Maximilian Krah

German politician (born 1977)

Maximilian Krah
Member of the European Parliament
for Germany
Incumbent
Assumed office
2 July 2019[1][2]
Personal details
Born (1977-01-28) 28 January 1977 (age 47)
Räckelwitz, East Germany
Political partyAlternative for Germany (since 2016)
Other political
affiliations
Christian Democratic Union of Germany (1991–2016)

Maximilian Krah (born January 28, 1977) is a German lawyer and self-described right-wing politician.[3][4] He is serving as a member of the European Parliament for Alternative for Germany.[5]

Biography

Krah grew up in Upper Lusatia as the youngest of three children. His mother was a teacher and his father Peter Krah was an engineer, an executive for the local chapter of the Christian Democratic Union and later an advisor to the Ministry for Interior and Sports of Lower Saxony.[6] After high school, Krah studied law at the Technical University of Dresden followed by an MBA at the London Business School and the Columbia Business School in New York. In 2004 he completed state examinations to practice as a lawyer and was called to the bar in 2005. He also ran a law firm in Dresden with two colleagues.[7][8]

Krah lives in Dresden. He is a practicing Catholic, is widowed and has eight children by three women.[6][9][10][11]

Political career

Krah joined the Junge Union in 1991, the youth wing of the CDU. During his studies he was also active in the Association of Christian Democratic Students. Krah left the CDU in 2016.[12] In that same year, Krah joined Alternative for Germany and was elected deputy chairman of the AfD Saxony in February 2018.[13][14]

In 2019, Krah was elected as an MEP for the AfD.[15] In the European Parliament he sits as a member of the Identity and Democracy group and is a member of the committees for Relations with the United States, International Trade (INTA) and Deputy Member of the Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly. He also served as the spokesman for the AfD in the European Parliament until 2022.[16]

Krah ran for the election in June 2022 for mayor of Dresden but lost to incumbent mayor Dirk Hilbert.[17]

In July 2023 he was named as the AFD top candidate in the 2024 European Parliament election.[18]

Cooperation with other right-wing extremists

Krahs is very active on TikTok and tries to reach 16-year-old first-time voters. Krah's social media strategy is carefully orchestrated with the help of another right-wing extremist activist.[19][20][21]

Influencer for PR China

In 2023 Krah traveled to China at the expense of the Chinese government. He had several conversations with the Chinese intelligence service IDCPC. He later campaigned for Chinese economic interests in Germany against the line of his right-wing radical nationalist party AfD. An employee from his environment received amounts of money from China before and after his trip.[22]

Financial influence cases

In February 2023, Krah was suspended from the "Identity and Democracy" (ID) parliamentary group, to which the AfD belongs in the EU Parliament, due to allegations of fraud. Krah's office had obtained offers for advertising services from three companies that were strikingly similar - including typos. The tender was stopped. After an anonymous letter to the EU anti-corruption authority OLAF, the office got involved. The investigation concluded without further action.[23]

Krah is closely linked to the AfD candidate Arno Bausemer. During the election campaign, the media revealed that Bausemer had invented parts of his CV. In the summer, Krah tried to influence Bausemer's ex-girlfriend, the AfD politician Bianca Wolter. He wanted to ensure that Wolter did not comment negatively on Bausemer. He promised her financial benefits for her and her child if Bausemer was elected to the EU Parliament.[24]

References

  1. ^ "Key dates ahead". European Parliament. 20 May 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  2. ^ "Key dates ahead". BBC News. 22 May 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  3. ^ Laschyk, Thomas (1 February 2019). "AfDler erklärt offen, warum sie vom Verfassungsschutz beobachtet werden müssen". Volksverpetzer (in German). Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  4. ^ Volk, Volkssouveränität, Verfassung - Dr. Maximilian Krah beim IfS, retrieved 29 July 2023
  5. ^ "Alle Gewählte in alphabetischer Reihenfolge". Der Bundeswahlleiter (in German). Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  6. ^ a b Doreen Reinhard: Radikaler Aufsteiger. In: Zeit Online, 16 May 2019.
  7. ^ Weiler Krah Petersen http://www.wkp.legal/. Retrieved 30 June 2019. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. ^ Kurzbiographie Dr. Maximilian Krah, MBA at the Wayback Machine (archived 2019-08-27), Website der Kanzlei Weiler Krah Petersen, retrieved 30 August 2019.
  9. ^ AfD.de: Europawahlkandidaten at the Wayback Machine (archived 2019-05-13)
  10. ^ Dirk Hein; Franziska Klemenz; Ulrich Wolf (25 May 2022), "Maximilian der Identitäre", Sächsische Zeitung (in German)
  11. ^ "Dating-Tipps von Maximilian Krah sorgen für Häme". www.saechsische.de (in German). Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  12. ^ Lars Wienand (20 September 2016). "Ein Schwuler und ein Rechtsaußen werben für den CDU-Austritt". Berliner Morgenpost. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  13. ^ "Einst CDU-Rechtsaußen, nun AfD-Vize". Saechsische.de. 13 July 2018. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  14. ^ "Landesvorstand Sachsen". AfD Sachsen (in German). Archived from the original on 24 February 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  15. ^ "AfD-Kandidatinnen beklagen "EU-Albtraum"". Zeit Online. 18 November 2018. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  16. ^ Dr. Nicolaus Fest ist neuer Leiter der AfD-Delegation im EU-Parlament, Website der Fraktion Identität & Demokratie, 9 February 2022, retrieved 17 June 2022.
  17. ^ Landeshauptstadt Dresden. "Oberbürgermeisterwahl 2022, 12 June 2022, Vorläufiges Endergebnis". Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  18. ^ "Germany: Far-right AfD picks top EU election candidate – DW – 07/29/2023". dw.com. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  19. ^ Bovermann, Philipp; Frehler, Tim (6 February 2024). "Rechtsextremismus auf Tiktok: Wieso die AfD und Identitäre dort so erfolgreich sind". Süddeutsche.de (in German). Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  20. ^ "Lob für Taliban und Nähe zu den Identitären – das ist AfD-Mann Krah". www.fr.de (in German). 2 August 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  21. ^ Guggenberger, Jonathan. "Warum die AfD bei TikTok so erfolgreich ist und was daraus für Demokraten folgt". Der Freitag (in German). ISSN 0945-2095. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  22. ^ "Krahs China-Gate: Geld, Geheimdienste und ein Mann namens G." www.t-online.de (in German). 1 October 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  23. ^ FUNDSCENE (8 February 2023). "ID-Fraktion im EU-Parlament suspendiert AfD-Abgeordneten - Politics, Economy & Finance" (in German). Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  24. ^ "Unmoralisches Angebot AfD-Spitzenmann: Krah will Hochstapler-Ex mit Geld ruhig stellen". www.t-online.de (in German). 9 September 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
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