Brandenburg's head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution Frank Nürnberger has to leave after almost two years. The 48-year-old was released by the Minister of the Interior Michael Stübgen (CDU) "with immediate effect" from continuing to work, the ministry in Potsdam said.
The reason given was "an insufficient trust relationship". The cabinet would shortly be asked to temporarily retire Nuremberg. His deputy Heike Walter will initially take over the official business. A successor was initially not clear.
The Nuremberg lawyer was only unanimously appointed by the cabinet on 9 January 2018 as the new head of the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Before that, he was head of the Central Immigration Service in Eisenhüttenstadt. According to a report by the "Tagesspiegel", there was obviously no criticism of him until the start of the new interior minister. There are also said to be disagreements with the former Interior Minister Karl-Heinz Schröter (SPD).
Fighting right-wing extremism
Stübgen has only been in office for around four weeks. The new interior minister has made it clear that the fight against right-wing extremism is a priority for him.
Last Tuesday, he announced his own program to counter right-wing extremist threats for the coming year. "One point should be a better early detection of right-wing extremist efforts," Stübgen was quoted in a message from the Interior Ministry. "This also applies in the public sector, especially there should be no place for extremist ideas."