

Germany's dismissed federal prosecutor Harald Range. (Ralf Stockhoff/dpa via AP)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s well-deserved holiday from the euro-zone crisis was disturbed this week by a domestic scandal involving a debate over freedom of the press vs. the protection of classified information, as German Justice Minister Heiko Maas requested the dismissal of federal prosecutor Harald Range for his investigation of two journalists for treason. Maas said Merkel agreed with his decision.

The drama started a couple of months ago when a small German Web site, Netzpolitik.org, reported on a new unit of the domestic secret service that was planned to improve surveillance of social networks. The Web site published quotes leaked to the journalists from original documents belonging to the secret service. Big German media outlets had already reported on the unit last year, but without quoting the documents.

Following the Netzpolitik.org report, the federal prosecutor opened a treason investigation – not only against the unknown whistleblower, but also against two editors of the site, Markus Beckendahl and Andre Meister.

Reaction was swift and sharp. A treason investigation against journalists? Not in Russia or China, but in Germany?

Outrage spread over German media and the Internet. About 1,300 people demonstrated in Berlin on Saturday against the investigation, even though the federal prosecutor had already put the case on hold because of public pressure. The hashtag #Landesverrat – treason – went viral on Twitter.

Why did Germans react so furiously? Many remembered a similar investigation of journalists involving the leading magazine Der Spiegel in 1962, when prosecutors opened a treason case against the magazine after it published secret documents from the Defense Ministry. The office of Der Spiegel was raided, and several journalists, including the magazine's publisher and editor-in-chief, were arrested.

The scandal caused a government crisis and the resignation of the Defense Minister Franz Joseph Strauss. A court ruled later in favor of the journalists. The Spiegel affair was seen as test for the young German democracy and set standards of the press freedom.

In subsequent similar cases, Germans' sympathies were often on the side of the whistleblowers.

Edward Snowden, a former contractor of the National Security Agency (NSA) who revealed its documents, is better known in Germany than in the United States. According to a survey of Center for International Governance Innovation, 94 percent of Germans have heard about Snowden compared to 76 percent of Americans.

It didn’t help matters that the federal prosecutor Range had dropped the investigation on the alleged tapping on Merkel’s phone by the NSA in June, shortly after opening the case against netzpolitik.org.

Reactions to the smallest attempt by the state to restrict freedom of expression or to violate the privacy of individual citizens are usually marked by outrage in Germany. And state authorities are well aware of it. The investigation of netzpolitik.org was apparently considered by the Ministry of Justice to be too sensitive.

On Monday, a spokesmen for the chancellor and the Interior Ministry distanced themselves from the federal prosecutor and reassured the public of their support of press freedom. The justice minister is being criticized in Germany for not moving quickly enough as it turned out his ministry had been informed about the investigation.

Range, the prosecutor, chose to take the offensive and accused the justice minister of political influence on the judiciary. "To influence investigations because their possible result may not appear politically opportune is an intolerable invasion of the independence of the judiciary," he said Tuesday. His dismissal was only a matter of time after this.

If Germans are given the choice between freedom of the press and protection of classified information, they will enthusiastically choose freedom of press.