In extracts from an interview with the German news weekly Focus released on Saturday ahead of publication, Bundesbank board member Thilo Sarrazin likened a wave of criticism of him to a "political show trial.”
He said if German President Christian Wulff approved his sacking in the next few days, the decision would be overturned by the justice system.
"The president will have to consider carefully whether he wants to see this political show trial to its end, and then see (his decision) thrown out by the courts," Sarrazin said.
Sarrazin has previously courted controversy with remarks about Germany's Muslim population, and the latest furor erupted in the run-up to the publication of his new book "Deutschland schafft sich ab" (“Germany does away with itself”).
Sarrazin argues in the book that Muslims undermine German society, sponge off the state and threaten to change its character and culture with their higher birth rate.
Almost 3 million people of Turkish origin and an estimated 280,000 of Arab extraction live in Germany — in total about 4 percent of the population.
Sarrazin also angered many by recently saying that "all Jews share a particular gene.”
Rules designed to protect the Bundesbank's independence mean the German president's approval must be sought for the dismissal of a board member — something that has never happened since it was founded in 1957.
Chancellor Merkel, senior ministers and all of Germany's main political parties have rebuked Sarrazin, who belongs to the center-left Social Democrats (SPD).
But the public are divided, and a legal battle could further polarize opinion and embroil the government in controversy that it can ill afford.
