Tatjana Festerling
Picture of Tatjana Festerling
Tatjana Festerling in 2015
Born
Tatjana Schimanski

(1964-03-06) 6 March 1964
Wuppertal, West Germany
NationalityGerman
Known forPEGIDA activist

Tatjana Festerling (née Schimanski, 6 March 1964) is a German far-right activist who was a member of the organisation team of the political movement Pegida. She was expelled from the Pegida leadership for advocating that asylum-seekers should be shot if they attempt to cross the German border.[1]

Political activities

Festerling was a founding member of the Hamburg section of the Alternative for Germany (AfD).[2] She resigned from the party, after a looming threat of expulsion for her condoning action of the Hooligans against Salafists movement.

In 2015, Festerling joined Pegida and became the first-ever Pegida candidate to run for office. She contested for the mayoral election in the city of Dresden and gained 9.6% of the votes in the election held on 7 June 2015.[3][4] Der Spiegel had described Pegida's decision in 2015 to invite Festerling, a woman, to work with the party founder Lutz Bachmann as an adroit move.[2]

Festerling demanded the "Säxit"—the secession of Saxony from the Federal Republic of Germany—on October 12, 2015, after she had already demanded the rebuilding of the former Iron Curtain over Germany on March 9, 2015.[5][6]

In June 2016, Festerling was dismissed from the Pegida leadership. Bachmann stated that her behaviour 'was injurious to the organisation' as the reason for her dismissal.[7] Since then, her activities have included patrolling the Bulgarian-Turkish border area together with a Dutch Pegida leader and local paramilitary forces.[1]

In 2017 she was found guilty of Volksverhetzung in Dresden and sent to prison for 120 days.

Personal

Festerling trained in coaching and yoga and has two grown up children.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 Huggler, Justin (4 July 2016). "Dutch Pegida leader and expelled German deputy hunt migrants on Bulgaria border". The Telegraph. Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 Hebel, Christina (14 April 2015). "Dresdner OB-Kandidatin Festerling: Zu rechts für die AfD - für Pegida gerade recht". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  3. ↑ Radau, Lars (7 June 2015). "Pegida-Kandidatin Festerling schafft fast zehn Prozent". Der Tagesspiegel. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  4. ↑ Klaiber, Susanne (6 May 2015). "Ex-Pegida Frontwoman Kathrin Oertel Apologizes for Anti-Islam Statements". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  5. ↑ Pegida beschwört den Bürgerkrieg und fordert den Säxit coloRadio, 15 October 2015.
  6. ↑ "Ö weiö!: Pegida-Frau droht mit "Säxit"". Der Spiegel. 14 October 2015 – via Spiegel Online.
  7. ↑ "Bachmann stellt Vertrauensfrage". Sächsische Zeitung. 20 June 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.


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