Alexander Gauland facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Alexander Gauland
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Gauland in May 2021
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| Leader of the Alternative for Germany | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 2 December 2017 – 30 November 2019 Serving with Jörg Meuthen
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| Preceded by | Frauke Petry | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Tino Chrupalla | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader of the Opposition | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 24 October 2017 – 26 October 2021 Serving with Alice Weidel
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| Chancellor | Angela Merkel | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Sahra Wagenknecht Dietmar Bartsch |
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| 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
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| Chief Whip | Bernd Baumann | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy | Tino Chrupalla Peter Felser Leif-Erik Holm Sebastian Münzenmaier Beatrix von Storch |
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| 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 |
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| Minister-President | Walter Wallmann | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Paul Leo Giani | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Hans Joachim Suchan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of the Bundestag for Brandenburg |
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| In office 24 October 2017 – 24 March 2025 |
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| Preceded by | Multi-member district | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Constituency | AfD List | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Member of the Bundestag for Saxony |
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| Assumed office 25 March 2025 |
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| Preceded by | Detlef Müller | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Constituency | Chemnitz | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
Alexander Eberhardt Gauland
20 February 1941 Chemnitz, German Reich |
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| 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) since September 2017. The Bundestag is like Germany's parliament. He was a co-founder of the political party Alternative for Germany (AfD). From September 2017, he served as a leader of the AfD group in the Bundestag. He was also a co-leader of the party itself from December 2017 to November 2019.
Contents
About Alexander Gauland
Alexander Gauland was born in 1941 in Chemnitz, a city in Germany. In 1949, this city became part of East Germany. When he finished high school in 1959, he moved to West Germany. He studied political science and law at the University of Marburg. He also earned his doctorate degree there.
Early Career in Government
In 1972, Gauland started working for the Federal Press Office. This office helps share information from the government. For ten years, he worked as the Director for the Office of the Mayor of Frankfurt am Main.
Later, he became a department head in the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety in Bonn. He also joined the cabinet of the Hessian Prime Minister. A cabinet is a group of important advisors to a leader.
From 1991 to 2006, he worked as an editor for a local newspaper called Märkische Allgemeine in Potsdam.
Starting the AfD Party
In March 2010, German Chancellor Angela Merkel changed her mind about giving financial help to Greece. This decision led some people to feel that the government was not keeping its promises. Because of this, Alexander Gauland, along with Gerd Robanus, Konrad Adam, and Bernd Lucke, decided to start a new political party. They called it the Alternative for Germany (AfD).
In February 2014, Gauland was chosen to lead the AfD party in the state of Brandenburg. He received about 80 percent of the votes.
Role in 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 Landtag of Brandenburg for the first time. The Landtag is the state parliament. On July 10, 2014, Alexander Gauland opened the first meeting of the Brandenburg Landtag.
During his speech, he quoted Edmund Burke, a famous thinker. Gauland wished the other members of parliament "all the strength and the courage, to tackle the tasks now ahead of them, in the interest of the voters and in the interest of the common good."
Political Views and Beliefs
Before helping to start the AfD, Alexander 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. They felt the party had moved away from these ideas under Angela Merkel's leadership.
Gauland supports ideas that are both conservative in society and liberal in economics. He was against the idea of giving financial help to Greece during its economic problems. He has also called for Germany and the European Union to control their borders more strictly.
Alexander Gauland has stated that he does not see extreme right-wing people at some public demonstrations. He said he sees "citizens who demonstrate out of concern about developments in Germany, who are afraid."
In May 2016, a newspaper reported comments Gauland made about Jérôme Boateng, a black German football player. The paper quoted Gauland saying that people like Boateng as a footballer, but they might not want him as a neighbor. This caused a lot of discussion. Gauland said the newspaper misunderstood him and that his comments were private. The newspaper disagreed. Boateng said he was "saddened" by the comment. 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 Germans should no longer be criticized for the Second World War. He compared this to how the French are proud of their emperor or Britons are proud of Nelson and Churchill. Germany's justice minister said these statements showed that Gauland's AfD party was on the extreme right.
In 2018, Gauland made a controversial statement about German history.
His Role in the AfD
Alexander Gauland is one of the people who started 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 became a lead candidate for the AfD in the 2017 German federal election. He led the AfD group in the Bundestag alongside Alice Weidel. In December 2017, he was chosen as a co-leader of the party with Jörg Meuthen. He resigned from this leadership role in November 2019.
In November 2024, Gauland announced he would run for the Bundestag again. This time, he ran in his hometown of Chemnitz in the state of Saxony. He was elected in the 2025 German federal election with 32.2% of the votes.
Personal Life
Alexander Gauland's partner, Carola Hein, is an editor for a local newspaper called the Märkische Allgemeine. Gauland used to work for the same newspaper.
When he was 26, Gauland experienced depression. He also had a heart attack in 2007 and takes medicine for his blood pressure.
Gauland is a member of the Evangelical Church in Germany. His daughter is a Protestant pastor. In 2016, she publicly disagreed with some of her father's statements about refugees.
Images for kids
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Gauland in May 2021
See also
In Spanish: Alexander Gauland para niños
