The red-green state government has appointed FDP politician Anikó Glogowski-Merten as the new director of the Lower Saxony State Center for Civic Education. Until last year, she was the cultural policy spokesperson for the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag and – fun fact – she has the traffic light coalition at the kitchen table, so to speak: in 2022 she married Braunschweig councilor Robert Glogowski. This makes Gerhard Glogowski – an SPD leader and former Prime Minister – her father-in-law.
The state headquarters was founded in 2017 with the mission of getting people excited about democracy and promoting understanding of politics. When it comes to democracy, Glogowski-Merten achieved merit when she was one of two FDP MPs a year ago voted against the influx limitation lawthat of the CDU/CSU wanted to push through in the Bundestag at the expense of AfD votes.
The motion showed that the CDU/CSU parliamentary group was prepared to accept majorities with factions on the right-wing fringe. “This goes against the values I stand for,” Glogowski-Merten wrote in a personal statement on Facebook. “The history of our country has taught us that you cannot make joint decisions with extremists.”
Glogowski-Merten is also one of the 49 members of the Bundestag who were elected two years ago wanted to have a ban procedure for the AfD examined. This was preceded by a meeting of right-wing extremists in Potsdam, which sparked nationwide demonstrations. The AfD has once again shown how dangerous it is, said Glogowski-Merten at the time. “It is up to all of us to push the right-wing extremists from the political stage that they use for their own interests.”
The traffic light in the heart
43-year-old Glogowski-Merten grew up in the GDR. She studied art and education first in Magdeburg, then in Braunschweig, where she still lives today. She worked as a lecturer at the Braunschweig University of Fine Arts (HBK) and as a forum leader for the FDP-affiliated Friedrich Naumann Foundation, where she organized and moderated political education events. So she brings some previous experience with her to her new job.
“I am very pleased that we will have a new director, Anikó Glogowski-Merten, who wants to actively talk to different target groups,” explained Falko Mohrs (SPD), Minister for Science and Culture.
The winner expressed herself accordingly: It is particularly important to her to “further develop political education in Lower Saxony in an open, diverse and digital way”. This also includes close cooperation with cultural actors, schools, universities and civil society.
Glogowski-Merten is left-wing enough to be happy about a traffic light coalition. That’s what she wanted in the 2021 election campaign, she told the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung (HAZ). For them, the traffic light is “the only progressive alliance”. At the same time, she assured that she would never consider voting for the Greens – Green husband or not.
The taz praised her because she criticized passionately, like people in the music business with regard to the compatibility of work and family would be left alone. She also has her husband HAZ According to them, they met through their shared interest in the creative sphere.