Alice Weidel

Last updated

Alice Weidel
MdB
2019-09-01 Wahlabend Sachsen by Sandro Halank-039.jpg
Weidel in 2019, on the election night of the 2019 Saxony state election
Leader of the Alternative for Germany
Incumbent
Assumed office
18 June 2022
Servingwith Tino Chrupalla
Alma mater University of Bayreuth

Alice Elisabeth Weidel (born 6 February 1979) is a German politician who has been serving as co-chairwoman of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party alongside Tino Chrupalla since June 2022, [1] though she is considered to be part of the more moderate conservative Alternative Mitte faction within the AfD. [2] [3] Since October 2017, she has held the position of leader of the AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag. Weidel became a member of the Bundestag (MdB) in the 2017 federal election, where she was the AfD's lead candidate alongside Alexander Gauland. [4] In the 2021 federal election, she once again served as their lead candidate, alongside Tino Chrupalla. [5] From February 2020 to July 2022, Weidel held the position of chairwoman of the AfD state association in Baden-Württemberg. [6]

Contents

Early life and career

Weidel was born in Gütersloh and grew up in Versmold, where she graduated from a Christliches Jugenddorfwerk Deutschlands (CJD) Gymnasium in 1998. [7] She studied economics and business administration at the University of Bayreuth and graduated as one of the best in the year in 2004. [8] After receiving her undergraduate degree, Weidel went to work for Goldman Sachs Asset Management from July 2005 to June 2006 as an analyst in Frankfurt. [9] [10] In the late 2000s, she worked at the Bank of China, and lived for six years in China [7] [11] where she learned to speak Mandarin. [12] Subsequently, she wrote a doctoral thesis with the health economist Peter Oberender at the Faculty of Law and Economics in Bayreuth on the future of the Chinese pension system. In 2011, she received a doctorate in international development. [7] [9] [13] [14] Her doctorate was supported by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. [15]

From March 2011 to May 2013, she worked as Vice President at Allianz Global Investors in Frankfurt. [10] [9] Since 2014, she has worked as a freelance business consultant. [7] In 2015, she worked for Rocket Internet and Foodora. [16] Weidel was until January 2021 a member of the Friedrich A. von Hayek Society  [ de ]. [17]

Politics

Alternative for Germany

Weidel joined the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in October 2013. [18] According to Weidel, she was first attracted to the party due to her opposition to the euro. [19] She was elected to the federal executive committee of the AfD in June 2015. [20] In April 2017, she was elected co-Lead Candidate of the party. [13] She is the first lesbian woman to serve as a lead candidate of her party. [21] She has been identified by the media as belonging to the more moderate conservative Alternative Mitte faction within the AfD. [2] [3]

The Switzerland-based property billionaire Henning Conle supported AfD. He donated a total of 132,000 euros by means of straw men for the 2017 federal election campaign of Alice Weidel. Conle disguised his donation from Switzerland in 18 tranches. [22] [23] The AfD had to pay the Bundestag a high fine for this donation, but Weidel and three other officials went unpunished. [23]

In January 2024, it emerged that Roland Hartwig – who had been appointed as an advisor to Weidel – attended a controversial meeting with German far-right activists in which plans to deport millions of people living in Germany, including some with German citizenship, were presented and discussed. In the wake of this, Weidel fired Hartwig as her advisor. [24]

Political positions

Weidel in 2017 2017-04-23 AfD Bundesparteitag in Koln -32.jpg
Weidel in 2017

Religion

At the end of 2017, Weidel accused the Catholic Church and the Protestant Church in Germany of "playing the same inglorious role that they played in the Third Reich", accusing both churches of being "thoroughly politicized" and stating that AfD is "the only Christian party that still exists" in Germany. [25] Such statements were dismissed by the Catholic German Bishops' Conference and the Evangelical Church as "polemics" and "derailment". [26]

Immigration

Weidel has criticized the immigration policies of Angela Merkel, stating that "the country will be destroyed through this immigration policy. Donald Trump said that Merkel is insane and I absolutely agree with that. It is a completely nonsensical form of politics that is being followed here." [19] She has called for the German government to invest in "special economic zones" in the Middle East to encourage educated and skilled persons to remain in their home countries and avoid the possibility of brain drain, [19] but also says she supports a "Canadian-style system" which would prioritize skilled, over unskilled, immigrants. [27]

European Union

Weidel supports continued German membership in the European Union; however, she has called for economically weak states, such as Greece, to leave. [19] Despite her stance on German membership of the EU, she believes that Germany should withdraw from the Eurozone. [19] She has also stated that Brexit was "a model for Germany, that one can make a sovereign decision like that." [28]

LGBT issues

Weidel has stated her opposition to discussion of sexuality prior to puberty saying that "I don't want anyone with their gender idiocy or their early sexualisation classes coming near my children." [19]

She has also expressed her opposition to legalization of same-sex marriage, stating that she supports protection of the "traditional family" while also supporting "other lifestyles". [19] She has said she supports civil partnership for gay and lesbian couples, noting she is a lesbian herself and in a civil partnership with another woman. [13] [29]

Economic issues

Weidel vigorously defends economic liberalism and declares former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to be her role model. [30]

Weidel expresses support for tax cuts and the abolition of inheritance tax, and opposes the minimum wage. [31]

Environment

Weidel has expressed doubts about global warming. [32]

Controversies

TV show "political correctness" incident

In April 2017, Weidel railed against political correctness, claiming that it belonged in the "dustbin of history". [33] In response, on 27 April, TV presenter Christian Ehring of the satire program extra 3 addressed this, saying "That's right! Let's put an end to political correctness. The Nazi slut is right. Was this incorrect enough? I hope so!" [33] Weidel sued the channel seeking to forbid re-airing of the program, and on 17 May the Hamburg District Court ruled against her, stating that a public figure must tolerate exaggerated criticism. [34] Weidel disagreed with the decision and promised to bring it to the Oberlandesgericht (Higher Regional Court). [35] As of September 2017, no further action had taken place. [33]

Illegal immigration incident

A September 2017 report by Die Zeit claimed that Weidel had illegally hired a Syrian refugee to do housework at her home in Switzerland. The report also alleged that the asylum seeker did not have a written work contract, nor were there invoices for her work. Weidel responded in a tweet that the Die Zeit report was "fake news" and "false" and Weidel's lawyer stated that Weidel had a Syrian stay at her home as a guest but not as a worker. [36] [37] [38]

Border revisionism

In June 2023, Weidel commented on the election polls results in former East Germany, stating that AfD has great support in this region. However, she referred to the region as Mitteldeutschland (central Germany), suggesting that the so-called Recovered Territories are part of Germany, which caused controversies among the Polish politicians. [39]

Personal life

Weidel is in a relationship with Sarah Bossard, a woman who lives in Einsiedeln, Switzerland, and is originally from Sri Lanka; she works as a film producer. Weidel lives in both Berlin and Einsiedeln, and stated in 2017 that she primarily resides in the former. She and her partner are in a civil union and have two adopted children. [40] [41] [42]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alternative for Germany</span> Far-right political party in Germany

Alternative for Germany is a far-right and right-wing populist political party in Germany. The AfD is Eurosceptic, and opposes immigration into Germany, especially Muslim immigration. The German judiciary has classified the party as a "suspected extremist" party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frauke Petry</span> German businesswoman and politician (born 1975)

Frauke Petry is a German politician who chaired the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party from July 2015 to September 2017. A chemist by training and with a professional background as a businesswoman, some political scientists described Petry as a representative of the national conservative wing of that party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beatrix von Storch</span> German politician (born 1971)

Beatrix Amelie Ehrengard Eilika von Storch is a German politician and lawyer, who has been the Deputy Leader of the Alternative for Germany since July 2015 and a Member of the Bundestag since September 2017. She previously was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Germany. From April 2016 to 2017 she was also a member of the right-wing populist Anti-EU group Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy. She is part of the right-wing conservative wing of the parliamentary group of the AfD. She belongs ancestrally to the royal House of Oldenburg which reigned over the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg until 1918.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Gauland</span> German politician, lawyer and journalist

Eberhardt Alexander Gauland is a German politician, journalist and lawyer who has served as leader of the right-wing political party Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the Bundestag since September 2017 and co-leader of the party from December 2017 to November 2019. He has been a Member of the Bundestag (MdB) since September 2017. Gauland was the party's co-founder and was its federal spokesman from 2017 to 2019 and the party leader for the state of Brandenburg from 2013 to 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Björn Höcke</span> German politician (born 1972)

Björn Uwe Höcke is a German politician of Alternative for Germany (AfD). Along with Andreas Kalbitz, Höcke was the leader of the AfD's far-right Der Flügel faction, which the German government's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution declared a suspected right-wing extremist organization. He is chair of AfD Thuringia, also a right-wing extremist organization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 German federal election</span>

Federal elections were held in Germany on 26 September 2021 to elect the members of the 20th Bundestag. State elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were also held. Incumbent chancellor Angela Merkel, first elected in 2005, chose not to run again, marking the first time that an incumbent Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany did not seek re-election.

Henning Conle is a UK-based German-Swiss billionaire property owner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Sichert</span> German politician

Martin Johannes Sichert is a German merchant and politician (AfD). He has been a member for the 19th Bundestag and was AfD Bavarian state chairman from 2017 to 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tino Chrupalla</span> German politician (born 1975)

Tino Chrupalla is a German politician from the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD). A member of the German Parliament (Bundestag) since 2017, he has served as co-chairman of the AfD since 2019 along with Alice Weidel. In November 2019, Chrupalla was nominated by Alexander Gauland to replace the latter as co-chairman of the AfD; he later won election as co-chair.

Joana Cotar is a German politician who has been a member of the Bundestag since the 2017 German federal election. Until November 2022, she was a member for the Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Waldemar Herdt is a German politician for the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and former member of the Bundestag (2017–2021).

The Alternative for Germany donation scandal was a political scandal that broke in 2018 in which the Alternative for Germany party (AfD) was found to have accepted financial contributions in contravention of conditions within German laws regulating donations to political parties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marc Jongen</span> German politician (born 1968)

Marc Stephan Jongen is a German politician (AfD). From 2003 to 2017 he was a research assistant for philosophy at the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Birgit Malsack-Winkemann</span> German politician (AfD)

Birgit Malsack-Winkemann is a German far-right politician and former judge, and a member of the Patriotic Union. She was a member of the 19th Bundestag from 2017 to 2021 for the Alternative for Germany (AfD), of which she has been a member since 2013. After losing re-election to the Bundestag in 2021, Winkemann returned to her previous position as a judge in the Berlin regional court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dirk Spaniel</span> German politician

Dirk Spaniel is a German politician. Dirk Spaniel has served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Baden-Württemberg since 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Desiderius-Erasmus-Stiftung</span> German political foundation

The Desiderius Erasmus Stiftung e.V. is a German political party foundation. It is politically associated with but independent of the right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD). The foundation's headquarters are located in Berlin. Its current chairwoman is the former Christian-democratic Member of Parliament Erika Steinbach.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2025 German federal election</span> General election for the 21st German Bundestag

Federal elections in Germany will be held to elect the members of the 21st Bundestag. They are currently scheduled to be held on 28 September 2025. However, the elections are expected to be brought forward to 23 February due to the collapse of the governing coalition, sometimes referred to in Germany as the traffic light coalition, during the 2024 German government crisis in November 2024. If held early, the 2025 election would be the fourth snap election in the history of post-war Germany after those in 1972, 1983 and 2005.

The Alternative Mitte, sometimes referred to as Alternative Mitte Deutschland, is a faction and political association within the Alternative for Germany party which was formed in 2017 and presents itself as "liberal patriotic" and "conservative". It has been described by commentators as being founded as a counterweight and a response to the more hardline Der Flügel wing of the AfD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2023 Potsdam far-right meeting</span> Meeting about deporting people from Germany

On 25 November 2023, a group of right-wing extremists met at the Adlon Mansion on Lake Lehnitz in Potsdam, Germany. At the event, Martin Sellner, an Austrian right-wing extremist presented a plan for the deportation of certain parts of the German populace, namely asylum seekers, foreigners with a residence permit, and "non-assimilated" German citizens. The meeting was attended by members of the German right-wing populist party AfD, the mainstream centre-right party Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Werteunion, and the far-right Identitarian movement, among others. The meeting was exposed by the investigative journalism organization Correctiv, which published its findings on 10 January 2024.

The 15th Federal Party Congress of the Alternative for Germany took place on June 29th and 30th, 2024, at the Grugahalle in Essen. Among other matters, the federal executive board was newly elected.

References

  1. ↑ Deutschlandfunk (18 June 2022). "Alice Weidel und Tino Chrupalla zum Führungsduo der AfD gewählt". Deutschlandfunk (in German). Archived from the original on 15 June 2022. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  2. 1 2 "Diese Geste finden "gemäßigte" AfDler verfassungsfeindlich". WeltN24 (in German). 3 October 2017. Archived from the original on 4 October 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  3. 1 2 Orde, Sabine am (6 October 2017). "Alternative Mitte "gegen" Flügel". Die Tageszeitung (in German). Archived from the original on 8 October 2017. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  4. ↑ Grieshaber, Kirsten (23 April 2017). "Germany's AfD party elects Alexander Gauland and Alice Weidel as general election candidates" . The Independent . Archived from the original on 27 April 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  5. ↑ Der Spiegel (25 May 2021). "Weidel und Chrupalla zu Spitzenkandidaten der AfD gewählt". Der Spiegel (in German). Archived from the original on 28 May 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  6. ↑ SWR (17 July 2022). "Chaos im Kampf um AfD-Landesvorsitz in BW - völkisch-national orientierte Kräfte gestärkt". SWR. Archived from the original on 1 December 2023. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Becker, Sven (4 May 2017). "How Far to the Right Is Alice Weidel?". Der Spiegel . Archived from the original on 4 May 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  8. ↑ Jürgen Abel (24 May 2004). "Bayreuther Ökonom: Im Wissenschaftswettbewerb eindeutig positionieren und Stärken herausarbeiten" (in German). Archived from the original on 6 September 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  9. 1 2 3 Marc Felix Serrao (2 March 2017). "ALICE WEIDEL IM PORTRÄT: Alternative zu Höcke". Faz.net (in German). Archived from the original on 2 March 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  10. 1 2 "Deutscher Bundestag - Dr. Alice Weidel". Deutscher Bundestag (in German). Archived from the original on 25 October 2021. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  11. ↑ Pepping, Dagmar (26 July 2016). "Alice Weidel - Hoffnungsträgerin der AfD" (in German). NDR. Archived from the original on 24 July 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  12. ↑ "Germany's far right preaches traditional values. Can a lesbian mother be its new voice?". The Washington Post . 15 May 2017. Archived from the original on 15 May 2017. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  13. 1 2 3 Luyken, Jörg (11 May 2017). "'Merkel is insane': meet the woman leading the AfD into the elections". The Local. Archived from the original on 11 May 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  14. ↑ Schuster, Kathleen (4 September 2017). "AfD's Alice Weidel: The pride of the populists, a mystery to everyone else". dw.com. Archived from the original on 5 September 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  15. ↑ "Publizierte Dissertationen aus der Promotionsförderung" (in German). Archived from the original on 30 June 2019. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  16. ↑ Andreas Clasen (27 April 2016). ""Mit völkischem Gerede kann ich nichts anfangen"" (in German). Südwest Presse. Archived from the original on 7 January 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  17. ↑ Pascal Beucker (18 March 2016). "Marktradikal und blank". Die Tageszeitung (in German).
  18. ↑ Sabine am Orde (9 September 2017). "AfD-Politikerin Alice Weidel: Die neue Rechte". Die Tageszeitung (in German). Archived from the original on 9 September 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Ma, Alexandra (22 September 2017). "Meet Alice Weidel, the ex-Goldman Sachs banker who could lead a far-right party to its best German election result since the Nazis". Business Insider . Archived from the original on 22 September 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  20. ↑ Melanie Amann; Sven Becker (3 May 2017). "Neue AfD-Spitzenkandidatin Wer ist Alice Weidel?". Der Spiegel (in German). No. 18/2017. Archived from the original on 3 May 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  21. ↑ "Cosmopolitan Lesbian Turns Far-Right Agitator". 20 September 2017. Archived from the original on 23 September 2017. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  22. ↑ Orde, Sabine am (10 March 2021). "Immobilienhai Henning Conle: Der große AfD-Finanzier?". Die Tageszeitung (in German). ISSN   0931-9085. Archived from the original on 8 August 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  23. 1 2 Riedel, Katja (20 September 2021). "AfD: Strafverfahren im Parteispendefall um Alice Weidel eingestellt". Süddeutsche.de (in German). Archived from the original on 20 September 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  24. ↑ "German far-right party assailed over report of extremist meeting". AP News. 18 January 2024. Archived from the original on 18 January 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  25. ↑ ""Rolle wie im Dritten Reich": AfD-Weidel erhebt schwere Vorwürfe gegen die Kirche" (in German). Archived from the original on 26 December 2017. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  26. ↑ "SZ-Online: Weidel provoziert Kirchen mit Vergleich zur Nazi-Zeit". 9 April 2018. Archived from the original on 9 April 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  27. ↑ Wildman, Sarah (5 July 2017). "The German far right is faltering. They're hoping a lesbian mom can reenergize the party". Vox. Archived from the original on 5 July 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  28. ↑ Connolly, Kate (22 January 2024). "Far-right AfD leader vows to campaign for Brexit-style EU exit vote in Germany". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077. Archived from the original on 22 January 2024. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  29. ↑ Klein, Dennis (31 July 2017). "AfD macht Wahlkampf gegen Homo- und Transsexuelle". queer.de (in German). Archived from the original on 10 August 2017. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  30. ↑ "Germany's far-right AfD leader: 'Margaret Thatcher is my role model'". The Guardian . 29 October 2017. Archived from the original on 29 October 2017.
  31. ↑ "Die Positionen der AfD-Spitzenkandidatin". Manager Magazin (in German). 25 April 2017. Archived from the original on 29 October 2017. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
  32. ↑ "ZEIT ONLINE | Lesen Sie zeit.de mit Werbung oder im PUR-Abo. Sie haben die Wahl". Archived from the original on 4 August 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  33. 1 2 3 Charter, David (18 May 2017). "TV show's 'Nazi slut' jibe at politician is legal, say judges" . The Times . Berlin. Archived from the original on 19 May 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  34. ↑ "AfD leader loses case versus German TV show that calls her 'Nazi bitch'". Reuters . 17 May 2017. Archived from the original on 18 May 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  35. ↑ "Satiriker darf AfD-Frau Weidel als "Nazi-Schlampe" bezeichnen". sueddeutsche.de (in German). 17 May 2017. ISSN   0174-4917. Archived from the original on 17 May 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  36. ↑ "German far-right leader accused of illegally hiring Syrian refugee: report". POLITICO. 13 September 2017. Archived from the original on 13 September 2017. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  37. ↑ "Far-right AfD leader Alice Weidel 'employed Syrian refugee as cleaner'". Deutsche Welle . Archived from the original on 14 September 2017. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  38. ↑ "Lead election candidate of far-right German party secretly employed Syrian asylum seeker as cleaner" . The Independent. 13 September 2017. Archived from the original on 14 September 2017. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  39. ↑ "Niemiecka polityk wywołała oburzenie swoim wpisem. Beata Szydło komentuje". pap.pl (in Polish). Polish Press Agency. 9 June 2023. Archived from the original on 4 October 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
  40. ↑ "AfD-Kandidatin Alice Weidel mit Coming-out auf der Wahlkampf-Bühne: "Ich bin homosexuell"". RTL Next (in German). 21 September 2017. Archived from the original on 22 September 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  41. ↑ Steiner, Thomas (23 April 2017). "Das neue Gesicht der AfD: Wer ist eigentlich Alice Weidel?". Badische Zeitung (in German). Archived from the original on 27 April 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  42. ↑ "AfD-Frontfrau Alice Weidel hat einen Wohnsitz in der Schweiz". Die Welt (in German). 29 April 2017. Archived from the original on 29 April 2017. Retrieved 6 September 2017.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Alice Weidel at Wikimedia Commons

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.