Wilhelm von Gottberg

Wilhelm von Gottberg
Gottberg in 2020
Member of the Bundestag for Lower Saxony
In office
24 October 2017 – 26 October 2021
Preceded byMulti-member district
Succeeded byMulti-member district
Personal details
Born (1940-03-30) 30 March 1940
Woopen, Prussia, Germany (now Cheryomukhovo, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia)
PartyAlternative for Germany (from 2013)
Other political
affiliations
Christian Democratic Union (1969–2011)
Children6
Police career
AllegianceWest Germany
BranchBundesgrenzschutz
Service years1960–1968

Wilhelm von Gottberg (born 30 March 1940) is a German far-right politician of the Alternative for Germany party who served as a member of the Bundestag from 2017 to 2021, representing Lower Saxony. Gottberg is a Holocaust denier and former president of the Landsmannschaft Ostpreußen, and has advocated for the resettlement of Kaliningrad Oblast with Germans.

Biography

Wilhelm von Gottberg was born on 30 March 1940 in Woopen, then in East Prussia (now Cheryomukhovo, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia).[1] He is the son of Hans Heinrich von Gottberg (1900–1973) and his wife Gertrud, née Freiin von der Goltz (1908–1997). He was descended of two noble families, the Gottberg family and the Von der Goltz family.[2] Gottberg's family was expelled from East Prussia following the end of World War II.[3] He subsequently lived in Swinemünde (now Świnoujście, in Poland) and later in West Germany. After completing mandatory military service, he served in the Bundesgrenzschutz from 1960 to 1968. In 1969, he joined the Christian Democratic Union due to the party's rejection of the Oder–Neisse line.[4]

Gottberg is president of the Landsmannschaft Ostpreußen (since 1992) and Vice President of the Federation of Expellees (since 1992) in Germany. He is also a member of the board of the Ostpreußische Kulturstiftung, and was mayor of Schnega in Lower Saxony. Gottberg used to be a member of the Christian Democratic Union, but left the party in 2011 amidst a dispute over his position on the CDU's electoral list in Schnega's municipal election. He joined Alternative for Germany (German: Alternative für Deutschland, AfD) in 2013, supporting the party's position on the Euro area crisis.[4] Gottberg's joining the AfD made him the first mayor from the party.[3]

He ran in the 2017 German federal election on the AfD list from Lower Saxony and was elected, making him the oldest member of the Bundestag. This would have made him president by right of age, in charge of chairing the opening session. However, prior to the elections the Bundestag had changed its procedures, instead the right would go to the member with the longest-serving member of the Bundestag, who at the time was Wolfgang Schäuble of CDU, two years Gottberg's junior.[5][6]

Political positions

German newspaper Die Zeit has described Gottberg as far-right, and part of the AfD's furthest right faction, associated with the Identitarian movement.[7] He is known for his Holocaust denial, referring to the Holocaust as "a myth".[8] American magazine The Atlantic,[5] British newspaper The Guardian[8] and Reuters[6] reported that the decision to change procedures for selecting the president by right of age had been made due to Gottberg's Holocaust denial, though this was denied by CDU politician Volker Kauder, who argued that changes to the procedure had been in development prior to the 2017 election.[6] Gottberg has quoted Italian neo-fascist Mario Consoli in his writings.[7]

Gottberg has called for the resettlement of Germans in East Prussia, arguing in 1998 that German citizens should be given visa-free travel and rights to buy property in Kaliningrad Oblast, that bilingual signs in German should be erected and that Germans be given "ethnic autonomy". He has demanded that the governments of Poland, Czechia and Russia apologise for the expulsion of Germans, referring to it as a genocide.[9] Gottberg supported the presidency of Boris Yeltsin after Yeltsin refused to prevent the return of 200,000 ethnic Germans to Kaliningrad in late 1991, and, like other members of the Landsmannschaft Ostpreußen, favoured the establishment of a German republic of Russia in Kaliningrad Oblast.[10]

Literature

Jens Mecklenburg (Hrsg.): Handbuch deutscher Rechtsextremismus. Elefanten-Press, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-88520-585-8, S. 462–463.

References

  1. ↑ "Wilhelm von Gottberg". Bundestag (in German). Archived from the original on 13 April 2026. Retrieved 7 August 2026.
  2. ↑ Stiftung Deutsches Adelsarchiv (ed.): Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels. Starke, Limburg 2000, p. 113.
  3. 1 2 Carini, Marco (1 June 2016). "Präsent für Bürgermeister-Sohn". Die Tageszeitung (in German). Archived from the original on 13 January 2026. Retrieved 7 August 2026.
  4. 1 2 Reuter, Norman (8 June 2013). "Querdenker setzt auf die „Alternative"". AZ-online.de (in German). Archived from the original on 21 October 2025. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  5. 1 2 Schultheis, Emily (2018-02-05). "Fear and Loathing in the Bundestag". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 18 February 2026. Retrieved 2025-07-13.
  6. 1 2 3 "Germany to block right-winger from ceremonial post in parliament". Reuters. 2017-03-29. Retrieved 2025-07-13.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. 1 2 Biermann, Kai; Geisler, Astrid; Holzinger, Christina; Middelhoff, Paul; Polke-Majewski, Karsten; Steffen, Tilman (24 October 2017). "Rechts bis extrem im Bundestag". Die Zeit. Archived from the original on 24 July 2026. Retrieved 7 August 2026.
  8. 1 2 Oltermann, Philip (7 February 2018). "Germany's rightwing AfD gears up to play noisy opposition role". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 15 July 2026. Retrieved 7 August 2026.
  9. ↑ Salzborn, Samuel (22 July 1998). "Sattel die Elche, Wilhelm!". Jungle World (in German). Archived from the original on 6 January 2026. Retrieved 7 August 2026.
  10. ↑ Alicheva-Himy, Bakyt (2003). "Kaliningrad/Königsberg". Outre-Terre (in French). 2003/3 (4): 129–130. doi:10.3917/oute.004.0124. ISBN 2749201705. ISSN 1636-3671.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: periodical has ISBN (link)
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