- Rolf Schlierer
Rolf Schlierer (born
February 21 ,1955 inStuttgart ) is a Germanphysician ,lawyer and politician and the current leader of the The Republicans (REP).Early life and non-political career
Schlierer studied at the Eberhard-Ludwigs-Gymnasium in Stuttgart, before studying medicine in
Gießen and obtaining his licence to practice in 1979. He then entered the military as a medical officer, serving with theAirborne forces . [http://www.rolfschlierer.de/ Rolf Schlierer's website] ]Following his military service Schlierer took up study in
philosophy andjurisprudence at theUniversity of Tübingen between 1981 and 1988. Passing his first legal exams in 1988, he established his legal practice in Stuttgart in 1991.Politics
Schlierer first came to prominence as chairman of the university political committee of the Deutsche Burschenschaft between 1975 and 1976 and he remained associated with this organisation until 1985. Schlierer became assocaited with REP sometime after this, although he left the party in 1988 due to the increasing radicalisation under leader
Franz Schönhuber . [Cas Mudde , "The Ideology of the Extreme Right", Manchester University Press, 2002, p. 34] He then rejoined REP in 1989 and soon became deputy chairman of the party inBaden-Württemberg as well as party leader in Stuttgart.Schlierer succeeded Schönhuber as party chairman on December 17th 1994. As a leader Schlierer has been described as "nondescript" [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_/ai_n13966093 The Fortunes of Europe's Far Right] ] , although he lacks the links to
Nazism that Schönhuber, a member of theNazi Party andWaffen SS , had. This was especially important as Schlierer sought to make REP more moderate in order to attract the support of themiddle classes . [Mary N. Hampton & Christian Soe, "Between Bonn and Berlin", 1999, p. 157] The eraly stages of his leadership were rocky as internal struggles between his own moderate and the radical wing under Schönhuber threatened to destabilise the party.Mudde, op cit, p. 36] However, in spite of these problems, his vision was endorsed initially by the electorate as REP won 9.1% of the vote and 14 seats in Baden-Württemberg in 1996 to, at least temporarily, put the internal struggles on hold. Following this election Schlierer was re-elected as chairman at the party's conference by 77% of the delegates in attendance.Mudde, op cit, p. 37]Eschewing the possibility of any alliances with more
right wing groups such as theGerman People's Union and theNational Democratic Party of Germany , Schlierer took instead as his modelJörg Haider , although he lacked the oratorial talent and charisma of hisAustria n counterpart. [Hampton & Soe, op cit] As part of his admiration for Haider Schlierer even organised a "Solidarity with Austria" campaign during Haider's time in government and told his supporters to holiday in Haider's home state ofCarinthia . [ [http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2000/02/haider.html Haider's German Echo] ]Although the Baden-Württemberg result had secured his position, Schlierer would soon find himself facing renewed criticism from the extremists within the party as subsequent election results proved disappointing. As a consequence he faced a leadership challenge in 1998 from
Christian Käs . Ultimately Käs withdrew his candidacy at the last minute and so Schlierer continued as leader, although the contest further exposed the divisions between the party's two wings. Käs remained as one of the party's vice-charimen, and continued to be a critical voice against the leadership, whilst Schlierer was forced into a climbdown when he met representatives of the German People's Union, whom he had previously dismissed as a "paper party" that had little existence beyond leader Gerhard Frey, and agreed that the two parties should call a series of local electoral truces in their main areas of activities.More recently, as part of his drive for moderation in REP, he has also sought to forge links with the Christian Democratic Union over the issue of maintaining rigidity in
German nationality law . [ [http://www.iht.com/articles/1999/02/04/germany.t.php Germany Searches Soul With Debate On Citizenship] ]Personal life
Schlierer is married with two children and is a practising
Protestant .References
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