Thomas Kuban

Thomas Kuban is the pseudonym of a German journalist and non-fiction author , who became known primarily through film and book publications through his many years of research in the right-wing extremist music scene in Germany and Europe .

Life

"Thomas Kuban", who only appears under this pseudonym for his own protection, had specialized in undercover research as a freelance journalist since the mid-1990s. Further details about his person are not known. At public appearances, Kuban always used a disguise with a “mustard yellow jacket, blonde wig, beard and sunglasses” for security reasons in order to remain undetected.

Since the early 2000s, Kuban has been working in his research with a concealed film camera in the form of a digital miniature camera that is hidden under his clothing as a "buttonhole camera ". His films have appeared in various television magazines in Germany, Belgium, Austria and Switzerland, including Spiegel TV and stern TV . He also wrote reports for the Süddeutsche Zeitung , the news magazine Der Spiegel and other media.

Kuban researched the right-wing extremist music scene from the mid-1990s until 2011 and attended numerous right-wing rock concerts in Germany and other European countries. Since around 2003 he has been secretly filming "Nazi rock concerts" that were organized by neo-Nazis in a conspiratorial environment . Many such concerts were organized by the forbidden network Blood and Honor , Division 28, but also by the NPD and its youth organization Young National Democrats . As a rule, there were criminal offenses at the concerts , mostly in the form of sedition .

public perception

Thomas Kuban appeared in October 2012 as an expert on the ARD television program Günther Jauch . There he criticized u. a. the behavior of the police towards the right-wing radical music scene and made allegations against the band Frei.Wild , which were picked up by numerous national media.

The 2012 film Blood Must Flow , which deals with Kuban's research in the right-wing radical music scene and contains a selection of his investigative film recordings, received a lot of media attention. Kuban's book of the same name, published in 2012, was discussed or reviewed in numerous regional and national media.

Furthermore, Kuban's research work was honored in a comprehensive report in the magazine Der Spiegel . Kuban is also quoted or his work is described in other national media. Kuban himself published several articles about his research, which were published in Spiegel and the Süddeutsche Zeitung , among others . Kuban also wrote for online specialist portals such as Endstation Rechts or the Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb).

An interview with Kuban was already documented on the bpb website in 2009. The material provided by Kuban was used in the following television programs, among others: Spiegel TV , stern tv , Report Mainz , Report Munich , Kontraste and Panorama . Foreign television stations also broadcast material researched by Kuban.

Interruption of the undercover research

In a conversation with Angelika Fey from Deutschlandradio Wissen , which was broadcast in March 2016, Kuban referred to nightmares that had been a result of years of double life and announced that he no longer wanted to report undercover. In addition, Kuban stated that he “misjudged the media market”.

In autumn 2018, in response to a boom in the right-wing extremist concert scene, he announced that he would be resuming his undercover research. After his recordings of a concert in Kirchheim im Ilm-Kreis had been used in a broadcast of the MDR , a complaint was made against those responsible and participants.

Awards

• Together with Andrea Röpke and Anton Maegerle, Kuban was awarded the Leuchtturm Prize in 2007 for special journalistic achievements .
• The film Blood Must Flow was shown at the 2012 Berlinale and took 2nd place in the 2012 Alternative Media Prize.
• In 2013, Kuban received the Georg Elser Prize from the City of Munich.

Works

Movie

• Blood has to flow - undercover under Nazis . Documentary ; Director, screenplay, production and camera: Peter Ohlendorf ; Length: 87 minutes; Germany 2012 (Thomas Kuban: research, camera).

Non-fiction

• Blood must flow. Undercover among Nazis. Campus-Verlag , Frankfurt am Main 2012, ISBN 978-3-593-39802-0 .

Web links

• Official website for the film Blood Must Flow
• Undercover under Nazis , editorial conference with Kuban on DRadio Wissen in January 2013, ( audio (MP3; 31.1 MB), 65 minutes)
• Interview with Kuban in the state show Baden-Württemberg (SWR) in November 2012
• How resilient is democracy? - NPD between toleration and prohibition ( memento from March 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Kuban visits West.art in January 2013
• "In Dialog" with Thomas Kuban , Phoenix in May 2013
• Risky research - secret recordings of NPD officials , Panorama (magazine) in March 2007 - with material by Thomas Kuban
• Musical hate culture - new Nazi bands on the rise , panorama from June 2006 - with material by Thomas Kuban * Book of the Week , topic page on Friday with articles and videos

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Information on Thomas Kuban ( Memento from January 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ). On: Website of the campus publishing house . Retrieved December 10, 2012.
2. ^ ^{A b} Ulrich Gutmair: Berlinale film about Nazi rock concerts. Hatred of the republic . In: taz of February 17, 2012. Retrieved December 10, 2012.
3. ↑ Video aspects: Peter Ohlendorf - “Blood must flow” (February 18, 2012)  in the ZDFmediathek , accessed on December 10, 2012. (offline)
4. ↑ Mathias Zschaler: Sometimes it is better to be silent. In: Spiegel Online. October 29, 2012, accessed November 29, 2014 . 
5. ↑ Ralf Dargent: The self-praise of the dispassionate Friedrich. In: welt.de. October 29, 2012, accessed November 29, 2014 . 
6. ↑ http://www.freitag.de/autoren/asansoerpress35/rechtes-auge-weiter-blind
7. ↑ https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/medien/faz-net-fruehkritik-guenther-jauch-blick-vorbei-am-abgrund-11942315.html
8. ↑ http://www.br.de/radio/bayern2/sendung/kulturwelt/thomas-kubans-buch-blut-muss-fliessen-undercover-unter-nazis-100.html
9. ↑ Thomas Kuban's video on “Blood must flow”  in the ZDFmediathek , accessed on February 10, 2014. (offline)
10. ↑ http://swrmediathek.de/player.htm?show=f945be90-3256-11e2-adc1-0026b975f2e6
11. ↑ http://www.freitag.de/buch-der-woche/blut-muss-fliessen
12. ↑ http://www.3sat.de/page/?source=/kulturzeit/themen/165859/index.html
13. ↑ Christoph Scheuermann: Detective in the brown milieu . In: Der Spiegel . No. 41 , 2012, p. 40 f . ( online - October 8, 2012 ).
14. ↑ Michael Pilz: What is reflected in aviator glasses. In: welt.de. February 21, 2012, accessed November 29, 2014 . 
15. ↑ for example Thomas Kuban, Christoph Scheuermann, Andreas Ulrich: Nazis in Rockerkutten . In: Der Spiegel . No. 31 , 2012, p. 112 f . ( online - July 30, 2012 ).
16. ↑ http://www.perlentaucher.de/feuilletons/2011-11-19.html
17. ↑ Is it all just a facade? Or: How "right" are Frei.Wild really?
18. ↑ http://www.bpb.de/politik/extremismus/rechtsextremismus/41252/europa-rockt-voelkisch
19. ↑ http://www.bpb.de/politik/extremismus/rechtsextremismus/41249/undercover-in-der-szene
20. ^ "Thomas Kuban: Undercover in the right-wing scene" on DokZentrum ansTageslicht.de
21. ↑ http://www.swr.de/landesschau-bw/gaeste/-/id=2248750/nid=2248750/did=10473404/1kx5uwx/index.html
22. ↑ Kuban in an interview with Deutschlandradio Wissen
23. ↑ Interview with Thomas Kuban | FilmFaktum . In: FilmFaktum . September 27, 2018 ( film Faktum.de [accessed November 3, 2018]).
24. ↑ mdr.de: Ads after video evidence: Public prosecutor's office investigate according to MDR documentary "Rechtsrockland" | MDR.DE . ( mdr.de [accessed on November 3, 2018]).
25. ↑ http://www.bnr.de/content/auszeichnung-mit-dem-ae-leuchtturm-ae
26. ↑ http://www.berlinale.de/de/archiv/jahresarchive/2012/02_programm_2012/02_Filmdatenblatt_2012_20127557.php
27. ↑ http://www.muenchen.de/rathaus/Stadtverwaltung/Kulturreferat/Presseservice/Pressemmeldung/2013_07/Georg-Elser-Preis.html