Introduction
Udo Voigt (German: [ˈuːdo foːkt]; born 14 April 1952) is a German politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Germany. He is a member of the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD).
He is a member of the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs. He served as leader of NPD from 1996 to 2011. By profession he is a former aviation engineer and captain in the German Air Force and has a master's degree in political science from LMU. Voigt has in recent years become a strong supporter of Vladimir Putin, and more recently also Donald Trump, and has said that Germany should have "a chancellor like Putin."
Career
The son of a former Wehrmacht officer, Voigt was born at Viersen. After graduating from high school, he was an airframe mechanic apprentice. From 1971 he studied aerospace engineering at the Aachen University of Applied Sciences for two terms, without graduation. 1972 he was conscripted by the Bundeswehr. He worked in the German Air Force from 1972 to 1984 and graduated as an officer from the Luftwaffe Officer's School. He served in Germany and at a NATO facility in Greece. Between 1982 and 1987, he studied political science at the Munich School of Political Science and graduated with a master's degree in political science from LMU.
Political career
He joined the NPD at age 16 in 1968.
He was elected as party chairman in 1996, succeeding Günter Deckert. From September 2006 until 2010 Voigt was an elected member of the Berlin municipal government in the Treptow-Köpenick district. Previously he has been unsuccessful at the European Parliament elections and when running for mayor of Saarbrücken.
On 13 March 2008, Voigt was charged (for at least the second time) with incitement (Volksverhetzung) for distributing racially charged pamphlets. In 2009 he was given a seven-month suspended sentence and ordered to donate 2,000 Euro to UNICEF. Voigt protested against the charge, claiming it was politically motivated.
On 13 November 2011, Voigt was replaced as leader of the NPD by Holger Apfel.
Voigt was elected as a member of the European Parliament in the 2014 European Elections.