Max Lucks (born 19 April 1997) is a German politician of

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (, ), often simply referred to as Greens (, ), is a Green (politics), green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of the Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (formed in East Ger ...

who has been serving as a member of 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 ...

in the 20th Bundestag that has been elected in the German federal election on 26 September 2021. He was the spokesperson for Green Youth, the youth organisation of

, from October 2017 to November 2019. On 23 February 2025, he was re-elected to the Bundestag.

Life

After graduating from the Märkische Schule in

Bochum-Wattenscheid Wattenscheid () is a of the city of Bochum. Until 1975, it was a separate town in the Ruhr area of North Rhine-Westphalia. Wattenscheid has a population of about 80,000 citizens. Some notable firms have their headquarters in there, such as St ...

in 2015, Lucks began studying social science at the

Ruhr University Bochum The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began ...

in 2016. Alongside his studies, he worked as a

public relations officer A public relations officer (PRO) or chief communications officer (CCO) or corporate communications officer is a C-suite level officer responsible for communications, public relations, and/or public affairs in an organization. Typically, the CCO o ...

fundraiser Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

and student assistant. He completed his studies in 2022 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Political career

Early beginnings

Lucks has been a member of the Green Youth since 2011 and joined the Green Party in 2013. His reasons for becoming politicised were the planned closure of the Wattenscheid train station and neo-Nazis in the area. From 2014 to 2015, he was an assessor on the federal board of the Green Youth and an assessor on the district board of Alliance 90/The Greens in Bochum. From 2015 to 2017 he served as a state spokesman for the Green Youth NRW, and from 2017 to 2019, he served as co-chairman, alongside

Ricarda Lang Ricarda Lang (born 17 January 1994) is a German politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag since 2021. Lang served as her party's co-leader from 2022 to 2024, alongside Omid Nouripour. Previously ...

Member of the German Parliament, 2021–present

In the Bundestag, Lucks serves on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the

Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid The Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid has been a permanent Bundestag committee since its establishment in 1998. Tasks The Bundestag Committee is dedicated to human dignity and human rights. Its agenda includes correcting domestic vio ...

and the Subcommittee on Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. He was elected to the German Bundestag via the North Rhine-Westphalia state list of

. At the beginning of the 20th legislative period of the German Bundestag, he became the youngest full member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. In addition to his committee assignments, Lucks has been a member of the German delegation to the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up of ...

(PACE) since 2022. In the Assembly, he serves on the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy and on its Subcommittee on Middle East Affairs and its Sub-Committee on Disability, Multiple and Intersectional Discrimination. He is also the chairman of the German-Turkish Parliamentary Friendship Group and a member of the German-Mexican Parliamentary Friendship Group. Since 2023, he has been the rapporteur for Iran there. Lucks has been a member of the

European Commission against Racism and Intolerance European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) is the Council of Europe's independent human rights monitoring body specialised in combating antisemitism, discrimination, racism, religious intolerance, and xenophobia. It publishes periodi ...

(ECRI) since 2024. Since 2022, he has been a member of the board of trustees of the Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation. Since 27 January 2025, he has been a member of the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights.

Other activities

German Foundation for World Population DSW () is an international private non-profit foundation addressing Sexual & Reproductive Health (SRH) and population dynamics. DSW funds its project and advocacy work from private donations and the financial support of governments, foundations ...

(DSW), Member of the Parliamentary Advisory Board (since 2022) * ''Bundesstiftung Magnus Hirschfeld'' (Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation), Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2022) * German United Services Trade Union (ver.di), Member

Controversy

Along with Volker Beck,

Terry Reintke Theresa Reintke (born 9 May 1987) is a German politician who has been serving as a member of the European Parliament from Germany since 2014. She is co-president of the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament. She is a member of the Allian ...

and

Felix Banaszak Felix Banaszak (born 24 October 1989) is a German politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag since the 2021 German federal election. Since 2024, Banaszak has also been serving as co-leader of Allia ...

, Lucks was temporarily detained when Beck wanted to speak publicly at

Gay Pride Istanbul ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

in June 2016. Lucks outed himself as gay in his first speech in the German Bundestag on 16 December 2021.

Views

His focus is on human rights and foreign policy. In June 2016, he was arrested at

Istanbul Pride Istanbul Pride () is a pride parade and LGBTQ demonstration held annually in Turkey's biggest city, Istanbul since 2003. Participants assemble in Taksim Square before marching the entire length of İstiklal Avenue. It has been described as the f ...

, accompanied by

, a member of the European Parliament. Lucks has been campaigning for the global improvement of the situation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans* people (LGBT*) ever since. After the ban of the 2022

Europride EuroPride is a pan-European identity, pan-European international event dedicated to Gay pride, LGBT pride, hosted by a different European city each year. The host city is usually one with an established gay pride, pride event or a significan ...

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, he accused Serbian President

Aleksandar Vučić Aleksandar Vučić, (born 5 March 1970) is a Serbian politician serving as President of Serbia since 2017. A founding member of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), he previously served as President of the SNS from 2012 to 2023, Deputy Prim ...

of using minorities as ‘pawns’. In the German Bundestag, Lucks pushed for the recognition of the genocide of the Yazidis by the Islamic State in 2014. In January 2023, the genocide was finally recognised by the German Bundestag. When it became known that Yazidis were increasingly at risk of deportation, he sharply criticised Minister of the Interior

Nancy Faeser Nancy Faeser (; born 13 July 1970) is a German lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD), served as Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community, Federal Minister of the Interior and Communit ...

. Lucks is calling for a separate paragraph for Yazidis in the Residence Act. On 7 April 2022, he supported the motion of the Kubicki group, among others, against

compulsory vaccination A vaccination policy is a health policy adopted in order to prevent the spread of infectious disease. These policies are generally put into place by state or local governments, but may also be set by private facilities, such as workplaces or sc ...

against

SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the respiratory illness responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had the Novel coronavirus, provisional nam ...

. In doing so, he took a minority position within the Greens. He did not back the motion by the Baehrens/ Janecek group, among others, for mandatory vaccination from the age of 60, which was preferred by the

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together wi ...

and Greens majority. He belongs to the left wing of his party.

Weblinks

Website
of Max Lucks
Biography
at

German Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the lower house of the German federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag was established by Title III of the Basic Law for ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucks, Max Living people 1997 births Politicians from Gelsenkirchen Members of the Bundestag for Alliance 90/The Greens Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 LGBTQ members of the Bundestag German gay politicians 21st-century German LGBTQ people Members of the Bundestag 2025–2029