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Iris Carstensen / THE MIRROR

Thomas Schulz

For the gatekeepers in the government district, their sight is part of everyday life: emissaries from McKinsey, Boston Consulting, Roland Berger and Co. walk past them every morning, and some even have offices in the ministries. "In some projects, more consultants seem to work as civil servants," says editor Thomas Schulz, who has been examining the consultant misconduct in German politics with a SPIEGEL team. Even top politicians like Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer see the many consultants meanwhile with skepticism. The CSU politician warns against the SPIEGEL against the progressive outsourcing of government tasks and is self-critical: "If we had done everything right, we would not sit here today and talk about it." Editor Martin Hesse met McKinsey boss Kevin Sneader at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Sven Becker and Matthias Gebauer continued to research in the home of Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen . Already the previous revelations of the editors had led to the fact that the opposition wants to use a committee of inquiry. Now there are new documents that confirm the suspicion of nepotism in the Ministry of Defense .

Wilma Leskovich

Annette Grossbongardt

More in the SPIEGEL

Issue 5/2019

The fifth power

How the German state delivers to global consulting firms

Digital Edition | Printed Edition | Apps | SUBSCRIPTION

In December 1975, the SPIEGEL revealed that the state apparatus of the GDR released children for adoption whose parents had been caught escaping. After the reunification, more politically motivated coelegies were announced, but to this day the injustice has not been worked up. Editor Annette Großbongardt visited parents and children who had been separated from the GDR authorities: Uwe Mai, for example, who was six years old when he saw his biological parents for the last time; or Helga Gnieß, who found her daughters after 18 years. "In the name of socialism , families were destroyed," says Grossbongardt, "even if parents and children find themselves after decades, they have become strangers to each other."

When SPIEGEL revealed the case of counterfeiting Relotius , we promised to work through the processes transparently - this work is ongoing. By Claas Relotius in the magazine and on SPIEGEL ONLINE altogether about 60 texts appeared, short interviews are among them, but also large reports, which were awarded with prizes. Many of these articles have been found to be forged in substantial parts. At present, a team of editors and documentaries is reviewing all the texts concerned. An overview of the status of the investigation can be found online at Spiegel.de/relotius, this list will be updated continuously in the coming months. Regardless, a commission investigates why our security systems have failed. As soon as the results of the commission are available, we will also report on it.