Söring Fan Ralf Höcker Loses His Marbles

I invite him to read my new book, and he calls me a sick weird pathetic loser with no meaning in his life. What did I do to deserve this?

First a short plug (gotta pay the rent): Please consider buying my book! It tells the whole story from the very beginning to just last week. People have already told me they enjoyed reading it. Here’s a German review:

Now to the post:

Jens Söring has a knack for getting lawyers to tie their reputations to his, with predictable results. John Grisham, Stephan Grulert, Gail Marshall, Gail Ball, Steven Rosenfield, Burkhard Benecken, the list goes on. Söring’s latest conquest is Germany’s most notorious media lawyer, Prof. Dr. Ralf Höcker. Höcker is known for his abrasive personality and for representing right-wing groups and foreign dictators such as Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, as long as the price is right. All in the name of free speech, guaranteed by Article 5 of the Grundgesetz!

Höcker seeks controversy under the American motto: “There’s no such thing as bad publicity”. He’s articulate, right-wing (but not some weirdo), and vocal on Twitter, where he identifies himself as a Professor (at Cologne Business School) and a Doctor of Law, which he undoubtedly is.

Shortly after Jens Söring landed in Germany in late 2019, Söring started looking for a lawyer to negotiate media deals and appearances. Söring called up Höcker, perhaps sensing in him a kindred spirit. They spoke for about an hour and hit it off. Söring arranged for Höcker to receive a DVD of Killing for Love, the discredited 2016 pro-Söring propaganda film by Karin Steinberger and Marcus Vetter. Höcker is lucky he got the DVD, since the movie has now been pulled from all streaming channels. Odd that, given a Netflix series was just released about this case.

Höcker offered to represent Söring for a reduced fee, but Söring, always money-conscious, decided to to with a lawyer who would represent him for free. A few days ago I reached out to Höcker on Twitter. I noted he’d received a copy of Killing for Love, but that the film was one-sided. I notified him of my new book about the case, which provides a “badly-needed corrective” to the film’s debunked conspiracy theories.

In return, Höcker sent this tweet:

“You are a sick, misanthropic, merciless, arrogant, biased, obsessed person who has found no meaning in his life and will probably never find any.”

How did Höcker seize my essence without ever having met me? How many other souls has he pierced? Can “Ralf Höcker” be a mere human?

I should clarify that I have never met Höcker, and never insulted or abused him online. This came completely out of the blue. Nevertheless, I decided to follow Obama’s motto: “When they go low, we go high.” I sent Höcker a polite email asking him to remove the tweet and apologize in the name of civility. We all have bad days and sometimes lash out at people for no reason, calling them “sick, arrogant misanthropes”. I did it the other day to the Starbuck’s barista.

Surely Ralf would understand that this tweet was completely out of line.

I observed that Höcker has never met me and has no idea about my background, so I told him a little about myself. Perhaps he thought I was some random Internet weirdo. I advised him that the tweet was very likely illegal vilification (Schmähkritik) under German law, but that I had no wish to embroil anybody in litigation. I asked him to remove the tweet and apologize within three days.

His response came almost immediately (the German original can be found in this footnote¹):

Dear Mr. Hammel,

I do not need and will certainly not take three days for this. Your strange description of your background, which has nothing, but also nothing at all to do with my evaluation, underlines that there is something wrong with you. You are running a merciless private campaign against a person who has served more than 33 years in prison under the worst conditions. Even if he had committed the crime, he has served his sentence and would now have every right to integrate into our society. To do that, you have to work. That is better than being a drain on society by receiving unemployment benefits. Mr. Söring is far from getting rich from his story. He earns his living by creating added value for other people, and that is his right. The fact that you are manically trying to prevent this confirms every single word I have written about you. Your behavior is inhumane and despicable. You are welcome to post this statement in full and verbatim on your social media or otherwise disseminate it so that everyone can understand how my tweet was meant. And if you feel you need to take legal action, then may I inform you that all my statements are covered by freedom of expression. That applies in general, but certainly to someone who acts as cruelly as you do.

It will not be necessary to send me a cease and desist letter. I will not agree to remove the tweet. So if you are not satisfied with this statement, you are welcome to take legal action immediately.

With kind regards

That gentle dripping sound you hear is flecks of spittle and foam dripping from the corners of Höcker’s mouth onto the keyboard.

Höcker wanted the world to see this email, and now it has! I reached out to the partners of the firm, encouraging them to step in and get their boy. Nothing. Either they think this sort of behavior is fine, or they’re afraid of the boss. Among lawyers, Höcker’s firm is well known for its high turnover.

Like many members of Team Söring, Höcker seems to believe it would be a catastrophe if Jens Söring were to get a normal job, such as translator or editor or truck driver or office worker. Those jobs are for plebes. Söring must be allowed to make a living as a writer and speaker, and must be allowed to propagate his viewpoint with no opposition. He must be allowed to slander and defame people, which he is still doing right now, and they must supinely accept his insults and lies.

Anything else would be not just “cruel” but “manically” cruel!

It’s astounding to see Söring can still induce worldly people to pledge their reputation to him. Yet there is Ralf Höcker, spewing fury on Söring’s behalf, and inviting lawsuits which will drain his firm’s resources. No word from his partners and associates.

Professor Doctor Ralf Höcker is the latest lawyer to swaddle his professional reputation in silken raiments and pledge it to Jens Söring as a hostage to fortune: “Honored sir, I know you will treat this my precious gift with veneration and forbearance.”

It rarely ends well.

1. Sehr geehrter Herr Hammel,

dafür brauche ich und nehme ich mir sicher keine drei Tage. Ihre sonderbare Auflistung, die mit meiner Bewertung nichts, aber auch gar nichts zu tun hat, unterstreicht, dass mit Ihnen etwas nicht stimmt. Sie betreiben einen gnadenlosen privaten Feldzug gegen einen Menschen, der mehr als 33 Jahre unter schlimmsten Bedingungen im Gefängnis gesessen hat. Selbst wenn er die Tat begangen hätte, hätte er seine Strafe abgesessen und hätte nun jedes Recht, sich in unsere Gesellschaft zu integrieren. Dazu muss man arbeiten. Das ist besser, als der Gesellschaft per Empfang von Hartz-IV-Leistungen auf der Tasche zu liegen. Herr Söring ist weit davon entfernt, mit seiner Geschichte reich zu werden. Er verdient seinen Lebensunterhalt, indem er für andere Menschen einen Mehrwert schafft, und das ist sein gutes Recht. Dass Sie dies in manischer Weise zu verhindern versuchen, bestätigt jedes einzelne Wort, dass ich über Sie geschrieben habe. Ihr Verhalten ist unmenschlich und verachtenswert. Es steht Ihnen gerne frei, diese Erklärung vollständig und im Wortlaut in Ihren sozialen Medien zu posten oder in sonstiger Weise zu verbreiten, damit jeder einordnen kann, wie mein Tweet gemeint war. Und wenn Sie meinen, rechtliche Schritte einleiten zu müssen, dann darf ich Ihnen mitteilen, dass alle meine Äußerungen von der Meinungsfreiheit gedeckt sind. Das gilt ganz generell, aber sicherlich für jemanden, der sich so grausam aufführt wie Sie.

Es wird nicht notwendig sein, mir eine Abmahnung zu schicken. Ich werde keine Unterlassungserklärung abgeben. Sollten Sie sich mit dieser Erklärung also nicht zufrieden geben, dürfen Sie gerne unmittelbar den Rechtsweg beschreiten.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen