Zeitgeschichtliche Forschungsstelle Ingolstadt
Zeitgeschichtliche Forschungsstelle Ingolstadt
The Zeitgeschichtliche Forschungsstelle Ingolstadt e. V. is a historical revisionist association located in Dunsdorf, Bavaria.-Political orientation:The ZFI was founded in 1981 and shaped by Alfred Schickel, Hellmut...
, a portrayal of which published he published in 1996 in the Blick nach Rechts
Blick nach Rechts
The Blick nach Rechts is a German-language information service which appears every two weeks on the Internet. Its concern is the current "information about activities of the extreme right" , which in the opinion of the initiators aren't properly noticed by the common media.- Structure and purchase...
.
Honors
On 16 November 2007 Netzwerk Recherche, awarded Maegerle, Andrea Röpke and Thomas Kuban its Lighttower Award.Smear campaigns
In 1996 some right-wing activists and media of the Neue Rechte started a Smear campaignSmear campaign
A smear campaign, smear tactic or simply smear is a metaphor for activity that can harm an individual or group's reputation by conflation with a stigmatized group...
, exposing Maegerles real name. Holocaust denier
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
Germar Rudolf
Germar Rudolf
Germar Rudolf is a German chemist and Holocaust denier.-Background:Rudolf was born in Limburg an der Lahn, Hesse. After finishing secondary education in 1983 in Remscheid, Rudolf studied chemistry in Bonn, completing his studies in 1989. As a student, he joined A.V. Tuisconia Königsberg zu Bonn...
published under the name Anton Mägerle in order to discredit the journalist's research on holocaust denial.
In 2007 Felix Krautkrämer, an editor of the right-wing weekly Junge Freiheit
Junge Freiheit
The Junge Freiheit is a German weekly newspaper for politics and culture, that describes itself as liberal-conservative...
claimed, Maegerle was a far left
Far left
Far left, also known as the revolutionary left, radical left and extreme left are terms which refer to the highest degree of leftist positions among left-wing politics...
extremist, as he allegedly published in their media. Krautkrämer, as well as Focus
Focus (German magazine)
Focus is a German weekly news magazine published in Munich and distributed throughout Germany. It is the third-largest weekly news magazine in Germany. It is considered conservative and leaned towards economic liberalism.- Overview :...
' Michael Klonovsky were later ordered by a court not to repeat these claims.
Publications
- Rechtsextreme Publikationsorgane und -strategien. Verlage, Antiquariate, Zeitschriften und Internet. In: Thomas Fliege, Kurt Möller (Hrsg.):Rechtsextremismus in Baden- Württemberg. Verborgene Strukturen der Rechten. Dezember 2001, S. 85-101, ISBN 3-89902-019-7
- Autoren des Grabert-Verlags und des Hohenrain-Verlags. Ihre Funktion und ihre Bedeutung in der rechten Szene. In: Martin Finkenberger, Horst Junginger (Hrsg.): Im Dienste der Lügen. Herbert Grabert (1901–1978) und seine Verlage. Alibri-Verlag, Aschaffenburg 2004, S. 155-174, ISBN 3-932710-76-2
- Globalisierung aus Sicht der extremen Rechten. Bildungsvereinigung Arbeit und Leben Niedersachsen Ost, Braunschweig 2005, ISBN 3-932082-12-5
- Rechte und Rechtsextreme im Protest gegen Hartz IV. Bildungsvereinigung Arbeit und Leben Niedersachsen Ost, Braunschweig 2006, ISBN 3-932082-22-2
- Gewerkschaften im Visier von Rechten und Rechtsextremisten. Bildungsvereinigung Arbeit und Leben Niedersachsen Ost, Braunschweig 2007, ISBN 3-932082-30-3
- Politischer und publizistischer Werdegang von Autoren der "Jungen Freiheit". In: Stephan Braun, Ute Vogt (Hrsg): Die Wochenzeitung "Junge Freiheit". Kritische Analysen zu Programmatik, Inhalten, Autoren und Kunden. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Wiesbaden 2007, S. 193-215,ISBN 978-3-531-15421-3
together with Martin Dietzsch:
- Das Plagiat. Der Völkische Nationalismus der Jungen Freiheit. Duisburger Institut für Sprach- und Sozialforschung e.V., 1994, ISBN 3-927388-44-0
- Digitales Braun. Die Nutzung Neuer Medien durch Neonazis. In: Jens Mecklenburg (Hrsg.): Handbuch deutscher Rechtsextremismus. Berlin (Elefanten Press) 1996, ISBN 3-88520-585-8
- Rechtsextremisten und Neue Medien. In: Jens Mecklenburg (Hrsg.): Antifa Reader. Antifaschistisches Handbuch und Ratgeber. Berlin (Elefanten Press) 1996, ISBN 3-88520-574-2
together with Friedrich Paul Heller:
- Thule. Vom völkischen Okkultismus bis zur Neuen Rechten. Schmetterling-Verlag, 2. aktualisierte und überarbeitete Auflage, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-89657-090-0
- Thule. Von den völkischen Mythologien zur Symbolsprache heutiger Rechtsextremisten. Schmetterling-Verlag, 3. überarbeitete Auflage, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 3-89657-092-7
- Die Sprache des Hasses. Rechtsextremismus und völkische Esoterik: Jan van Helsing und Horst MahlerHorst MahlerHorst Mahler is a former German lawyer and advocate of radical ideologies. He once was an extreme-left militant, a founding member of the Red Army Faction. Subsequently he became a Maoist and later shifted to the extreme-right. He was for a time a member of the National Democratic Party of Germany...
. Schmetterling-Verlag, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-89657-091-9
External links
Texte von Maegerle- Gemeinsamer Bibliotheksverbund (GBV)/ Gemeinsamer Verbundkatalog (GVK): Aufsätze von Anton Maegerle
- Stern: Chronik: Rechtsradikale Übergriffe in Deutschland im Juli 2007
- Stern: Chronik: Neonazi-Gewalt seit dem 1. Januar 2007
- Die iranische Rechtsextremisten-Connection (2006)
- Studienzentrum Weikersheim (In: Wolfram Wette (Hrsg.): Filbinger – eine deutsche Karriere, zu Klampen Verlag, Springe 2006, S. 123 ff; PDF-Datei; 70 kB)
- „Junge Freiheit“-Autoren und ihr politisches Umfeld (In: perspektive 21, Brandenburgische Hefte für Wissenschaft & Politik Nr. 18/2003, S. 57ff - pdf; 658 kB)
- Martin Dietzsch / Anton Maegerle: Kampfbegriff aller Rechten: "Political Correctness" Duisburger Institut für Sprach- und Sozialforschung, Mai 1996.
- Artikel und Rezensionen von Anton Maegerle auf www.vorwaerts.de