Eberhardt Alexander Gauland (born 20 February 1941) is a German politician, journalist and lawyer who has served as leader of the political party
Alternative for Germany
Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right:
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(AfD) in the
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...
since September 2017 and co-leader of the party from December 2017 to November 2019. He has been a
Member of the Bundestag
Member of the German Parliament () is the official name given to a deputy in the Bundestag, German Bundestag.
''Member of Parliament'' refers to the elected members of the federal Bundestag Parliament at the Reichstag building in Berlin. In G ...
(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
Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...
from 2013 to 2017.
Biography
Gauland was born in 1941 in
Chemnitz
Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt (); ; ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden, and the fourth-largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East Be ...
, a city that became part of
East Germany
East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
in 1949 and was renamed Karl-Marx-Stadt. After graduating from high school in 1959, he fled as a refugee to
West Germany
West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
. He studied political science and law at
Marburg
Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...
, 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
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...
of
Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
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
Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...
and Member of the Hessian Prime Minister's cabinet.
From 1991 to 2006, he worked as an editor of the local newspaper ''
Märkische Allgemeine
The ''Märkische Allgemeine'' (also known as the MAZ) is a regional, daily newspaper published by the ''Märkische Verlags- und Druckgesellschaft mbH'' for the area in and around the state capital of Brandenburg, Potsdam in Germany.
The newspape ...
'' in
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
.
Founding the AfD
On the morning of 25 March 2010, German Chancellor
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...
publicly promised there would be no direct financial aid to Greece, but reversed that statement hours later by agreeing with the leaders of the
Euro countries 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
Alternative for Germany
Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right:
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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 State Association of Alternative for Germany.
Landtag of Brandenburg
The AfD got 12.2 percent of the vote in the
2014 Brandenburg state election, enabling it to enter the assembly of that state for the first time. On Tuesday, 10 July 2014 Gauland opened the inaugural session of the Landtag of Brandenburg:
As part of this speech, after quoting
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke (; 12 January ew Style, NS1729 – 9 July 1797) was an Anglo-Irish Politician, statesman, journalist, writer, literary critic, philosopher, and parliamentary orator who is regarded as the founder of the Social philosophy, soc ...
, 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 a member of the
CDU. In 2012 Gauland became involved in the ("Berlin circle"), 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.
He is a supporter of a line that is both
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
on the societal level and
liberal on the economic level. He opposed the idea of an aid plan for
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
, which was then plunged into an
economic crisis
A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and ma ...
. He called for the closure of Germany's and the European Union's borders, targeting Muslims in particular.
Alexander Gauland said he can not detect any right-wing extremists or radicals at the
PEGIDA-Demonstrations. Gauland said: "I do not see right-wing extremists. I see citizens who demonstrate out of concern about developments in Germany, who are afraid. But I haven't seen any right-wing extremists, and we are not the allies of the right-wing extremists, but we are the allies of the people who have these concerns."
In May 2016, Gauland reportedly made comments about
Bayern Munich and black
German international footballer
Jérôme Boateng in a conversation with . The paper cited Gauland, "people like
oatengas a footballer, but they don't want to have a Boateng as a neighbour". A controversy arose about this sentence. Gauland defended himself, saying he was fooled by the newspaper and it had been a background discussion, which was classified as confidential and thus not intended for publication. The newspaper refuted this. Gauland added that the effect of the statement – which in his words was meant descriptive – was distorted by the headline of the newspaper, "Gauland insults Boateng" (). The newspaper had no audio recording of the statement, but independently written memos of two journalists. While Boateng himself stated that he was "saddened" by the statement of Gauland, the German federal government said it was "a vile and sad sentence" (). But also the FAS was criticised for making "mistakes".
In September 2017, a video emerged of Gauland in which he said that Germany should "be proud of" its soldiers in both world wars and people should no longer "reproach" Germans for the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. He was quoted as saying: "If the French are rightly proud of their emperor and the Britons of
Nelson
Nelson may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey
* ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers
* ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...
and
Churchill, we have the right to be proud of the achievements of the German soldiers in two
world war
A world war is an international War, conflict that involves most or all of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World War I ...
s". He continued, "If I look around Europe, no other people has dealt as clearly with their past wrongs as the Germans." In response, Germany's
justice minister
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
tweeted that the statements showed that Gauland's AfD was on the
extreme right. Gauland's comment was defended by numerous right-leaning supporters both publicly and on social media.
In 2018, Gauland said "Hitler and the Nazis are just a speck of bird poop in more than 1,000 years of successful German history".
Position in the AfD
Gauland is one of the party founders. From 2013 to 2017, he was party leader in the state
Brandenburg
Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...
and entered the
Landtag of Brandenburg
The Landtag of Brandenburg is the unicameral legislature of the states of Germany, state of Brandenburg in Germany.
Its 88 members of parliament are usually elected every 5 years.
It is responsible for deciding on state laws, controlling the s ...
in the
2014 election.
He resigned as party leader in Brandenburg, when he led the AfD in the
2017 German federal election
The 2017 German federal election was held in Germany on 24 September 2017 to elect the List of members of the 19th Bundestag, members of the 19th Bundestag. At stake were at least 598 seats in the Bundestag, as well as 111 Overhang seat, overhan ...
next to
Alice Weidel, with whom he's now leading the
AfD group in the Bundestag. In December 2017, he was elected co-leader of the party next to
Jörg Meuthen. In November 2019, he resigned as party leader.
In November 2024, Gauland announced that he would run for Bundestag again, this time in his birthtown of Chemnitz in the state of
Saxony
Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...
. He was AfD's direct candidate in the
eponymous district in the
2025 election, and was elected with 32.2% of the vote.
Personal life
Gauland's life companion Carola Hein is editor of a local newspaper, the , which he had previously edited.
As a 26-year-old man, Gauland suffered from
depression. He also suffered a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...
in 2007, and has been taking medication to lower his
blood pressure
Blood pressure (BP) is the pressure of Circulatory system, circulating blood against the walls of blood vessels. Most of this pressure results from the heart pumping blood through the circulatory system. When used without qualification, the term ...
ever since.
Gauland is a member of the
Evangelical Church in Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany (, EKD), also known as the Protestant Church in Germany, is a federation of twenty Lutheranism, Lutheran, Continental Reformed Protestantism, Reformed, and united and uniting churches, United Protestantism in Ger ...
. His daughter is a Protestant pastor and publicly distanced herself from her father's statements on
refugees
A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...
in 2016.
[See]
''"Wir können uns nicht von Kinderaugen erpressen lassen"''
Zeit Online
(, ) is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles.
History
The first edition of was ...
, 24. February 2016.
Selected publications
Journal articles
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Books
* ''Das Legitimitätsprinzip in der Staatenpraxis seit dem Wiener Kongress'' (= ''Schriften zum Völkerrecht'', Band 20.). Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1971, . (Diss., University of Marburg, 1970)
* ''Gemeine und Lords. Porträt einer politischen Klasse'' (= ''Suhrkamp-Taschenbuch'', 1650). Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt 1989, .
* ''Was ist Konservativismus? Streitschrift gegen die falschen deutschen Traditionen. Westliche Werte aus konservativer Sicht''. Eichborn Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1991, .
* ''Helmut Kohl. Ein Prinzip''. Rowohlt Verlag, Berlin 1994, .
* ''Das Haus Windsor''.
Orbis Verlag, Berlin 2000, . (Licensed by Siedler Verlag, Berlin 1996)
* ''Anleitung zum Konservativsein''. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart u. a. 2002, .
* ''Kleine deutsche Geschichte. Von der Stauferzeit bis zum Mauerfall''. Rowohlt Verlag, Berlin 2007, .
* ''Die Deutschen und ihre Geschichte''. wjs verlag, Berlin 2009, .
* ''Fürst Eulenburg – ein preußischer Edelmann. Die konservative Alternative zur imperialen Weltpolitik Wilhelm II''. Strauss Edition, Potsdam 2010, .
References
External links
Alexander Gaulandon "Who is who in German Law"
Alexander Gaulandin the Chemnitzian encyclopedia of authors of Chemnitz Public Library
at the ''
Tagesspiegel''
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gauland, Alexander
1941 births
Living people
Politicians from Chemnitz
German Lutherans
German anti-communists
Christian Democratic Union of Germany politicians
Male critics of feminism
Members of the Bundestag for Brandenburg
Members of the Landtag of Brandenburg
Leaders of political parties in Germany
German political party founders
Members of the Bundestag 2017–2021
Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025
Members of the Bundestag for the Alternative for Germany
Critics of multiculturalism
Members of the Bundestag 2025–2029