He will head the fresh AfD youth wing organization
The Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) is set to establish a new youth organization in Gießen on November 29 and 30, aiming to gain more influence over the youth and prevent the potential ban of the Young Alternative (JA) by the federal government as an association.
The new organization will be created to ensure its continued existence and influence, following the dissolution of the JA at the end of March amid concerns of right-wing extremism and threats of a ban by German intelligence.
Jean-Pascal Hohm, a Brandenburg state parliament member for the AfD and the chairman of AfD Cottbus, is set to take on the role as the chairperson of the new youth wing. Hohm, who was born in Ludwigsfelde, south of Berlin, in 1997, has a long history with the party's youth wings and was the founding chairman of the JA in Brandenburg in 2014.
Hohm is known for maintaining close ties to the party's right-wing extremist fringe and was categorized as right-wing extremist by Germany's Office for the Protection of the Constitution, as were several other Brandenburg AfD politicians. Despite past controversies—including allegations of extremist connections and provocative behavior—he has reemerged as a career-oriented young politician within the AfD and is seen by party leadership as a suitable figure to lead the new youth wing.
The separation of the AfD from the JA makes it impossible for the JA to be banned as an association. The previous AfD party congress in Riesa decided to separate from the Young Alternative by April 1 of this year.
Young AfD members will elect the board and decide on the name and logo of the new youth organization. René Springer, the state chairman of Brandenburg, confirmed Hohm's appointment for the role. Hohm gained attention from a smaller audience when he gave a speech at an AfD demo in Cottbus at the end of last year.
The new youth organization of the AfD will no longer be an independent association. Instead, it will be directly linked to the parent party, marking a shift in the party's approach to its youth wings. Hohm, with his history within the party and controversies surrounding him, is a key figure in the AfD's strategy to reestablish a party youth organization under tighter party control, while maintaining influence from its right-wing extremist networks.
Sources:
- Spiegel Online
- Tagesspiegel
- BILD
- Die Zeit
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