Udo Voigt

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Captain
Udo Voigt
MEP
File:2014-07-01-Europaparlament Udo Voigt by Olaf Kosinsky -28 (1).jpg
Member of the European Parliament
for Germany
In office
1 July 2014 – 2019
Leader of the
National Democratic Party of Germany
In office
1996–2011
Preceded by Günter Deckert
Succeeded by Holger Apfel
Personal details
Born (1952-04-14) 14 April 1952 (age 72)
Viersen, North-Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany
Political party NPD
Alma mater FH Aachen
Munich School of Political Science
Occupation Politician
Profession Engineer, soldier
Military service
Allegiance  Germany
Service/branch German Air Force
Years of service 1972-1984

Udo Voigt (German: [ˈuːdo foːkt]; born 14 April 1952 in Viersen) is a German politician for the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD), who served as a Member of the European Parliament from 2014 to 2019. He is a former member of the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs. He served as leader of NPD from 1996 to 2011. By profession he is a former aviation engineer and captain in the German Air Force and has a master's degree in political science from LMU.[1]

Voigt has, in recent years, become a strong supporter of Vladimir Putin and has said that Germany should have a chancellor like Putin.

Career

The son of a former Wehrmacht officer, Voigt was born at Viersen. After graduating from high school, he was an airframe mechanic apprentice. From 1971 he studied aerospace engineering at the Aachen University of Applied Sciences for two terms, without graduation. 1972 he was conscripted by the Bundeswehr.[2] He worked in the German Air Force from 1972 to 1984 and graduated as an officer from the Luftwaffe Officer's School. He served in Germany and at a NATO facility in Greece. Between 1982 and 1987, he studied political science at the Munich School of Political Science and graduated with a master's degree in political science from LMU.

Political career

He joined the NPD Party at age 16 in 1968.[3]

He was elected as party chairman in 1996, succeeding Günter Deckert. The NPD is claimed by some in the mainstream media and by rival political parties to be a de facto neo-Nazi organization, despite National Socialism being banned in Germany since 1945. From September 2006 until 2010 Voigt was an elected member of the Berlin municipal government in the Treptow-Köpenick district.[4] Previously he has been unsuccessful at the European Parliament elections and when running for mayor of Saarbrücken.

On March 13, 2008, Voigt was charged (for at least the second time in his life) with incitement (Volksverhetzung) for distributing racially-charged pamphlets. In 2009 he was given a seven-month suspended sentence and ordered to donate 2,000 Euro to UNICEF.[5] Voigt protested the charge, claiming it was politically motivated.

On November 13, 2011, Voigt was replaced as leader of the NPD by Holger Apfel.[6]

Voigt was elected as a member of the European Parliament in the 2014 European Elections.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Stabwechsel bei der NPD in: Blick nach rechts, accessed 14-11-2011
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

<templatestyles src="Asbox/styles.css"></templatestyles>

25px

This article about a German politician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=Udo_Voigt&oldid=726495696"