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Hildmann at a rally against corona restrictions 2020
Photo: Christophe Gateau / dpa
Anyone who has been reporting on the actions of the Anonymous hacker collective for years is used to surprises.
However, what happened at a virtual press conference in mid-September was also unexpected for me: The 22-year-old Kai Enderes, a member of the secretive hacker group, unpacked about how he spent months as an IT administrator on the side of the right-wing opponent of Coronavirus Attila Hildmann was.
There had never been anything like it in this country.
At the same time, SPIEGEL and SPIEGEL TV were given access to more than two terabytes of internal e-mails, chats and data from the former vegan chef.
They show how he had trouble with the police and a food control even before the pandemic and was also in trouble on business.
Some readers criticized us: We shouldn't give Hildmann a stage, please.
This is often an important objection, but in this research I see it differently.
The revelation gave new insights into Hildmann's radicalization and his closeness to right-wing extremists.
She also contradicted his narrative that it was only the corona measures that drove him into conflict with the state.
Finally, a "lateral thinker" was exposed in the Berlin Public Prosecutor's Office, who is said to have pushed through an arrest warrant for Hildmann.
It turned out that she had even called for a storm at the Chancellery on Telegram.
I think all of this really belongs in public.