Lutz Bachmann
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Lutz Bachmann (born 26 January 1973) is the founder and leader of the Pegida movement, a
far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...
German political organisation linked to the anti-Muslim
counter-jihad Counter-jihad (also known as the counter-jihad movement) is a self-titled Islamophobia, anti-Muslim political movement loosely consisting of authors, bloggers, think tanks, demonstrators, and other activists across the Western world. Proponents are ...
ideology. As leader of Pegida, Bachmann has led marches of tens of thousands of people against Muslim immigration. Bachmann has a long history of criminal convictions, and was banned from entering the United Kingdom in 2018.


Biography


Personal life

Born in 1973 in
Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
,
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 ...
, Bachmann had a
working-class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...
upbringing. ''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' reports that he is the son of a butcher. He was a chef and
graphic designer A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming ...
, and played professional soccer for teams in Dresden and
Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...
. Bachmann has a criminal record for sixteen
burglaries Burglary, also called breaking and entering (B&E) or housebreaking, is a property crime involving the illegal entry into a building or other area without permission, typically with the intention of committing a further criminal offence. Usually ...
, dealing
cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...
and assault. In 1998, after Bachmann had been sentenced to several years in prison, he fled to
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
but was
deported Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people by a state from its Sovereignty, sovereign territory. The actual definition changes depending on the place and context, and it also changes over time. A person who has been deported or ...
back to Germany. According to Bachmann, during his time as a
fugitive A fugitive or runaway is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also known ...
, he opened a nightclub in
Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...
which catered to
black people Black is a racial classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and often additional phenotypical ...
. This was not long after the end of
apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English:  , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...
, and Bachmann says, "It was scandalous. People were shouting at me, 'How can you do this as a German, as a white? How can you open a night club for blacks?'" Bachmann says, "I became a refugee. But a refugee from German law". Bachmann is the owner of a public relations and advertising company in Dresden that he founded in 1992, and has been a
publicist A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a company, a brand, or public figure – especially a celebrity – or for work or a project such as a book, film, or album. Publicists are public relations specialists wh ...
for
nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...
s. In January 2014, Bachmann was one of 500 helpers, who was awarded the Saxon Flood Helper Order at a public event by Dresden's Lord Mayor
Helma Orosz Helma Orosz (; born 11 May 1953, in Görlitz) is a German politician and member of the CDU. She was the Saxon State Minister for Social Affairs between 2003 and 2008 and '' Oberbürgermeister'' (Lord Mayor) of Dresden from 2008 to 2015. Admin ...
on behalf of the Saxon Prime Minister
Stanislaw Tillich Stanislaw Rudi Tillich (; , ; born 10 April 1959) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as the 3rd Minister President of Saxony from 2008 to 2017. From 1 November 2015 until 31 October 2016, he was Preside ...
. During the
2013 floods A flood is an overflow of water that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrology and are of significant conce ...
, he had organised the Flood Aid Centre in the former
Glücksgas Stadium Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion is a stadium in Dresden, Saxony, Germany. It is named after athlete Rudolf Harbig and is the current home of Dynamo Dresden. It also hosts fixtures of the Germany national football team, German national team on an irregular ...
and collected aid and donations.


Pegida

Bachmann started Pegida in October 2014 to protest plans to add 14 refugee centres in Dresden, Germany. Through Pegida he rallied the disparate forces of the German right against the "parallel societies" of
Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
s in Europe. Bachmann publicly renounces
extremist Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied shar ...
violence of any kind and insists his enemy is not religion itself. As a result of his involvement with Pegida he has been threatened with death and had to cancel a march in Dresden. In mid-January 2015, Bachmann was criticised after a photograph surfaced showing him with a mustache and hair style similar to
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
. According to Bachmann, it was an old photo that was meant as a joke. After the photo sparked international outrage, Bachmann stepped down as de facto leader of Pegida. According to Bachmann and Pegida co-founder Kathrin Oertel, Bachmann's resignation had nothing to do with the photo. A few weeks later, Bachmann was reinstated as a co-leader following a vote. The ''
Sächsische Zeitung ''Sächsische Zeitung'' (; "Saxon Newspaper") is a regional German daily newspaper. The paper is published in Dresden. Its circulation is around 227.940, a fall of around 40% since 1998. Around 93% of copies sold are delivered to subscribers. D ...
'' later reported that the moustache was added after the photo was taken, with Bachmann asserting that it was a "forgery".


Prosecution

In 2016, Bachmann was charged with incitement of racial hatred. The charges were laid after someone using a Facebook page with Lutz Bachmann's name called refugees "cattle," "scumbags," and "filth" in a Facebook post in 2014. The first day of Bachmann's trial, which was originally planned on being split into three separate days, took place on 19 April 2016. Bachmann's lawyer, Katja Reichel, argued that there are hundreds of Facebook pages with the name Lutz Bachmann on Facebook, and that there was no reason to believe that the Lutz Bachmann being accused was the one who made these comments. State attorney Tobias Uhlemann has pointed out that nothing originating from the internet would constitute evidence. On 3 May 2016, Bachmann was convicted of "inciting racial hatred" and fined €9,600. Both the defence as well the prosecution were planning on appealing against the ruling. In October 2016, Lutz Bachmann moved to live in the south of
Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...
where he was declared ''
persona non grata In diplomacy, a ' (PNG) is a foreign diplomat that is asked by the host country to be recalled to their home country. If the person is not recalled as requested, the host state may refuse to recognize the person concerned as a member of the diplo ...
'' by the authorities of that island.


Political party

Bachmann has set up the new party Liberal Direct Democratic People's Party (''Freiheitlich Direktdemokratische Volkspartei'', FDDV). The party was established on 13 June 2016.


Further legal issues

In January 2017, Bachmann had to answer to the Dresden Regional Court because an aid organisation had sued him due to reputational damage. In a Facebook entry of November 2016, Bachmann had described the aid organisation, which collected donations for the purchase of a ship that was to participate in rescue missions in the Mediterranean, as a "criminally acting private smuggling organisation" and as "law breakers". In March 2018, Bachmann received a penalty order from the Dresden District Court for sedition and violations of the Assembly Act. Bachmann had published a speech by
Akif Pirinçci Akif Pirinçci (; born 20 October 1959) is a Turkish-born German writer who is best known internationally for his novel ''Felidae''. After a highly controversial speech for the Pegida movement in 2015, he had his contracts cancelled and works d ...
on the internet, for which Pirinçci was later convicted. The same month, the State Criminal Police Office of Berlin took up investigations against Bachmann for slander, false suspicion and incitement, because Bachmann had made false claims regarding Keira G. murder case. Bachmann had posted the photo of an innocent young Muslim man with a
migration background In the Germanosphere, ''migration background'' () is a term used to describe people on the basis of Identity politics, identity and ancestry. Migration background is a variably defined Social structure, socio-demographic characteristic that desc ...
due to a chance name resemblance on Facebook and accused him offender. The real suspect, an ethnic German, was already in pre-trial detention at that time. The Berlin police warned on the internet against false suspicion in the case of Keira. Bachmann defended himself by simply making an assumption and did not make any factual claims. A few days later, Bachmann wanted to hold a speech at the
Speakers' Corner A Speakers' Corner is an area where free speech public speaking, open-air public speaking, debate, and discussion are allowed. The original and best known is in the north-east corner of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park in London, England. Histor ...
in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, but was rejected by the British authorities at the
London Stansted Airport Stansted Airport is an international airport serving London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Uttlesford, Essex, northeast of Central London. As London's Airports of London, third-bu ...
where he was taken into custody by British authorities, and taken to a deportation facility and flown back to Germany a little later. The British authorities justified the deportation notice with the concern for the public good and Bachmann's criminal record for drug trafficking. He then announced in a video message that the speech he wanted to hold was that of the head of the Austrian
Identitarian movement The Identitarian movement or Identitarianism is a Pan-European nationalism, pan-European nationalist, Ethnic nationalism, ethno-nationalist, Far-right politics, far-right ideological movement centred on the preservation of White people, white ...
,
Martin Sellner Martin Michael Sellner (born 8 January 1989) is an Austrian Right-wing politics, right-wing to far-right political activist, and leader of the Identitäre Bewegung Österreichs, Identitarian Movement of Austria, which he co-founded in 2012. He is ...
. Sellner had also been refused entry a few days earlier. Bachmann then read the Sellner speech in Dresden on a Pegida Monday demonstration. For the insult of a journalist in August 2019, Bachmann was sentenced to 60 daily rates by the District Court of Dresden in February 2020. Because Bachmann had published an arrest warrant, he was sentenced to 100 daily rates of 30 euros by the district court of Dippoldiswalde, then appealed, but withdrew it in August 2020, thus being finalised. In April 2022, Bachmann was convicted of insulting and sedition. The Dresden Regional Court imposed a six-month prison sentence, which was suspended for two years.


References


External links

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Meet the German Activist Leading the Movement Against 'Islamization'
''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Bachmann, Lutz 1973 births Living people Counter-jihad activists German activists German critics of Islam German prisoners and detainees Pegida activists People convicted of racial hatred offences People deported from South Africa Politicians from Dresden Prisoners and detainees of Germany