Beatrix von Storch

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Beatrix von Storch
2019-01-14-Beatrix von Storch-hart aber fair-1355.jpg
Deputy Leader of the Alternative for Germany
Assumed office
5 July 2015
Serving with Alice Weidel and Stephan Brandner
LeaderJörg Meuthen and Tino Chrupalla
Member of the Bundestag
Assumed office
24 September 2017
Member of the European Parliament
In office
1 July 2014 – 27 October 2017
ConstituencyGermany
Personal details
Born
Beatrix Amelie Ehrengard Eilika

(1971-05-27) 27 May 1971 (age 50)
Lübeck, West Germany
Political partyAlternative for Germany (2013–present)
Other political
affiliations		Free Democratic Party (2011–2013)
Spouse(s)
Sven von Storch
​
(m. 2004)​
RelationsLutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk (grandfather)
Nikolaus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Oldenburg (grandfather)

Beatrix Amelie Ehrengard Eilika von Storch (née Duchess of Oldenburg; 27 May 1971) is a German politician who has been Deputy Leader of the Alternative for Germany since July 2015 and Member of the Bundestag since September 2017. She previously was Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Germany.[1] She belongs ancestrally to the royal House of Oldenburg which reigned over the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg until 1918.

Family background[]

In accordance with the traditions of the House of Oldenburg, her dynastic style from birth was Her Highness Duchess Beatrix Amelie Ehrengard Eilika of Oldenburg. She is the elder daughter of Duke Huno of Oldenburg and Countess Felicitas-Anita "Fenita" Schwerin von Krosigk.[2] Her father is a younger son of Nikolaus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Oldenburg (1897–1970), erstwhile head of the former ruling family of Oldenburg that lost its throne in 1918.[2] She belongs to the same male-line as the royal houses of Denmark and Norway, the deposed royal house of Greece and imperial Russia, and Charles, Prince of Wales, heir to the thrones of the Commonwealth realms,[2] to which last crown she is also distantly in line in accordance with the Act of Settlement 1701.

Her maternal grandfather was Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk,[2] who served as finance minister since 1932 in the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich in Germany. After the death of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels he additionally served as the Leading Minister and foreign minister of the short-lived Flensburg Government of Karl Dönitz – and as the so de facto last head of government of the Third Reich announced on May 7, 1945, via radio Reichssender Flensburg the unconditional surrender of the German Wehrmacht, thus ending the war in Europe.[3]

Her cousin, Eilika of Oldenburg, is married to Georg von Habsburg, a son of Otto, the last Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary.

Personal life[]

In 2010 she married nobleman Sven von Storch (born 1970). He is the son of businessman Berndt Detlev von Storch (1930–2004) and Antje Krüger.[4][5]

Education and early career[]

Von Storch was a banker before she studied law in Heidelberg and Lausanne. She worked as a lawyer in Berlin when she began her political career. She has also been a member of the Friedrich A. von Hayek Society.[6]

Political career[]

Together with her husband, she founded several conservative associations. On several occasions, the tax authorities have investigated the couple, accused in particular of having misappropriated donations intended for their associations.[7]

Von Storch was a co-founder of the Göttinger Kreis - Students for the Rule of Law Association - an organization which sought to campaign for reparation for the expulsions and nationalization of land in the Soviet occupied zones of Germany and the former East Germany. The organization calls for appropriated land to be returned to their original owners. The association organized various events with Mikhail Gorbachev, among others.[8][9]

Von Storch was a member of the Free Democratic Party and in 2013, became a founding member of Election Alternative 13 set up by Bernd Lucke as the precursor to Alternative for Germany.[10]

In 2014, Beatrix von Storch was elected a Member of European Parliament representing Alternative for Germany. Initially a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists group, she left the group in April 2016, forestalling her imminent expulsion, and immediately joined the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) group.[11] In the 2017 German federal election, she was elected to the Bundestag and presently serves as deputy chairwoman of the AfD's parliamentary faction. Following her election to the Bundenstag, she resigned her seat in the European parliament and was replaced by Jörg Meuthen.

Conservative on social issues, she is a fierce opponent of same-sex marriage, contraception and abortion.[12] She explains that she "cried with joy" at the announcement of the Brexit. She questions the presence of players with an immigrant background in the German soccer team.[13] She has accused school gay youth networks of using "forced sexualization" on their students. She regularly shows her support for Israel in its fight against "Islamism" and creates in 2017 in the European Parliament the group of "Friends of Judea-Samaria"[14] Asked in 2016 about the ideological proximity between the AfD and the Front national, she believes that on the economy, Marine Le Pen is too far to the left, stating that she does not agree with his ideas on protectionism and state interventionism.[15]

Controversies[]

Legal battle with the Berliner Schaubühne[]

In November 2015, a leading Berlin theatre, the Schaubühne, was brought into legal conflict with Beatrix von Storch over a play, Falk Richter's FEAR, that parodied AfD leaders as zombies and mass murderers.[16] Beatrix von Storch is depicted facing retribution for her grandfather's role as a minister in Hitler's government.[17] AfD Spokesperson Christian Lüth responded by interrupting a performance and filming it. Beatrix von Storch and the conservative activist Hedwig von Beverfoerde then requested and obtained a preliminary injunction against the theatre, prohibiting it from using images of them in the production. They charged that the use of the images violated their human dignity protected under the Constitution.[18] On 15 December 2015, the court ruled against the complainants in favour of the theatre's freedom of expression and lifted the injunctions against using the images. The judges commented that 'any audience member can recognize that this is just a play'.[19]

Remarks about use of deadly force against refugees[]

In late February 2016, von Storch was "pied" by members of the German left-wing group Peng Collective at a party meeting in Kassel. The activists, dressed as clowns, protested against her assertion that German border control personnel had the right to shoot at incoming illegal immigrants. A YouTube video of the assault gained wide attention in social media.[20][21]

"Rapist hordes" tweet[]

Von Storch's Twitter account was blocked for twelve hours after she posted a criticism of the Cologne Police Department for publishing a New Years greeting in Arabic as well as in German, French and English. She had written: "What the hell is wrong with this country? Why is the official page of the police in NRW tweeting in Arabic? Are they seeking to appease the barbaric, Muslim, rapist hordes of men?" Cologne was the location of multiple sexual assaults and robbery on New Year's Eve, December 2015 (see New Year's Eve sexual assaults in Germany). Other prominent members of the AfD quickly sprang to von Storch's defense, including Alice Weidel.[22]

Ancestry[]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "8th parliamentary term | Beatrix von STORCH | MEPs | European Parliament". MEPs European Parliament. Archived from the original on 21 June 2019. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. "Burke's Royal Families of the World: Volume I Europe & Latin America, 1977, pp. 221-222, 251-252, 327-328. ISBN 0-85011-023-8
  3. ^ Österreichische Mediathek. "Bekanntgabe der deutschen Kapitulation im Radio" (in German). Technisches Museum Wien. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  4. ^ Amann, Melanie; Bartsch, Matthias; Friedmann, Jan; Minkmar, Nils; Sauga, Michael; Winter, Steffen (10 February 2016). "The Hate Preachers: Inside Germany's Dangerous New Populist Party". Spiegel. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  5. ^ "Beatrix von Storch". 6 October 2017 – via Wikipedia.
  6. ^ "Eine Mitteilung des Vorstands der Hayek-Gesellschaft in Bezug auf die Mitgliedschaft von Frau Beatrix von Storch in der Hayek-Gesellschaft". Friedrich A. von Hayek Gesellschaft e.V. (in German). 29 November 2016. Archived from the original on 10 December 2019.
  7. ^ https://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/monde/europe/allemagne-le-trio-de-l-extreme-droite_1954955.html
  8. ^ Philip Plickert: Zurückkaufen, was einem einst gehörte. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 12. August 2013. Abgerufen am 16. September 2013.
  9. ^ Helene Walterskirchen: Aristokraten. Leben zwischen Tradition und Moderne. Ueberreuter, Wien 2000, ISBN 3-8000-3778-5, S. 126.
  10. ^ Tobias Heimbach: Von Storchs FDP-Episode: „Ich bin zu keiner einzigen Sitzung gegangen“. In: Die Welt. 15. Februar 2018
  11. ^ Martin Banks (11 April 2016). "ECR reject joins EFDD group". The Parliament Magazine. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  12. ^ Philip Oltermann. "Liberals quit Alternative for Germany party as it embraces a domestic agenda". The Guardian.
  13. ^ https://www.liberation.fr/planete/2017/09/25/beatrix-von-storch-les-chretiens-fondamentalistes_1598902/
  14. ^ https://medium.com/thenewarab/netanyahus-dangerous-connections-with-europe-s-far-right-bd182105a2c0
  15. ^ https://www.challenges.fr/challenges-soir/beatrix-von-storch-vice-presidente-de-l-afd-marine-le-pen-est-trop-a-gauche_426826
  16. ^ Joseph Pearson, Fear and the German Far Right: Conversations with Falk Richter in Schaubühne Pearson's Preview, schaubuehne.de
  17. ^ "Aufregung Um Theaterstueck. AfD Populisten wollen deine Zombies Sein". Süddeutsche Zeitung.
  18. ^ "Fear siegt ueber die Angst von AfD und Pegida". Tagespiele.
  19. ^ "AfD Unterliegt im Zombie Streit". Handelsblatt.
  20. ^ 'Tart War with AfD politician attacked in meeting', huffingtonpost.de video
  21. ^ Tart attack (removed) at YouTube
  22. ^ The New York Times, 2 January 2018

External links[]

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