Inge Höger

Inge Höger (2014)

Inge Dora Minna Höger (born October 29, 1950 in Diepholz ) is a German politician ( Die Linke ). From 2005 to 2017 she was a member of the German Bundestag and from 2005 to 2006 deputy chairwoman of the left-wing parliamentary group . Your positions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict caused controversy on several occasions.

Life

After attending elementary school and commercial school in Rahden , Inge Höger trained as a freight forwarder from 1967 to 1969 . She then completed a degree in business administration at the University of Economics in Bremen , which she completed in 1973 with a degree in business administration (FH). She then worked in various companies in accounting and since 1994 in the administration of the AOK in Herford .

Political career

Höger was a member of the ÖTV trade union and is a member of the ver.di trade union . She was a trade union shop steward, works and staff council and honorary functionary at ver.di at the state and federal level. From 1993 until the federal election in 2005 she was also the chairwoman of the regional women's committee of the DGB .

In the 2004 local elections, Höger ran unsuccessfully (result: 3.21%) as a non-party candidate for the office of mayor of her hometown Herford.

Höger was a founding member of the electoral alternative work and social justice (WASG). In June 2005 she also became a member of the Democratic Socialism Party (PDS). When the PDS and WASG merged in 2007, Höger became a member of the Die Linke party and was elected spokesperson for the Herford district association.

From 2005 to 2017 Inge Höger was a member of the German Bundestag through the North Rhine-Westphalia state list of the Left Party . From November 2005 to September 2006 she was deputy chairwoman of the parliamentary group Die Linke .

From 2006 to 2013 she was a member of the Defense Committee, where she was responsible for foreign missions in the Balkans ( Operation Althea , KFOR ) and in the Mediterranean . She was also a member of the investigative committee to investigate Murat Kurnaz's imprisonment in Guantánamo .

In the 17th legislative period, Höger was the chairwoman of her parliamentary group in the committee of inquiry into the air strike near Kunduz . Höger was also a member of the committee of inquiry into the procurement of the Euro Hawk drone .

From 2009 she was spokeswoman for disarmament policy in her group and also a member of the subcommittee on disarmament. After the 2013 election, she also served on the Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid Committee.

Höger is a member of the “Federal Spokesman's Council” of the anti-capitalist left .

In 2016 Inge Höger announced that she was no longer running for a Bundestag mandate.

During her time in the Bundestag, Höger was active against the stationing of US nuclear weapons in Germany, nuclear power plants and uranium ammunition .

At the state party congress in June 2018, she was elected unopposed candidate with 51% of the votes as spokeswoman for the state executive of the party Die Linke in North Rhine-Westphalia . Sebastian Weiermann commented for New Germany that the party would have to expect “that it would be reduced to the subject of anti-Semitism from the left in many media ” if Höger remained in office beyond 2020.

Controversy

The “Mavi Marmara” on which Inge Höger and others tried in vain to reach the Gaza Strip in 2010

In particular, Höger's involvement in Palestine and her associated regular criticism of Israel as well as several controversial actions caused controversy and brought her the accusation of anti-Zionism . In November 2008 she and other members of the left wing of her parliamentary group demonstratively stayed away from a Bundestag vote on the intensified fight against anti-Semitism shortly before the 70th anniversary of the Reichspogromnacht , and justified this by stating that this decision equated criticism of Israel and anti-Semitism .

Together with Annette Groth and Norman Paech , Höger was on board a ship convoy to the Gaza Strip at the end of May 2010 . She lamented the alleged illegal behavior of the Israelis. The ship Mavi Marmara was captured and Höger was detained by the Israeli military. The party chairwoman Gesine Lötzsch said she was proud of Höger's commitment. The world , however, put him in connection with increasing anti-Semitism in the party Die Linke. In response to a criminal complaint from Höger, the Federal Prosecutor examined the actions of the Israeli military personnel deployed against the convoy and came to the conclusion that there was no criminal behavior against Höger or other German citizens, since the ships of the Gaza flotilla were not civilian objects, but military targets , " Who could be attacked according to the rules of international humanitarian law ".

At a conference in Wuppertal in 2011, Höger wore a scarf that showed the map of the Middle East without Israel.

After the Bremen State Association of the Left had supported the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign in 2011 and numerous party members nationwide, including u. a. Katja Kipping and Bodo Ramelow , who had signed a statement against it, in which the campaign was explicitly described as “ anti-Semitism ”, “which reminds of the Nazi slogan ' Don't buy from the Jews '”, came a unanimous decision of the left-wing parliamentary group Support for calls for boycotts, a one-state solution or another Gaza flotilla was clearly rejected because Höger and 14 other parliamentary group members either stayed away from the vote or had previously left the meeting room.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center described Höger as "extremely anti-Israeli" and put them on its "Top Ten" list of anti-Semitism in 2014.

Henryk M. Broder repeatedly accused her of “ left anti-Semitism ” and an uncritical relationship with Hamas , especially when she did not want to rule out on her website in 2011 that the murder of the pro-Palestinian activists Juliano Mer-Khamis and Vittorio Arrigoni was an Israeli operation under “ False flag ” .

Together with Niema Movassat , Ralf Michalowsky and others, Höger supported the call for a demonstration on July 18, 2014 in Essen under the motto “Stop the bombing of Gaza - For an end to the escalation in the Middle East ”. Around 1,500 people took part in it, including banners denying the Holocaust and anti-Israel (with the words “Israel Terrorist” and “Allegedly victims in the past - now perpetrators” as well as an Israel flag with a swastika ). Slogans such as “Israel child murderer” or chants such as “Adolf Hitler” and “Death to the Jews” could also be heard. The punishable Hitler salute as well as ISIS and Hamas flags were shown. After the demonstration ended, numerous participants in a counter rally were attacked. CDU , SPD and Greens criticized the NRW Left for calling for a demonstration; CDU state chief Armin Laschet spoke of "the greatest anti-Semitic failures that North Rhine-Westphalia has seen for a long time". The Central Council of Jews in Germany was “shocked and dismayed” by the incidents.

In July 2014, Höger posted a picture on her Facebook page in which she had no Wehrmacht in front of a banner with the inscription “Palestine [ note: not recognizable as a word in the picture ]! Israel! This is not a war but genocide ”. On November 10, 2014 came in premises of the Bundestag to an open confrontation between the MPs Annette Groth, Inge Höger and Heike Hänsel accompanied israel critical journalists Max Blumenthal and David Sheen and the group chairman Gregor Gysi , in this harassed and up to the Toilet was tracked. This was preceded by an event planned for November 9th in the Berlin Volksbühne , which was canceled after several MPs complained, as well as the prohibition of an alternative event in the rooms of the left-wing parliamentary group by the parliamentary group chairman.

See also : "toilet affair"

After Inge Höger as well as her parliamentary colleague Sevim Dağdelen and the Lower Saxony state parliament member Christel Wegner ( DKP ) signed a public appeal for the criminal removal of stones from under railway tracks in 2010 at Castor-Transport , she was therefore charged in April 2013 with public incitement to criminal offenses . The Court considered the three who had previously rejected a procedural attitude to money circulation, although an altruistic motivation benefit Hoger, however, was lack of insight, unlike her two co-defendants instead of every 15 day rates to 30 daily rates of 150 euros fine condemned. In the appeal proceedings, Höger's sentence was reduced to 20 daily rates.

Publications

• Create peace without weapons! In: Making Peace Without Arms. Contributions to the 18th Dresden Peace Symposium on February 20, 2010. (Ed.) Dresdener Studiengemeinschaft Sicherheitspektiven (DSS) e. V .: DSS working papers , Dresden 2010, issue 98, pp. 8-14.

Web links

Commons : Inge Höger  - Collection of Images

 Wikinews: International "Solidarity Fleet" for Gaza raised by Israel  - news

• Biography at the German Bundestag
• CV with the parliamentary group Die Linke
• Inge Höger on parliamentwatch.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from September 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ Bundestag election 2013 ( Memento from September 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
3. ^ Info brochure of the party die Linke: Murat Kurnaz and the KSK. Where the unreserved solidarity with the USA has led ( memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , linksfraktion.net. 
4. ↑ Message from the left-wing parliamentary group in the Bundestag: censorship in the committee ( memento of the original from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , July 23, 2013. 
5. ↑ Dirk-Ulrich Brüggemann: Inge Höger (left) is no longer running for the Bundestag , Neue Westfälische from January 21, 2016
6. ↑ the request of several members of the Left Group to the 17th German Bundestag: deduction instead of modernization of US nuclear weapons in Germany , printed matter 17/11225, October 25, 2012
7. ↑ http://dipbt.bundestag.de/extrakt/ba/WP17/496/49693.html
8. ↑ Sebastian Weiermann: Closer is not possible , Neues Deutschland from June 25, 2018
9. ↑ Sebastian Weiermann: Not a good choice , Neues Deutschland from June 25, 2018
10. ↑ Martin Niewendick: A radical anti-Zionist should unite the NRW left. Die Welt , July 6, 2018, accessed September 20, 2018 . 
11. ↑ Announcements from the Communist Platform: We do not vote. In: die-linke.de. November 4, 2008, archived from the original on April 2, 2015 ; accessed on February 19, 2020 . 
12. ^ Study reveals anti-Semitism in the Left Party , Die Welt , May 19, 2011.
13. ↑ The Federal Public Prosecutor's decision to discontinue use of September 30, 2014 ( memento of the original of September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF on the Högers website)  
14. ↑ Alex Feuerherdt and Benjamin Weinthal: The Federal Prosecutor's Office rejects the lawsuit because of the Israeli actions against the "Gaza Flotilla". In: jungle-world.com. January 29, 2015, accessed February 27, 2015 . 
15. ^ Middle East map without Israel
16. ↑ Leandros Fischer: Between internationalism and reasons of state: The dispute over the Middle East conflict in the DIE LINKE party. Springer, Wiesbaden 2016, ISBN 978-3-658-13353-5 , pp. 249 and 294
17. ↑ Bruno Engelin: Left Party: Unanimously with dissenters - parliamentary group disputes anti-Semitism resolution , Jüdische Allgemeine dated June 16, 2011
18. ↑ http://www.dw.de/linke-politikerinnen-auf-top-ten-liste-des-antisemitismus/a-18163816
19. ^ Henryk M. Broder: Alcoholism and anti-Semitism have a lot in common. Die Welt, April 22, 2011.
20. ^ Henryk M. Broder: Forget Auschwitz! The German memory delusion and the final solution to the Israel question. Albrecht Knaus Verlag, 2012, pp. 144, 147.
21. ↑ The Problem of a Left with Living Jews. In: The world. May 13, 2011.
22. ↑ In the meantime deleted text of a press release on Ingeborg Höger's homepage ( Memento from April 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (April 18, 2011).
23. ↑ ^{a b} Thorsten Denkler: Anti-Semitism and the Left. Linke argues about appearances at demos critical of Israel , sueddeutsche.de, July 25, 2014.
24. ↑ ^{a b} Martin Krauss : Nothing justifies such action , juedische-allgemeine.de, July 24, 2014.
25. ↑ Possible attack on the Old Synagogue - 14 arrests , Der Westen , July 18, 2014.
26. ↑ Linke surrounds himself with anti-Semites , Tagesspiegel, July 19, 2014.
27. Jump up ↑ Displeasure with the police after the Middle East demos in Essen , Der Westen, July 21, 2014.
28. ↑ WDR local time Ruhr from July 21, 2014.
29. ↑ WDR current hour from July 21, 2014.
30. ↑ Liveticker: Essen, Demonstrations for and against Israel , Ruhrbarone.de, July 18, 2014.
31. ↑ Martin Teigeler: Essen Middle East Demos and the Consequences ( Memento from January 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
32. ↑ Left MPs sentenced, fine for gravel appeal , Die Tageszeitung, April 23, 2013.
33. ↑ Left-wing politicians convicted of calling for "gravel" , Der Spiegel , 23. April 2013
34. ^ An example of the nuclear opponent in Herford is set by Neue Westfälische , October 18, 2013