Lars Schütze (born 1974 in

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...

) is a German politician from

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

. Previously representing the

Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...

and Citizens for Thuringia, he has been an independent politician since 2022.

Life

Schütze completed training as a police officer. He has been working for the

Federal Police A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for law enforcement within a specific jurisdiction through the employment and deployment of law enforcement officers and their resources. The most common type of law enforcement ...

since 1991. In the

2019 Thuringian state election The 2019 Thuringian state election was held on 27 October 2019 to elect the members of the 7th Landtag of Thuringia. The outgoing government was a coalition consisting of The Left, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), and The Greens, led by Minis ...

, Schütze was elected as a member of the

Landtag of Thuringia The Landtag of Thuringia is the parliament of the German federal state of Thuringia. It convenes in Erfurt and currently consists of 88 members from five parties. According to the free state's constitution, the primary functions of the Landtag ...

for the AfD as a direct candidate in the Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis II constituency with 27.3 percent of the vote. Schütze is married, has five children and lives in

. Schütze was expelled from the AfD parliamentary group in the Thuringian state parliament in October 2021. According to the AfD parliamentary group, the expulsion was preceded by an internal discussion of a matter that had affected the "relationship of trust" between Schütze and the other parliamentary group members. In 2022, he joined the new Citizens for Thuringia party after leaving the AfD months earlier. On 20 June 2022 Schütze founded the '' Citizens for Thuringia'' parliamentary group together with former Free Democrat MP and the two former AfD MPs

Birger Gröning Birger Gröning (born 1975 in Schwerin) is a German politician from Thuringia. Previously representing the Alternative for Germany and Citizens for Thuringia, he has been an independent politician since 2022. Life Gröning completed an apprent ...

and . Two days later, the application for parliamentary recognition was submitted to the president of the Thuringian State Parliament, which was accepted by the Parliament in the July plenary session. In December 2022, Schütze resigned from the Citizens for Thuringia party and state parliamentary group, thus pre-empting a party expulsion procedure. After this he sat in the Landtag as an independent member until the

2024 Thuringian state election The 2024 Thuringian state election was held on 1 September 2024 to elect the members of the 8th Landtag of Thuringia. It was held on the same day as the 2024 Saxony state election. The outgoing government was a minority government consisting o ...

in which he stood down from office.

External links

Lars Schutze
at the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schütze, Lars 1974 births Living people Politicians from Erfurt German police officers Members of the Landtag of Thuringia Alternative for Germany politicians Citizens for Thuringia politicians Independent politicians in Germany Politicians affected by a party expulsion process