Björn Uwe Höcke (born 1 April 1972) is a German politician of thefar-right partyAlternative for Germany (AfD). He is chair of the state branch of theAfD in Thuringia, which is classified as a right-wing extremist organization.[1] Höcke led the AfD to its first-ever first place finish in a state election at the2024 Thuringian state election. It was the first time a far-right party placed first in an election since theNazi era.
In 1986, Höcke was briefly a member ofJunge Union, the joint youth organisation of theCDU/CSU coalition.[11][12]
As one of the founders of AfD Thuringia, he was elected to theLandtag or state parliament ofThuringia following the2014 election.[13] He is the speaker of the parliamentary group of the AfD and the spokesman of the Thuringia Regional Association (Landesverband) of his party.[14] He is said to be the leader of the "national-conservative wing" of the AfD,[15] a faction known as theFlügel (the Wing),[16][4] with which 40 percent of AfD party members identify themselves.[17]
Previously a rather obscure regional politician of a new party, Höcke became known nationwide in 2015, when party leaderBernd Lucke was ousted in July and the2015 European migrant crisis unfolded. In October 2015, one day after a knife attack on Cologne mayorHenriette Reker, during the political talkshow "Günther Jauch", Höcke pulled out a small German flag and stated, "3000 years of Europe, 1000 years of Germany".[18]
In September 2019, Höcke threatened "massive consequences" to aZDF journalist who refused to restart an interview after a series of difficult questions and asked party members whether various quotes were from a book Höcke had written or from Adolf Hitler'sMein Kampf.[19]
Höcke led the AfD in the2019 Thuringian state election, where it doubled its vote share to 23% and overtook the main opposition party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), to place second.
In 2021, the moderate AfD co-leaderJörg Meuthen attempted to remove Höcke from the party on account of his alleged racism, but failed.[20] This led to Meuthen ultimately quitting the party in 2022.[21]
In November 2021, Höcke's parliamentary immunity in theLandtag of Thuringia was cancelled. He was accused of ending a speech in May 2021 with the phraseAlles für Deutschland [de] ("All/Everything for Germany"), a phrase used by the Hitlerian regime'sSA paramilitary wing and whose use is illegal underinsignia legislation.[22] In June 2023, Höcke was officiallyindicted for this.[23][24][25][26] He was indicted for an additional charge after making use of the phrase again in December 2023 during an AfD meeting inGera.[27] He was convicted in both instances in separate trials by theregional court ofHalle in May and June 2024, and sentenced to two monetary fines totalling €29,900. Höcke appealled the judgement, but the convictions were upheld by theFederal Court of Justice in September 2025.[28]
In the2024 Thuringian state election, the AfD, under the leadership of Höcke, increased its vote share to a record high of 33%, and became the biggest party in the state. It is the biggest voteshare ever won by the party and the first time AfD placed first in afederal state election.[29][30][31]
When Höcke was young, his family frequently discussed their expulsion from East Prussia. His grandparents instilled in him a strong sense of belonging to East Prussia, even though he had never lived there. The family obituary for Höcke’s grandmother features the coat of arms of theLandsmannschaft Ostpreußen, an organization for people displaced from East Prussia.[34] Höcke’s speeches often reference theexpulsion of Germans fromEast Prussia at the end of World War II, suggesting that this experience of his grandparents has influenced his views on German identity and victimhood.[35] His father was subscribed to the antisemitic magazineDie Bauernschaft, published by prominentHolocaust denierThies Christophersen,[12] and supported individuals and groups with ties to far-right groups. This suggests that Höcke was exposed to right-wing ideologies from a young age.[34]
Höcke has stated that "the big problem is that one presents Hitler as absolutely evil."[36] He believes that Germans have been denied the right to national pride and expression due to their country's history. He has questioned the amount of time that German schools spend teaching students about Nazis. He has called the Holocaust memorial in Berlin a "monument of shame,"[37] and wants a "180-degree change in memory policy."[38]
Höcke has used the term "Lebensraum," which was used by Nazis to refer to territorial expansion and has questioned why this phrase is denounced by the German public. He called former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s officials a “Tat-Elite," a term SS officers used to refer to themselves.[35]
Höcke has expressed public support for the far-right ecologist magazineDie Kehre (The Turning), which has been published since 2020 in an attempt to "reclaim" environmental conservation from the left.[45]
Höcke has called for morePrussian virtues and promotesnatalist views, specifically the "three-child family as a political and social model."[50] He opposesgender mainstreaming and demands an end to what he calls "social experiments" that undermine what he deems the "natural gender order."[51]
Höcke supports closer relations withRussia. He once said that if he ever became theGerman Chancellor, he would visit Russia in his first trip abroad. In a January 2023 video debate, Höcke said "Today, Russia — whether the mainstream media want to hear it or not — is a country which not only provokes negative associations but is also a country that hopes it could possibly be a pioneer for a world of free and sovereign states without hegemonic influence".[52]
Regarding the2015 European migrant crisis, Höcke opposed Germany'sasylum policy,[53][54] leading regular demonstrations in Erfurt against the federal government's asylum policy, which regularly attracted several thousand sympathizers.[55] He opposes theeuro, favoring a return to national currencies.[56] He has been notably critical of theMade in Germany – Made by Vielfalt campaign.[57][58]
He is reported to have declared that if Europe keeps on taking in immigrants, theAfrican "reproductive behavior" will not change.[59] In 2017, Höcke stated, "dear young African men: for you there is no future and no home in Germany and in Europe!"[60]
A replica of the Holocaust memorial was erected on the property adjacent to Höcke.
Höcke gave a speech in Dresden in January 2017, in which, referring to the Holocaust memorial in Berlin (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,"[68] and suggested that Germans "need to make a 180-degree change in their commemoration policy."[69][70]
The speech was widely criticized asantisemitic orneo-nazi by Jewish leaders in Germany, among others, and in response he was described by his party chairwoman,Frauke Petry, as a "burden to the party."[68][71] As a result of his speech, the majority of leaders of the AfD asked in February 2017 that Björn Höcke be expelled from the party. In May 2018 an AfD tribunal ruled that Höcke was allowed to stay in the party.[72][19]
After Höcke's "monument of shame" comment, the Center for Political Beauty, a Berlin-basedart collective, erected a full-scale replica of one section of the Holocaust memorial in Berlin within viewing distance of Höcke's home inBornhagen as a reminder of German history.[32]
In March 2020 a video of Höcke emerged attacking critics of his Flügel Sachsen-Anhalt faction, in which he stated, "Die, die nicht in der Lage sind das Wichtigste zu leben, was wir zu leisten haben, nämlich die Einheit, dass die allmählich auch malausgeschwitzt werden" ("Those who are not able to live up to the most important thing we have to achieve, that being unity, they will gradually besweated out"), with the verb "ausgeschwitzt" sounding similar toAuschwitz. The faction had been placed under surveillance by theFederal Office for the Protection of the Constitution shortly before the video surfaced.[75]
Björn Höcke was accused by theHalle (Saale)public prosecutor's office of having proclaimed the slogan: "Everything for our homeland, everything for Saxony-Anhalt, everything for Germany!" at the end of a speech he gave at an election event for his party inMerseburg on 29 May 2021. The slogan "Everything for Germany" ("Alles für Deutschland") was the motto of theSA and carved in daggers used by the SA. Its public use is punishable by law in Germany. Höcke claimed he did not know the origin of the saying, and argued he was "completely innocent."[76][77] He was charged in September 2023 and convicted in May 2024. He was fined €13,000.[78][79][80]
Höcke was said to have used the slogan again in December 2023, where he said: "Everything for…," to which the audience responded: "Germany!"[81][82] In July 2024, Höcke was fined by a court inHalle again for using the Nazi slogan "Everything for Germany."[83]
In March 2015 the newspaperThüringer Allgemeine used "Bernd" erroneously as Höcke's first name.[84] After Höcke complained publicly about the incident, theheute-show, a late night satirical news program, started to systematically use "Bernd" for his first name as a running gag.[85] Later, other comedians adopted the idea, referring to him as "Bernd," also.[86][87] The widespread use among comedians led to reporters and anchormen of various news media erroneously using "Bernd" on several occasions.[88][89][90] In January 2018, even an original press release of theBundestag accidentally used "Bernd," before it was corrected on the same day.[91][92] In December 2020, the AfD ofNorth Rhine-Westphalia accidentally invited journalists to a party event where "Herrn [Mr.] Bernd Höcke" would be present.[93]
In 2023, a petition was started with the intention to revoke Höcke's eligibility to run for parliament. The petition is based on article 18 of theGerman Constitution, which refers to the forfeiture of fundamental rights. The campaign networkCampact started the petition and set the goal of collecting 1.7 million signatures to urge theGerman government to action. Legal scholarGertrude Lübbe-Wolf first introduced the idea of using article 18 of the constitution to defend Germandemocracy in a way that would be less radical than banning the whole political party (theAfD). It is now the largest German political petition to have ever existed.[94]
^Riebe, Jan (2024). "Ideologieprojekt Inklusion": Positionierungen der AfD zu Inklusion als Ausdruck ihres rechtsextremen Weltbildes. In: Institut für Demokratie und Zivilgesellschaft (Hg.). Wissen schafft Demokratie. Schwerpunkt Behindernde Gesellschaft, Band 15. Jena, 30–45.
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