Werner Rügemer

Werner Rügemer (born 4 September 1941) is a German journalist and non-fiction author. His work focuses on the influence of corporations and financial-industry actors on public affairs, including cross-border leasing, public–private partnerships, the privatization of public services, union busting, corporate crime and the role of rating agencies. His publications have also examined the activities of financial firms such as BlackRock and the relationship between finance, politics and labour.

Biography

Rügemer was born in Amberg, Bavaria. He attended school in the Rhön region and the Berchtesgaden area and completed his Abitur in 1960. In a 2009 biographical interview, he described studying literature, pedagogy and philosophy in Munich, Tübingen, Berlin and Paris.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Rügemer worked with Service Civil International (SCI), where he was involved in organising civilian service and international work camps. He has described himself as having managed the organisation's German section until 1974.

From 1975 to 1989, Rügemer worked together with Karl-Heinz Heinemann on the editorial staff of the education journal Demokratische Erziehung. From 1984 he also produced radio and television features, particularly for WDR.

In 1979, Rügemer published his doctoral dissertation, Philosophische Anthropologie und Epochenkrise, at the University of Bremen. The dissertation examines the relationship between the general crisis of capitalism and the anthropological foundations of philosophy through the work of Arnold Gehlen. Rügemer argued that a purely ideological critique of philosophy was insufficient and that the material conditions under which knowledge is produced also had to be taken into account. He related Gehlen's philosophy to Germany's social and political development from the Weimar Republic onward.

Rügemer has worked as a freelance author since 1989. From 1998 to 2017 he was a lecturer in political science at the University of Cologne. A University of Cologne faculty page also lists him among its lecturers.

His articles have appeared in publications including Ossietzky, NRhZ-Online, Junge Welt and NachDenkSeiten. He also contributed to Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik until 2016.

Work and publications

Rügemer's journalistic and non-fiction work has concentrated on corporate crime, privatization, municipal finance, financial institutions and labour relations. A recurring theme is his criticism of arrangements in which, in his view, public institutions assume financial risk while private investors receive long-term benefits.

Neue Technik – alte Gesellschaft: Silicon Valley

In Neue Technik – alte Gesellschaft. Silicon Valley, published in book form in 1985, Rügemer examined what he regarded as the less visible social and environmental consequences of the emerging information-technology industry in California. The book drew on field research and interviews with trade unionists, lawyers, scientists at Stanford University, engineers and technology-industry figures, including Steve Jobs.

Rügemer discussed the history of post-war technological development and Stanford's role in the emergence of Silicon Valley, while focusing on working conditions in electronics production, occupational disease among semiconductor workers, environmental contamination and links between the technology and defence industries. Reviewer Helmut Volpers wrote that, despite the book's explicitly anti-capitalist perspective, it demonstrated the risks of uncritically transferring the "Silicon Valley" model elsewhere.

The book was subsequently translated into other languages, including Russian and Hungarian.

Cross-border leasing

Rügemer became an early German critic of cross-border leasing (CBL) and later of public–private partnerships. His WDR 3 radio feature Hundert Jahre wie ein Tag – Die heimliche Globalisierung der Städte, broadcast on 17 December 2001 and also associated with Deutschlandradio, examined transactions in which municipalities transferred infrastructure or other public assets to United States investors and leased them back under long-term contracts.

In 2004 he expanded the subject into the book Cross-Border-Leasing. Ein Lehrstück zur globalen Enteignung der Städte. In a review for Die Zeit, Eva-Maria Thoms described Rügemer's argument that the deals transferred major risks to German municipalities while producing large tax-driven returns for investors.

The financial crisis subsequently caused difficulties for a number of CBL arrangements. In 2009, Die Zeit again examined the contracts and the risks that municipalities had assumed.

Privatisierung in Deutschland

Rügemer's Privatisierung in Deutschland. Eine Bilanz examines privatization projects carried out in Germany from the 1980s onward and their effects on public budgets, public services and democratic control.

Reviewing the book in taz, Dirk Eckert wrote that Rügemer sought to show that privatization had frequently failed to produce either improved services or lower prices and drew particular attention to the disposal of state property by the Treuhandanstalt. Eckert nevertheless considered Rügemer's proposed alternative of a "cooperative economy" insufficiently developed.

The fourth expanded and updated edition appeared in 2008.

Heuschrecken im öffentlichen Raum

In "Heuschrecken" im öffentlichen Raum: Public Private Partnership – Anatomie eines globalen Finanzinstruments, Rügemer extended his criticism of private financing of public infrastructure to public–private partnerships. He describes PPP arrangements as financially attractive to private investors but potentially costly to public authorities.

Later editions incorporated examples of PPP projects that were restructured, terminated or returned to public operation in Germany and elsewhere, including transport, municipal and infrastructure projects.

Colonia Corrupta

Rügemer's 2002 book Colonia Corrupta. Privatisierung, Globalisierung und Korruption im Schatten des Kölner Klüngels collected and expanded his investigations into political and commercial networks in Cologne. Among the subjects was the city's waste-incineration project, about which he had written since the mid-1990s.

The book was expanded repeatedly, reaching an eighth revised edition in 2015. Later editions added material on political financing in post-war Cologne and on international investors involved in major construction projects.

Rügemer's reporting on Cologne in the 1990s led to several defamation actions by local political and institutional figures. According to a 2025 profile published by the Cologne branch of the GEW, the actions were ultimately discontinued, dismissed or withdrawn.

Rating agencies

In Ratingagenturen – Einblicke in die Kapitalmacht der Gegenwart (2012), Rügemer examined the ownership and business models of major rating agencies. He argued that conflicts of interest arise because financial institutions may simultaneously invest in, use, or benefit from the activities of agencies that present themselves as independent evaluators.

Reviewing the book in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Thomas Thiel considered Rügemer's description of the interconnected ownership structure of rating agencies, banks and investment funds one of the book's important contributions, particularly because rating decisions can have major effects on national economies.

Economist Rudolf Hickel, reviewing the book for the Süddeutsche Zeitung, recommended it to both critics and supporters of capitalism and highlighted Rügemer's discussion of the agencies' lack of transparency and limited liability for erroneous assessments.

Labour rights and union busting

Rügemer and journalist Elmar Wigand organised a conference on labour-law violations in 2009. In 2014 they helped establish Aktion gegen Arbeitsunrecht, an organisation concerned with labour-rights violations and opposition to works councils and trade unions.

The same year, the Otto Brenner Foundation published their study Union-Busting in Deutschland – Die Bekämpfung von Betriebsräten und Gewerkschaften als professionelle Dienstleistung. The study examined companies and professional service providers involved in strategies directed against works councils, trade unions and employee representatives.

Their book Die Fertigmacher. Arbeitsunrecht und professionelle Gewerkschaftsbekämpfung, first published in 2014 and later expanded, developed the subject further. Rügemer and Wigand described a network of law firms, public-relations companies, private investigators, human-resources consultants and other specialists offering services to employers in conflicts with employees and organised labour.

Reviewing the book for Der Freitag, Jörn Boewe described it as the first systematic and comprehensive investigation of the professional suppression of trade unions and works councils in Germany.

The Capitalists of the 21st Century

In Die Kapitalisten des 21. Jahrhunderts, first published in German in 2018, Rügemer attempted a broader account of changes in contemporary capitalism following the financial crisis.

He distinguishes several categories of actors: large asset managers such as BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street; private equity, hedge-fund and venture-capital investors; investment and private banks; major technology corporations including Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon; and digital-platform businesses.

Rügemer argues that large asset managers have become significant shareholders across traditional banking and industrial companies while relying on a network of auditors, rating agencies, law firms and management consultancies. He also examines the increasing economic and technological role of United States-based corporations in Europe and the European Union.

A later part of the book discusses the economic development of the People's Republic of China. Rügemer contrasts China's development model with that of Western financial capitalism and presents China's approach to globalization more favourably. These assessments form part of Rügemer's argument rather than an established scholarly consensus.

Andreas Wehr, reviewing the book in Marxistische Blätter, described it as an empirical panorama of contemporary capitalism based on company publications, financial statements, financial journalism and interviews rather than primarily on a new theoretical model.

The book has appeared in several languages. An English edition, The Capitalists of the 21st Century: An Easy-to-Understand Outline on the Rise of the New Financial Players, was published in 2019. French, Italian, Russian and Chinese editions followed.

Imperium EU

In Imperium EU: Arbeitsunrecht, Krise, neue Gegenwehr (2020), published in English as Imperium EU: Labor Injustice, Crisis, New Resistances in 2021, Rügemer examines labour conditions within the European Union and the historical relationship between the EU and the United States.

The book discusses migrant and precarious employment in sectors including construction, logistics, meat processing, healthcare, agriculture and platform-based work. A second part surveys trade-union and political opposition in several European countries. As in his other works, the interpretation reflects Rügemer's critical view of the development of European labour and economic policy.

Verhängnisvolle Freundschaft

In 2023, Rügemer published Verhängnisvolle Freundschaft. Wie die USA Europa eroberten. Erste Stufe: Vom 1. zum 2. Weltkrieg, which examines the development of United States political and economic influence in Europe from the First World War through the end of the Second World War.

Reviewing the book in the Sozialistische Zeitung, Angela Klein described Rügemer's account of the development of United States power as coherent and informative, while disagreeing with his presentation of China and the BRICS states as an alternative to the Western-led system.

An English edition, Fatal Friendship: How the USA Conquered Europe. First Phase: From World War I to II, was published by Canut Press International in 2025.

BlackRock Germany

In 2025, Rügemer published BlackRock Germany. Die heimliche Weltmacht, ihre Praktiken in Deutschland und Friedrich Merz, concerning BlackRock's activities in Germany and Friedrich Merz's relationship with the company.

Merz was chairman of the supervisory board of BlackRock's German business from 2016 to 2020. In the book, Rügemer examines what he regards as the economic and political influence exercised by BlackRock and other large asset managers in Germany.

Broken USA

In 2026, Rügemer published Broken USA: 250 Jahre Kriege, Unterdrückung und Lügen, a book dealing with the history of the United States, its political economy and its foreign and military policy.

In a July 2026 interview with Junge Welt, Rügemer described the book as a condensed presentation of themes he had addressed more extensively in Verhängnisvolle Freundschaft, particularly his interpretation of the historical development of the United States and its international role.

Theatre

Rügemer contributed research to the theatre production Bonnopoly: Das WCCB, die Stadt und ihr Ausverkauf, which premiered at the Kammerspiele Bonn in September 2017. The production, directed by with text by Ulf Schmidt, was based on the financial and political controversy surrounding the World Conference Center Bonn.

Reviewing the production in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Cornelia Fiedler described it as a critique of the treatment of cities as commercial enterprises and of municipal austerity policies.

Documentary radio and television work

Rügemer's documentary work includes:

With , Hehler für Hitler. Die geheimen Geschäfte der Firma Otto Wolff, a WDR television documentary first broadcast in 2001. It investigated the activities of the Cologne company Otto Wolff during the Nazi period, including transactions involving securities belonging to deported Jewish owners. Hundert Jahre wie ein Tag – die heimliche Globalisierung der Städte, radio feature, WDR 3/Deutschlandradio, 2001. Mülheim oder: Das große Schweigen – Die Privatisierung in deutschen Städten, a WDR radio feature broadcast in 2006. The programme subsequently became the subject of political controversy after WDR removed its manuscript from the broadcaster's website. Rügemer appeared in Erwin Wagenhofer's 2008 documentary film Let's Make Money, where he discussed the cross-border-leasing arrangement involving Vienna's tram system.

BlackRock mock tribunal

On 26 and 27 September 2020, a privately organised "BlackRock Tribunal" was held at the conference centre of the Free University of Berlin under COVID-19 restrictions. Around 160 people attended. The event was organised principally by political scientist Peter Grottian and Rügemer and drew on Rügemer's work on large financial asset managers.

Rügemer drafted the tribunal's indictment. Participants discussed BlackRock's role in asset management, housing companies, arms manufacturers, environmental policy and the privatization of public services. Speakers included Jörg Cezanne, journalist Gaby Weber, tenant activists and financial-policy specialists; Sven Giegold contributed on financial-market regulation. Video statements were also presented from participants outside Germany.

Comedian and political satirist Max Uthoff took part in the staged proceedings in the role of the chairman of the supervisory board of BlackRock Germany.

At the conclusion of the event, the tribunal's participants called for BlackRock to be broken up and parts of its operations to be transferred into public ownership. The proceedings had no legal authority and were an activist mock tribunal rather than a judicial proceeding.

The initiative subsequently organised three further conferences concerning BlackRock and related financial and social-policy issues, in 2022, 2023 and 2025.

Legal disputes and controversies

Since becoming a freelance author in 1990 Rügemer has had to face more than 30 lawsuits related to media law because of his publications, most of which were initiatied by politicians, bankers, businesspeople and professors. Notable cases include the following:

Sal. Oppenheim

In 2006 Rügemer published Der Bankier. Ungebetener Nachruf auf Alfred Freiherr von Oppenheim, about Alfred von Oppenheim and the private bank Sal. Oppenheim. The book critically examined the bank's political connections, municipal property transactions in Cologne and aspects of its history during the Nazi period.

Among other claims, Rügemer wrote that Sal. Oppenheim had provided covert financial support to Helmut Kohl in the early 1980s and discussed the bank's relationships with political figures and businesses. These claims were presented in the book as Rügemer's findings and became the subject of legal disputes.

Sal. Oppenheim described numerous statements in the book as untrue and obtained an injunction against a number of passages. The bank also sent cease-and-desist demands to booksellers distributing the book.

Die Zeit reported that many of the objections appeared to concern details rather than the overall picture presented by the book.

Critical responses to the book differed sharply. Journalist Sven Felix Kellerhoff, writing in Die Welt, accused Rügemer of factual inaccuracies. By contrast, political scientist and journalist Frank Überall, writing in taz, argued that many of Sal. Oppenheim's objections concerned relatively minor details and did not justify suppressing the book as a whole.

DuMont

In 1998 Rügemer and writer Erasmus Schöfer prevailed in proceedings against the publishing company DuMont Schauberg, publisher of the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. The dispute concerned their article in the newspaper's Moderne Zeiten weekend supplement of 10–11 August 1996.

According to the German journalists' union publication M – Menschen Machen Medien, the published version contained 82 alterations to the authors' text. The court found that the changes infringed the authors' rights and harmed their reputations, and awarded Rügemer and Schöfer compensation of DM 10,000. The publisher did not appeal.

IZA and Klaus F. Zimmermann

In 2013 economist Klaus F. Zimmermann, then director of the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), brought proceedings against Rügemer over statements in his article Die unterwanderte Demokratie. Rügemer had questioned the institute's independence, its financing and what he regarded as its role in political lobbying.

The article had appeared in Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik and was subsequently republished by NRhZ-Online. Zimmermann sought injunctions against four statements concerning IZA's independence, academic freedom, lobbying and disclosure of its financing. Blätter agreed to a cease-and-desist declaration and removed the relevant passage from its online version, while Rügemer and NRhZ contested the injunction.

In February 2015 the Hamburg Regional Court delivered a mixed judgment. Rügemer was permitted to continue saying that IZA described itself as independent contrary to the facts and to criticise whether its work constituted "free science". The court continued to prohibit him from stating that IZA engaged in lobbying and from giving the impression that the institute did not disclose its financing.

Both the plaintiffs and Rügemer therefore obtained only part of what they had sought. Rügemer appealed. After a prolonged appellate process, Zimmermann and IZA eventually withdrew the injunction action in 2019. An organisation co-founded by Rügemer subsequently republished the unabridged version of his article.

Berliner Zeitung

Rügemer later brought proceedings against the Berliner Zeitung after the newspaper published a commissioned article of his about the arms manufacturer Rheinmetall in April 2023 with substantial editorial changes that had not been agreed with him.

In August 2023, the Cologne Regional Court held that the newspaper's alterations infringed Rügemer's author's rights and ordered restoration of the original version (case 14 O 144/23).

In a second judgment on 15 May 2025, the Cologne Regional Court awarded Rügemer €1,200 in compensation for the unauthorised changes and resulting harm to his reputation (case 14 O 442/23). The dispute attracted attention among journalists because of its implications for the extent to which editors may alter commissioned articles without consulting freelance authors.

The newspaper appealed. In March 2026 the Higher Regional Court of Cologne indicated that the lower-court judgment would stand, after which the Berliner Zeitung withdrew its appeal. The judgment therefore became final.

Memberships and associations

Chairman of Business Crime Control, 2007–2009. Associated with Transparency International. Member of the German Writers' Association (VS in ver.di). Member of PEN Centre Germany. Member of Attac since 2001; formerly a member of its scientific advisory board. Co-founder, with Elmar Wigand, of Aktion gegen Arbeitsunrecht in 2014. Member of the council of the World Association for Political Economy (WAPE). Member of the editorial board of World Marxist Review.

Awards

1998: Friedrich-und-Isabel-Vogel Prize of the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft for his report Die legalen Mittäter. 2002: Journalism prize of the German Taxpayers' Federation (Bund der Steuerzahler) for the radio feature 100 Jahre wie ein Tag – Die heimliche Globalisierung der Städte. 2003: Journalism prize of the Association of Local Utilities (Verband kommunaler Unternehmen, VKU) for a radio contribution on cross-border leasing. A dispute subsequently arose over the prize money after the association attempted to withdraw it; Rügemer successfully pursued payment in court. 2008: Kölner Karls-Preis of NRhZ-Online for critical journalism.

Selected works

Die Psychoanalyse der BILD-Zeitung. 1968. Philosophische Anthropologie und Epochenkrise. Studie über den Zusammenhang von allgemeiner Krise des Kapitalismus und anthropologische Grundlegung der Philosophie am Beispiel Arnold Gehlens. Dissertation. Pahl-Rugenstein, Cologne, 1979. Broken USA: 250 Jahre Kriege, Lügen und Unterdrückung. Hintergrund Verlag, Berlin, 2026. .