Tatjana Festerling (née Schimanski, 6 March 1964) is a German
far-right
Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...
activist who was a member of the
organisation team of the political movement
Pegida. She was expelled from the Pegida leadership for advocating that asylum-seekers should be shot if they attempt to cross the German border.
Political activities
Festerling was a founding member of the
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
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, postal ...
section of the
Alternative for Germany
Alternative for Germany (german: link=no, Alternative für Deutschland, AfD; ) is a right-wing populist
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* political party in Germany. AfD is known for its opposition to the European Union, as well as immigration to Germany. I ...
(AfD).
She resigned from the party, after a looming threat of expulsion for her condoning action of the
Hooligans against Salafists movement.
In 2015, Festerling joined Pegida and became the first-ever Pegida candidate to run for office. She contested for the mayoral election in the city of
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
and gained 9.6% of the votes in the election held on 7 June 2015. ''
Der Spiegel
''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...
'' had described Pegida's decision in 2015 to invite Festerling, a woman, to work with the party founder
Lutz Bachmann
Lutz Bachmann (born 26 January 1973) is the founder of the Pegida movement, a far-right German political organisation linked to the anti-Muslim counter-jihad ideology.
History Personal life
Born in 1973 in Dresden, East Germany, Bachmann ha ...
as an adroit move.
[
Festerling demanded the "Säxit"the secession of Saxony from the Federal Republic of Germanyon October 12, 2015, after she had already demanded the rebuilding of the former ]Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...
over Germany on March 9, 2015.
In June 2016, Festerling was dismissed from the Pegida leadership. Bachmann stated that her behaviour 'was injurious to the organisation' as the reason for her dismissal.[
In 2017 she was found guilty of ]Volksverhetzung
, in English "incitement to hatred" (used also in the official English translation of the German Criminal Code), "incitement of popular hatred", "incitement of the masses", or "instigation of the people", is a concept in German criminal law that ...
in Dresden and sent to prison for 120 days.
Personal
Festerling trained in coaching and yoga and has two grown up children.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Festerling, Tatjana
1964 births
Living people
Alternative for Germany politicians
Pegida activists
Politicians from Wuppertal