
Berlin’s Justice Senator Felor Badenberg is facing plagiarism allegations after Austrian communications scholar Stefan Weber published a report claiming to have identified 83 instances of plagiarism in her 2005 doctoral thesis at the University of Cologne’s law faculty. Badenberg, a CDU member and the party’s lead candidate for the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district in Berlin’s Sept. 20 state election, has requested an independent review by the University of Cologne.
“I have asked the University of Cologne to examine my dissertation independently and comprehensively,” Badenberg told the Berliner Zeitung and Tagesspiegel. “The dissertation was completed to the best of my knowledge and conscience.” She did not address the substance of Weber’s claims, which include allegations of copied sentences, paragraphs, and even the acknowledgments section.
Weber, a self-described “plagiarism hunter” and private lecturer at the University of Vienna, has not disclosed whether he was commissioned to investigate Badenberg’s work. “As a professional detective under Austrian trade regulations, I am bound by confidentiality regarding any client,” he told the German Press Agency. Weber has previously authored plagiarism reports, including one for the AfD in Thuringia targeting CDU Minister-President Mario Voigt, whose doctorate was revoked by Chemnitz University of Technology in January.
Berlin’s CDU has backed Badenberg, with finance senator and state election lead candidate Stefan Evers calling her “an outstanding justice senator who has achieved a great deal for Berlin.” Evers noted her proactive request for the university review, adding, “Anyone who knows her knows the integrity, seriousness, and professionalism with which she performs her duties.”
Badenberg, born in 1975 in Iran, moved to Germany in 1987, studied law, and earned her doctorate in 2005. She joined the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution in 2006, leading its right-wing extremism and terrorism division and contributing to the AfD’s classification as a suspected far-right case. In 2022, she became the agency’s first female vice president, and in 2023, she was appointed Berlin’s justice and consumer protection senator as an independent before joining the CDU in 2024. She has served on the CDU’s federal executive committee since February.
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