Frauke Petry

Date of Birth: 01.06.1975

Frauke Petry (née Marquardt) - German chemist, entrepreneur, and politician.

Place of Birth. Education. Frauke Petry was born on June 1, 1975, in Dresden, GDR. Until 1989, the family lived in Schwedt in the GDR. Her mother was a chemist and her father an engineer. He attempted to flee to the FRG three times, succeeding in 1989. In 1992, Petry moved with her parents to Bergkampen, North Rhine-Westphalia.

In 1998, she earned a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry from the University of Reading (England). In 2004, she obtained her doctorate from the University of Göttingen.

In 2007, Petry founded the chemical company PURinvent in Leipzig. The company was located in Leipzig and produced fillers for tires made of polyurethane. In 2014, the company went bankrupt.

In 2013, she was one of three representatives of the Alternative for Germany and chairwoman of this party in Saxony. Since 2014, she has been a member of the Saxon State Parliament.

In 2015, after several months of internal power struggles, she became the leader of the party instead of the AfD's founder, economist Bernd Lucke, who had led the party from April 2013 to July 2015.

On September 26, 2017, she left the AfD party and founded her own movement, the Blue Party (ideologically close to the Bavarian CSU).

Views. In her party, she represented the national conservative faction and supported the right-wing ideology. In a public statement, she praised the radical right anti-Islam movement PEGIDA for their community.

In January 2016, she came under criticism when she said in an interview with the regional newspaper Mannheimer Morgen that the German border police 'must use firearms if necessary' to 'stop illegal border crossings'.

Petry advocates for tax cuts, EU reform, Germany's exit from the Eurozone, and adherence to German laws by migrants.

Quotes. 'There is a cruel stereotype about East German citizens who are in search of everything from the West. I fit this stereotype.'

'There is no organizational connection between the AfD and PEGIDA.'

'We demand a ban on burqas and coverings, a ban on minarets, and the call of the muezzin, because all of these are symbols of the Islam's claim to dominance.'

Family. Frauke Petry's first husband, Sven Petry, was a Lutheran pastor. Frauke has four children with him. They divorced in 2015. Her current partner is Markus Pretzell, one of the leaders of the AfD. They live in Freiburg, Saxony.

31.05.2022