Frauke Petry MdB a.D. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.JPG) Petry in 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader of Die Blaue Partei | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 14 October 2017 – 31 December 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy | Michael Muster Alexander Langguth Hubertus von Below | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Michael Muster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Position abolished | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader of the Alternative for Germany | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 4 July 2015 – 29 September 2017 Serving with Jörg Meuthen | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Bernd Lucke | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Jörg Meuthen | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of theBundestag forSächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 24 October 2017 – 26 October 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Klaus Brähmig | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Steffen Janich | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Frauke Marquardt (1975-06-01)1 June 1975 (age 50) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Independent (2019–present) Blue Party (2017–2019) AfD (2013–2017) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other political affiliations | European Conservatives and Reformists | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouses | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Residence(s) | Frohburg, Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Education | University of Reading University of Göttingen | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Politician | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Frauke Petry (German:[ˈfʁaʊkəˈpeːtʁiː];née Marquardt; born 1 June 1975) is a German far right politician who chaired theAlternative for Germany (AfD) party from July 2015 to September 2017. Achemist by training and with a professional background as abusinesswoman, some political scientists described Petry as a representative of thenational conservative wing of that party.[1][2][3][4]
Petry had formerly served as one of three party spokespersons from 2013 to 2015,[5] and became leader in 2015, displacing the party's founderBernd Lucke after an internal power struggle; Lucke subsequently left the party and said it has "fallen irretrievably into the wrong hands" after Petry's election. Petry left the party in turn after stating it had become "anarchical" and unable to provide a "credible platform".[6]
Petry is noted for heranti-immigration andanti-Islamic views, for her calls to banminarets,[7] and for arguing thatGerman police forces should "use firearms if necessary" to preventillegal border-crossings in Europe.[8] She led theBlue Party until its dissolution in late 2019.[9]
Petry was born on 1 June 1975 to a chemist and an engineer inDresden in what was thenEast Germany. She lived inSchwarzheide, Brandenburg, nearSaxony until thefall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, after which her family moved toBergkamen, inWestphalia. Petry took her first degree in chemistry at theUniversity of Reading, England, in 1998, before attending theUniversity of Göttingen, from where she gained a doctorate in 2004.[10][11] She was supported by a scholarship of theStudienstiftung.[12]
Petry was described as a representative of thenational-conservative wing of her party.[1][2][3][4] To the contrary, political scientistCas Mudde described her as a representative of thefar-right wing of her party.[13] Petry describes herself as national-conservative and supporting policies of "national self-determinism".Der Spiegel reports that her electoral success on 4 July 2015, which gave her the reins of leadership in theAfD in preference toBernd Lucke, one of the party's founders, was made possible by the national-conservative wing of the party. Lucke's wing did not have the majority.[5]
On the subject of thepolitical spectrum, Petry has said, "Right and left are terms that haven't fitted for a long time".[14] Petry believessharia is incompatible with the "democratic and liberal order of state"[15] and has said that the majority within her AfD favors a liberal-conservative policy.[16]
In January 2016, when a reporter from the regional newspaperMannheimer Morgen asked her about European and German border policies, Petry answered that theGerman Border Police (Bundesgrenzschutz) must do their jobs by "hindering illegal entry of refugees". The reporter followed up on her response, using the termSchießbefehl which means "order to shoot". Petry stated that she did not use that term, going on to state that no policeman "wants to fire on a refugee and I don't want that either" but that the BGS must follow the law to maintain theintegrity of European borders.[16] Afterwards, Petry made several attempts to justify these statements.[15][16]
In arough draft of itsmanifesto, theAfD had considered adopting a stance stating thatmale circumcision should be outlawed, but Petry said in her interview withTim Sebastian on 21 March 2016 that this language would not be in the final draft.[15] TheCentral Council of Jews in Germany is also in an uproar over the question ofreligious circumcision, stating that to give precedence to a child'sself-determination over his parents' right offreedom of religion is "an unprecedented and dramatic intrusion on the right to self-determination ofreligious communities".[17] This national dialogue is happening in the wake of a 2012 decision of a Higher Regional Court inCologne, which called the circumcision of a 4-year-old boy "bodily harm".[17]
Petry does not believe mandatory quotas are the right way to give opportunities to women, nor does she believe they improve the chances of women having more leadership positions. She believes quotas make women unsure of whether a promotion would be made on the basis of qualifications.[18]
Regarding the issue ofburqas, Petry believes it should not be compulsory for women to dress in such a manner. She has said that in schools "this sort of religious costume should not be worn".[15]
On the issue ofinternational migration, Petry is of the view that, "We [Germany and the rest of Europe] have to decide what sort of migration we want to accept".[15] She has said, "Deciding about who's migrating and who's not, who's going to be part of a new country is, in the end, a question of borders, whether you see them, or whether you don't. When I go to France, I don't see the border, but I know it's there and I accept it, be it in terms of speed limits, or be it in terms of laws and legislation".[15]
In April 2017, Petry stepped down as AfD's candidate for chancellor due to reports that she wanted to change the party's policies to appeal to more moderate voters like theSweden Democrats.[19] This came after she had frequently criticisedBjörn Höcke, one of the founders of AfD,[20][21][22][23] due to a speech that he held in Dresden in which, referring to theMemorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, he stated that "we Germans are the only people in the world who have planted a memorial of shame in the heart of their capital",[24] and suggested that Germans "need to make a 180 degree change in their politics of commemoration".[25] The speech was widely criticized asantisemitic, among others by Jewish leaders in Germany.[24][26] Petry backed attempts to expel Höcke from AfD as the party chairwoman, describing him as a "burden to the party",[24] but could not prevail in a power struggle with her party rivalsJörg Meuthen[19] andAlexander Gauland,[27] who accused her of splitting party ranks.[28] Her leadership style was seen by observers as having been high-handed and thus having alienated a number of party members.[29] Despite the internal strife, her party voted to allow her to run for a seat in theGerman parliament in theSeptember 2017 elections.[28]
One day after election night in which Petry was elected to the Bundestag by direct mandate, she left an AfD press conference saying that she won't join the party's parliamentary group in the Bundestag because the party became too "anarchical" and "could not offer a credible platform".Alice Weidel, the AfD's frontrunner, demanded her resignation from the party.[6] Following this, Petry said that she would join theBundestag as anindependent politician.[30] She resigned from the party and all offices on 29 September 2017.[31] She was subsequently charged with perjury for allegedly lying under oath about her former party's finances.[32] She was convicted and sentenced to a fine of 6,000 euros. In 2020, theFederal Court of Justice overturned the conviction on the grounds that the law on perjury did not apply to the context in which she made the false statements.[33]
On 12 October 2017, Petry announced that she would form a new party, called theBlue Party, which would provide a "reasonable conservative" agenda and seek to replicate the success of theBavarian Christian Social Union.[34] In late 2019, that party was dissolved.[9]
Petry made a reappearance in public during an April 2021 interview withKurt Krömer in which she spoke about theAlternative for Germany donation scandal. She revealed that she would be writing a book about her time as AfD leader.[35][36] The book was subsequently published asRequiem for the AfD in which Petry argued the party had become a "chaotic protest party" no longer interested in governing after she resigned as leader and accused politicians within the party of being blackmailed into accepting undeclared donations.[37]
In 2007, Petry founded her own business,PURinvent, aLeipzig-based manufacturer ofpolyurethane tire fill products.[11] She received theMedal of the Order of Merit in 2012.[38][39]
Petry separated from her husband, Sven Petry, aLutheranpastor,[14] in October 2015, stating that this was by mutual consent and that the two remained friends and would continue to share in the upbringing of their four children.[40] Frauke Petry also revealed that "much more than just friendly feelings" had developed between her andMarcus Pretzell, a fellow AfD party member.[41] At about the same time, it was announced that Sven Petry had joined theCDU.[42][14] In December 2016, Petry married Pretzell, by then her domestic partner.[43][44] Having had two further children with Pretzell,[45] Petry now has six altogether and lives inTautenhain, Saxony.[11][38]
Petry is a member of theEvangelical-Lutheran Church of Saxony, a member church of theEvangelical Church in Germany (EKD). She criticizes many stances of the EKD, which historically holds a largelyliberalProtestant stance, claiming it follows "only its own interests" regarding immigration. In 2016 she advocated its cooperation with AfD in order to defend the "European Christian values of the West".[46]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
