FragDenStaat explained

FragDenStaat
Founder:	Stefan Wehrmeyer
Location:	Germany
Leader Title:	Director
Leader Name:	Arne Semsrott
Focus:	Freedom of Information, Government transparency, civic technologies, citizen empowerment, open source

FragDenStaat is a Berlin and Brussels-based NGO run by the Open Knowledge Foundation Germany focused on the right to information. It operates an Internet platform to facilitate freedom of information requests to both German and EU public authorities. The technical platform is supplemented by issue-related campaigns, investigative journalism and strategic lawsuits, which are organized and operated by a project team and often in cooperation with other NGOs or news outlets.^[1]

FragDenStaat was founded by Stefan Wehrmeyer in August 2011 as a similar project to MySociety's WhatDoTheyKnow. So far, 120,000 users have sent more than 230,000 requests using the platform.^[2]

Notable campaigns and scoops

• NSU Files: A leak of a classified report on neo-Nazi terror attacks that confirmed suspicions about the authorities' failures^[3]
• Frontex Files: Investigation into secret meetings between EU agency Frontex and weapon lobbyists^[4]
• Prisons in Paradise: Report on refugee detentions in Greece^[5]

Notes and References

1. Web site: FragDenStaat.de . Open Knowledge Foundation.
2. Web site: FragDenStaat: a lighthearted approach with a serious mission . MySociety. 8 November 2019 .
3. Web site: Leaked neo-Nazi terror report confirms suspicions . Deutsche Welle.
4. Web site: How the EU Border Police Lies to Parliament . FragDenStaat. 5 February 2021 .
5. Web site: Prisons in paradise: Refugees detentions in Greece raise alarm . Aljazeera.