Tatjana Festerling (née Schimanski, 6 March 1964) is a German
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 ...
activist who was a member of the
organisation team of the political movement
Pegida. She was expelled from the Pegida leadership for advocating that
asylum-seekers should be shot if they attempt to cross the German border.
Political activities
Festerling was a founding member of the
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
section of 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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* Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...
(AfD).
She resigned from the party, after a looming threat of expulsion for her condoning action of the
Hooligans against Salafists movement.
In 2015, Festerling joined Pegida and became the first-ever Pegida candidate to run for office. She contested for the mayoral election in the city of
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 ...
and gained 9.6% of the votes in the election held on 7 June 2015. ''
Der Spiegel
(, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...
'' had described Pegida's decision in 2015 to invite Festerling, a woman, to work with the party founder
Lutz Bachmann as an adroit move.
[
Festerling demanded the "Säxit"the secession of Saxony from the Federal Republic of Germanyon October 12, 2015, after she had already demanded the rebuilding of the former ]Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...
over Germany on March 9, 2015.
In June 2016, Festerling was dismissed from the Pegida leadership. Bachmann stated that her behaviour 'was injurious to the organisation' as the reason for her dismissal.[
In 2017 she was found guilty of ]Volksverhetzung
(), in English "incitement to hatred" (used also in the official English translation of the German Criminal Code), "incitement of popular hatred", "incitement of the masses", or "instigation of the people", is a concept in German criminal law t ...
in Dresden and sent to prison for 120 days.
Personal
Festerling trained in coaching and yoga and has two grown up children.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Festerling, Tatjana
1964 births
Living people
Alternative for Germany politicians
Pegida activists
Politicians from Wuppertal