Matthias Helferich

Matthias Helferich
Member of the Bundestag
Incumbent
Assumed office
26 October 2021
Parliamentary groupIndependent
(2021–2025)
AfD (since 2025)
ConstituencyNorth Rhine-Westphalia
Personal details
Born (1988-10-14) 14 October 1988 (age 38)
Dortmund, West Germany
PartyAfD (since 2016)
Other political
affiliations
Young Union (formerly)
EducationBonn University
OccupationLawyer • Politician

Matthias Helferich (born 14 October 1988) is a German politician of the far-right Alternative for Germany party. He was a factionless member of the Bundestag between 2021 and 2025. In 2025, he was re-admitted to the AfD parliamentary group like the fellow controversial politician Maximilian Krah.

Career

Helferich was born in 1988 in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He served in the Bundeswehr in a guard unit (Wachbataillon) in Siegburg and begann to study 2009 law at University Bonn.

Helferich was elected to the Bundestag in 2021. Although a party member of AfD, he never entered the party faction and is currently a factionless member of the Bundestag.

Within the AfD, Helferich is part of the ethnic-national wing under Björn Höcke.

In 2025, he was re-admitted back into the AfD faction.

Political views

Helferich called himself a "democratic Freisler", referring to a Nazi-era judge. He later said that his statements were meant as parody: "If you are confronted with Nazi accusations as frequently as AfD politicians, you compensate for that in private spheres. You ridicule it."

References

  1. ↑ "Bundeswahlleiter (Federal Election Commissioner of Germany) - Elected Politicians in the Federal Election 2021". bundeswahlleiter. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  2. 1 2 "Deutscher Bundestag - Matthias Helferich". Deutscher Bundestag.
  3. 1 2 Connolly, Kate (25 February 2025). "AfD readmits two politicians excluded over Nazi-related remarks". The Guardian.
  4. 1 2
  5. ↑ deutschlandfunk.de (2025-02-25). "AfD-Fraktion - Umstrittene AfD-Politiker im Bundestag". Die Nachrichten (in German). Retrieved 2025-02-27.
  6. ↑ Joswig, Gareth (2025-02-25). "AfD mit Helferich und Krah: Das "freundliche Gesicht des NS"". Die Tageszeitung: taz (in German). ISSN 0931-9085. Retrieved 2025-02-27.
  7. ↑ "Matthias Helferich: AfD-Politiker verzichtet nach NS-Äußerung auf Fraktionszugehörigkeit". Der Spiegel (in German). 2021-09-30. ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
  8. ↑ Weiland, Severin (2021-08-09). "AfD und Matthias Helferich: Jörg Meuthen scheitert im Streit über AfD-Landesvize". Der Spiegel (in German). ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
  9. ↑ "Going to the extreme: Inside Germany's far right". BBC. 2024-05-08. Retrieved 2024-12-11.