Federal Archives warn against deleting emails from former government members

The German government is apparently sticking to its controversial practice of regularly deleting emails, entire email inboxes and other messages such as text messages from former office holders such as federal ministers. After the end of the traffic light coalition, this unconventional use of the right to be forgotten is apparently continuing.

The Federal Government is actually legally obliged to at least offer communications, including emails from former public officials, to the Federal Archives for storage. So far, this has not happened at all in the case of e-mails, and the archivists were not even involved before a planned deletion. Federal Archives President Michael Hollmann warned as early as 2023 of a growing danger"that important information will be lost".

Tougher warnings

In the meantime, the Federal Archives have tightened their warnings in light of the traffic light ban. In February, the Koblenz-based authority sent identical letters to the Chancellery and the majority of ministries reminding them of their legal obligation to offer files for storage, reports Correctiv. In a second series of letters to members of the government, the Federal Archives reiterated its demand on March 13, according to the report.

The federal government has so far issued the vague slogan: "All documents relevant to the files will be offered to the Federal Archives in due course". The inclusion of complete mailboxes is not necessary. Ministers, state secretaries and their staff already ensured that all relevant information from emails and chats was added to the official files during their time in office. This fulfills the legal requirements.

180 days until deletion

The Federal Archives confirmed to Correctiv that they had not yet received any mailboxes, messenger accounts, calendars or file storage from Lindner and Stark-Watzinger. At the end of 2024, only the calendar data with official meetings and appointments had been received from former Justice Minister Buschmann. The other government representatives continued to keep these secret. Buschmann's mailboxes, on the other hand, have probably already been deleted, according to the report. According to the department's internal guidelines, which came into force under the aegis of the Liberal, they were to be destroyed three months after his departure.

Lindner's e-post is also facing the same fate. According to Correctiv, on November 29, 2023, the Ministry of Finance under his leadership ordered that "the email inbox (including calendar)" was to be "deactivated" for all staff leaving the ministry. 180 days later, the data records were to be "automatically and irrevocably" deleted. This deadline will expire in the next few days. The three former FDP houses and the liberal party did not want to comment on this to Correctiv.

The Federal Ministry of the Interior, which is now led by Alexander Dobrindt (CSU), emphasized that it does not share the assessment of the Federal Archives. It remains the case that only files are archived and not mailboxes, calendars or chats. According to the report, the SPD-led ministries for the environment and labor also want to continue to do so.

(wpl)