Lutz Bachmann

Lutz Bachmann (born 26 January 1973) is a German criminal and the founder of the PEGIDA movement, a controversial German political organization devoted to combating what is perceived as the threat of Islam and multiculturalism.

Personal life

Born in 1973 in Dresden, East Germany, Bachmann had a working class upbringing. Time reports that he is the son of a butcher. Breitbart News reports that he is the son of two teachers. He was a (trained) chef and graphic designer, and played professional soccer for teams in Dresden and Düsseldorf. Bachmann has a criminal record for sixteen burglaries, dealing cocaine and assault. In 1998, after Bachmann had been sentenced to several years in prison, he fled to South Africa but was deported back to Germany. According to Bachmann, during his time as a fugitive, he opened a nightclub in Cape Town which catered to black people. This was not long after the end of apartheid, and Bachmann says, "It was scandalous. People were shouting at me, 'How can you do this as a German, as a white? How can you open a night club for blacks?'" Bachmann says, "I became a refugee. But a refugee from German law." Bachmann is the owner of a public relations and advertising company in Dresden that he founded in 1992, and has been a publicist for nightclubs.

Pegida

Bachmann started Pegida in October 2014 to protest plans to add 14 refugee centres in Dresden, Germany. Through Pegida he rallied the disparate forces of the German right against the "parallel societies" of Muslims in Europe. Bachmann publicly renounces extremist violence of any kind and insists his enemy is not religion itself. As a result of his involvement with Pegida he has been threatened with death and had to cancel a march in Dresden. In mid-January 2015, Bachmann was hit with criticism after a photograph surfaced showing him with a mustache and hair style similar to Adolf Hitler. According to Bachmann, it was an old photo that was meant as a joke. After the photo sparked international outrage, Bachmann stepped down as de facto leader of Pegida. According to Bachmann and Pegida co-founder Kathrin Oertel, Bachmann's resignation had nothing to do with the photo. A few weeks later, Bachmann was reinstated as a co-leader following a vote. The Sächsische Zeitung later reported that the photograph was a forgery, writing that a moustache was added after the photo was taken.

Prosecution for incitement of racial hatred

In 2016 Bachmann was charged with incitement of racial hatred. The charges were laid after someone using a Facebook page with Lutz Bachmann's name called refugees "cattle," "scumbags," and "filth" in a Facebook post in 2014. The first day of Bachmann's trial, which was originally planned on being split into three separate days, took place on April 19, 2016. Bachmann's lawyer, Katja Reichel, argued that there are hundreds of Facebook pages with the name Lutz Bachmann on Facebook, and that there was no reason to believe that the Lutz Bachmann being accused was the one who made these comments. State attorney Tobias Uhlemann has pointed out that nothing originating from the Internet would constitute evidence. On May 3 2016, Bachmann was convicted of "inciting racial hatred" and fined €9,600. Both the defense as well the prosecution were planning on appealing the ruling. In October 2016, Lutz Bachmann moved to live in the south of the island of Tenerife (Spain) where he was declared persona non grata by the authorities of that island.

2016 US presidential election

Bachmann has a special pseudonym for Hillary Clinton -- "Killary." This is a reference to the events at the US embassy in Benghazi when Clinton was Secretary of State. He has said Donald Trump is "more good [than bad] because he hates [Angela] Merkel."

EU-Turkey deal on migrant crisis

Bachmann has described the EU-Turkey deal on the migrant crisis as "stupid," noting that Recep Erdogan had asked for an additional €6 billion. When asked how many immigrants he thinks Germany will take in in 2016, Bachmann estimates at least 6 million.

Brexit

On 5 April 2016, the eve of the Brexit vote, Bachmann said, "I hope so much for Brexit. The European Union is a bunch of alcoholics in Brussels who rule with no knowledge of the ideology of each country. A Europe of strong nation states. We are all ingredients [in the EU stew]. You get bored of the same stew. Keep national identities. Every nation is proud of its values. You can’t put all things in [together]."

Party founding

Bachmann has set up the new party FDDV, Freiheitlich Direktdemokratische Volkspartei (Liberal Direct Democratic People's Party). The party was established 13 June, 2016.

Male circumcision has become controversial in Germany, and Bachmann is of the view that, "Circumcision should be your own choice ... at your 18th birthday, fine." The Alternative für Deutschland party (AfD) had put language opposing male circumcision in a rough draft of its manifesto, but AfD leader Frauke Petry told reporter Tim Sebastian during an interview on 21 March 2016 that this language was going to be thrown out before the final draft. Bachmann feels Petry is putting freedom of religion ahead of a kid's right to be unharmed.

Both Muslim and Jewish groups were in an uproar after a 2012 Higher Regional Court in Cologne decided that the circumcision of a 4-year-old boy was "bodily harm." The Central Council of Jews in Germany believes this is "an unprecedented and dramatic intrusion on the right to self-determination of religious communities." Bachmann thinks Petry is kowtowing and that she is "scared of Germany’s past with Jewish people."

"If she goes, there could be a way to work together," says Bachmann, the inference being that Pegida would work with an AfD without a Frauke Petry. Although he feels the AfD takes "the fruits away from Pegida," he sees the AfD and Pegida as one entity and is not fond of the idea of "splitting" them. He says that "Pegida and AfD could come together [as political parties]."