Tino Chrupalla | |
|---|---|
 Chrupalla in 2025 | |
| Leader of the Opposition | |
| Assumed office 6 May 2025 Serving with Alice Weidel | |
| Chancellor | Friedrich Merz |
| Preceded by | Friedrich Merz |
| Leader of theAlternative for Germany in theBundestag | |
| Assumed office 30 September 2021 Serving with Alice Weidel | |
| Deputy | Peter Felser Leif-Erik Holm Sebastian Münzenmaier Beatrix von Storch |
| Chief Whip | Bernd Baumann |
| Preceded by | Alexander Gauland |
| Leader of theAlternative for Germany | |
| Assumed office 30 November 2019 Serving with Alice Weidel | |
| Deputy | Stephan Brandner Peter Boehringer Mariana Harder-Kühnel |
| Preceded by | Alexander Gauland |
| Member of theBundestag forGörlitz | |
| Assumed office 24 October 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Michael Kretschmer |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1975-04-14)14 April 1975 (age 50) |
| Political party | Alternative for Germany |
| Children | 3 |
Tino Chrupalla (German:[ˈtiːnokʁʊˈpala]; born 14 April 1975) is a German politician from the right wing partyAlternative for Germany (AfD). A member of the German parliament (Bundestag) since 2017, he has served as co-chairman of the AfD since 2019 along withAlice Weidel.[1] In November 2019, Chrupalla was nominated byAlexander Gauland to replace the latter as co-chairman of the AfD; he later won election as co-chair.[2] He is notable for his pro-Russian and anti-Western views on foreign policy.
Chrupalla was born on 14 April 1975 inWeißwasser,[1] then part ofEast Germany. In 2003 he completed state professional exams to become a licensedhouse painter and master varnisher.[1][3] He later became owner of a construction company.[4] Chrupalla is married with two children.[5]
In March 2020, Chrupalla's car caught fire on his property inGablenz, a town in northeastern Saxony. The local police suspected arson, but it was never confirmed.[6] Chrupalla condemned the act as a direct attack on his family, one that went beyond all conceivable boundaries of political debate.[7]
In October 2023, Chrupalla was hospitalised following a suspected attack with a syringe that occurred shortly before he was due to speak at an election rally. The incident came just days after AfD's other co-leader,Alice Weidel, cancelled a public rally due to concerns that her family would also be attacked.[8]A witness told the local dailyDonaukurier that Chrupalla had taken a few selfies before he collapsed and was transported to hospital. Andreas Aichele, a spokesman for the Upper Bavaria Police Department, said it remained unclear whether the politician had been attacked, had fallen, or was simply not feeling well. Aichele said authorities ruled nothing out and that the investigation was ongoing.[9]
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During the 1990s, Tino Chrupalla joined the Christian Democratic Youth, which was linked to theCDU. He entered the AfD in 2015, and was elected to its district committee forGörlitz in 2016.[1] In theGerman federal election the following year, he defeatedMichael Kretschmer (laterMinister-President ofSaxony) in theelectoral district of Görlitz.[10]
Chrupalla is one of five deputy chief whips of the AfD's federal parliamentary group.[11]
Ahead of the2021 German federal election, Chrupalla was the AfD's leading candidate for theBundestag alongsideAlice Weidel. Together with Weidel, he was elected group leader of the AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag on 30 September 2021, replacingAlexander Gauland. Gauland would remain as honorary chairman as part of a redefinition of the office.[12]
The German newspaperDie Zeit has characterised Chrupalla as one of the relatively more moderate members of the AfD's faction in theBundestag.[13] Just before the2021 German federal election, Chrupalla cited border security as his main concern, calling for Germany to reinstate border controls to "curb border crime".[14] As federal spokesman for his party, Chrupalla repeatedly called on the AfD to unite and "stop thinking in camps".[15]
In a Bundestag debate on 8 November 2019 about the 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Chrupalla caused a stir when he accused Germany's then chancellor,Angela Merkel, of having learned through her membership in East Germany'sFree German Youth how to keep other citizens in check using propaganda and agitation. Chrupalla added that this could be achieved with "strategies of domination and disintegration."[16] WIth his views on foreign policy, Chrupalla belongs to theAfD pro-Russia movement.[citation needed]
In 2017 Chrupalla called for an end to thesanctions imposed on Russia following Russia'sannexation of Crimea in 2014, because the economy of his district was suffering as a result.[14]
In February 2020, in the run-up to the 75th anniversary of theBombing of Dresden inWorld War II, Chrupalla cast doubt on the figure of around 25,000 fatalities determined by a commission of historians headed byRolf-Dieter Müller between 2004 and 2010. Referring to reports from relatives who were eyewitnesses in Dresden in 1945, he assumes around 100,000 fatalities, Chrupalla toldDer Spiegel. Rolf-Dieter Müller and historianSven Felix Kellerhoff criticized these statements, which contradict the scientifically based findings of the commission; Chrupalla is thus basing his calculations on figures that come fromJoseph Goebbels' propaganda and are only postulated by history falsifiers such asDavid Irving, theNPD and other right-wing extremists.[17][18]
In June 2021, Chrupalla traveled toMoscow with several other AfD MPs to mark the 80th anniversary of theWehrmacht's attack on the Soviet Union and laid a wreath there. Chrupalla told theGerman Press Agency in Moscow about his visit: "It was important to me personally to send a sign of reconciliation. [...] Unfortunately, I was the only representative from Germany who laid a wreath here."[19] During another visit to Moscow a few weeks later Chrupalla – at the invitation of theRussian Defense Ministry – gave a speech at a conference in which he spoke of theWestern Allies' "psychological warfare" right afterWorld War II. He alleged that the Allied victors' reeducation (de) of ordinary Germans after the war had had a lasting impact on the country's national identity. Chrupalla also compared the policies of the Allies after 1945 withNazi propaganda.[20][21]
AfterRussia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Chrupalla noted that "[t]his war also has severalfathers. ... Of course, the role ofNATO and the role of the federal government of Germany must also be discussed here."[22] With regard to the war in Ukraine, Chrupalla told at the political talk showMarkus Lanz at the end of November 2022 that Russian President Putin was "not a war criminal"; "labeling" him as such would not help anyone. The competent courts would have to answer the question of war crimes "after the war". Chrupalla also said that there are "American presidents who are just as much war criminals" and mentionedGeorge W. Bush and hisIraq war. Chrupalla also spoke out againstarms deliveries to Ukraine, because they would not "pacify or end the conflict, but rather prolong it" and weapons systems delivered to Ukraine would "also be fired on Russian territory". Therefore, a ceasefire and peace talks must be held "as soon as possible".[23] In the same talk show, Chrupalla suggested that thedestruction of the Nord Stream pipelines was benefiting the USA in a way that he found suspicious, as they had an interest in selling expensive gas to Germany.Hunter Biden had a "key role" in the conflict, but he [Chrupalla] could only guess which one and therefore did not elaborate. Germany does not only have friends in the West, according to Chrupalla, but the German government is not interested in clarifying what happened. Chrupalla had previously explained Russia's aggressive warfare in Ukraine by saying that "every reaction results in a counter-reaction" and that Putin reacts to Ukrainian strikes like thedestruction of the Crimean bridge.[24]After the German government announced at the end of January 2023 that it would supplyLeopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, Chrupalla said that this would mean "walking blindly straight into open fire, I have to say it openly, straight intoWorld War III".[25]
In March 2023, he claimed in theBundestag that Russia and Ukraine were losing the war together, and that "there is only one winner again, and that winner is the USA."[26]
In May 2023, he attended a reception at theEmbassy of Russia, Berlin on the occasion ofRussian Victory Day together with former ChancellorGerhard Schröder,Klaus Ernst,Egon Krenz andAlexander Gauland, wearing a tie in the colors of the Russian tricolor.[27] In response to criticism from the AfD in a chat with high-ranking AfD politicians, he objected that, contrary to what had been reported, he had not thanked the Russian ambassador for the liberation from National Socialism. In response to the German magazineSecession, he made his position clear by saying that the Russian concept of victory over Germany seemed unproblematic to him: "It was not so much about dissolving the patriotism of the Germans or burdening us with an indelible guilt." The Russians withdrew in 1994 and good "economic relations on an equal footing" had been established. But the “Americans have stayed and are keeping our country economically dependent – to the detriment of the citizens.”[28][29][30]
At a speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Bundestag in 2024, Chrupalla and Weidel declared that they refused to "listen to a speaker in camouflage". Zelensky's term of office had "expired" and he was "only in office as a war and begging president". The parliamentary group executive committee of the AfD had therefore decided not to attend the speech.[31] Chrupalla supportedpeace negotiations on the Russo-Ukrainian War with the participation of Russia.[32]
In an interview withDie Welt in December 2024, Chrupalla questioned Germany's NATO membership. A defense community must not only pursue the "interests of America," but must "accept and respect those of all European countries - including Russia's interests." Germany may need to consider "to what extent this alliance is still useful for us." Chrupalla also called on the German government to recognize Russia's victory in the Ukraine war. Russia had "won this war" and "reality" had "caught up with those who claim to want to enable Ukraine to win the war." The German government, said Chrupalla, must "finally get to the point of wanting to end the war."[33]
In January 2025, Chrupalla accepted an invitation from theRepublican Party and attended thesecond inauguration of Donald Trump inWashington, D.C.[34]
In February 2025, some high-ranking AfD members criticized Chrupalla's pro-Moscow position on foreign policy.[35]
Chrupalla has voiced opposition to restrictions on Chinese technology, and in 2023 backed Chinese foreign ministerQin Gang in his efforts to broker a peace in Ukraine after Russia's invasion.[36]
In November of that year, Chrupalla and his fellow Bundestag AfD memberPetr Bystron met withMilica Đurđević Stamenkovski, leader of the Serbian far-right partyOathkeepers. At the invitation of AfD, Stamenkovski visited the Bundestag in Berlin and affirmed the AfD as "leading a sovereignist and state-building option in Germany".[37][38][39]
In 2024, the AfD reversed its previously pro-Israel position, with Chrupalla calling for an end to Germany's current relationship with Israel, which Chrupalla described as "one-sided", as well as an end toarms exports to Israel during the Gaza war.[40][41] This decision drew criticism from some other members of the AfD parliamentary group, suggesting a continued internal divide on the issue.[42] Chrupalla criticized theGerman government's support for Israel during theGaza war and rejected "blanket"Islamophobia.[41]
In a summer interview with ZDF in August 2020, Chrupalla did not want to clearly distance himself from Andreas Kalbitz, the now-expelled former AfD parliamentary group leader in Brandenburg. Chrupalla stated: "In the time I have known Andreas Kalbitz in this party, which is six years now, I cannot detect any extremism in him." However, he would have liked Kalbitz to distance himself more clearly from his past. Chrupalla further spoke out against mandatory mask wearing in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic and advocated voluntary wearing, as he stated that there are differing opinions about the effectiveness of masks. He described thelockdown in spring 2020 as "disproportionate."[43]
In an ARD summer interview in August 2021, Chrupalla expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of coronavirus vaccinations, arguing that, according to Chrupalla, one is increasingly hearing about "vaccine failures" – people who contract COVID-19 despite being vaccinated – and that it is unclear how long immunity lasts or how many vaccinations are necessary.[44]
In December 2021, Chrupalla expressed opposition to mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations during a debate on the TV discussion programmeZDF-Morgenmagazin; he argued that vaccination would make sense for the elderly and for those who had been previously ill. When the moderator,Andreas Wunn [de], stated that ICU doctors had confirmed that some 80 to 90 percent of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units were unvaccinated, Chrupalla claimed that such figures were unconfirmed. He instead blamed budget cuts and the downsizing of medical departments for recently overwhelmed ICUs in Germany.[45][46]
In February 2020, in the run-up to the 75th anniversary of thebombing of Dresden, Chrupalla cast doubt on the figure of around 25,000 deaths determined by a commission of historians led by Rolf-Dieter Müller between 2004 and 2010. Citing reports from relatives who were eyewitnesses in Dresden in 1945, Chrupalla assumed the number to be around 100,000, Chrupalla toldDer Spiegel.Rolf-Dieter Müller and historianSven Felix Kellerhoff criticized these statements, which contradicted the commission's scientifically sound findings. Chrupalla, they argued, was thus basing his calculations on figures derived fromJoseph Goebbels' propaganda and postulated only by history falsifiers such asDavid Irving, theNPD, and other right-wing extremists.[47][48]FDP politicianGerhart Baum, who had experienced the air raids on Dresden as a 12-year-old, vehemently contradicted Chrupalla and accused him and the AfD of abusing the victims' suffering for political purposes.[49]
In September 2021, Chrupalla demands that "German cultural heritage," including German poems and folk songs, should play a greater role in school lessons. When a ZDF children's reporter asked him what his favorite German poem was, he replied: "I'd have to think about that. I can't think of one right now." When the children's reporter asked him if he could perhaps name a favorite poet, he finally choseHeinrich Heine. The relevant excerpt from the interview was widely shared on social media. The RND described Chrupalla's behavior as "embarrassing silence" and said that he had been exposed.[50][51][52][53]
In February 2023, Chrupalla laid a wreath in front of a memorial with Russian Ambassador Sergei Yuryevich Nechayev on the anniversary of the surrender of theWehrmacht's6th Army in thebattle of Stalingrad, and the Russian Embassy wrote in a press release that on the occasion of the "destruction of the German fascist troops," Chrupalla, together with the ambassador, had commemorated "the soldiers of theRed Army, who fell in the fight against GermanNazism," Chrupalla declared that he found the Russian Embassy's statement "unfortunate" from the AfD's "perspective."[54]
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