After Endless Bullying and Exclusion: Leaving the Förderverein Transrapid Emsland e.V. (Operator of the Transrapid Visitor Center)
A personal word from David Harder, operator of magnetbahn.de
After almost four years of active involvement, I have decided to end my membership in the Förderverein Transrapid Emsland e.V. (the Transrapid Emsland support association) as of December 31, 2025, in accordance with its statutes. This decision is not an easy one for me, but it is the logical consequence of more than a year of ongoing exclusion, repeated bullying and deliberate disregard for my commitment. What weighed particularly heavily on me was the board’s decision to remove me from all my association board functions and to prohibit me by resolution from continuing to speak on behalf of the association, even though for years I had been responsible for key tasks such as public relations and exhibition design. At the same time, exhibition signs donated by me and Brigitte Wiesner were replaced solely because of my name, QR codes were painted over, and on the board’s decision my name is soon to be covered up on the outdoor signs as well.
Where bullying is tolerated and commitment is punished, constructive work is no longer possible, which is why I have drawn the consequence. The Wiesner family, known to thousands of visitors from their guided tours, has also left the association completely, out of disappointment at personal hostility and at the board’s behavior, silently tolerated for years.
Constant defamation
For over a year I have been increasingly excluded within the association. In WhatsApp groups, my work around magnetbahn.de is and was repeatedly ridiculed and defamed as “bullshit” or a “fan site full of errors”, without any factual basis, solely with the aim of discriminating against me. I am always very open to criticism: my offers to settle differences in direct conversation, however, went unused. Despite several notices to the board, nothing was ever done; instead the bullying goes on and on. Even after my resignation, falsehoods continue to be claimed in the public Facebook group, for instance that I “left myself before I could be dismissed”. That is complete nonsense and, frankly, an outrage.
Breaches of trust
At the end of 2024, cameras with video and audio recording were installed in the TR07 exhibition vehicle without my knowledge by members who are responsible for the bullying of others. On the memory cards I later found video recordings of me, including during a private visit with my grandmother and my young cousins.
These and other recordings, including of other members, apparently served to make fun of long-standing, dedicated members on the basis of the video and audio material, among them people who have supported me for years and opened the visitor center every weekend. I found it deeply disrespectful and humanly disappointing to watch a group within the association making fun of its most dedicated members on camera. Instead of clarification or consequences from the board: nothing. On the contrary, the surveillance had even been approved by the board beforehand; the cameras were merely removed, with no consequences for the bullying in the videos I found on the memory cards.
Interference with my work
In spring 2025 there were further incidents: QR codes on signs donated by me and Brigitte Wiesner, which pointed to magnetbahn.de for more information, were rendered unreadable with a marker. My name was cut out or covered up on several signs. Parts of my work were damaged or removed. To me, this is a deliberate attempt to discredit my commitment and erase my achievements. The board reacted without consequences.
Cancel culture after the petition handover
The low point came after the cross-party handover of my Transrapid petition to the Bundestag (German parliament). I had offered all parliamentary groups a meeting; in the end, only the AfD group officially accepted the petition. Shortly afterward, the association’s board decided to relieve me of all duties, including public relations and exhibition design, which I had been largely responsible for over the years. The reason given was that my conduct was problematic for the association. Especially considering that the association never supported the petition and that it was solely my own initiative, these consequences against me are unfounded. One resulting consequence was to replace all signs I had created in the visitor center’s exhibition, to remove my name from all outdoor signs I had made, and thereby to practically eliminate my name from the association I helped build.
Particularly disappointing for me was also the treatment of elected representatives. In July 2025, four members of the Bundestag and a state parliament (AfD) asked for a visit appointment at the visitor center. The board, led by the CDU mayor of Lathen, categorically refused entry, for purely party-political reasons. Personally, I consider that undemocratic. One need not share every political position, but categorically refusing even critical dialogue is the opposite of democratic maturity. Other members and I therefore at least guided the representatives along the outdoor grounds in August, because we simply find it unfair to deny elected officials a conversation when they show genuine interest. As I already announced in my statement of August 4, 2025, I am and remain politically neutral and talk to everyone. That is why I find such consequences completely exaggerated and rather personal in nature.
When it is no longer just individual members agitating against me but the board actively trying to get rid of me, despite my consistent political neutrality and my enormous commitment to the Transrapid in Emsland, I have reached my limit. I no longer see a place in an association that, instead of promoting active commitment, prefers to block, exclude and dismantle.
The Wiesner family is leaving too
I am not the only one affected. The entire Wiesner family, who for years carried the visitor center with exceptional dedication, has now left the association together. It was Udo Wiesner who, from 2022 to 2024, opened the visitor center almost every weekend and guided thousands of visitors through the exhibition in expert and committed tours lasting over an hour. Brigitte Wiesner coordinated the entire operation and took care of organization, planning and communication, together with Dominik, who handled public relations and advertising. Without the Wiesner family, the visitor center would never have operated in its present form. Many visitors of recent years probably remember their faces, above all Udo’s tours, fondly.
They too were repeatedly the target of defamation by individual association members, even though they formed the core of active association life. Particularly hurtful was the video surveillance at the end of 2024, in which members openly made fun of the family. Even more serious, though: For years the board accepted all of this, never drew any effective consequences and tolerated the attacks on dedicated members. When I too was excluded from my board functions despite my political neutrality, the Wiesner family reached the point where they could no longer support what was happening in the association.
Future
I will continue my commitment to the maglev independently, through magnetbahn.de, my own platform, which I have been building for years. I will continue to report, inform and connect there on a fact basis, open to anyone who wants to engage with the subject objectively.
My time in the association was intense, instructive and at times unintentionally entertaining. I thank it for many exciting experiences and wish the association all the best with the demanding task of no longer driving away volunteer commitment.
