On 25 March 2024, our account with the Berliner Sparkasse was frozen with immediate effect. In a letter, the Sparkasse informed us that it had taken this step as a precautionary measure and that we should submit numerous internal documents by 5 April to update our customer data. As a public corporation, the bank is bound by public law and may therefore not arbitrarily freeze accounts without providing an explanation, which it did not. It is also highly unusual that the required documents include a list of our members with their full names and addresses.

  • You referred to the customer, in this case a Verein, as a business

    Because it is de facto a business. It’s a newspaper, maybe not profit oriented, but a newspaper nonetheless. Being super pedantic about the exact legal construction is completely beside the point. The same logic would apply to every account holder.

    I’m not conceding the point that this is “not unusual” and no political pressure was put on the bank

    Again, it’s called compliance. Look it up. You can concede or not whatever you want, but this is how banks work. There’s zero political pressure necessary.

    Even this scenario, they are actual real victims of political persecution, are they not?

    No. BDS is a pretty iffy organization and deeming them antisemitic is certainly not the best way to look at it, but definitely not completely wrong either. There is a line in all of German law, and that line says that antisemitism is not acceptable. Period. And that means, dealing with antisemitic organizations is not acceptable. Again, 209th time, not my opinion, but the official stance of Germany.

    Also don’t fucking tone police

    Suddenly freedom of speech isn’t important anymore? I’m not policing you, I’m trying to explain to you, that your way of talking is not a good way to achieve your goals. You attack anyone who’s not on party line, you start personally insulting for no reason, and you keep not understanding basic facts in order to keep your anger up.