Theater instead of evidence: Correctiv's fight for attention enters the next round
With a second play, Correctiv retells its Potsdam investigation. Instead of solid evidence, it presents a key witness who is supposed to save the story, no matter what the cost.
When facts threaten to crumble, attention dwindles, and doubts persist, the big stage helps. And this is precisely where Correctiv is drawn again: For the second time, the investigative collective is transforming its work into theater. The original investigation into a "secret right-wing extremist meeting" in November 2023 in a villa in Potsdam was not only published but also staged as a play. The second part followed on Wednesday evening: "Secret Plan Against Germany - An Aftermath." In Cologne, there's no reporter on stage, but an actor gesticulating wildly, ranting about knee problems, drawing Adolf Hitler comparisons, and announcing new revelations. New accusations are raised, familiar ones repeated – despite lost court cases. And a key witness is brought forward, with whose help it is finally clear that Correctiv was reporting the truth. The strategy is as simple as it is transparent: Where journalistic evidence is lacking, artistic freedom is invoked. While the media is bound by due diligence, the burden of proof, and counterstatement, art is free to exaggerate, conjecture, and dramatize. And that's not all: The media NGO has found a key witness. The problem: The ominous source did attend the meeting, but later continually publicly stated that he wanted to actively divide the right-wing camp.
What began as a supposed revelation now seems more like an attempt to maintain a shaky narrative at any cost.
At the beginning of the two-hour presentation, old headlines, tweets, and photos are flashed up. The dramaturgy: First, the doubt – was it all just a "lie," as critics claim? Then the justification: No, Correctiv was right, they just wanted to protect their sources. And finally, the moral triumph: They have exposed right-wing extremists and will not allow themselves to be intimidated by troublemakers. This seems like coming to terms with the past, but it is primarily self-defense using aesthetic means.
The focus remains the meeting on November 25, 2023, in a villa in Potsdam. Correctiv published the related investigation in January 2024, describing it as a "secret meeting" at which entrepreneurs, AfD politicians, Identitarians, and other actors discussed a "master plan for remigration." The meeting, they claimed, discussed the expulsion of millions of people. This also included German citizens with a migration background who are considered non-assimilated Germans. The media quickly began talking about planned "deportations" – and hundreds of thousands took to the streets to "make a stand against the far-right."
But what initially seemed like a revelation soon proved to be a flexible framework for interpretation. Several participants in the meeting publicly denied that there had ever been any talk of expelling German citizens. Lawyer Ulrich Vosgerau, who gave a lecture that evening, sued various media outlets that had used precisely this accusation – and won several times. Courts ruled that phrases like "expulsion of citizens" or "deportation plans" were inadmissible because they were not sufficiently substantiated. Even Correctiv has not yet been able to publish any evidence that would conclusively support these statements.
This is precisely the sore point: Correctiv made serious allegations, not all of which could be substantiated. But now, after many months, this is supposed to change with the help of Erik Ahrens. Correctiv is presenting him as a key witness who is supposed to fill the crucial gap. According to Correctiv, he participated in the meeting in Potsdam and has now confirmed in a sworn statement that the "remigration" of German citizens was indeed discussed there.
The fact that Ahrens, of all people, is now being used as evidence doesn't make things any less complicated. Ahrens is no stranger. He was himself part of the right-wing scene, worked closely with Martin Sellner for a long time, and ran the media channels of AfD politician Maximilian Krah. For several months now, he has described himself as a dropout and, in the next breath, announced his intention to drive a wedge into the right-wing camp.
What's more, his statement wasn't made in court, but merely before a notary. But although Correctiv gives it the appearance of special evidentiary value, it carries little legal weight. Nevertheless, the media NGO is now basing its entire narrative on Ahrens. Presumably because it has no other choice.
Based on what criteria and checks did Correctiv conclude that the alleged key witness's statements were reliable? A spokesperson stated: "Your questions have already been answered in the text of the investigation published yesterday evening."
Then the actor speaks of “ethnic cleansing”On stage, an entire worldview is constructed from the key witness's statements. The actor celebrates Ahrens' alleged revelation as if it were the missing key sentence that explains everything. Names are mentioned again and again: Vosgerau, Höcker, Kubitschek, Sellner. It seems like a final reckoning, except that the evidence is missing. It's no longer research, but a narrative taken to extremes: The actor speaks of "ethnic cleansing," which Sellner's concept supposedly implies, and declares him the direct ideological heir of Adolf Hitler.
When contacted by the Berliner Zeitung, Martin Sellner told the newspaper that he did not wish to comment further on the matter and preferred to invest his time in other projects. Shortly thereafter, he published a statement on the platform X in which he wrote, among other things: "Like many 'dropouts' before him, he simply exaggerates his role to make everything seem bigger and generate attention. Our paths diverged in the summer of 2024, which led to a public distancing shortly thereafter."
Since even reputable media outlets like Weltwoche are now spreading the nonsense that Erik Ahrens has anything to do with remigration, Ahrens did not contribute to the five-point plan of the Austrians Movement (DO5) or to the remigration concept. His contribution was to...
— Martin Sellner (@Martin_Sellner) September 11, 2025
Anyone who believes Ahrens despite everything must inevitably assume that everyone else is lying. Seven participants in the meeting, including Ulrich Vosgerau, have sworn to the court that the expulsion of German citizens was never discussed. He is also portrayed as a liar.
Vosgerau himself firmly rejects this. He told the Berliner Zeitung that Correctiv was attempting to salvage its lost credibility with a "grotesque staging." Vosgerau added: "Instead of saying, 'He should sort himself out first and then we'll see what happens,' Correctiv is exploiting this person's obviously problematic condition for its own purposes. That's what's so indecent about it."
The Höcker law firm, which Ulrich Vosgerau has represented and continues to represent in all proceedings against Correctiv, also speaks of an “openly admitted liar” and emphasizes that Ahrens’ statement has “no evidential value” because it was not made in court, but only before a notary.
Nevertheless, it is presented on stage like the final piece of the puzzle that sets history straight again. Correctiv thus definitively leaves the realm of research and enters the realm of interpretation. As a result, the focus is no longer on verifiable facts, but on moral certainties.
Berliner-zeitung
