Jürgen Elsässer
Elsässer in 2015 at a LEGIDA gathering
Born (1957-01-20) 20 January 1957
NationalityGerman
Occupation(s)Journalist and political activist

Jürgen Elsässer (born 20 January 1957) is a German journalist and political activist of the new right.

Life

Jürgen Elsässer was born in Pforzheim in 1957, the son of a watchmaker and a secretary. His two sisters and he were "typically left-wing late 68s", said Elsässer about his youth. His father was a conservative CDU voter.[1]

Elsässer became a teacher. Even if he was in communist groups, he swore on the Liberal democratic basic order of the German state to become a Beamter as teacher.[1] He worked as a teacher in a vocational school in Baden-Württemberg, Germany for 14 years before beginning his career as journalist for left-wing magazines in 1994. Elsässer published his first works in the newspaper Arbeiterkampf (Workers' Struggle), a magazine which was tied to the Kommunistischer Bund (communist league), an organisation of which he was a member for years.[2] In 1990 he was a sharp critic of the German reunification, because he was afraid of the possible dawn of a Viertes Reich (Fourth Reich).

Elsässer was one of the political creators of the Anti-Germans movement. In 1994, he was editor of the leftist Junge Welt (Young world). He was also co-editor of the largest left-wing monthly magazine konkret until he was dismissed.

Elsässer switched to the right.[3] In 2010, he founded Compact magazine,[4] of which he was also the editor.

In 2011, Elsässer expressed his admiration for Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević.[1] During the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine, Elsässer was an outspoken supporter of Russian president Vladimir Putin and received much criticism from the German media for his position.[5]

Elsässer's current political position is commonly considered as right-wing populist[1][6] and he is a sharp critic of the migration policy of the German chancellor Angela Merkel.[7][1]

Reception

Melanie Amann of Der Spiegel wrote about Elsässer, his appearance is "a mixture of evangelical preacher and teleshopping moderator" and this would "work independently of his message."[1] Similar to this Dietmar Koschmieder, editor in chief of junge Welt said 2018 in Der Spiegel: "If you ask me, [Elsässer] has no convictions at all... He is an expert in emotionalization who adapts his message to the respective target and audience."[1]

The rapper Danger Dan called Jürgen Elsässer an “anti-Semite” in his song "Das ist alles von der Kunstfreiheit gedeckt" ("This is all covered by artistic freedom", referring to article 5 of German Basic Law) in 2021.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Amann, Melanie (13 January 2018). "Jürgen Elsässer, der Chefideologe der Neuen Rechten". Der Spiegel (in German). Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  2. ↑ Brodkorb, Mathias (25 April 2011). "Jürgen Elsässer und sein Magazin "Compact" - Der Gottfried Feder des 21. Jahrhunderts?" [Jürgen Elsässer and his magazine "Compact" - The Gottfried Feder of the 21st century?]. Endstation Rechts (in German). Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  3. ↑ Connolly, Kate (12 March 2016). "German anti-refugee party targets 'political earthquake' in elections". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  4. ↑ "Magazin für Souveränität" [Magazine for Sovereignty] (in German). Compact-magazin.com. Archived from the original on 16 January 2015. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  5. ↑ Korn, Thomas; Umland, Andreas (19 July 2014). "Jürgen Elsässer, Kremlpropagandist" [Jürgen Elsässer, Kremlin propagandist]. ZEIT ONLINE (in German). Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  6. ↑ Meisner, Matthias (25 March 2016). "Nach ideologischem Zickzackkurs stramm rechts". Der Tagesspiegel Online (in German). Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  7. ↑ Elsässer, Jürgen (13 September 2015). "Aufruf an unsere Soldaten: Sichert die deutschen Grenzen!" [Call to Our Soldiers: Secure the borders of Germany!] (in German). Juergenelsaesser.wordpress.com. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  8. ↑ Martin Zeyn, Bayerischer Rundfunk (20 December 2021). "Danger Dan dissed the right: Is that still a provocation?" (in German). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
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