Disparagement of German nationals with foreign roots can constitute an official offence. This has now been decided by the Federal Administrative Court (BVerwG) in disciplinary proceedings (Ref.: 2 A 6.24 of 09.10.2025). It confirmed the disciplinary measure of a salary reduction after a professor at the Federal University of Applied Sciences, who teaches candidates and civil servants in the higher civil service, had spoken of „Turks with a German passport“ in his publications. The professor had represented an „ethno-cultural“ concept of ethnicity and thus violated his „civil service duty to behave with respect and trust“; the statement was also not covered by academic freedom.

„Employers must not ignore it when civil servants express and spread an ethnic-cultural concept of ethnicity,“ says Rechtsanwalt Prof Dr Klaus Herrmann. „They must take action against this and this decision shows that this is about protecting the professional civil service and not about political demarcation.“