Alexander Gauland

Alexander Eberhardt Gauland
File:Alexander Gauland (AfD) - AfD Parteitag 25.1.2014.jpg Alexander Gauland in 2014
Born	(1941-02-20) 20 February 1941 Chemnitz, Germany
Institution	University of Hamburg
Field	Jurisprudence

Alexander E. Gauland (born 20 February 1941 in Chemnitz) is a German lawyer, journalist and politician. He possesses two juristical Staatsexamen and a Doctorate. Gauland is a leading politician of the national conservative AfD.

Biography

Gauland was born in 1941 in Chemnitz, a city that became part of [East Germany] in 1949, and after graduating from high school in 1959, he fled to West Germany. He studied political science and law at Marburg, where he also received his doctorate.

In 1972 Gauland entered the Federal Press Office and worked as the Director of the Office of the Mayor of Frankfurt am Main for 10 years.

Afterwards he became the head of a department of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety in Bonn and Member of the Hessian Prime Minister´s cabinet.

From 1991-2006 worked as an editor of the local newspaper in Potsdam.

Founding the AfD

On the morning of March 25, 2010 German Chancellor Angela Merkel publicly assured that there would be no direct financial aid to Greece, only to break that promise a few hours later by agreeing with the leaders of the euro states to send the first of many "rescue packages" to Greece. Gerd Robanus, Assessor in the Federal Executive of the CDU-Business Association cited this as the reason for founding the "Election Alternative 2013" together with Alexander Gauland, Konrad Adam and Bernd Lucke.

In February 2014 Gauland received about 80 percent of the vote during an Extraordinary National Congress in Diedersdorf, becoming chairman of the Brandenburg County Association of the Alternative for Germany.

Landtag of Brandenburg

The AfD earned a voting share of 12.2 percent in the Brandenburg state election, 2014 for the first time. On Tuesday, 10/07/2014 Gauland opened the inaugural session of the Landtag of Brandenburg:

As part of this speech, after quoting Edmund Burke, Gauland wished the other members of parliament "all the strength and the courage, to tackle the tasks now ahead of them, in the interest of the voters and in the interest of the common good".

Political affiliation and ideals

Before becoming an AfD founding member Gauland was member of the CDU. In 2012 Gauland became involved in the Berliner Kreis ("Berlin circuit"), a loose association of federal and state politicians within the CDU, which has been trying for years to make the CDU conservative again, because they consider that under Angela Merkel's leadership it has moved away from these ideals. In May of 2016, Gauland made decidedly racist comments about Bayern Munich and German national team footballer Jerome Boateng, claiming that "people find him good as a footballer, but they don't want to have Boateng as a neighbour" and thus inciting much controversy.

PEGIDA

Alexander Gauland said he can not detect any right-wing extremists or radicals at the PEGIDA-Demonstrations.

Position in the AfD

He is the AfD's federal spokesman and state chairman of Brandenburg.

Miscellaneous

Gaulands life companion Carola Hein is editor of a local newspaper, the Märkische Allgemeine.

External links

• Alexander Gauland on "Who is who in German Law"
• Alexander Gauland in the Chemnitzian encyclopedia of authors of Chemnitz Public Library
• Artikel von Alexander Gauland at the Tagesspiegel