German Government Gone Mad Again
Interview with CJ Hopkins, American expat playwright in Berlin
Back in December I wrote a post about C.J. Hopkins, an American expat playwright and satirical author who has lived in Berlin since 2004. I have followed him closely since November 2020, when he published a cogent and funny essay titled “The Germans Are Back.” At the time, he was facing criminal prosecution for likening the German government’s COVID-19 pandemic response to totalitarian measures imposed by the Third Reich, and for making fun of Germany’s Health Minister, Karl Lauterbach.
The specific charge was that the cover of his recently published book, The Rise of the New Normal Reich was a form of propaganda, “the contents of which are intended to further the aims of a former National Socialist organization.”
In fact, the book expressly criticizes the aims and methods of the former National Socialist organization, as well as the current German government, which—like the National Socialist government did in 1933—invoked a public emergency in 2020 in order to suspend constitutional protections and rule by executive decree.
The charge against Hopkins was so manifestly ridiculous that the judge who recently heard the case couldn’t bring herself to find him guilty of committing a crime, though she also couldn’t resist the temptation to express her contempt for Hopkins and his view of the matter.
There was a time not so long ago when America’s liberal media outlets would have taken a keen interest in a distinguished American artist being tried in a German court for criticizing German state policy. Not so anymore. As we now know, the Epoch Times (which alone sent a reporter to the trial) is the only major newspaper in the United States that does serious journalism. The rest are mere propaganda organs in the service of powerful, undemocratic interests.
Hats off to independent journalist and fellow Substack author, Aya Velázquez, for writing a fantastic reportage of the historic trial, which laid bare the stunning humbug, confusion, illogic, irrationality, and illiberality of German political culture today. The incident is further evidence that the contagion of stupidity that we are now seeing in the United States is a global pandemic.
Following Hopkins’s acquittal on January 23, the prosecutor appealed the judge’s ruling, which means that the accused will now face another trial for the same charge in a different court.
This morning I had a conversation with Mr. Hopkins in which we attempted to ascertain just why the current German government apparently learned nothing from the 1933-1945 period and has once again lost its mind.
In March 2021 I came under attack for being unvaccinated. It was a hysterical pile on all at once mid month all bunched up for about three days by 'friends neighbors and family'. My daughter in law said she was witnessing the same thing happening to teachers at her school at the very same time. After that the demonization went full boar on media and everywhere. I felt like I was wearing a yellow star but if you said that, you were silenced and told there was NO comparison, etc. It was HORRIBLE. It went on and on and on, then suddenly there was silence because the break through infections of the vaccinated were so obvious. Still the mandates continued and the craziness continued with no apologies. Even today covidiate friends/relatives keep repeating the craziness that the shots are safe and effective. Beyond the shaddow of a doubt when the perpetrators decide to release a new pathogen this will all happen again.
Reading Aya Velazquez reportage: "At the end of the hearing, the judge left the courtroom wearing an FFP2 mask." --- No further comment ---