State protection

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The collective term state protection describes the protection of an existing state from politically motivated, state-threatening activities in the context of police and regulatory authority measures. This generic term has always been used differently in Germany than in Switzerland.

Situation in Germany

Before the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany

The secret police , was often called Gestapo of criminal authorities apparatus and the political police in the era of National Socialism (1933-1945). The Nazi regime created them soon after they came to power in 1933 by reshaping the political police forces of the Weimar Republic . In 1939 the Gestapo was incorporated into the Reich Security Main Office (Amt IV). She had far-reaching powers in combating political opponents. The Gestapo was one of the institutions indicted against the major war criminals in the Nuremberg Trial . It was declared a criminal organization in the judgment .

Authorities and duties

In the Federal Republic of Germany , the task of state security is carried out in particular by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the state authorities for the protection of the constitution (in the context of internal security ), the Military Counter-Intelligence Service (for the BMVg's division ), the Federal Intelligence Service (in the field of external security ) and locally superordinate police stations of the criminal police , in particular the Police State Security (ST), whose task is the fight against politically motivated crime .

The tasks of the criminal police and public prosecutor's offices involved in state security include:

  • the investigation and prosecution of criminal offenses (repressive fight against crime)
  • the prevention and prevention of terrorism, extremism and politically motivated crimes in advance (preventive fight against crime).

Legal basis

Relevant laws that address and regulate state security include:

Situation in Switzerland

History of State Security

The first state security activities in Switzerland go back to the Bismarck era. Under pressure from the German Chancellor , measures were taken at the end of the 1880s to monitor (especially German) left-wing extremists in the country, without any constitutional basis. In the period of National Socialism, again under German pressure, the problem of the balance of measures arose: One was more harsh against communists than against supporters of the fascists. At least some fascist organizations were banned or at least monitored and restricted. The Cold War then showed - viewed under Western- Democratic standards - excessive surveillance activities of politically unpopular activities: The Fichenskandal uncovered in 1989 revealed that around 900,000 people - of them a third of Swiss nationality - were recorded in the records of the Federal Prosecutor's Office .

Authorities and duties

The state protection mandate, as formulated by the constitution and law, is general. If a distinction is made according to the procedural stage, one can speak of preventive and repressive state protection. If the distinction is made according to the territorial sovereignty concerned, a distinction can be made between federal and cantonal state protection.

A content-related orientation results from the subdivision of state security in the three observation fields of counter-espionage, the fight against terrorism, violent extremism and the transfer of technology .

In Switzerland, the protection of the state and the constitution has been carried out by the domestic intelligence service Federal Intelligence Service (NDB) (previously the Analysis and Prevention Service) of the Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport since January 1, 2010 . Among other things, the regulation on the State Security Information System ( ISIS regulation ) regulates relevant issues.

The main criminal law instruments of the protection of the constitution are some norms of the penal code , which criminalize activities that endanger the state as well as preparatory actions for a violent overthrow.

Control of state security authorities

State security work always moves in the delicate area of ​​tension between the protection of democracy and the democratic development of its citizens. The task of “state protection” means that by its nature it always comes to the edge of what is legally comprehensible and controllable. The dangers of abuse cannot therefore be completely ruled out.

The main point of public criticism always concerns the extent of intelligence activity with its excessive data collections and registries. The problem of privacy protection begins with the collection of information and continues with the entry into electronic databases. The Federal State Protection Act does not permit convincing external control to this day, or only inadequately.

The parliamentary control instruments are still relatively limited compared to the "powerful" means and methods of the authorities. Only with control instruments that are convincing under the rule of law can state power be limited in the interests of the development of the citizens and at the same time help prevent the abuse of power. To date, there has been no legal entitlement to direct access to the data collections of the federal and cantonal state protection bodies.

Austria

In Austria there are domestic secret services, similar to Germany, at the federal level the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Fight against Terrorism and at the state level the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Fight against Terrorism . The Police State Protection Act regulates state protection in the area of ​​the police.

literature

  • Andreas Keller: The political police as part of the Swiss state security . Basler Studien zur Rechtswissenschaft, Helbing & Lichtenhahn, Diss., Basel 1996, 615 p. With further references.
  • Urs P. Engeler: Big Brother Switzerland , 1990.
  • Dominik Rigoll : State Security in West Germany: From Denazification to Countering Extremists . (= Contributions to the history of the 20th century. Ed. By Norbert Frei . Vol. 13). Wallstein, Göttingen 2013. ISBN 978-3835310766 (also dissertation, Free University Berlin, 2010).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Department "Police State Security" on the website of the BKA
  2. ↑ Berlin Police LKA 5 - Police State Security
  3. ^ Department 5 - State Security - in the Hessian State Criminal Police Office
  4. ^ LKA Lower Saxony Police State Security
  5. ^ Police NRW Cologne State protection against extremism
  6. ↑ State Criminal Police Office Saxony - Police State Protection
  7. ↑ Police State Security | Portal of the Lower Saxony police
  8. ↑ Police State Security | Osnabrück Police Department
  9. ^ State security - Baden-Württemberg police
  10. ^ Police North Rhine-Westphalia - Düsseldorf