Lutz Bachmann

Lutz Bachmann
Lutz Bachmann at a PEGIDA rally in Dresden, 23 March 2015
Born	(1973-01-26) January 26, 1973 (age 44) Dresden, East Germany
Residence	Dresden, Germany
Nationality	German
Occupation	Chairman of PEGIDA Businessman
Spouse(s)	Vicky Bachmann
Children	He has one son.
Website	www.pegida.de

Lutz Bachmann (born 26 January 1973) is a former German criminal and the founder of the PEGIDA movement, a controversial German political organization devoted to combating the threat of Islam and multiculturalism.

Born in 1973 in Dresden, East Germany, Bachmann had a working class upbringing.Time reports that he is the son of a butcher.Breitbart News reports that he is the son of two teachers. He was a (trained) chef and graphic designer, and played professional soccer for teams in Dresden and Düsseldorf. Bachmann has a criminal record for sixteen burglaries, dealing cocaine and assault. In 1998, after Bachmann had been sentenced to several years in prison, he fled to South Africa but was deported back to Germany. According to Bachmann, during his time as a fugitive, he opened a nightclub in Cape Town which catered to black people. This was not long after the end of apartheid, and Bachmann says, "It was scandalous. People were shouting at me, 'How can you do this as a German, as a white? How can you open a night club for blacks?'" Bachmann says, "I became a refugee. But a refugee from German law." Bachmann is the owner of a public relations and advertising company in Dresden that he founded in 1992, and has been a publicist for nightclubs.

Bachmann started Pegida in October 2014 to protest plans to add 14 refugee centres in Dresden, Germany. Through Pegida he rallied the disparate forces of the German right against the "parallel societies" of Muslims in Europe. Bachmann publicly renounces extremist violence of any kind and insists his enemy is not religion itself. As a result of his involvement with Pegida he has been threatened with death and had to cancel a march in Dresden. In mid-January 2015, Bachmann was hit with criticism after a photograph surfaced showing him with a mustache and hair style similar to Adolf Hitler. According to Bachmann, it was an old photo that was meant as a joke. After the photo sparked international outrage, Bachmann stepped down as de facto leader of Pegida. According to Bachmann and Pegida co-founder Kathrin Oertel, Bachmann's resignation had nothing to do with the photo. A few weeks later, Bachmann was reinstated as a co-leader following a vote. The Sächsische Zeitung later reported that the photograph was a forgery, writing that a moustache was added after the photo was taken.