Court: Sparkasse Göttingen Must Continue to Maintain “Rote Hilfe” Account

In the legal dispute over the termination of the “Rote Hilfe” account, Sparkasse Göttingen lost its case in the main proceedings before the regional court. It now intends to continue maintaining the account for the left-wing organization. Sparkasse Göttingen had closed the account of the Göttingen-based association in December 2025. Shortly before that, the U.S. government had announced that it was designating a group known as “Antifa Ost” as a terrorist organization and adding it to sanctions lists. European governments did not follow suit. However, the Sparkasse assumed that “Rote Hilfe” was collecting donations for “Antifa Ost,” as has now become clear in the main proceedings. Because the suspicion of terrorist financing entailed a time-consuming review of account transactions, the savings bank considered it unreasonable to continue the business relationship with “Rote Hilfe”…