Dresden court hears lawsuits challenging German border checks with Poland and Czechia

Two lawsuits heard together in Dresden

On Wednesday, 11 November 2026, the Administrative Court in Dresden began hearing two lawsuits against the Federal Republic of Germany over the border checks it carries out with Poland and the Czech Republic. The two cases were combined into one proceeding, which drew considerable public interest. The plaintiffs argue that the checks lack a legal basis and conflict with the free movement rules of the Schengen Borders Code, which allow internal checks only for a limited time and against concrete threats. The court must examine each of the two individual cases and the legal grounds cited for them. A ruling is expected soon, but no date for it was reported.

A daily crossing under scrutiny

Jakub Woliński, a resident of Görlitz who says he holds Polish and German citizenship, is contesting a check carried out on 25 September 2024 on the Stadtbrücke bridge in Görlitz. He had to show his identity papers and open the trunk of his vehicle, which he says amounted to a search. The check took place under temporary controls that the then interior minister Nancy Faeser had ordered at all German land borders. Woliński says he crosses the bridge to Zgorzelec hundreds of times a year in a small family bus, and that the checks regularly catch him on his everyday commute. He says the resulting traffic jams weigh on him and that he must explain himself each time he enters Germany, where he lives. He describes the checks as having no positive effect and as setting back European integration.

“There is no positive effect of these border controls, and what we get instead is a reversal of European integration.”

Woliński also argues that the checks make him feel observed in his own town, comparing his treatment to that of a suspect.

“We are being watched very closely, like criminals.”

The second plaintiff and the Dobrindt question

Volker Wiedersberg, who lives in Michendorf and works in Brandenburg's social administration, is the second plaintiff. He travelled from Prague to Dresden by replacement bus in May 2026, after Alexander Dobrindt, the federal interior minister, had tightened the checks. At the first car park on the German side, he says, all occupants were checked and their identities recorded. When he asked federal police officers for the legal basis, he received an unsatisfying answer, namely that Dobrindt had ordered the measure. The case could therefore prove awkward for Dobrindt, whose ministry is responsible for the controls. Wiedersberg's lawsuit challenges the check he was subjected to on that bus journey.

Background, public debate and what comes next

The current controls date back to September 2024, when Nancy Faeser ordered temporary checks at all German land borders. The earlier public debate focused on whether the checks were lawful and on the turning away of asylum seekers at the border, before the topic became routine. Poland has also deployed its own border police in response to the German checks. In a Focus online reader discussion, more than 60 percent of readers considered the controls necessary to prevent unauthorised entry and catch offenders. Other readers sided with the plaintiffs and questioned whether the repeatedly extended checks still fit Schengen rules. Woliński's lawyer considers his chances of a favourable court decision to be high.