The corona lockdown a gigantic "false alarm"? So it is in a paper that causes excitement online. The author is an official in the Ministry of the Interior. Now he faces disciplinary proceedings.
- An employee of the interior ministry caused a scandal - he reprimanded the corona measures with an official letterhead.
- The author is Stephan Kohn, 57, a member of the SPD - he caused excitement online with his paper.
- Kohn will face professional consequences.
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Munich - Paper can be patient - or explosive. In any case , the 83 pages that have been causing heated debates online for days are tough. It's about the corona measures of the Federal Government to the lockdown and its consequences. The state, it says, "failed in an almost grotesque way". There could be “no reasonable doubt” that Corona was a “global false alarm” .
The author is Stephan Kohn, 57, a member of the SPD and actually a speaker at the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI). Recently, however, he has been banned from serving and must expect disciplinary proceedings. The online community has been cooking since then and suspects that a critical voice should be silenced here . But it is probably much more profane: Kohn sent the document with the BMI letterhead to high government offices, giving the impression that he was sending an official report . In fact, he acted on his own - the BMI calls the paper a purely private opinion.
Kohn believes the government willfully knock the economy on the wall
Kohn cannot be blamed for lack of diligence. The SPD man interviewed numerous scientists (who apparently believed that he was acting on behalf of the BMI), gathered a lot of material. His conclusion, roughly: The collateral damage that would result from the downturn in the economy is much higher than the benefits . Kohn believes the government willfully knock the economy on the wall and risk additional deaths - for example due to a lack of treatment. The state, it is said at one point, is "one of the largest Fakenews producers".
They are pithy words that fall on fertile soil. Skepticism about the government's measures is growing, numerous demonstrations have again been announced for the weekend , including in Bavaria. The fact that the skeptics now have a leniency from the Ministry confirms their rejection of the protective measures.
"Seehofer talks about letterheads, but ignores content"
In his paper, Kohn refers to a number of researchers: Peter Schirmacher is one of them, chief pathologist at Heidelberg University and a member of the Leopoldina Academy, who advises Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU). Another is the microbiologist Sucharit Bhakdi, who has expressed his opinion on the Corona crisis on YouTube , but whose theses are highly controversial . Both recently signed an open letter in which a total of ten researchers defend Kohn and accuse Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) of ignoring the results of the paper . Stefan Hockertz (59), ex-director of the Hamburg University Clinic Eppendorf, said the "picture": "Seehofer talks about letterheads, but ignores content."
Not a single virologist signed the letter
It is striking, however, that there is not a single virologist or epidemiologist among the signatories of the letter . Christian Drosten, who advises the German government on the Corona crisis, recently scolded the cross-shots of non-specialist researchers : what he heard in part from "apparent experts" often lacked any basis and encouraged "dangerous conspiracy theorists".
In terms of content, Kohn's paper remains vague in certain parts . For example, with a view to possible serious consequences from canceled operations, he writes that the death rate “cannot be reliably assessed” in order to immediately speak of 5,000 to 125,000 deaths. As a source, he only refers to "experts". It is similar with other theses.
Kohn himself has not yet commented on the whole unrest . It seems impossible that he will again work in the "Protection of Critical Infrastructures" unit. The breach of trust in the BMI is probably too great. The SPD man, it was said, must now count on "the full range of disciplinary law".