What is the truth behind the plagiarism accusation against Brosius-Gersdorf? The author of the report now speaks out
The struggle to fill three judgeships at the Federal Constitutional Court resulted in a scandal. The reason: an accusation of plagiarism against one of the three candidates.
Did Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf commit plagiarism? The accusation against the SPD candidate for judge at the Federal Constitutional Court was the last straw. A few hours before the election, self-proclaimed plagiarism hunter Stefan Weber published a report. He claimed to have identified a total of 23 passages in Brosius-Gersdorf's dissertation that allegedly contained evidence of so-called collusion and source plagiarism. According to the report, Brosius-Gersdorf allegedly copied from her husband, Hubertus Gersdorf, a lawyer and university professor.
Subsequently, CDU parliamentary group leader Jens Spahn called on the SPD to immediately withdraw the nomination. Hours later, the judicial election was canceled. CDU politicians are now demanding an investigation into the allegations, although initial doubts about the report are already emerging. Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf's dissertation was published three years earlier than her husband's. Was Stefan Weber mistaken, and who were his clients?
For Stefan Weber the case seems clearIn an interview with the Berliner Zeitung, Austrian communications scholar Stefan Weber emphasized that there was never any mention of an accusation of plagiarism. At least, he doesn't use that term in his report. Nevertheless, it is clear that the couple must have worked very closely together. The passages he identified clearly demonstrate that one of them copied from the other.
According to Weber, there are three possibilities: "We don't know which version is correct. Either she copied from him. Or he copied from her. Or both shared their texts." If the latter is true, this should have been mentioned in the foreword, Weber says. In his report, he also left open who copied from whom. On Platform X, Weber criticized the Union's interpretation of his report, calling it "wrong."
And how could Brosius-Gersdorf have copied if her husband didn't publish his work until three years later? A look at the bibliography helps, says the plagiarism examiner. In both documents, there is an indication of when the source research was completed: in Frauke Brosius-Gersdorf's case, in June 1997, and in her husband's case, in November 1997. Why her husband's work wasn't published until three years later is unclear—but it happens frequently, says Weber.
"The publication date tells us absolutely nothing," says Weber. Regarding speculation about possible clients, the plagiarism checker explains: "There are no clients."
Berliner-zeitung
