View source for Hans-Christoph Berndt

{{Short description|German politician (born 1956)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}
[[File:Hans-Christoph_Berndt.jpg|thumb|229x229px|Hans-Christoph Berndt in 2023]]
'''Hans-Christoph Berndt''' (born 1956 in [[Bernau bei Berlin]]) is a German politician.<ref name=":1">{{cite web|access-date=2024-05-09 |date=2024-04-06 |language=de |title=Brandenburger AfD geht mit Fraktionschef Berndt als Spitzenkandidat in Landtagswahl |url=https://www.rbb24.de/politik/beitrag/2024/04/brandenburg-afd-parteitag-jueterbog-fraktionschef-berndt-spitzenkandidatur.html}}<!-- auto-translated from German by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> Since October 2020, he has been the leader of the [[Alternative for Germany]] parliamentary group in the [[Landtag of Brandenburg]] and, in this capacity, also the opposition leader in the state parliament. Berndt is classified as [[right-wing extremist]] by the [[Brandenburg]] [[Office for the Protection of the Constitution]]. He was AfD's [[lead candidate]] for the [[2024 Brandenburg state election]].
== Life ==
Berndt grew up in [[East Berlin]] in [[Prenzlauer Berg]] and graduated from high school in 1975.<ref name="BZ0716">{{cite web|access-date=2019-09-29 |author=Claudia Fuchs |date=2016-07-08 |title=Rassismus-Vorwürfe. Charité-Leitung distanziert sich von Mitarbeiter |url=https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/berlin/rassismus-vorwuerfe-charit%C3%A9-leitung-distanziert-sich-von-mitarbeiter-24366370 |website=Berliner Zeitung}}<!-- auto-translated from German by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> He then spent a year visiting the course for ancient Greek and Latin at the {{Ill|Priesterseminar Erfurt|de}} in [[Schöneiche]]. From 1976 to 1977 he worked as a mechanic. Two years later he began studying dentistry. After graduating in 1984, he completed specialist training as a dentist in [[Biochemistry|pathobiochemistry]] until 1989.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2020-09-07 |author=Redaktion des Landtages Brandenburg |language=de |title=Landtag Brandenburg |url=https://www.landtag.brandenburg.de/de/berndt_hans-christoph_(dr.)/922116?_referer=666455&_lang=de#ank3}}<!-- auto-translated from German by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> He later earned his doctorate on the transport of [[dopamine]] in the [[brain]] of [[rat]]s.<ref name="MAZ">{{cite web|access-date=2019-09-29 |author=Ulrich Wangemann |date=2018-02-27 |title=Wie "Zukunft Heimat" nach Cottbus fand |url=https://www.maz-online.de/Brandenburg/Wie-Zukunft-Heimat-nach-Cottbus-fand |website=Märkische Allgemeine}}<!-- auto-translated from German by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
He worked as a [[Clinical pathology|clinical pathologist]] at the Berlin Charité from the mid-1980s, where he was chairman of the staff council of the [[medical faculty]] for about ten years.<ref name="MAZ"/> After his activities as spokesman for the right-wing extremist association ''Zukunft Heimat'', which is active in Brandenburg, became known, the hospital distanced itself and announced: "The Charité advocates a cosmopolitan and tolerant society. As a university hospital with employees from 77 nations, it stands for social responsibility, helpfulness and tolerance".<ref name="BZ0716"/> In 2016, he did not run for chairman again, but continued to be a member of the staff council.
Berndt lives in {{Ill|Golßen-Sagritz|lt=Golßen-Sagritz|de|Sagritz (Golßen)}} in the [[Dahme-Spreewald]] district. He is married and [[Roman Catholic]].
== Political career ==
=== Party and MP ===
In 2018, Berndt joined the [[Alternative for Germany]]. In the election of the top candidate for the [[2019 Brandenburg state election]], he was elected to second place on the [[State list (Germany)|state list]], just behind [[Andreas Kalbitz]].  He has been a member of the city council in [[Golßen]] since 2019. In the state elections in September 2019, he won the direct mandate in {{Ill|Constituency 28 (Dahme-Spreewald III)|lt=Constituency 28 (Dahme-Spreewald III)|de|Landtagswahlkreis Dahme-Spreewald III}} with 28.9 percent of the first votes and entered the [[Landtag of Brandenburg]] as a directly elected representative.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2019-09-29 |date=September 2019 |publisher=Der Landeswahlleiter für Brandenburg |title=Landtagswahl im Land Brandenburg am 01.09.2019. Erststimmenergebnisse nach Wahlkreisen (Endgültiges Ergebnis) |url=https://www.wahlergebnisse.brandenburg.de/wahlen/LT2019/tabelleWahlkreiseErst.html}}<!-- auto-translated from German by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> As a simultaneous member of the state parliament and the city council, he holds a [[dual mandate]].
On 27 October 2020, he was elected as the [[parliamentary leader]] of the Brandenburg AfD parliamentary group, succeeding Andreas Kalbitz.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2020-10-27 |archive-date=2020-10-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027110415/https://www.rbb24.de/politik/beitrag/2020/10/brandenburg-berndt-neuer-afd-fraktionschef.html |author=Anja Haufe |date=2020-10-27 |publisher=rbb |title=Hans-Christoph Berndt zu neuem AfD-Fraktionschef gewählt |url=https://www.rbb24.de/politik/beitrag/2020/10/brandenburg-berndt-neuer-afd-fraktionschef.html}}<!-- auto-translated from German by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> He was confirmed in this position in March 2022.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2022-05-18 |date=2022-03-08 |publisher=rbb |title=Berndt bleibt Fraktionschef der Brandenburger AfD |url=https://www.rbb24.de/politik/beitrag/2022/03/brandenburg-landtag-afd-berndt-fraktionsvorsitzender-wahl.html}}<!-- auto-translated from German by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
Although he never signed the ''Erfurt Resolution'' and was therefore not formally counted among the inner circle of Flügel members, he is counted within the party as a supporter of the [[Völkisch nationalism|ethnic-nationalist]] group ''[[Der Flügel]]'', which formally dissolved itself in the spring of 2020 and whose leaders also included his predecessor Andreas Kalbitz.
At the 10th state [[party conference]] in April 2024, he was elected as the top candidate for the [[2024 Brandenburg state election|state elections in September 2024]] with 87% of the vote.<ref name=":1" /> He has also become deputy state chairman.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2024-05-09 |date=2024-03-17 |language=de |title=René Springer wird neuer AfD-Vorsitzender in Brandenburg |url=https://www.rbb24.de/politik/beitrag/2024/03/afd-brandenburg-birgit-bessin-parteitag-jueterbog-rene-springer.html}}<!-- auto-translated from German by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
In the [[2024 Brandenburg state election]], Berndt was re-elected in his constituency of [[Dahme-Spreewald III]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fischer |first=Ekkehard Freytag,Elias |date=2024-09-22 |title=Landtagswahl Brandenburg: Hans-Christoph Berndt (AfD) gewinnt Direktmandat im Wahlkreis 28 in LDS |url=https://www.maz-online.de/lokales/dahme-spreewald/landtagswahl-brandenburg-hans-christoph-berndt-afd-gewinnt-direktmandat-im-wahlkreis-28-in-lds-4TXL4GCOMNCINKT5GVPYFVZWOU.html |access-date=2024-10-09 |website=www.maz-online.de |language=de}}</ref> The AfD was narrowly beat for first place by the SPD.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-09-23 |title=Scholz's SPD narrowly beats far right in Brandenburg state elections |url=https://www.euronews.com/2024/09/23/social-democrats-narrowly-beat-out-far-right-in-brandenburg-elections |access-date=2024-10-09 |website=euronews |language=en}}</ref>
=== Association ''Future Homeland'' ===
Berndt is co-founder and one of the two chairmen of the anti-refugee association ''{{Ill|Zukunft Heimat|lt=|de|}}'', founded in 2015, which organizes events and demonstrations in [[Cottbus]] and the surrounding area.<ref name="MAZ"/>  he association from Golßen, with around 100 members, is classified by the ''[[Brandenburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution]]'' as "proven [[Far-right politics|right-wing extremist]]" and " influenced by [[Neo-Nazism|neo-Nazis]]".<ref name=":0">{{cite web |last1=Stübgen |first1=Michael |title=Verfassungsschutzbericht für das Jahr 2019 vorgestellt |url=https://verfassungsschutz.brandenburg.de/media_fast/4055/PM_054_Vorstellung_Verfassungsschutzbericht_2019.16693279.pdf |website=Pressemitteilung |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101010922/https://verfassungsschutz.brandenburg.de/media_fast/4055/PM_054_Vorstellung_Verfassungsschutzbericht_2019.16693279.pdf |archive-date=1 November 2020 |date=9 July 2020 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
=== Network ===
Berndt is considered a networker and has connections to various organizations of the German New Right ([[Neue Rechte|Neuen Rechten]]) such as ''{{Ill|One Percent for Our Country|lt=|de|Ein Prozent}},'' the ''{{Ill|Institute for State Policy|lt=|de|Institut für Staatspolitik}}'' and the right-wing extremist magazine ''[[Compact (German magazine)|Compact]]'' by [[Jürgen Elsässer]], ll of which are monitored by the [[Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution]]. He has appeared several times as a speaker at [[Pegida]] demonstrations in [[Dresden]].
== Controversial positions and classification ==
At a demonstration in January 2016, Berndt made the statement: “What woman can still move freely when a group of dark-haired, young men appears or could appear in the distance?”.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2020-09-07 |author=Berliner Zeitung |title=Berlin-Wedding: Charité-Leitung distanziert sich wegen Rassismus-Vorwürfen von Mitarbeiter |date=8 July 2016 |url=https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/mensch-metropole/berlin-wedding-charite-leitung-distanziert-sich-wegen-rassismus-vorwuerfen-von-mitarbeiter-li.14276}}<!-- auto-translated from German by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=2020-09-07 |date=June 2017 |language=de |publisher=rbb |title=Rassismus-Vorwürfe gegen Personalrat |url=https://www.rbb24.de/politik/beitrag/2016/07/berlin-gesundheitswesen-charite-rassismus-vorwuerfe-gegen-personalrat.html}}<!-- auto-translated from German by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
According to [[Der Spiegel|Spiege]], Berndt is considered a right-wing extremist by the ''[[Brandenburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution]]''.
In early May 2020, a few weeks after the start of the [[COVID-19 pandemic in Germany]], Berndt publicly asked at a demonstration whether "anyone has died of Corona at all".<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2020-09-07 |language=de |title=Wie Rechtspopulisten die Corona-Krise für sich nutzen |url=https://www.maz-online.de/Brandenburg/Hans-Christoph-Berndt-und-Hygiene-Demos-in-Berlin-und-Brandenburg-Wie-die-AfD-die-Corona-Krise-nutzt}}<!-- auto-translated from German by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> Berndt rejected the wearing of [[Surgical mask|mouth and nose protection]] to prevent infection as a "symbol of oppression".
On 30 October 2020, during a special session in the [[Landtag of Brandenburg]], he stated that he "does not believe in Corona either" and called himself a "Corona heretic".<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2020-10-31 |language=de |title=Schlagabtausch im Landtag zu neuen Corona-Maßnahmen |url=https://www.rbb24.de/politik/thema/2020/coronavirus/av7/video-landtag-brandenburg-corona-massnahmen-berndt-hohloch-redmann-stohn.html}}<!-- auto-translated from German by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> Even in December 2020, when the number of new infections in Brandenburg, Germany and worldwide had risen dramatically, he continued to claim that there was no [[excess mortality]].
In January 2024, he defended the discussion on [[remigration]] that was said to have taken place at a [[2023 Potsdam far-right meeting|meeting of right-wing extremists in Potsdam in 2023]]. It was "not a secret plan, but a promise".
== Publications ==
* ''Investigations on posthypoxic dopamine transport in the rat striatum -'' Berlin 1990 (dissertation at the Humboldt University).
== External links ==
* [https://www.landtag.brandenburg.de/de/berndt_hans-christoph_(dr.)/11222 Biography] at the [[Landtag of Brandenburg]]
== References ==
<references />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berndt, Hans-Christoph}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1956 births]]
[[Category:People from Barnim]]
[[Category:Alternative for Germany politicians]]
[[Category:Members of the Landtag of Brandenburg]]
[[Category:German Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:German dentists]]
[[Category:21st-century German physicians]]
[[Category:German scientists]]