Kafka's children

This week's newsletter details a spectacular scandal inside the Green party.

Photo by Mitchell Luo on Unsplash

Dear Reader,

It didn’t get much attention outside of Germany, but a law passed by Olaf Scholz’ government in 2023 drew parallels to the Stasi and the Gestapo.

Pushed primarily by the Green party, the whistle-blower protection law mandated that companies with more than 50 staff set up “tip-off centres” where employees could anonymously report misdeeds within their company.

Additionally, the law established public tip-off points that allow people to report on public servants such as teachers or police officers who “make anti-constitutional statements below the threshold of criminal liability.”

The government trumpeted the law as an important mechanism for preventing a repeat of the white-collar fraud of recent years, such as the Wirecard and Dieselgate scandals, which went on for years unnoticed.

Anonymity was crucial, proponents said, because otherwise whistle-blowers would be too scared of repercussions to come forward.

As understandable as these motives are…