German communists’ bank accounts terminated

GLS Bank’s decision fits a pattern of similar measures targeting left- and right-wing political groups in Germany in recent years

There is a “campaign of increasing repression” against dissenting voices in Germany, local communists claimed after a bank notified the party that its bank accounts would soon be closed.

Earlier this month, GLS Bank informed the German Communist Party (DKP) that all of its accounts would be discontinued effective December 31.

According to the DKP, GLS Bank did not provide any reason for its decision but had previously requested information about the party’s fundraising campaign for Cuba.

In a comment to the press, a spokesperson for GLS Bank said that the party’s accounts had been terminated due to “legal and regulatory requirements that we, as a bank, are obligated to comply with.”

The Communist Party has slammed the move as “clearly politically motivated.”

Klaus Leger, head of the finance committee at the DKP, told NachDenkSeiten media outlet that bank representatives had suggested in a phone conversation with him that “there had been external pressure, and that the closures were not based on a sovereign internal decision by GLS Bank.”

In early November, the same financial institution terminated the business account of freelance journalist Aya Velazquez. Another freelance journalist, Flavio von Witzleben, revealed earlier this month that Sparkasse Karlsruhe had similarly terminated his account.

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Last March, Berliner Sparkasse froze the account of a Jewish anti-Zionist group named the ‘Jewish Voice for Just Peace in the Middle East.’

In November, Verbund Volksbank OWL and Volksbank in Ostwestfalen, both co-operative banks owned by their members rather than external shareholders, terminated the accounts of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) chapter in North Rhine-Westphalia. The right-wing party denounced the decision as “politically motivated.”

Last July, Berliner Volksbank similarly shut down AfD’s donations account.

In February of 2024, then-Interior Minister Nancy Faeser unveiled a 13-point plan aimed at tackling right-wing extremism. Among other points, it included provisions that would make it easier for German authorities to freeze extremists’ bank accounts, as well as to track donations to such entities.