Berlin, Bremen, Göttingen, May 11, 2026
The Green Party parliamentary group submitted a parliamentary inquiry to the Federal Government regarding the bookstore prize scandal. The response has now been received – and it raises new questions for the lawyers representing the affected bookstores. The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM) states that it inquired about the specific information the Federal Office had regarding the three bookstores. However, this is inconsistent with the administrative file submitted in the expedited proceedings.
“The BKM’s response is incompatible with the information available to us,” said Lea Voigt, lawyer for the Golden Shop in Bremen, explaining: “In point 12, the parliamentary group asks why the BKM failed to inquire with the BfV about the specific information available regarding the aforementioned bookstores and why, contrary to the prescribed procedure, it did not contact the BMI directly to obtain an analysis of the available information.” The parliamentary group is clearly referring to Section II, Paragraph 4 of the BMI circular dated February 6, 2017 (the so-called “Haber procedure”), according to which the requesting authority can, in response to the BfV’s general statement that “information relevant to the protection of the constitution” exists, request a more precise definition of the available information.
The file that the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM) submitted to the Berlin Administrative Court in expedited proceedings contains only an email dated January 16, 2026, containing the initial inquiry to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV). The BfV's response of January 28, 2026, stating that "information relevant to the protection of the constitution" exists, is the last document in the file. No further inquiries regarding the nature of this information are included in the file, not even in redacted form.
Sven Adam, lawyer for the Rote Straße bookstore in Göttingen, comments: “In proceedings before the Administrative Court, the Federal Ministry of Culture (BKM) is obligated to submit the complete files. If the authority believed it was not obligated to submit parts of the files, it should have informed the court. Only then can the Administrative Court examine whether the refusal is lawful.”
Attorney Dr. Jasper Prigge, who represented the Berlin bookstore "Zur schwankenden Weltkugel" before the Berlin Administrative Court, explains: "Either there was a follow-up inquiry to the BfV's letter of January 28, 2026, and this was not included in the administrative file. In that case, the BKM would have withheld essential information from the Administrative Court, contrary to its legal obligation. Or the answer to the Green Party's parliamentary inquiry is incorrect because there was no follow-up inquiry to the BfV or the Interior Ministry. In that case, the BKM would have violated its duty to provide truthful answers to the opposition. The Minister of State for Culture must explain this contradiction out of respect for Parliament."
The parliamentary question can be accessed via the following link:
https://dserver.bundestag.de/btd/21/054/2105462.pdf
For press inquiries:
Attorney Sven Adam (Göttingen) – +49 (0) 551 488 31 69 – kontakt@anwaltskanzlei-adam.de
Attorney Dr. Jasper Prigge (Düsseldorf) – +49 (0) 211 4174 89 90 – kontakt@prigge-recht.de
Attorney Lea Voigt (Bremen) – +49 (0) 421 335 16 78 – voigt@strafdefender-bremen.de
For the bookstores: Bookstore Rote Straße (Göttingen), Golden Shop (Bremen), Bookstore zur schwankenden Weltkugel (Berlin)
