A 78-year-old man who worked as a secret police officer in the former East German intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security (MfS), was elected as a member of the East German state legislature.
According to ZDF Broadcasting on the 11th (local time), in the Saxony-Anhalt state assembly election held on the 6th, Frank Bischoff, who ran as a candidate for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the Wernigerode constituency, took first place with 37.9% of the votes, beating Christian Democratic Party (CDU) candidate Bianca Heine (21.5%).
Bischoff, who was assigned number 33 in the proportional representation ranking, became a member of the Saxony-Anhalt state assembly as the AfD secured 39 seats. Most states in Germany, including Saxony-Anhalt, are choosing a mixed proportional representation system like the Federal Assembly.
Bischoff was born in Zeitz, Saxony-Anhalt, in 1948, when the Soviet Union ruled East Germany. He served in the military for 10 years and worked in the East German Ministry of State Security from 1977 until 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell. The State Security Department, known as the Stasi, gained notoriety for its secret police activities that suppressed its own citizens, including surveillance of dissidents.
Bischoff also ran for state legislative elections as a member of the AfD in 2016, but lost. At the time, it was revealed that he had been working as a special officer, or secret agent, disguised as a member of a public institution. Bischoff is known to have worked in an administrative agency in charge of departure procedures.
The victim, who was threatened with arrest by him and expelled from university while trying to cross to West Germany in the 1980s, recognized him from an election poster and exposed him. Bischoff, who had been denying it, acknowledged the suspicion when records showed he received a salary from the National Security Department and said, "I have always followed the laws and regulations and have never committed a crime."
Johannes Velaites, a special commissioner for the liquidation of dictatorship in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, who investigates human rights violations in the former East Germany and supports victims, urged the candidate to resign ahead of this election, saying, "It would be unbearable if a former full-time agent of the Ministry of State Security were to represent Saxony-Anhalt."
Among the AfD lawmakers in Saxony-Anhalt who were elected this time were Simon Lansmann and Sebastian Koch, who are being investigated by prosecutors on charges of participating in the neo-Nazi group 'Ardgemeinschaft'. Koch is also being investigated for possession of an illegal weapon. Former porn actor Philipp Anders Rau, who has a history of theft and falsification of university entrance exam documents, also wore the badge. Of the 39 elected candidates, 2 are women.
ZDF reported that Ulrich Siegmund, the AfD's candidate for Saxony-Anhalt state premier, laughed at the first gathering of elected candidates the day before, calling Lansmann and others "those mean guys." The AfD in Saxony-Anhalt is attempting to re-elect Zigmund as leader of the state legislature and negotiate with other parties to form the state.
