Published NSU files: the well-known now for everyone

The fuss that the "ZDF Magazin Royale" triggered at the weekend in the Hessian state capital and on the Internet could be misunderstood as if there was an investigative success to be admired.

In fact, however, the "publication" of the so-called NSU files is by no means the disclosure of previously unknown facts.

The report by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution on its activities prior to the discovery of the "National Socialist Underground" in 2011 was already available to the deputies of the investigative committee formed for this purpose.

They were able to confront witnesses with the content in public sessions.

To this day, the seven members of the Parliamentary Control Commission for the Protection of the Constitution have access to the documents at all times.

They are also in the files of the current committee of inquiry into the murder of the former Kassel district president Walter Lübcke (CDU).

The material is not only available to the 15 full and 28 deputy members, but also to two employees from each parliamentary group if they have previously undergone a security check.

Where did Böhmermann get the files from?

So almost 100 members of the parliamentary business must have known the files that have been available to the public on the Internet since Friday.

If you have previous knowledge, reading it will lead you to exactly the assessment that has prevailed among MPs across party lines for years.

After that, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution was not at all prepared for the threats of right-wing extremism and was totally overwhelmed.

This by no means new finding relates to the conditions prevailing in the authority more than ten years ago.

The fact that the Left Party is taking this as an opportunity to demand the abolition of the protection of the constitution today is not a plausible conclusion, but merely evidence of a fundamental, ideologically motivated rejection of the secret service and its mandate.

The left ignores the fact that their favorite opponent, Minister of the Interior Peter Beuth (CDU), has reorganized the authority to prepare it for the challenges of right-wing extremism.

It remains to be seen whether the massive increase in staff and the new structures will prove successful.

At the moment there is speculation in the government district as to who could have leaked the files to moderator Jan Böhmermann.

Too many have had the opportunity to do so.