Alexander Gauland facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Alexander Gauland MdB
Gauland in 2019
Leader of the Alternative for Germany
In office 2 December 2017 – 30 November 2019 Serving with Jörg Meuthen
Preceded by	Frauke Petry
Succeeded by	Tino Chrupalla
Leader of the Opposition
In office 24 October 2017 – 26 October 2021 Serving with Alice Weidel
Chancellor	Angela Merkel
Preceded by	Sahra Wagenknecht Dietmar Bartsch
Succeeded by	Ralph Brinkhaus
Leader of the Alternative for Germany in the Bundestag
In office 26 September 2017 – 30 September 2021 Serving with Alice Weidel
Chief Whip	Bernd Baumann
Deputy	Tino Chrupalla Peter Felser Leif-Erik Holm Sebastian Münzenmaier Beatrix von Storch
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Tino Chrupalla
State Secretary and Chief of the Hessian State Chancellery
In office 24 April 1987 – 5 April 1991
Minister-President	Walter Wallmann
Preceded by	Paul Leo Giani
Succeeded by	Hans Joachim Suchan
Member of the Bundestag for Brandenburg
Incumbent
Assumed office 24 October 2017
Preceded by	Multi-member district
Constituency	AfD List
Brandenburg state politics (2014 – 2017) Leader of the Alternative for Germany in Brandenburg In office February 2014 – 8 April 2017 Preceded by Roland Scheel (2013) Succeeded by Andreas Kalbitz Leader of Alternative for Germany in the Landtag of Brandenburg In office 21 September 2014 – 25 October 2017 Deputy Birgit Bessin Thomas Jung Preceded by Position established Succeeded by Andreas Kalbitz Member of the Landtag of Brandenburg In office 8 October 2014 – 25 October 2017 Preceded by Multi-member district Succeeded by Jan-Ulrich Weiß Constituency AfD List
Personal details
Born	Alexander Eberhardt Gauland (1941-02-20) 20 February 1941 (age 84) Chemnitz, German Reich
Political party	Alternative for Germany (2013–present)
Other political affiliations	Christian Democratic Union (1973–2013)
Domestic partner	Carola Hein
Children	2
Alma mater	University of Marburg

Eberhardt Alexander Gauland (born 20 February 1941) is a German politician, journalist, and lawyer. He has been a Member of the Bundestag (MdB), which is like a member of parliament, since September 2017. He also served as a leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the Bundestag (the German parliament) from 2017 to 2021. From December 2017 to November 2019, he was a co-leader of the AfD party itself. Gauland helped start the AfD and was its federal spokesperson for a time. He also led the party in the state of Brandenburg from 2013 to 2017.

Alexander Gauland's Early Life and Career

Alexander Gauland was born in 1941 in Chemnitz, a city in Germany. In 1949, this city became part of East Germany. After finishing high school in 1959, he moved to West Germany. He studied political science and law at the University of Marburg, where he also earned his doctorate degree.

In 1972, Gauland started working for the Federal Press Office. He then served as the Director for the Office of the Mayor of Frankfurt am Main for ten years.

Later, he became a department head in the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety in Bonn. He was also part of the Hessian Prime Minister's cabinet.

From 1991 to 2006, he worked as an editor for a local newspaper called Märkische Allgemeine in Potsdam.

How the AfD Party Was Started

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was founded partly because of decisions made during the Greek government-debt crisis. In March 2010, German Chancellor Angela Merkel first said there would be no direct financial help for Greece. However, she later changed her mind and agreed to send financial aid. This decision led some people, including Alexander Gauland, Konrad Adam, and Bernd Lucke, to create the AfD.

In February 2014, Gauland was elected as the chairman of the AfD's Brandenburg State Association. He received about 80 percent of the votes.

Gauland in the Brandenburg State Parliament

In the 2014 Brandenburg state election, the AfD party received 12.2 percent of the votes. This allowed them to enter the state parliament, known as the Landtag of Brandenburg, for the first time. On July 10, 2014, Alexander Gauland opened the first meeting of the Brandenburg Landtag.

In his speech, Gauland encouraged the other members of parliament to work with strength and courage. He asked them to focus on tasks that would benefit the voters and the community.

Alexander Gauland's Political Views

Before helping to start the AfD, Gauland was a member of the CDU party. In 2012, he joined a group within the CDU called the "Berlin circle." This group wanted the CDU to return to more traditional conservative ideas, as they felt the party had moved away from these under Angela Merkel's leadership.

Gauland supports ideas that are both conservative in society and liberal in economics. He was against giving financial aid to Greece during its economic crisis. He has also spoken about closing Germany's and the European Union's borders.

Regarding protests, Alexander Gauland stated that he did not see any extreme right-wing people at the PEGIDA demonstrations. He said he saw citizens who were demonstrating because they were worried about developments in Germany.

In May 2016, there was a discussion about comments Gauland reportedly made about Jérôme Boateng, a black German football player. A newspaper quoted Gauland as saying that people liked Boateng as a footballer but did not want him as a neighbor. This caused a lot of discussion. Gauland said he was misunderstood and that his comments were not meant for publication. The newspaper disagreed. Boateng said he was "saddened" by the statement. The German government called it "a vile and sad sentence."

In September 2017, a video showed Gauland saying that Germany should be proud of its soldiers from both world wars. He said that Germans should no longer be blamed for the Second World War. He compared this to how the French are proud of their emperor or the British are proud of Nelson and Churchill. He also said that no other country has dealt with its past mistakes as clearly as Germany. In response, Germany's justice minister said that these statements showed the AfD was on the extreme right. Many of Gauland's supporters defended his comments.

Gauland's Role in the AfD

Gauland is one of the people who founded the AfD party. From 2013 to 2017, he was the party leader in the state of Brandenburg. He became a member of the Landtag of Brandenburg after the 2014 Brandenburg state election.

He stepped down as party leader in Brandenburg when he led the AfD in the 2017 German federal election alongside Alice Weidel. Together, they led the AfD group in the Bundestag. In December 2017, he was elected as a co-leader of the party with Jörg Meuthen. He resigned as party leader in November 2019.

Alexander Gauland's Personal Life

Alexander Gauland's partner, Carola Hein, works as an editor for a local newspaper, the Märkische Allgemeine. Gauland himself used to be an editor for the same newspaper.

When he was 26 years old, Gauland experienced depression. He also had a heart attack in 2007 and has been taking medicine for his blood pressure since then.

Gauland is a member of the Evangelical Church in Germany. His daughter is a Protestant pastor. In 2016, she publicly disagreed with her father's statements about refugees.

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See also

In Spanish: Alexander Gauland para niños