Death threats on Telegram, such as those made against Prime Ministers Manuela Schwesig (SPD) and Michael Kretschmer (CDU), are not an isolated case.

You can find them there hundreds of times, as a research by the editorial team of “tagesschau.de” shows.

She reveals that there have been daily calls for killing in secret and open Telegram chat groups since mid-November - against personalities from politics, science, medicine, authorities and the media.

tip of the iceberg

Michael Hanfeld

responsible editor for features online and "media".

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Between November 1 and December 31, 2021, “tagesschau.de” found more than 250 calls for death.

However, this is "only the tip of the iceberg", since Telegram cannot be completely searched, only the channels and chats to which you are registered yourself.

Most chat groups require an invitation.

The calls for killing were found in secret and open chat groups, and they were often even published under presumably real names. There was almost never any contradiction. The Saxon Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer said: "Kretschmer and his mercenaries" (meaning the police), "should be executed [sic!] For high treason against the people!" FDP) should "shoot". Calls for violence are also directed against the Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU), CDU boss Friedrich Merz, the former Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) and the incumbent Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD).

A Telegram chat in which soldiers and reservists are supposedly represented, according to “tagesschau.de”, attracts attention through frequent calls for killing.

This shows that the well-known appeal by the mountain hunter Andreas O. is not an isolated case.

In the "Soldiers & Reservists" group on Telegram, for example, the former Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) said: "The old woman should be shot."

Request to Faeser

Threats are also made against the media.

A science journalist who has been awarded the Federal Cross of Merit is affected.

In a chat it was said: “Maybe we should really burn down ARD and ZDF to destroy their media propaganda machine.” Another user asked “Why isn't the media burning yet, I mean the buildings […] where the dirt is broadcast ? "

The political scientist Josef Holnburger from the Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy (CeMas), who was questioned by "tagesschau.de", considers the calls for murder to be dangerous. “People with a conspiratorial ideological view of the world” are “more willing to use violence”, research has shown that for years.

The German Association of Journalists has called on the Federal Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser (SPD), to act “hard and resolutely” against the senders of calls for murder and violence on Telegram.

"We journalists experience hostility from the camp of vaccination opponents and corona deniers every day," said the DJV Federal Chairman Frank Überall.

The calls for murder showed that the hatred of journalists no longer knows any boundaries.

The new interior minister announced that she would take decisive action against extremism when she took office.

Now applies: “Ms. Faeser, turn words into deeds.

The situation is serious."