The Citizens for Thuringia (abbreviation: BfTh) was a political party in
Thuringia
Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area.
Er ...
in
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
between 2020 and 2024. After party defections, it was represented in the
Landtag of Thuringia
The Landtag of Thuringia is the parliament of the German federal state of Thuringia. It convenes in Erfurt and currently consists of 88 members from five parties. According to the free state's constitution, the primary functions of the Landtag ...
with four seats. The party dissolved in 2024 to join the
Values Union
The Values Union (, WU) is a German party founded on 17 February 2024 by transforming a seven-year-old registered association with the same name. The association of the same name, however, remained in existence.
History
The ''Citizens for Thuringia'' party emerged from the association of the same name, which was founded in March 2020 in connection with the government crisis in Thuringia and campaigned against the resignation of
Minister-President of Thuringia
The Minister-President of Thuringia, officially the Minister-President of the Free State of Thuringia (), is the head of government of the German state of Thuringia. The position was re-established in 1990 after German reunification. The former d ...
Thomas Kemmerich
Thomas Karl Leonard Kemmerich (born 20 February 1965) is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who served as the Minister-President of Thuringia from 5 February to 4 March 2020. With a tenure of only 28 days (3 days if his time ...
(FDP), who had been elected with votes from the
AfD
Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a far-right,Far-right:
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* right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Germany. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), ...
, CDU and FDP. The party was finally founded on 27 November 2020 in the Ringberg Hotel in Suhl with nine members. There were almost no personnel differences between the association and the party.
On 1 September 2021, , previously a member of the FDP
parliamentary group
A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political party, political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller politic ...
, became a party member and initially represented the party as an individual in the
Landtag of Thuringia
The Landtag of Thuringia is the parliament of the German federal state of Thuringia. It convenes in Erfurt and currently consists of 88 members from five parties. According to the free state's constitution, the primary functions of the Landtag ...
. In 2022, three former members of the
AfD
Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a far-right,Far-right:
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* right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Germany. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), ...
parliamentary group joined the party:
Birger Gröning
Birger Gröning (born 1975 in Schwerin) is a German politician from Thuringia. Previously representing the Alternative for Germany and Citizens for Thuringia, he has been an independent politician since 2022.
Life
Gröning completed an apprent ...
and had previously left the AfD because they rejected "hate and incitement" or "disguised racism". They were joined by
Lars Schütze
Lars Schütze (born 1974 in Erfurt) is a German politician from Thuringia. Previously representing the Alternative for Germany and Citizens for Thuringia, he has been an independent politician since 2022.
Life
Schütze completed training as a p ...
who had been expelled from the AfD. In July 2022, the four MPs were recognized as a parliamentary group in the Thuringian state parliament; the formation of a parliamentary group is only possible with five or more MPs. Bergner took over the chairmanship of the group. The group disbanded in December, however, after the party announced that it would expel Gröning and Schütze for "behaviour damaging to the party" and Gröning and Schütze themselves resigned from the party and the state parliament group.
In March 2023, it became known that the dissolved parliamentary group had been reported for alleged
embezzlement
Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...
. The parliamentarians were accused of using state funds of 80,000 euros to procure office supplies from a friendly company without carrying out the required public tender. Party representatives rejected the allegations and, after inspecting the files at the public prosecutor's office, stated that none of the accused were being investigated.
For the
2024 Thuringian state election
The 2024 Thuringian state election was held on 1 September 2024 to elect the members of the 8th Landtag of Thuringia. It was held on the same day as the 2024 Saxony state election.
The outgoing government was a minority government consisting o ...
, Citizens for Thuringia planned to run with a joint list with the association ''Free Voters Thuringia e. V.'' (not related to the party Free Voters in Thuringia) and the Thuringian state association of the
Grassroots Democratic Party of Germany
The Grassroots Democratic Party of Germany (, abbreviated ) is a political party in Germany. The declared aim of the party is to strengthen grassroots democracy in society and politics, as they consider that many areas of life are dominated by e ...
. On 25 March 2024, it was announced that the Citizens for Thuringia party would dissolve and its members would join the
Values Union
The Values Union (, WU) is a German party founded on 17 February 2024 by transforming a seven-year-old registered association with the same name.Alliance for Thuringia
Alliance for Thuringia (, BfT) was an electoral alliance for the 2024 Thuringian state election.
History
In the 2019 Thuringian state election, the Free Voters failed to register a list while in the other two East German state elections in Saxony ...
. The ''Citizens for Thuringia'' association, however, remained in existence.
Frankfurter Rundschau
The ''Frankfurter Rundschau'' (''FR'') is a German daily newspaper, based in Frankfurt am Main. The ''Rundschaus editorial stance is social liberal. It holds that "independence, social justice and fairness" underlie its journalism. In Post-wa ...
classified the party as
right-wing
Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...
.
In 2022, the Thuringian
Die Linke
Die Linke (; ), also known as the Left Party ( ), is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The party was founded in 2007 as the result of the merger of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and Labour and Social Justice – The ...
accused the party of having collaborated with radical representatives of the Querdenken movement and right-wing extremist individuals. In 2021, texts were found on the party's website in which extremism researchers saw "essential features of conspiracy narratives " aimed at discrediting democratic structures. In addition, the "lateral thinker lawyer" Ralf Ludwig spoke at a ''Citizens for Thuringia'' rally. The
Office for the Protection of the Constitution for Thuringia
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution of Thuringia has been the Office for the Protection of the Constitution of the Free State of Thuringia since January 1, 2015 as a department of the Thuringian Ministry of the Interior and Local Gov ...
stated that it was monitoring "(right-wing) extremist individuals in the environment of this party who had influenced the COVID-19 protests in Germany in recent months" for intelligence purposes, but that the party itself was "currently not an object of observation.