The popular political “horseshoe theory” posits that the far-left and the far-right are actually far closer to each other than either is to the political center. The totalitarianism of both fascists and communists, for example, is far more similar than communism is to classical liberalism or fascism to paleo-conservatism. We’ve been seeing a lot of that these days as old political categories collapse and strange new alliances are formed.
But perhaps no single person showcases the horseshoe like Sven Liebich, a 53-year-old bearded German neo-Nazi with criminal convictions, including violent physical assault, and now identifies as “Maria-Svenja,” a woman.
Liebich’s transgender transformation began in 2024 when the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt was made aware in December that Liebich now identified as a woman. Liebich, it must be emphasized, has done nothing to “transition” beyond asserting that he is female. Asked why he still “presented” as a man, he informed them that it was because as a transgender individual he fears discrimination.
If this were so dangerous, it would be hilarious. In early November — a month before the neo-Nazi came out as a woman — protests rocked Berlin as angry Germans condemned the implementation of the Self-Determination Act, which came into effect on November 1. Solidarity protests were held outside German embassies in other cities as well. The new law allowed adults to change both their gender and their first name by simply making a declaration at their local office without any medical or psychological assessment, surgical alterations, or court approvals.
Those protesting the law pointed out that men would now be able to access women’s private spaces as a matter of course and decried the attack on parental rights (minors above age 14 can change their legal sex without parental consent) and freedom of speech (the law includes finds for “deadnaming” or “misgendering.”) Enter Maria-Svenja. Under German law, it is technically illegal to refer to him as Sven, or, for that matter, as a “him.”
Liebich is precisely the sort of grifter that the protesters were warning about; he is also a PR nightmare for the politicians who ignored them. Liebich is already using the Self-Determination Act precisely as the stupid politicians intended it to be used, suing anyone who refers to him as a male. One such target is the unfortunately named Josefine Barbaric, the chairwoman of a group seeking to protect children from sexual violence called Nein, lass das! e.V. (No, don’t do that!).
She posted about Liebich’s new identity on Instagram and promptly received a letter from Liebich’s attorneys demanding that she stop referring to him as male, delete the Instagram post — and pay him €15,000 in damages as well as his legal fees. Reduxxexclusively acquired Liebich’s lawyer letter:
In the letter, Liebich is referred to as “Ms. Marla-Sven Liebich.” It states that Barbaric has “violated the legally anchored disclosure ban according to Paragraph 13 of the Self-Determination Act as well as the personal rights of their client” by “inaccurately“ referring to Liebich with male pronouns. The letter further states that revealing the former sex and name constitutes “serious violations of Liebich’s privacy rights,” leading to “public humiliation” and “significant mental strain.” Barbaric’s Instagram post, they argue, has incited “feelings of discrimination, humiliation, and reputational damage” for Liebich.
Liebich’s legal team has set a deadline of January 24 for Barbaric to pay €15,000 in compensation for the distress she caused, in addition to €1,375.88 in legal fees. Barbaric is also being ordered to sign a cease-and-desist declaration, which would entitle Liebich to collect a €10,000 fine from her if she were to ever misgender him in the future.
Liebich further stated that if Barbaric did not do as she was ordered, his team would seek a court injunction against her. In a truly bizarre example of the horseshoe theory, Barbaric told Reduxx that she suspects trans activists may have actually sent her Instagram post to the neo-Nazi as part of their targeted campaign against her for opposing the Self-Determination Act.
Barbaric has “spoken out against the Act in her capacity as a child safeguarding expert, noting that correctly identifying biological sex is critical in her line of work as pedophiles have explicit sex preferences in their victims. Barbaric has said that biological sex is part of a pedophile’s paraphilic sexual preference disorder” and is a respected children’s advocate in Germany who has had her educational materials recommended by police and government officials in the past.
“I will not be silenced. Our voice is for the children. This case alone illustrates that in Germany, the abnormal has become the norm. Collective delusion and ideological distortions contribute nothing to the protection of children and women in Germany; indeed, they achieve the opposite,” Barbaric told Reduxx. While she fundraises for her legal defense, Liebich is currently fighting charges of “incitement and defamation” while appealing a previous criminal conviction — and has promised that if he is jailed, he will request that he be sent to a female prison.
After all, Sven Liebich is, according to German law, a woman. As a transgender Nazi, he no doubt learned much about totalitarian tactics from both ideologies.
