Thomas Seitz (politician)

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Thomas Seitz at a party conference in 2015

Thomas Seitz (born October 8, 1967 in Ettenheim ) is a German lawyer and politician of the AfD who is part of the völkisch-nationalist wing of his party. He has been a member of the 19th Bundestag since October 2017 . He is chairman of the AfD parliamentary group in the committee for electoral review, immunity and rules of procedure , a deputy member of the committee for law and consumer protection and the parliamentary committee of inquiry into the attack on Breitscheidplatz in Berlin, and deputy chairman of the German-Swiss parliamentary group .

Life

Seitz grew up in Lahr / Black Forest . After graduating from high school, he studied law in Friborg and Lausanne. He completed his legal clerkship at the Offenburg Regional Court . From 2008 until his election to the Bundestag, Seitz worked in Freiburg im Breisgau as a public prosecutor in the field of traffic law.

In 2011 he was a member of the right-wing small party Die Freiheit for ten months and joined the AfD in spring 2013.

Seitz initially stood for this unsuccessfully in the state elections in 2016 and was then elected to the Bundestag in the 2017 Bundestag election via position 5 on the state list of the AfD Baden-Württemberg in the Bundestag constituency Emmendingen - Lahr (first vote share: 10.8 percent). On May 26, 2019 he was elected to the district council of the Ortenau district and is deputy chairman of the AfD parliamentary group there.

Seitz is married to the business economist Rosa-Maria Reiter , who was a lay judge at the constitutional court for the state of Baden-Württemberg from December 2016 to July 2018 at the suggestion of the Baden-Württemberg AfD parliamentary group . He lives in Lahr and is the father of two children from his first marriage, born around the turn of the millennium.

Political positions and public perception

Seitz is assigned to the völkisch wing of the AfD . He agitates against Islam and criticizes the church for "spiritual arson". He became known through statements on his Facebook page, in which he wrote of “pathetic systemic people in the old parties” and described the policy of Chancellor Angela Merkel as “the prelude to the annihilation of the German people”. In other Facebook posts he called refugees “migrants” and the prophet Mohammed a “sadistic blood drunkard and child molester”. Seitz has spoken out in favor of continuing to use racist terms such as “ negro ”. He described the former US President Barack Obama as a “quota negro”. One of his postings shows a Koran lying in a toilet .

According to the Badischer Zeitung , his superiors were concerned with his political activities from the end of 2014. Among other things, the petitions committee of the Baden-Württemberg state parliament intervened because doubts had arisen about the constitutional loyalty of the public prosecutor Seitz. At the same time, his membership in freedom came into focus. Since Seitz did not hold an office in this party, the matter was not pursued further.

In 2016, the Freiburg public prosecutor's office initiated disciplinary proceedings against Seitz because of statements degrading the democratic situation . The Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Justice took over the case at the end of 2016 and submitted a disciplinary action against Seitz to the Karlsruhe Regional Court . A group of 23 lawyers complained by letter about prosecutor Seitz. In view of Seitz's derogatory comments on Islam, clients with a migration background would have to fear that Seitz would “not approach them impartially”.

As goals of his political work, before his unsuccessful state parliament candidacy in 2016, Seitz named the abolition of the broadcasting fee, an "exit from the liability, debt and transfer community of the EU", "preservation and strengthening" of the grammar schools, a "strengthening of the police" and a " Exhaustion of the Penalty ”.

In April 2018, during a lecture to an audience of sixty in Offenburg , Seitz described the Network Enforcement Act as "introducing censorship through the back door" and announced that the AfD would terminate the Interstate Broadcasting Treaty as soon as it came to power in a federal state . Although he expressed understanding for the motives of the refugees coming to Germany, he also described the immigration as a targeted political action by the “old parties” “to create a new people”.

Shortly after the AfD moved into the Bundestag , Seitz triggered the so-called “Schnittchen Affair” in December 2017 when he accused the parliamentary group manager Hans-Joachim Berg of wasting money and incapacity.

In June 2018, Seitz used his speaking time in a debate on the rules of procedure in the Bundestag to observe an unsettled minute's silence for Susanna , a Mainz schoolgirl who was allegedly raped and murdered by an Iraqi asylum seeker . This earned him from the other parliamentary groups the accusation of political instrumentalization of the crime. Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble reprimanded Seitz because his action had taken place without the approval of the parliamentary presidium.

Seitz is one of those AfD MPs who employ employees with an anti-constitutional and "clearly right-wing radical [m] to right-wing extremist [m] background". According to a newspaper report, the employees of Thomas Seitz Brigade Seitz call themselves and have set up a corresponding Facebook page for this purpose. The employees state that they reject violence "unless it is a matter of self-defense , emergency aid, legal enforcement measures, the fight between combatants in accordance with international humanitarian law or resistance within the meaning of Article 20 paragraph 4 of the Basic Law ". They refer to Seitz as their " commander ".

Interjection to the "memorial of shame"

On February 23, 2018, the MP Konstantin von Notz criticized during a Bundestag debate that AfD MPs spoke of the guilt cult, of a memory dictatorship, of a memorial of shame . Seitz acknowledged this with the interjection right! Bundestag Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki , of the interruption to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and a controversial speech Björn Hoecke referred, issued Seitz for the utterance immediately a call to order .

Seitz appealed against this with a three-page letter to Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble . His interjection was not unambiguous and did not necessarily mean that the monument to the murdered Jews of Europe was designated as a memorial to shame . On the one hand, his exclamation could also be interpreted as approval of Notz's speech or that von Notz quoted Höcke correctly. On the other hand, von Notz did not explicitly speak of the memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe. Seitz explained: "It is so far removed for every democrat to consider the memory of the Jewish victims as shameful that any such allegation must be described as infamous, malicious and undemocratic". Because the content of Seitz's statement could not be proven, Kubicki had to withdraw the call for order. Kubicki pointed out, however, that Seitz had "appropriately characterized" Höcke's speech in his objection.

Lawsuit for the withdrawal of civil servant status

The Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Justice has due to racist remarks and lack of neutrality before the Judicial Service Court of the District Court Karlsruhe filed a lawsuit. The aim is to remove them from the judgeship . At the hearing, the presiding judge followed the arguments of the Ministry of Justice and found that terms and images that Seitz had used violated the duty of political moderation , neutrality, impartiality and loyalty to the constitution to which a civil servant is subject. Seitz also mixed office and political opinion-fighting, since in two photos he used in the election campaign he could be identified as a member of the criminal justice system with a robe placed over his arm, a white tie and a collection of laws. There has been no comparable case so far; Both sides have announced that they will go to the next instance after the verdict.

Comments on the reintroduction of the death penalty

In a post on social media on December 29, 2018, Seitz wrote that “an amendment to Art. 102 GG should not be a taboo”. He commented on an article in the online edition of the world that reported that a deported Cameroonian was back in Germany and applied for asylum again, which was not a violation of the law. Seitz also wrote: "For such cases, an effective deterrent is needed". Article 102 of the Basic Law states that the death penalty has been abolished in Germany . A day later he relativized his post on Facebook and described it as a “conscious and targeted provocation”.

Johannes Fechner (member of the Bundestag for the SPD from the same constituency as Seitz) saw the text as the “true anti-constitutional face of the AfD”. "The gaps in the right to deportation should be closed, but the death penalty for immigrants should not be introduced," said Fechner.

Web links

Commons : Thomas Seitz (politician)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ MPs from the southwest: These AfD politicians are moving to Berlin. In: stuttgarter-nachrichten.de. Retrieved September 26, 2017 .
  2. ↑ AfD: split after the federal election? In: CORRECTIV. April 20, 2017. Retrieved September 26, 2017 .
  3. ^ A b c d Kai Biermann, Astrid Geisler, Christina Holzinger, Paul Middelhoff, Karsten Polke-Majewski: AfD parliamentary group: right to extreme in the Bundestag . In: The time . September 26, 2017, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed September 26, 2017]).
  4. ↑ a b Duisburg Institute for Language and Social Research - Who is moving to the Bundestag for the AfD? Retrieved September 26, 2017 .
  5. ^ German Bundestag - Committee on Election Review, Immunity and Rules of Procedure . In: German Bundestag . ( bundestag.de [accessed April 10, 2018]).
  6. ^ German Bundestag - Committee for Law and Consumer Protection . In: German Bundestag . ( bundestag.de [accessed November 12, 2018]).
  7. ^ German Bundestag - 1st committee of inquiry . In: German Bundestag . ( bundestag.de [accessed April 10, 2018]).
  8. ^ German Bundestag - networked worldwide - the parliamentary groups . In: German Bundestag . ( bundestag.de [accessed November 12, 2018]).
  9. ↑ a b c Klaus Fischer: Candidate check: Thomas Seitz (AfD). In: badische-zeitung.de. February 25, 2016, accessed October 31, 2017 .
  10. ↑ Results Emmendingen. The Federal Returning Officer, accessed on October 24, 2017 .
  11. ↑ a b Thomas Seitz (AfD) in the constituency 283 Emmendingen-Lahr. In: Badische Zeitung. Retrieved September 29, 2017 .
  12. ↑ Sven Rothmann is chairman of the AfD parliamentary group in the district council. Retrieved August 2, 2019 .
  13. ↑ dpa, ch: Lahrer AfD candidate is only chosen in the second attempt. In: badische-zeitung.de. December 14, 2016, accessed October 31, 2017 .
  14. ↑ Press release July 25, 2018: Constitutional Court of Baden-Württemberg . ( baden-wuerttemberg.de [accessed on November 22, 2018]).
  15. ↑ MPs from the southwest: These AfD politicians are moving to Berlin. In: stuttgarter-nachrichten.de. Retrieved September 26, 2017 .
  16. ↑ AfD: split after the federal election? In: CORRECTIV. April 20, 2017. Retrieved September 26, 2017 .
  17. ↑ AfD election campaign kick -off: Speakers express massive criticism of Islam. In: News of the Ortenau. Retrieved September 26, 2017 .
  18. ↑ Severin Weiland: AfD candidates: Everything that is right. In: Spiegel Online. September 20, 2017. Retrieved September 25, 2017 .
  19. ↑ a neologism : suitcase word from 'migrant' and 'aggressor'.
  20. ↑ Christian Stöcker: AfD election in the self-test: Do you really want that? In: Spiegel Online. September 24, 2017. Retrieved September 26, 2017 .
  21. ↑ Sebastian Leber: The AfD wants to send these rights to the Bundestag . In: Der Tagesspiegel Online . September 19, 2017, ISSN  1865-2263 ( tagesspiegel.de [accessed September 25, 2017]).
  22. ↑ Sabine am Orde: “The case of Thomas Seitz. How an AfD politician loses his civil service status. ”In: Mathias Meisner, Heike Kleffner (ed.): Extreme security. Right-wing extremists in the police, the protection of the constitution, the armed forces and the judiciary. Herder, Freiburg 2019, p. 222
  23. ↑ Extremism on the net: Public prosecutor and AfD candidate threatened with proceedings. In: Badische Zeitung. Retrieved September 25, 2017 .
  24. ^ Disciplinary proceedings because of AfD membership: lawsuit against the Freiburg public prosecutor. In: stuttgarter-nachrichten.de. Retrieved September 25, 2017 .
  25. ↑ a b Lahr: Stand up for my convictions. In: lahrer-zeitung.de. Retrieved September 26, 2017 .
  26. ^ Badische Zeitung: The "Report from Berlin" with long-known AfD slogans - Offenburg - Badische Zeitung . ( badische-zeitung.de [accessed on April 10, 2018]).
  27. ↑ BILD reveals AfD-Schnittchen scandal: costs for catering explode . In: bild.de . ( bild.de [accessed on April 10, 2018]).
  28. ^ Badische Zeitung: AfD member Seitz provokes with "minute of silence" - Germany - Badische Zeitung . ( badische-zeitung.de [accessed on June 11, 2018]).
  29. ↑ Sabine am Orde: "The Thomas Seitz case: How an AfD politician loses his official status." In: Matthias Meisner, Heike Kleffner (ed.), P. 222
  30. ↑ AfD MPs deal with right-wing extremists and constitutional enemies. March 21, 2018, accessed October 24, 2019 .
  31. ^ Lahrer Zeitung : Lahr: Brigade Seitz active for AfD politicians in Berlin . ( lahrer-zeitung.de [accessed on April 14, 2018]).
  32. ↑ Kubicki calls AfD man to order because of the “memorial of shame”. In: RP Online of February 23, 2018 (accessed March 4, 2018).
  33. ↑ Eckart Lohse, Markus Wehner: With all due respect, Mr. President ... In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, March 3, 2018, p. 4.
  34. ↑ a b FAZ.net / Rüdiger Soldt: An official with little inclination towards moderation
  35. ↑ a b c Thomas Seitz: AfD politician could lose civil servant status . In: ZEIT ONLINE . ( zeit.de [accessed on August 13, 2018]).
  36. ^ Mannheimer Morgen online: Seitz worries about official status
  37. ↑ Sabine am Orde: “The case of Thomas Seitz. How an AfD politician loses his civil service status. ”In: Matthias Meisner, Heike Kleffner (Ed.), P. 223
  38. ↑ Peter Sieben: AfD member Thomas Seitz makes extreme demands - and thus crosses a line . In: DerWesten . December 30, 2018.
  39. ↑ Deported Cameroonian is back in Germany. Welt.de from December 29, 2018, accessed December 30, 2018.
  40. ↑ WORLD: Death Penalty and Basic Law: AfD MP tries to provoke maximum . December 31, 2018 ( welt.de [accessed March 22, 2019]).
  41. ↑ Sharp criticism from SPD-Fechner to AfD-Seitz , on lahrer-zeitung.de
personal data
SURNAME Seitz, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer and politician (AfD), Member of the Bundestag
DATE OF BIRTH October 8, 1967
PLACE OF BIRTH Ettenheim