Many Russian media wrote that a commissioner for the rights of Russians was appointed in the Bundestag. Russian Germans and Russian-speaking citizens of Germany will be able to turn to him in case of discrimination. We found out how true these reports are.
According to numerous messages Russian federal media, on June 21, 2022, Bundestag deputy Evgeny Schmidt was appointed commissioner for the rights of Russian Germans. "RIA Novosti" wrote: “A member of the AfD (Alternative for Germany) party, Evgeniy Schmidt, became the ombudsman for the rights of Russians in the country.” A "Public News Service" addedthat “a meeting on this matter was held in the Bundestag” - the German parliament. Publications also report, that in addition to this, Schmidt became the co-founder of a new NGO created to protect Russians. Channel "Ren-TV" conveys Schmidt’s words about the reasons for creating the organization: “In Germany, Russian-speaking people were scared. <…> Some employers have begun to prevent employees who have relatives in Russia from building a career. Russophobia has not spared even children. Schmidt said that in educational institutions and kindergartens, some teachers begin to bully children and inflict real psychological violence on them.”
We could not find a single mention of this news in the German media. The only one publication in German, found by us at the request “Beauftragter für Russlanddeutsche” (“commissioner for the rights of Russian Germans”), was published by the German-language channel of the Russian state publication Russia Today, headed by Margarita Simonyan.
Typically, the appointment of a new ombudsman is widely covered in the German press, and information about this is also published on the website of the German federal government. For example, as is the case with appointment Ferdy Ataman to the post of Commissioner for Combating Discrimination. Or Reem Alabali-Radovan - authorized to combat racism in Germany. According to the explanatory document Bundestag, ombudsmen in Germany report to federal ministers and provide them with support in carrying out government tasks. They are appointed directly by the federal government - by decision of the Cabinet of Ministers or by decree of the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.
How did it happen that the appointment of Evgeniy Schmidt to the post of German Ombudsman went unnoticed in Germany itself? The fact is that, contrary to clickbait headlines in the Russian media, Schmidt did not become the official federal ombudsman for the rights of Russians. Such a position does not exist in Germany at all. The vote to appoint him as a representative of Russian Germans took place at meeting the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD). AfD takes 80 out of 736 deputy seats in parliament, one of which belongs to Evgeniy Schmidt. By the way, since 2016 he occupied a similar position as a representative for the affairs of Russian Germans, but from the regional branch of the AfD in North Rhine-Westphalia. And from June 21, 2022, apparently, he became a representative from the central branch of the party.
The day after the appointment, June 22, Evgeniy Schmidt and his party colleague Ulrich Oehme announced on the creation of the organization “Association for the Prevention of Discrimination and Social Exclusion of Russian Germans and Russian-Speaking Citizens in Germany” (VDAR). Oehme became its chairman, and Schmidt became his deputy. This organization can also be called an initiative of several parliamentarians, politicians and lawyers rather than an official structure.
Thus, Evgeny Schmidt was indeed chosen as a representative of the Russian Germans, as evidenced by the official page parliamentarian on Facebook. The difference is that the decision was made by his party colleagues, and not by the federal government or the Bundestag, as it might seem to readers of the Russian media. And the difference here is fundamental, since this position does not have any state-approved powers. How said a deputy himself, he will become a contact person in the AfD party and the VDAR organization for the affairs of Russian Germans. This description - contact person - more accurately describes Schmidt's new position and function than the misleading titles used in Russian headlines.
Cover image: AfD member of the Bundestag Eugen Schmidt. YouTube
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