Tino Chrupalla

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Tino Chrupalla
MdB
Chrupalla in 2020
Leader of the Alternative for Germany
in the Bundestag
Incumbent
Assumed office
30 September 2021
Serving with Alice Weidel
DeputyPeter Felser
Leif-Erik Holm
Sebastian Münzenmaier
Beatrix von Storch
Chief WhipBernd Baumann
Preceded byAlexander Gauland
Leader of the Alternative for Germany
Incumbent
Assumed office
30 November 2019
Serving with Alice Weidel
DeputyStephan Brandner
Peter Boehringer
Mariana Harder-Kühnel
Preceded byAlexander Gauland
Member of the Bundestag
for Görlitz
Incumbent
Assumed office
24 October 2017
Preceded byMichael Kretschmer
Personal details
Born (1975-04-14) 14 April 1975 (age 49)
Weißwasser, East Germany
Political partyAfD
Children3

Tino Chrupalla (German: [ˈtiːno kʁʊˈpala]; born 14 April 1975) is a German politician of the right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD), and Member of the Bundestag since 2017.[1] In November 2019, he was nominated by Alexander Gauland to replace him as co-chairman and later elected to the position. Since 2019, Chrupalla has served as chairman and lead spokesman for the AfD.[2]

Biography

Chrupalla was born on 14 April 1975 in Weißwasser,[1] then East Germany. In 2003 he qualified via profession education exams as house painter and varnisher master.[1][3] He later went on to become the owner of a construction company.[4] Chrupalla is married with two children.[5]

In March 2020, Chrupalla's car caught fire on his property. Police suspect arson, but no confirmation was issued. He condemned the attack as a direct attack on his family that went beyond all conceivable boundaries of political debate.[6]

In October 2023, Chrupalla was hospitalised following a suspected syringe attack which occurred shortly before he was due to speak at an election rally.[citation needed] The incident came just days after co-leader Alice Weidel cancelled a public rally due to growing indications that her family would be attacked.[7] A witness told the local daily Donaukurier that the AfD leader had taken a few selfies and then collapsed before being transported to hospital. Andreas Aichele, a spokesman for the Upper Bavarian Police Department, said it remained unclear whether the politician had been attacked, had fallen, or simply was not feeling well. Aichele said authorities were not ruling anything out and that an investigation was ongoing.[8]

Political career

Chrupalla in 2019

In the 1990s, Tino Chrupalla joined the Christian Democratic Youth, linked to the CDU. Chrupalla entered the AfD in 2015 and in 2016 was elected to its district committee for Görlitz.[1] At the 2017 German federal election, he defeated Michael Kretschmer, later Minister-President of Saxony, in the electoral district of Görlitz.[9]

Chrupalla is one of five deputy chief whips of the AfD federal parliamentary group.[10]

Ahead of the 2021 German federal election, Chrupalla was the AfD's leading candidate for the Bundestag alongside Alice Weidel. Together with Weidel, he was elected group leader of the AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag on 30 September 2021, replacing Alexander Gauland, who remained as honorary chairman as part of the redefinition of the office.[11]

Political views

German newspaper Zeit has characterized Chrupalla as one of the more relatively moderate members of the AfD parliamentary faction.[12] Ahead of the 2021 German federal election, Chrupalla cited border security as his main concern and called for Germany to reinstate border controls to "curb border crime".[13] As federal spokesman, Chrupalla repeatedly called on the AfD to unite and "stop thinking in camps".[14]

In a Bundestag debate on 8 November 2019 on the subject of 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Chrupalla caused a stir when he accused the Chancellor Angela Merkel of having learned from the Free German Youth in East Germany on how to keep a people in check with propaganda and agitation, based on "strategies of domination and disintegration."[15]

At the invitation of the Russian Defense Ministry in Summer 2021, Chrupalla gave a speech at a conference in which he spoke of Allied "psychological warfare" after World War II, whose re-education allegedly had a lasting impact on German national identity. Chrupalla compared the alleged policies of the Western Allies after 1945 with Nazi propaganda.[16][17]

When the Russian invasion of Ukraine happened one and a half a year later, he said "This war also has several fathers. ... Of course, the role of NATO and the role of the federal government of Germany must also be discussed here."[18]

In December 2021, Chrupalla expressed opposition to mandatory Covid vaccinations during a debate on the show ZDF-Morgenmagazin, but argued vaccination would make sense for the elderly and those who were previously ill. When the moderator Andreas Wunn [de] stated ICU doctors confirmed that 80 to 90 percent of Covid patients in intensive care units were unvaccinated, Chrupalla claimed the numbers were unconfirmed and blamed budget cuts and downsizing of medical departments as the problem for overloaded ICUs.[19][20]

Chrupalla has voiced opposition against restrictions on Chinese technology and backed Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang on his peace-brokering efforts for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.[21]

In November 2023, Chrupalla with fellow AfD MdB Petr Bystron met with Serbian far-right party Oathkeepers leader Milica Đurđević Stamenkovski, who at the invitation of AfD visited the Bundestag in Berlin and described the party as "leading sovereignist and state-building option in Germany".[22][23][24]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Biography on the website of the Bundestag". Deutscher Bundestag. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  2. ^ "AfD wählt Tino Chrupalla zum Nachfolger von Gauland". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). 30 November 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  3. ^ Fromm, Anne (2 January 2018). ""Sächsische Zeitung" und die AfD: "Da gehört er hin"". Die Tageszeitung: Taz. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  4. ^ "Allemagne. Tino Chrupalla, le nouveau visage lisse d'une extrême-droite encore plus radicale". Ouest-France.fr. 3 December 2019.
  5. ^ Justus Bender: Ein Malermeister fällt aus der Rolle. In: FAZ, 3 August 2021, retrieved 3 August 2021.
  6. ^ Auto von AfD-Chef Chrupalla abgebrannt. In: FAZ, 2 March 2020, retrieved 3 August 2021.
  7. ^ "Germany: AfD co-leader cancels rally for 'security reasons' – DW – 10/04/2023". Deutsche Welle.
  8. ^ "AfD leader Chrupalla hospitalized after 'violent incident' – DW – 10/04/2023". Deutsche Welle.
  9. ^ "AfD gewinnt an der Neiße". Sächsische Zeitung (in German). 24 September 2017. Archived from the original on 25 September 2017.
  10. ^ Biermann, Kai; Geisler, Astrid; Holzinger, Christina; Middelhoff, Paul; Polke-Majewski, Karsten; Steffen, Tilman (24 October 2017). "AfD-Abgeordnete: Rechts bis extrem im Bundestag". Die Zeit. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  11. ^ "AfD-Fraktion wählt Weidel und Chrupalla als Vorsitzende" (in German). 30 September 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  12. ^ Kai Biermann, Astrid Geisler, Christina Holzinger, Paul Middelhoff, Karsten Polke-Majewski (26 September 2017), "AfD-Fraktion: Rechts bis extrem im Bundestag", Die Zeit (in German), Hamburg, ISSN 0044-2070, retrieved 5 October 2017{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ Konrad Litschko (26 September 2017). "Die glücklichen Rechten". Taz.de. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  14. ^ "Chrupalla fordert Geschlossenheit in der AfD nach Absturz bei Landtagswahlen". Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  15. ^ Die wüste Gegenwart. Spiegel Online 8 November 2019.
  16. ^ Kamann, Matthias (11 July 2021). "Chrupalla compares Allied policies after 1945 to Nazi propaganda". Die Welt (in German).
  17. ^ "Chrupalla to speak at Russian Defense Ministry conference". Spiegel Online (in German). 18 June 2021.
  18. ^ tagesschau.de. "AfD bei Landtagswahlen: Chrupallas verheerende Bilanz". tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 17 May 2022.
  19. ^ Chrupalla mit kruden Behauptungen und Impfstoff-Kritik www.ksta.de, 15 December 2021.
  20. ^ "Moma"-Moderator streitet mit AfD-Fraktionschef Chrupalla: "Von wem lassen Sie sich denn wissenschaftlich beraten?" www.rnd.de, 15 December 2021.
  21. ^ Kastner, Jens (20 April 2023). "China finds unlikely allies in Germany's far right and far left". Nikkei Asia. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  22. ^ "Đurđević Stamenkovski: Mi želimo Evropu u kojoj će Srbija imati svoje mesto" [Đurđević Stamenkovski: We want a Europe in which Serbia will have its place]. Tanjug (in Serbian). 17 November 2023. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  23. ^ "Милица Ђурђевић Стаменковски on Twitter". X (formerly Twitter). Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  24. ^ "Милица Ђурђевић Стаменковски on Twitter". X (formerly Twitter). Retrieved 20 November 2023.
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