| Honorific suffix | MdB |
|---|---|
| Office | Deputy Leader of the Alternative for Germany |
| Leader | Alexander Gauland Jörg Meuthen |
| Alongside | Beatrix von Storch |
| Term start | 2 December 2017 |
| Term end | 1 December 2019 |
| Predecessor | Alexander Gauland |
| Successor | Andreas Kalbitz |
| Office 2 | Chair of the Wirecard scandal inquiry Committee |
| Deputy 2 | Hans Michelbach |
| Term start 2 | 18 October 2020 |
| Term end 2 | 25 June 2021 |
| Predecessor 2 | Position established |
| Successor 2 | Position abolished |
| Office 9 | Member of the Bundestag for North Rhine-Westphalia |
| Term start 9 | 24 October 2017 |
| Predecessor 9 | multi-member district |
| Constituency 9 | North Rhine-Westphalia |
| Birth place | Hamburg, West Germany (now Germany) |
| Birth date | 12 December 1965 (age 60) |
| Party | Alternative for Germany (since 2013) |
| Occupation | Politician · insurance manager · Businessman |
| Website | Official website |
Kay Gottschalk (born 12 December 1965) is a German politician of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and member of the German federal parliament.
He is a co-founder of the AfD. He was one of three deputy federal spokespersons for the AfD from 2017 to 2019 and was re-elected deputy federal spokesperson in 2024. He has been the AfD parliamentary group's financial policy spokesperson since May 2018. In February 2022, he was elected deputy state chairman of the AfD in North Rhine-Westphalia and confirmed in office two years later.[1]
Early life and education
Gottschalk was born 1965 in Hamburg and studied business administration and law. He went on to become an insurance manager.[2][3]
Career
At the 2017 German federal election he was elected member of parliament through a list place in North Rhine-Westphalia.[2]
In December 2017 he was elected as a deputy leader of the AfD.[4] Since 2019 he was married. His husband died on 1 March 2023.[5]
Following Russian invasion of Ukraine, Gottschalk, alongside AfD MEP Guido Reil and a delegation of NRW Landtag visited Ukraine and declared solidarity, representing a minority in the generally pro-Russian party.[6]
In a speech on January 24, 2018 at the AfD's New Year's reception in Krefeld, Gottschalk said: "I call on all citizens of good will: Boycott the stores of the Turks in Germany, because 70 percent of them are going for Erdoğan"[7][8] According to his own statements, it was important to him to make a statement against Turkey's attack on Kurdish citizens in Syria, and just as Germans are held responsible for the election of the NSDAP, Turkish citizens and citizens of Turkish origin in Germany should also be held responsible for the policies of said head of state.[9] AfD member of parliament Martin Renner called on Gottschalk to resign from all offices.[10] The state security authorities began investigating him because of Gottschalk's statement.[11] However, these were discontinued by the Krefeld public prosecutor's office in summer 2018, as the offense of Section 130 StGB was not fulfilled.[12]
References
- ^ dpa (2022-02-06). "Parteien: Martin Vincentz ist neuer Landeschef der NRW-AfD" (in de-DE). Die Zeit. ISSN 0044-2070. Retrieved 2025-05-06.
- ^ "AfD-Abgeordnete: Rechts bis extrem im Bundestag" (in German). ZEIT ONLINE. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- ^ "Deutscher Bundestag - Kay Gottschalk" (in German). Deutscher Bundestag. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- ^ "Flügelschlagen unter Aufsicht von Gauland und Meuthen" (in German). Retrieved 2018-10-19.
- ^ Queer.de: AfD-Abgeordneter outet sich im Bundestag als schwul, March 2, 2023
- ^ "Alternative for Russia: How the AfD is systematically turning towards Russia". correctiv.org. 2023-10-19. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
- ^ "Aktuelle Nachrichten | Rheinische Post Online". rp-online.de. Retrieved 2025-05-06.
- ^ "Aktuelle Nachrichten | Westdeutsche Zeitung". www.wz.de. Retrieved 2025-05-06.
- ^ "AfD-Politiker Kay Gottschalk empört sich über HSV" (in German). FAZ.NET. 2018-01-26. Retrieved 2025-05-06.
- ^ "AfD-Vize ruft zum Boykott türkischer Geschäfte auf und erntet Widerspruch" (in de-DE). stern.de. Archived 7 September 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-05-06.
- ^ Zeitung, Westdeutsche (2018-01-26). "Aufruf zum Türkenboykott: Gegen AfD-Abgeordneten Kay Gottschalk ermittelt nun der Staatsschutz" (in German). Westdeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved 2025-05-06.
- ^ "Aktuelle Nachrichten | Westdeutsche Zeitung". www.wz.de. Retrieved 2025-05-06.