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NRW Interior Minister Reul: "Formal notification of overload to the top management"
Photo: David Young / dpa
The employees in the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of the Interior apparently reached their limits when it came to crisis management after the flood.
This is suggested by a document written by an official on September 1, 2021, around seven weeks after the disaster.
The department head's so-called leadership draft was tantamount to a call for help, it was entitled "Replacement and personnel reinforcement in Department 3."
Department 3 is responsible for the topic of security in the ministry.
One of the sections, number 32, was particularly important after the flood.
According to the organizational plan, it was then responsible for “planning, organisation, law and crisis management in fire and disaster control, office of the crisis management team, civil protection matters”.
The so-called coordination group is also located in Department 3.
After the flood, it was the central body in the state government's crisis management.
The coordination group was headed by Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU), and included external skilled workers such as members of the armed forces and federal police officers.
»Formal overload notice«
When the management draft reached the ministry's executive floor in September, they discussed how to deal with the report.
"I think you can only interpret that as a formal notification of overload to the top management," wrote Reul's office manager in an e-mail to another department head.
"I share your assessment," his colleague replied.
The correspondence is available to SPIEGEL.
It seems that the most important department within the ministry was overloaded during the crisis management.
Possibly there was a lack of staff and the employees were therefore overwhelmed.
Did that have consequences for coping with the flood disaster?
Reul intervened himself.
On September 6, he sent an e-mail to the head of Department 3. Against the background of the problem she "raised" he asked for "a detailed overview of the current personnel situation" in her department.
Reul wanted to know who was on vacation, who was on sick leave, or whether there were "other reasons for being absent."
The e-mail is available to SPIEGEL.
Head of department was vacant during the flood
On request, a ministry spokesman said that at that time the management of the important department 32 was “temporarily vacant”, the vacancy existed from June to December 2021.
At the time, there were also indications of "a high burden" from two other departments dealing with the subject of civil protection.
The whole of Section 3 was "extremely challenged" during the flood.
However, "at no time was it not sufficiently staffed".
The situation had “no impact” on crisis management.
However, there is some evidence that the organization of the staff in the post-flood period was anything but ideal.
The consequences that Reul has drawn in the meantime reinforce this impression.
Department 3 was enlarged, Unit 32 was divided into two separate units.
A position for crisis communication was created, further new appointments are to follow from 2023.
There is currently "a comprehensive restructuring process," says the ministry spokesman.