Björn Uwe Höcke (born 1 April 1972) is a German politician of Alternative for Germany (AfD). Along with Andreas Kalbitz, Höcke was the leader of the AfD's far-right Der Flügel faction, which the German government's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution declared a suspected right-wing extremist organization.[1][2] He is chair of AfD Thuringia, also a right-wing extremist organization.[3]

Björn Höcke
Björn Höcke in 2024
Leader of Alternative for Germany in Thuringia
Assumed office
February 2013
Preceded byOffice established
Member of the Landtag of Thuringia
Assumed office
5 December 2014
Personal details
Born1 April 1972 (age 52)
Lünen, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany
Political partyAfD (since 2013)
Children4

Höcke led the AfD to its first-ever first place finish in a state election at the 2024 Thuringian state election. It was the first time a far-right party placed first in an election since the Nazi era.

Early life and education

edit

Björn Höcke was born in Lünen, Westphalia. His grandparents were expelled Germans from East Prussia. He took his Abitur at the Rhein-Wied-Gymnasium, Neuwied, in 1991.[4]

Höcke studied sport and history at University of Giessen and at University of Marburg before working as a teacher.[2] He taught at the Rhenanus School, a comprehensive school in Bad Sooden-Allendorf.[5]

Political career

edit
 
Björn Höcke congratulates FDP's Thomas Kemmerich on his election, during the 2020 Thuringian government crisis.

Höcke was for a short time member of the Junge Union, the joint youth organisation of the CDU/CSU coalition.[6]

As one of the founders of AfD Thuringia, he became Member of the assembly of the federal state of Thuringia following the 2014 election.[7] He is the speaker of the parliamentary group of the AfD and the spokesman of the Thuringia Regional Association (Landesverband) of his party.[8] He is said to be part of the "national-conservative wing" of the AfD, [9] a faction known as the Flügel (the Wing),[10] with which 40 percent of the AfD party members identify themselves.[11]

The rather obscure regional politician of a new party became known nationwide in 2015, when party leader Bernd Lucke was ousted in July, and the 2015 European migrant crisis unfolded. In October 2015, one day after a knife attack on Cologne mayor Henriette Reker, during the political talkshow "Günther Jauch", otherwise a popular TV entertainer with Germany's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Höcke pulled out a small German flag and stated "3000 years of Europe, 1000 years of Germany".[12]

In September 2019, Höcke threatened "massive consequences" to a ZDF journalist who refused to restart an interview after a series of difficult questions and the journalist asked party members whether various quotes are from Höcke's book or from Hitler's Mein Kampf.[13]

In the 2019 Thuringian state election, the AfD, led by Höcke, more than doubled its vote share to 23%, overtaking the opposition's major party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), to place second.

In 2021, Jörg Meuthen, moderate co-leader of AfD attempted to remove Höcke from the party on account of his alleged racism, but failed.[14] This led to Meuthen ultimately quitting the party in 2022.[15]

In November 2021, Höcke's parliamentary immunity in the Landtag of Thuringia was cancelled. He was accused to have ended a speech in May with the phrase Alles für Deutschland ("All/Everything for Germany") that was used by the Hitlerian regime's SA and whose use is illegal under insignia legislation.[16]

In June 2023, Höcke was officially indicted.[17][18][19][20]

In the 2024 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 its biggest share of the vote ever captured by the party and the first time AfD placed first in a federal state election.[21][22][23]

Political views

edit
 
Höcke at a rally for the 2019 state election

Höcke espouses far-right views.[24] During Demonstrations in autumn of 2015, Höcke called for Germany to have "not only a thousand year past", but also "a thousand year future." He would go on to describe the period of the German Empire from 1871 to 1914 as the heyday for the German People.[25]

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 the Landsmannschaft Ostpreußen, an organization for people displaced from East Prussia.[26] Höcke’s speeches often reference the expulsion of Germans from East Prussia at the end of World War II, suggesting that this experience of his grandparents has influenced his views on German identity and victimhood.[27] His father subscribed to an anti-Semitic magazine 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.[26]

Höcke has stated that "the big problem is that one presents Hitler as absolutely evil."[28] 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"[29] and wants a "180-degree change in memory policy."[30]

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 has also used the term “Tat-Elite,” a word SS officers used to refer to themselves. He called former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s officials a “Tat-Elite."[27]

Political scientists such as Gero Neugebauer and Hajo Funke have commented that Höcke's opinions are close to the National Democratic Party of Germany and consider his statements völkisch, racist and fascist.[31][32] In September 2019, a German court ruled that describing Höcke as fascist was not libellous. However, a later court ruling in 2020 ruled against the FDP politician Sebastian Czaja for stating that the court ruling had classified Höcke as a fascist.[33] He has participated in several rallies of the anti-Islam Pegida movement in the early 2020s.[34][35][36]

Höcke has expressed public support for the far-right ecologist magazine Die Kehre (The Turning), which has been published since 2020 in an attempt to "reclaim" environmental conservation from the left.[37]

Immigration policy

edit

Regarding the European migrant crisis, Höcke opposes Germany's asylum policy,[38][39] leading regular demonstrations in Erfurt against the federal government's asylum policy, which regularly attracted several thousand sympathizers.[40] He opposes the euro, favoring a return to national currencies.[41]

He is reported to have declared that if Europe keeps on taking in immigrants, the African "reproductive behavior" will not change.[42] In 2017, Höcke stated "dear young African men: for you there is no future and no home in Germany and in Europe!"[43]

Family policy

edit

Höcke has called for more Prussian virtues and promotes natalist views, specifically the "three-child family as a political and social model."[44] He opposes gender mainstreaming and demands an end to what he calls "social experiments" that undermine what he deems the "natural gender order."[45]

Education policy

edit

He opposes the mainstreaming of students with disabilities, calling for such students to go to separate schools, and opposes school sexual education, which he regards as "early sexualization of the students," and wants to "stop the dissolution of the natural polarity of the two sexes".[46][citation needed]

Controversies

edit

Ties to Neo-Nazis

edit

Höcke has links with neo-Nazi circles in Germany.[1][2] Höcke has written with Thorsten Heise [de; fr], a leader of NPD.[47][48] In 2015 Höcke was accused of having contributed to Heise's journal People in Motion (Volk in Bewegung) and The Reichsbote under a pseudonym ("Landolf Ladig"). Höcke denied having ever written for NPD papers, but refused to give a statutory declaration as demanded by the AfD Federal Executive Board.[49][50]

In a 2014 email to party colleagues, Höcke advocated the abolition of section 86 of the German Criminal Code (which prohibits the spread of propaganda by unconstitutional organizations) and section 130 of the German Criminal Code (which criminalizes incitement to hatred towards other groups).[51] This would also have legalized Holocaust denial, which is illegal in Germany.[52]

Allegations of antisemitism

edit
 
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 (the Memorial 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"[53] and suggested that Germans "need to make a 180 degree change in their commemoration policy".[54][55]

The speech was widely criticized as antisemitic or neo-nazism, among others by Jewish leaders in Germany, and he was described by his party chairwoman, Frauke Petry, in response as a "burden to the party".[53][56] 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.[57][13]

After Höcke's "monument of shame" comment, the Center for Political Beauty, a Berlin-based art collective, erected a full-scale replica of one section of the Holocaust memorial in Berlin within viewing distance of Höcke's home in Bornhagen as a reminder of German history.[24]

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Höcke claimed that "Hitler was regarded as only bad".[55][58] [59]

A video of Höcke emerged in March 2020 in which he used a verb sounding similar to Auschwitz while attacking critics of his Flügel faction. The faction had been placed under surveillance by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution shortly before the video surfaced.[60]

Alleged use of Nazi slogan

edit

Björn Höcke is accused by the Halle (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 in Merseburg on May 29, 2021. The slogan "Everything for Germany" ("Alles für Deutschland") was introduced by the SA and 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".[61][62] He was charged in September 2023 and convicted in May 2024. He was fined €13,000.[63][64][65]

Höcke is said to have used the slogan again in December 2023, where he said: "Everything for…", to which the audience responded: "Germany!"[66][67] In July 2024, Höcke was fined by a court in Halle again for using the Nazi slogan "Everything for Germany".[68]

Bernd Höcke

edit

In March 2015 the newspaper Thüringer Allgemeine used "Bernd" erroneously as Höcke's first name.[69] After Höcke complained publicly about this incident, the heute-show, a late night satirical news show, started to systematically use "Bernd" for his first name as a running gag.[70] Later other comedians adopted the idea referring to him as "Bernd" as well.[71][72] This widespread use among comedians lead to reporters and anchormen of various news media erroneously using "Bernd" on several occasions.[73][74][75] In January 2018 even an original press release of the Bundestag accidentally used "Bernd" before it was corrected on the same day.[76][77] In December 2020 the AfD of North Rhine-Westphalia accidentally invited journalists to a party event with "Herrn [Mr.] Bernd Höcke".[78]

Petition for Ineligibility

edit

In 2023 a petition was started with the intention to revoke Höcke's eligibility to run for parliament. This petition is based on article 18 of the German Constitution, which refers to the forfeiture of fundamental rights. The campaign network Campact started this petition and set the goal of collecting 1.7 million signatures, to urge the German government to action. Legal scholar Gertrude Lübbe-Wolf first introduced the idea of using article 18 of the constitution to defend German democracy, in a way that would be less radical than banning the whole political party (the AfD). This is now the largest German political petition to have ever existed.[79]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b Schuetze, Christopher F. (25 March 2020). "Far-Right Faction of German Populist Party Vows to Dissolve". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 30 June 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  2. ^ a b c Bennhold, Katrin (12 March 2020). "Germany Places Part of Far-Right Party Under Surveillance". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 3 December 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  3. ^ mdr.de. "Thüringer AfD: Warum stuft der Verfassungsschutz den Landesverband als rechtsextrem ein? | MDR.DE". www.mdr.de (in German). Retrieved 27 September 2024.
  4. ^ "Fraktionsvorsitzender der AfD Björn Höcke besucht seine Heimatstadt Neuwied". Der Lokalanzeiger. 24 April 2015. Archived from the original on 31 January 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  5. ^ "Trotz 'menschenfeindlicher Positionen': AfD-Politiker Björn Höcke bleibt Beamter in Hessen" [Despite 'anti-human positions': AfD politician Björn Höcke remains a civil servant in Hesse]. Frankfurter Allgemeine (in German). 25 February 2020. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  6. ^ Büscher, Wolfgang (2 November 2015). "AfD-Rechtsaußen Höcke ist von ganz alter Schule". Die Welt. Archived from the original on 1 February 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  7. ^ "Landtagswahl 2014: Welche Koalitionen sind in Thüringen möglich?"". Thüringische Landeszeitung. 16 July 2014. Archived from the original on 4 September 2014.
  8. ^ "AfD Vorstand Thüringen". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  9. ^ "Thüringen: Ausschuss hebt Immunität von AfD-Fraktionschef Höcke auf". Der Spiegel. 3 July 2015. Archived from the original on 19 April 2023. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  10. ^ Huggler, Justin (27 October 2019). "Germany's 'new Hitler' poised to lead AfD to regional election gains". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 13 December 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2020.(subscription required)
  11. ^ "AfD's Björn Höcke: Firebrand of the German far right". Deutsche Welle. 2 January 2020. Archived from the original on 25 February 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  12. ^ https://www.merkur.de/tv/afd-politiker-bjoern-hoecke-provoziert-irrem-auftritt-guenter-jauch-zr-5660297.html
  13. ^ a b "AfD politician threatens journalist after Hitler comparison". The Guardian. 16 September 2019. Archived from the original on 9 November 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  14. ^ "Moderate AfD co-leader Meuthen gives up - DW -10/11/2021". Deutsche Welle. 10 November 2021. Archived from the original on 11 October 2021.
  15. ^ "Far-right AfD co-chair Jörg Meuthen quits party". Deutsche Welle. 28 January 2022. Archived from the original on 9 March 2024. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
  16. ^ "Nach Strafanzeige: Justizausschuss hebt Immunität von AfD-Fraktionschef Höcke auf" (in German). MDR. 24 November 2021. Archived from the original on 24 November 2021. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  17. ^ "Prominent figure in German far-right party charged over alleged Nazi slogan". ABC News. Archived from the original on 6 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  18. ^ "AfD politician Höcke charged with using Nazi slogan – DW – 06/05/2023". dw.com. Archived from the original on 6 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  19. ^ "Prominent German politician charged with alleged use of Nazi slogan". Associated Press. 5 June 2023. Archived from the original on 6 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  20. ^ "German far-right politician charged over Nazi slogan". The Local Europe. 5 June 2023. Archived from the original on 6 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  21. ^ "Far-right AfD wins eastern state in Germany's regional election". Al Jazeera. 1 September 2024. Archived from the original on 1 September 2024. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
  22. ^ "Success of far-right AfD shows east and west Germany are drifting further apart". The Guardian. 1 September 2024. Archived from the original on 1 September 2024. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
  23. ^ "German far right hails 'historic' election victory in east". BBC News. 1 September 2024. Archived from the original on 2 September 2024. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
  24. ^ a b Bennhold, Katrin (25 December 2017). "For One Far-Right Politician, Forgetting Germany's Past Just Got Harder". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 27 December 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  25. ^ Debes, Martin (20 October 2015). "Die tausend Jahre des Björn Höcke". www.otz.de (in German). Archived from the original on 2 September 2024. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  26. ^ a b Polke-Majewski, Karsten (18 February 2016). "Mein Mitschüler, der rechte Agitator". Zeit Online. Retrieved 11 December 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  27. ^ a b Solomon, Erika (23 June 2024). "The Man Softening the Ground for an Extremist Germany". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 December 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  28. ^ Bertrand, Benoit (26 August 2024). "The Man Who Would Make Germany Far Right Again". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 11 December 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  29. ^ Taub, Amanda; Fisher, Max (18 January 2017). "Germany's Extreme Right Challenges Guilt Over Nazi Past". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 December 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  30. ^ Troianovski, Anton (2 March 2017). "The German Right Believes It's Time to Discard the Country's Historical Guilt". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 11 December 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  31. ^ "Eindeutig rechtsextremistisch". Handelsblatt. 2 October 2015. Archived from the original on 4 April 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  32. ^ "Die AfD hat sich rechtsradikalisiert". Deutschlandfunk. 23 October 2015. Archived from the original on 24 March 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  33. ^ Deutschland, RedaktionsNetzwerk (23 March 2020). "Björn Höcke von Gericht nicht als Faschist erklärt – Urteil werde missverstanden". www.rnd.de (in German). Archived from the original on 28 June 2023. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  34. ^ Reinhard, Doreen (18 February 2020). "Sturm um Höcke". Zeit Online (in German). Archived from the original on 2 September 2024. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  35. ^ Geiler, Julius (14 September 2021). "Höcke hetzt und wird gestört: Pegida-Anhänger greifen Journalisten und Geflüchtete in Dresden an". Der Tagesspiel (in German). Archived from the original on 30 June 2024. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  36. ^ "Starker Protest gegen Pegida-Kundgebung in Dresden". MDR (in German). 7 November 2023. Archived from the original on 16 April 2024. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  37. ^ Oltermann, Philip (28 June 2020). "German far right infiltrates green groups with call to protect the land". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Archived from the original on 8 March 2023. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  38. ^ "AfD fordert Aussetzung des Schengener Abkommens". Die Zeit. 27 August 2014. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  39. ^ Leubecher, Marcel (3 November 2015). "Welche Rechten stecken hinter dem schwarzen Haken?". Die Welt. Archived from the original on 25 March 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  40. ^ "Hessen will AfD-Politiker Höcke nicht mehr unterrichten lassen". Der Tagesspiegel. 18 January 2016. Archived from the original on 26 March 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  41. ^ "Kandidaten Bundestagswahl 2013". wen-wählen.de. 2013. Archived from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  42. ^ Knight, Ben (3 July 2016). "What does the AfD stand for?". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 25 February 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  43. ^ Chazan, Guy (7 September 2017). "German elections: how the right returned". www.ft.com. Archived from the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  44. ^ "AfD Kandidat Höcke im Interview: Drei-Kinder-Familie ist politisches Leitbild". Thüringische Landeszeitung. 21 July 2014. Archived from the original on 26 March 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  45. ^ Oestreich, Heide (17 September 2014). "Natürliche Geschlechterordnung". Die Tageszeitung. Archived from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  46. ^ "AfD will sich mit rechten Thesen profilieren". Der Tagesspiegel. 31 July 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  47. ^ "Keiner traut sich an Höcke heran" (in German). Archived from the original on 25 March 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  48. ^ Kemper, Andreas (3 July 2019). "Im Dienste einer großen 'Abrechnung'". der Freitag (in German). No. 26/2019. Archived from the original on 19 April 2023. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  49. ^ Weiland, Severin; Hebel, Christina (29 April 2015). "Mutmaßlicher Kontakt zur NPD: AfD-Landeschef Höcke lehnt eidesstattliche Erklärung ab". Spiegel. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  50. ^ Vogel, Hannes (13 September 2018). "Alte Kameraden". Zeit (in German). Archived from the original on 19 June 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  51. ^ "Höcke sorgt erneut mit Äußerungen für Wirbel". Focus (in German). 29 May 2015. Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  52. ^ "Neuer Beleg für NPD-Nähe von AfD-Landeschef Höcke In: MDR.de 29 May 2015". Archived from the original on 30 May 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  53. ^ a b "AfD-Mann Höcke löst mit Kritik an Holocaust-Gedenken Empörung aus". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). 18 January 2017. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  54. ^ Matthias Kamann (19 January 2017). "Was Höcke mit der "Denkmal der Schande"-Rede bezweckt". Die Welt (in German). Archived from the original on 23 October 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  55. ^ a b Troianovski, Anton (2 March 2017). "The German Right Believes It's Time to Discard the Country's Historical Guilt". The Wall Street Journal. Karlsruhe. Archived from the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  56. ^ "AfD-Chefin Petry: "Höcke ist eine Belastung für die Partei"". Junge Freiheit (in German). 18 January 2017. Archived from the original on 4 June 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  57. ^ "Germany's right-wing AfD seeks to expel state leader over Holocaust remarks". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 7 June 2023. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  58. ^ Kröning, Anna (6 March 2017). "AfD-Politiker: Björn Höcke hat eine irritierende Ansicht zu Adolf Hitler". Die Welt. Archived from the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  59. ^ "Höcke über Hitler: Es war doch nicht alles schlecht". 6 March 2017. Archived from the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  60. ^ "Höcke schockiert mit Auschwitz-Wortspiel". Der Tagesspiegel Online (in German). Archived from the original on 17 March 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  61. ^ LTO. "Frage an Fischer: 'Alles für Deutschland' strafbar?". Legal Tribune Online (in German). Archived from the original on 18 January 2024. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  62. ^ "German far-right politician Björn Höcke guilty of using Nazi slogan". BBC News. 14 May 2024. Archived from the original on 2 September 2024. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  63. ^ "NS-Vokabular genutzt: Gericht eröffnet Verfahren gegen Höcke". Aktuell (in German). Archived from the original on 2 September 2024. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  64. ^ Kiffmeier, Jens (13 September 2023). "Wegen NS-Vokabular: Thüringer AfD-Chef Höcke muss vor Gericht". www.fr.de (in German). Archived from the original on 25 December 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  65. ^ "German court fines far-right figure Bjorn Hocke for using Nazi slogan". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 14 May 2024. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  66. ^ "Björn Höcke: Far-right German politician on trial for Nazi slogan". 18 April 2024. Archived from the original on 15 May 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  67. ^ "A German far-right leader allegedly used a Nazi slogan twice — his 'extremist' party is one of the country's highest-polling". ABC News. 18 April 2024. Archived from the original on 2 September 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  68. ^ "German court convicts a prominent far-right politician for using a Nazi slogan again". Associated Press. 1 July 2024. Archived from the original on 2 July 2024. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
  69. ^ "Ein 'Vollpfosten' für 'Bernd': ZDF 'würdigt' AfD-Chef Höcke". Thüringer Allgemeine (in German). 21 December 2015. Archived from the original on 30 October 2016.
  70. ^ Oelrichs, Nico (2021). Die AfD-Abrechnung: Wie rechts(radikal) ist sie wirklich? (in German). München: neobooks. p. 43. ISBN 978-3-7529-3226-3. Archived from the original on 30 June 2023.
  71. ^ "Kein Flitzer! Das macht der Nackte bei Jan Böhmermann". Neo Magazin Royale. 10 March 2017. Archived from the original on 21 April 2023. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  72. ^ "Björn Höcke? Bernd Höcke? Wie heißt der Mann denn nun?". Augsburger Allgemeine. 21 April 2017. Archived from the original on 24 August 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  73. ^ "Bernd oder Björn Höcke – Die ultimative Verwirrung hat ein neues Level erreicht". Vice.com (in German). 20 April 2017. Archived from the original on 13 June 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  74. ^ Steinkuhl, Hendrik (23 March 2017). "'Ein richtiger Loser-Vorname': AfD-Politiker 'Bernd' Höcke wird zum Running-Gag der Medien". Meedia.de. Archived from the original on 23 April 2023. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  75. ^ "Jetzt nennt auch der Bundestag Höcke offiziell 'Bernd' – Erfolgreichster Running Gag aller Zeiten". Vice.com. 25 January 2018. Archived from the original on 15 April 2023. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  76. ^ "Bundestag nennt AfD-Politiker Björn Höcke 'Bernd'". Berliner Morgenpost. 25 January 2018. Archived from the original on 25 January 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  77. ^ "AfD-Politiker mit Namensproblem: Es ist offiziell: Bundestag macht aus Björn Höcke 'Bernd'". SHZ. 26 January 2018. Archived from the original on 31 March 2022. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  78. ^ "Kuriose Verwechslung: AfD in NRW lädt zu Veranstaltung mit 'Bernd Höcke' ein". RND.de. 2 December 2020. Archived from the original on 15 April 2023. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  79. ^ "Höcke stoppen". aktion.campact.de (in German). Archived from the original on 8 July 2024. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
edit