Overview
- The open letter circulated Wednesday and Thursday and was signed by about 30–32 authors, including Gregor Gysi, Ulrike Herrmann and Andrea Ypsilanti, who said they will no longer publish with Westend.
- Signatories named the anthology 'Links – Deutsch / Deutsch – Links', edited by Nius journalists Julian Reichelt and Pauline Voss, as the decisive trigger and said it expanded Westend's program toward voices the authors view as proximate to the AfD.
- The authors say they first sought a meeting with Westend that went unanswered, a claim the publisher denies by stating it maintains an ongoing, discursive exchange with its authors.
- Westend issued a statement saying it received the letter 'with regret', defending its role as a platform for critical perspectives and saying it will publish divergent positions that stay within the democratic legal framework.
- The dispute remains unresolved and centers on reputation and future submissions, with immediate practical consequences for contracts and the publisher's program still unclear but likely to affect author relationships and reader awareness.