Weimer’s visit to the Leipzig Book Fair raises questions

Still in office

After his decision to remove three left-wing bookstores, which along with 115 others had previously been selected by a jury, from the list of the German Bookstore Prize because of “constitutionally relevant information,” there was great outrage in the book industry. But not just there.

Weimer preferred not to communicate his decision at all and sent a succinct rejection to the bookstores concerned (“Unfortunately, I have to inform you that you were not selected for an award by the independent jury”). He canceled the award ceremony at the Leipzig Book Fair (“An appropriate recognition of the award winners seems hardly possible in such a context”) in order to avoid the angry debate.

After the quite a few, sometimes scandalous, previous wobbles in his less than a year in office – from the missteps at the Berlinale to his dubious Ludwig Erhard summits – this once again gave rise to the well-founded suspicion that he is not up to his job.

Many observers had the impression that it could only be a matter of days before Friedrich Merz would recommend that he resign. But Wolfram Weimer is still in office and is likely to remain so.

At the request of Dobrindt?

Especially since the involvement of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in the German Bookstore Prize is now somewhat different and Weimer may have acted here at the request of Alexander Dobrindt and the Ministry of the Interior, who want to involve the Office for the Protection of the Constitution even more closely in the future when it comes to state funding (and the German Bookstore Prize is nothing different, which awards one million euros to the independent bookstore every year and thus “awards” it in its entirety).

Now Weimer has canceled the award ceremony, which was supposed to take place for the first time at a large-scale book fair at the instigation of his company. But has this cancellation also meant his appearances at the Leipzig Book Fair have come to an end? On Wednesday evening, the trade fair in Leipzig traditionally begins with the opening ceremony in the Gewandhaus, and Weimer is part of the program as a welcoming speaker alongside Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer and Leipzig’s Mayor Burkhard Jung.

The same applies to Thursday with two event dates in the book fair program: Wolfram Weimer wanted to open the Ukraine stand in the afternoon together with book fair director Astrid Böhmisch, which he has now canceled, just like the tour that he actually wanted to take around the fair. But he wants to take part in an event in the evening where freedom of expression, media diversity and the future of democratic society in Germany will be discussed.

The location of this event alone is something special: the German National Library. Shortly after the bookstore disaster, Weimer cut off funding for an expansion. Because, according to his reasoning, “the collection of physical media works” is no longer up-to-date and the German National Library should concentrate more on the digital collection.

His press office, which is otherwise very eager to provide information, remained silent for a long time about his arrival and then wrote late on Tuesday afternoon that “according to current planning,” “State Minister Weimer will attend all appointments at the book fair.” There can’t be talk of “all the appointments”, but at least he’s coming. He avoids appearances directly at the trade fair, which could actually be sensitive and which do not offer him the protection of a celebratory setting.

Weimer can experience what lies ahead even before the opening of the Leipzig Book Fair. The action network “Leipzig Takes a Seat” has called for a protest rally on Augustusplatz directly in front of the Gewandhaus on Wednesday afternoon. This is the freedom of expression that Weimer likes to mention in speeches.