Höcke Björn

Björn Höcke (born 1 April 1972) is a German politician for the political party Alternative for Germany (AfD). 

Höcke was born in Lünen, Westphalia. His grandparents were expelled ethnic Germans. After his Abitur at the Rhein-Wied-Gymnasium Neuwied in 1991, he served in the Bundeswehr and went to law school at the University Bonn, which he did not finish. After curricular activities in various schools he worked as a senior teacher at the Rhenanus School in Bad Sooden-Allendorf. In addition to education policy, family policy is one of his main interests. He is married and has four children. Höcke was a short-time member of the Junge Union. As one of the founders of AfD Thuringia, he became Member of the Landtag of Thuringia, the state assembly of the federal state of Thuringia in Germany during the 2014 Thuringian State Elections. Höcke is the speaker of the parliamentary group of the AfD and he is the spokesman of the Thuringia Landesverband (English: regional association) of his party. He is said to be part of the "national-conservative wing" of the AfD. Along with the opposition leader of Saxony-Anhalt, André Poggenburg, Höcke is one of the initiators of the "Erfurter Resolution", whose former leader and co-founder Bernd Lucke, was forced to resign. Höcke regularly serves as main speaker for nationalist rallies organized by party organizations of the AfD. 

On a number of occasions, Björn Höcke has been referred to as Bernd Höcke, in some cases as deliberate satire. Höcke supports border control in the refugee crisis and a limit on asylum laws. He supports the return to national currencies to end the European debt crisis. Höcke is an advocate of the heterosexual elementary family. He demands an end of "society experiments" that undermine what he deems the "natural gender order". He encourages the extension of child tax credit. He advocates a reduction of comprehensive schools and a specific schooling of outstanding students as well as a creation of schools that particularly support special needs children. He opposes sexual education in elementary schools and wants to "stop the dissolution of the natural polarity of the two genders". Höcke supports the position of Thilo Sarrazin and is viewed as controversial for his criticism of multiculturalism and Islam. His opinions have been observed by media and social scientists as right-wing populist, identitarian, and nationalist. 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 deem his speech pattern to be völkisch, racist and fascist. At a demonstration in Erfurt he said:

• "Die Syrer, die zu uns kommen, haben immer noch Syrien. Wenn wir – durch die Syrer – unser Deutschland verloren haben, dann haben wir keine Heimat mehr".
• "The Syrians who come to us still have their Syria. But if we – through the Syrians – lose our Germany, we will not have a homeland anymore".

In a 2014 email to party colleagues, Höcke advocated the abolition of sections 86 and 130 of the German Criminal Code. Section 86 prohibits the spread of propaganda by unconstitutional organizations. Section 130 criminalizes 'incitement of hatred towards other groups of the population' (Volksverhetzung). 'Ethical unsound persuasions' can't be 'avoided by legal measures'. Höcke gave a speech in Dresden in January 2017, in which, referring to the Holocaust memorial in Berlin, 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," and suggested that Germans "need to make a 180 degree change in their commemoration policy". The speech was widely criticized as antisemitic, 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". 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. The arbitration committee of the AfD in Thuringia is set to rule on the leaders' request. The Center for Political Beauty erected a full-scale replica of one section of the Holocaust memorial in Berlin within viewing distance of Höcke's home as a reminder of German history.