The State Office for the Protection of the Constitution of Hesse (LfV HE) is the constitutional protection authority of the state of Hesse. As a higher state authority, it is directly subordinate to the Hessian Ministry of the Interior and Sport and is based in Wiesbaden. The authority, established on July 19, 1951, has 375 employees and is divided into six departments with twenty-two divisions.[1] In Hesse's operating budget, the office is allocated 39.1 million euros for 2023.[2]
According to Section 2 Paragraph 1 of the Law on the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution (LfV Law) of 19 December 1990 (GVBl. I p. 753), amended on 6 September 2007 (GVBl. I p. 542–545) and most recently by Section 32 of the Hessian Security Review Law of 28 September 2007 (GVBl. I p. 623), the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution of Hesse has the task of enabling the competent authorities to take the necessary measures in good time to avert threats to the free democratic basic order, the existence and security of the federal government and the states. This basically applies to all activities that
This mission is implemented by
The LfV is not interested in political views. Efforts within the meaning of the Constitutional Protection Act are rather only targeted activities that attempt to impair or eliminate the core of our constitution. They are described as anti-constitutional or extremist. They can be expressed through actions such as agitation, preparations for acts of violence or other political activities - even in the run-up to criminal acts.
For the planned new Constitutional Protection Act and for the planned amendment of the Hessian Police Act, the CDU parliamentary group, together with the Green parliamentary group in the Hessian state parliament, received the negative Big Brother Award in the politics category in 2018. Laudator Rolf Gössner described the legislative initiative as a "dangerous accumulation of serious surveillance powers that deeply interfere with fundamental rights and threaten the democratic constitutional state."[3]
Information obtained through intelligence services cannot generally be used publicly. However, it does enable a proper and qualified evaluation of publicly available information. It is therefore necessary and indispensable for assessing anti-constitutional activities. The State Office for the Protection of the Constitution regularly informs the Parliamentary Control Commission for the Protection of the Constitution and the highest state authorities about its findings. In individual cases, other authorities, such as those responsible for law enforcement, may also be informed of relevant findings by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution in order to fulfil their mandate.
In 2022, 42.5 percent of employees were female.
The LfV is subject to complex constitutional control. In addition to legal and technical supervision by the Hessian Ministry of the Interior, external controls by the State Commissioner for Data Protection ensure that the legally prescribed framework is not exceeded. Parliamentary control is carried out by the Parliamentary Control Commission for the Protection of the Constitution. Postal and telecommunications surveillance measures under the Article 10 Act are subject to control by the G 10 Commission of the Hessian State Parliament. The budget is subject to strict control by the Hessian Court of Auditors. Last but not least, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is controlled by the public through public media reporting.
| Period | Name | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 1951 – February 1952 | Paul Schmidt | ||
| March 1952 – Mai 1954 | Arno Maneck (kommissarisch) | ||
| June 1954 – März 1955 | Karl Pforr | ||
| April 1955 – June 1957 | Wilhelm Leyerer | ||
| June 1957 – November 1967 | Kurt Wolf | ||
| December 1967 – April 1976 | Werner Heede | ||
| Mai 1976 – August 1980 | Roderich Fabian | ||
| August 1980 – October 1991 | Günther Scheicher | ||
| 1991–1993 | Heinz Fromm | President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution from 2000 to 2012 | |
| November 1993 – Juli 1999 | Hartmut Ferse | ||
| Juli 1999 – Oktober 2006 | Lutz Irrgang | ||
| November 2006 – Mai 2010 | Alexander Eisvogel | Then moved to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution as Vice President | |
| Juni 2010 – Februar 2015 | Roland Desch | In February, the Hessian Minister of the Interior and Sport Peter Beuth placed him into temporary retirement with immediate effect | |
| February 2015 – December 2022 | Robert Schäfer | Until then, he was President of the West Hesse Police Headquarters and was appointed Hessian State Police President in November 2022. | |
| since Februar 2023 | Bernd Neumann | until 2015 police officer at the LPP Hessen, since 2018 Vice President of the LfV[4] |
At the time of the murder of Halit Yozgat, the ninth and last victim of the Nationalist Socialist Underground murder series, on April 6, 2006, the intelligence officer Andreas Temme was in the Internet café where the murder took place. The computer data shows that Temme was still surfing the Internet at 5:01 p.m. At that time, the victim was already dead. The intelligence officer claims not to have noticed the murder. On the day of the murder, Temme spoke to a right-wing extremist twice on the phone: at 1:00 p.m. and at 4:11 p.m.[5] According to a former neighbor, Temme was nicknamed "Little Adolf" in his hometown as a young adult.[6] Temme also has no alibi for six other times when the NSU committed right-wing extremist murders of migrants. In the attic of the intelligence officer, the police found excerpts from Hitler's "Mein Kampf" that had been typed out.
The online edition of the weekly newspaper Die Zeit reported on February 24, 2015:[7] In the intercepted telephone conversation between Andreas Temme and the security officer of the LfV, he said:During an interrogation on April 22, 2006, Andreas Temme stated that he knew a Hells Angel well, who, according to the investigating detective, was presumably the Hells Angels leader Michael S., who was found to be in possession of confidential documents ("VS - for official use only") from the Saxon State Office of Criminal Investigation. The betrayal of official secrets in question has not been solved to this day..
In October 2012, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution overlooked an advertisement in the motorcycle magazine "Biker News" by the right-wing extremist Bernd T., who is imprisoned in Hünfeld Prison, about setting up a right-wing extremist organization called AD Jail Crew, even though the Office for the Protection of the Constitution has a subscription to this magazine.
In 1980, the civil servant in the state office, Richard Kind, was recruited as a double agent by the Main Directorate for Reconnaissance (HVA) of the Ministry for State Security of the GDR through relatives of his wife after he had gotten into financial difficulties. He was given the code name Bodva (XV 2760/81) and provided a total of 546 source reports, including on suspected cases of counter-espionage, the system for monitoring the whereabouts of emigrants, and code words for queries at residents' registration offices and the Federal Motor Transport Authority.He is said to have received 300 to 500 DM per meeting with his commanding officer.
"Hesse's Office for the Protection of the Constitution regularly exchanges information with the US Army's military intelligence service stationed in Wiesbaden.“[8]
The Thuringian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which received a devastating report from the first Bundestag NSU investigative committee, was set up in the 1990s with the help of Hessian constitutional protection officers.