Patrik Köbele (born 1962 in

Weil am Rhein Weil am Rhein (High Alemannic: ''Wiil am Rhii'') is a German town and commune. It is on the east bank of the River Rhine, and extends to the point at which the Swiss, French and German borders meet. It is the most southwesterly town in Germany an ...

) is a German politician and leader of the German Communist Party (DKP). Between 1989 and 1994, Köbele was leader of the

Sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterjugend Socialist German Workers Youth (german: Sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterjugend, abbreviated SDAJ) is a political youth organization in Germany. It is a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist organization and related to the Deutsche Kommunistisch ...

(SDAJ), the DKP's youth organization. Between 2004 and 2009, he was member of the city council of

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

. On 2 March 2013 he was elected leader of the DKP. Köbele won with 91 to 60 votes against former leader Bettina Jürgensen. Köbele has stated the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

and

Inner German Border The inner German border (german: Innerdeutsche Grenze or ; initially also ) was the border between the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany) from 1949 to 1990. Not including the ...

both were necessary for East Germany's security. Privately, Köbele lives in

with his two children and works as IT consultant. He has cited former East German leaders Erich Honecker, Willi Stoph, Hilde Benjamin and Erich Mielke as his childhood heroes. He is close friends with former East German leader Egon Krenz.

Footnotes

External links

Einkünfte von Köbele laut DKP-Homepage
1962 births People from Lörrach (district) German Communist Party politicians Living people {{Germany-DKP-politician-stub