André Poggenburg

André Poggenburg (born 1975 in Weißenfels, Bezirk Halle, East Germany) is a German politician and member of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. He is state chairman of his party in the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt and leading candidate for the 2016 Saxony-Anhalt state elections. According to final results, the AfD gained 24.2 percent of the votes and is now second political force in Saxony-Anhalt. Poggenburg is also a member of the AfD federal board. Poggenburg described himself as a "national conservative". He worked as a merchant and equipment manufacturer. He led a company together with his stepfather and founded his own business organization for manufacturing machines in Stößen in 1996. He managed a repair company for car radiators, which moved to Gut Nöbeditz in 2008 and ceased operations on New Year's Eve 2015. Poggenburg is unmarried. There were reports about financial problems of Poggenburg before the elections. According to Poggenburg, these reports were "strongly exaggerated". He was highly criticised in the social and broadcast media for prematurely blaming Merkel's open refugee policy for the 2016 Munich shooting. The shooter was later identified as having been German born.