Repression against dissenting voices in Germany continues to mount. The German Communist Party (DKP) has announced that GLS Bank would close all of the party’s accounts effective December 31. The bank did not provide any reason for its decision but had previously requested information about the party’s fundraising campaign for Cuba, NachDenkSeiten reports.
In November, GLS Bank terminated the account of freelance journalist Aya Velázquez. Another freelance journalist, Flavio von Witzleben, revealed earlier this month that Sparkasse Karlsruhe had similarly terminated his account. 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. Last July, Berliner Volksbank similarly shut down AfD’s donations account.”
Klaus Leger, head of the finance committee at the Communist Party, told NachDenkSeiten 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.”