„I'm alone against the whole system. One against 158. When I speak, the chamber falls into icy silence“.
Alexander King
Spitzenkandidat (BSW)
Photo: @aanufriev
Dima Vachedin speaks with Alexander King (BSW), a candidate for Mayor of Berlin.
GENAU and WIR.DE are presenting an interview series with leading candidates from parties contesting the Berlin election. We contacted all parties with a chance of entering the Berlin House of Representatives. GENAU editor-in-chief Dima Vachedin spoke with those who responded. This is the sixth interview in the series. The original interview was published in Russian; this is the translation.
More interviews can be found here.
Dima Vachedin:
The polls show Die Linke is still in the lead. Why vote for the BSW instead of Die Linke, if what you want is a left-wing coalition?
Alexander King:
I wouldn't vote for Die Linke anymore, and I know what I'm talking about — I was a member of the party for a long time. Not least because of their irresponsible refugee and migration policy. Elif Eralp believes Germany should have open borders for everyone in the world, and that anyone who comes to Berlin should benefit from the welfare state from day one. That would collapse our welfare state within a very short time, and we'd end up losing control over immigration for good.The second reason is that the BSW is the only peace party. Die Linke, the Greens and the SPD all want to tear down every bridge to Russia — they're glad the Russian House is closing, and they want to attach QR codes to the Soviet war memorials that present a distorted version of the history of Berlin's liberation. Die Linke, through the Bundesrat, backed the huge war loans Germany is now taking on.
Dima Vachedin:
So worse than the CDU?
Alexander King:
Much worse than the CDU, of course. Die Linke is a party where everyone is supposed to dance to the same tune. That's exactly why Sahra Wagenknecht and I left the party. Anyone who wants freedom votes for us.
Dima Vachedin:
There could be another wave of mobilization in Russia this autumn — should Germany then take in the people fleeing because of it?
Alexander King:
Yes, of course. Anyone who doesn't want to be killed in a war, or to kill other people themselves, absolutely should be helped.
Dima Vachedin:
You want to protect the Soviet war memorials, like the one in Treptower Park, and leave them unchanged. Does that mean the Stalin quotations in Treptower Park stay too?
Alexander King:
These memorials have been standing since 1945. It's 2026 now. So far these quotations haven't caused any major upheavals in society. If I read a Stalin quotation in Treptower Park, that doesn't make me a Stalinist. I'm an adult, I can decide for myself what context that quotation came from — I don't need the Greens' help for that.
Dima Vachedin:
Have you yourself ever been to the Russian House in Berlin?
Alexander King:
Of course I've been to the Russian House. I saw an exhibition about Russians who took part in the resistance against the Nazis in Germany. Or the exhibition about the two pilots who saved Spandau by steering their plane away from residential buildings.
Dima Vachedin:
Russia has used this house for its propaganda.
Alexander King:
The Goethe Institutes, too, always have an interest in presenting Germany in a positive light. You can't expect the Russian House to criticize the Russian government or represent the opposition's agenda — that's not how it works.
Dima Vachedin:
Would you also visit the Russian embassy?
Alexander King:
I've already visited the Russian embassy. I'm a politician — I'd visit the American embassy or the French embassy just the same.
Dima Vachedin:
Do you want to revive the city partnership between Berlin and Moscow?
Alexander King:
Definitely, it's very important. City partnerships are a very promising field for reviving dialogue. Some people criticize the city partnership between Berlin and Tel Aviv — I don't criticize it; that channel can be used for a peace policy too. Even so, I reject Israel's policy in Gaza.
Dima Vachedin:
I have a few questions about city policy. Your platform names the housing shortage as the city's biggest problem. Is that right?
Alexander King:
Every Berliner would call the housing shortage the biggest problem. Over the last ten years rents in Berlin have risen by 70 percent. The parties that have governed the city during those years bear responsibility for that. We need to build more, regulate the rental market, and support the city's own housing companies. I was looking for an apartment myself recently and came across prices that were far beyond what's actually allowed. I was lucky to find one.
Dima Vachedin:
How did you manage that?
Alexander King:
Because as a member of parliament I earn relatively well. If I were a street sweeper, I wouldn't have found anything.
Dima Vachedin:
Die Linke wants every apartment that becomes vacant inside the Ring to be allocated as social housing. Do you agree with that?
Alexander King:
We have a lot of overlap with Die Linke on housing policy. We see migration differently, but on housing we think along similar lines.
Dima Vachedin:
What should be done with Tempelhofer Feld?
Alexander King:
Keeping Tempelhofer Feld undeveloped goes back to a referendum, and we respect that. If you want to change anything about it, you have to ask the public again. I'm not in favor of keeping the field 100 percent undeveloped for all eternity — it's state-owned land that's already connected to infrastructure, and it would make sense to build something there. But I believe in direct democracy, so people have to be asked.
Dima Vachedin:
Does Berlin have a problem with trash?
Alexander King:
What would you say?
Dima Vachedin:
Definitely.
Alexander King:
I think Berlin obviously has a problem. I haven't been to Moscow in 40 years, but I imagine it's cleaner there. Probably like in any Russian city. But that's just an expression of the general neglect our city is experiencing. There's trash everywhere, homeless people lying next to it that nobody looks after, drug addicts, piles of garbage and a broken subway system. Berlin is sliding downhill fast in every respect, and the trash is proof of that. If I love my city and feel connected to the people who live here, I don't throw away wrappers and cigarette butts. Something in our society isn't working properly.
Dima Vachedin:
There was recently a letter from the BSW to the AfD leadership proposing that they organize some joint appearances — essentially an offer of cooperation. What do you make of that, and what do you think of the "firewall" against the AfD?
Alexander King:
We don't support the firewall. It's undemocratic — a party supported by so many voters has to be part of political decision-making. The AfD is only glad about this ban on cooperation, because it only makes the party stronger. It stays in permanent opposition while all the other parties wear themselves out on the country's problems. But if you actually listen to that party's representatives, they don't have particularly clear proposals for what they actually intend to do. Sometimes they're for Russia, sometimes for the US, sometimes for Israel, sometimes for the Palestinians, sometimes for the little guy, sometimes for big capital — and the latter is probably closest to the truth. So of course you have to talk to that party's representatives. Otherwise how are you supposed to hold them to their word?
Dima Vachedin:
Would you speak in front of an AfD audience?
Alexander King:
Of course. They're perfectly ordinary people, just like the voters of any other party.
Dima Vachedin:
What was it like for you these past years, as almost the only BSW member of parliament in this chamber? What does that feel like?
Alexander King:
I was alone against the whole system. One against 158. That's a very particular feeling. Since Die Linke expelled me and Sahra Wagenknecht in October 2023, I've been completely alone. When you give a speech and no one supports you because you have no allies, you have to get used to it. The chamber falls into icy silence, or someone shouts something insulting. I've gotten used to it, and I do have colleagues in other parliamentary groups who I personally get along with well, but mostly I'm on my own. If support comes from anywhere, it's from the AfD. That's obviously a psychological strain. And afterward, after my speech, individual members from the SPD or CDU come up to me in the hallway and say: “Great speech, thanks.” — So why didn't you support me in the chamber? — You know how it is, we can't do that. — I understand. But it's unpleasant all the same.
GENAU and WIR.DE are presenting an interview series with leading candidates from parties contesting the Berlin election. We contacted all parties with a chance of entering the Berlin House of Representatives. GENAU editor-in-chief Dima Vachedin spoke with those who responded. This is the sixth interview in the series. The original interview was published in Russian; this is the translation.
More interviews can be found here.
Dima Vachedin:
The polls show Die Linke is still in the lead. Why vote for the BSW instead of Die Linke, if what you want is a left-wing coalition?
Alexander King:
I wouldn't vote for Die Linke anymore, and I know what I'm talking about — I was a member of the party for a long time. Not least because of their irresponsible refugee and migration policy. Elif Eralp believes Germany should have open borders for everyone in the world, and that anyone who comes to Berlin should benefit from the welfare state from day one. That would collapse our welfare state within a very short time, and we'd end up losing control over immigration for good.The second reason is that the BSW is the only peace party. Die Linke, the Greens and the SPD all want to tear down every bridge to Russia — they're glad the Russian House is closing, and they want to attach QR codes to the Soviet war memorials that present a distorted version of the history of Berlin's liberation. Die Linke, through the Bundesrat, backed the huge war loans Germany is now taking on.
Dima Vachedin:
So worse than the CDU?
Alexander King:
Much worse than the CDU, of course. Die Linke is a party where everyone is supposed to dance to the same tune. That's exactly why Sahra Wagenknecht and I left the party. Anyone who wants freedom votes for us.
Dima Vachedin:
There could be another wave of mobilization in Russia this autumn — should Germany then take in the people fleeing because of it?
Alexander King:
Yes, of course. Anyone who doesn't want to be killed in a war, or to kill other people themselves, absolutely should be helped.
Dima Vachedin:
You want to protect the Soviet war memorials, like the one in Treptower Park, and leave them unchanged. Does that mean the Stalin quotations in Treptower Park stay too?
Alexander King:
These memorials have been standing since 1945. It's 2026 now. So far these quotations haven't caused any major upheavals in society. If I read a Stalin quotation in Treptower Park, that doesn't make me a Stalinist. I'm an adult, I can decide for myself what context that quotation came from — I don't need the Greens' help for that.
Dima Vachedin:
Have you yourself ever been to the Russian House in Berlin?
Alexander King:
Of course I've been to the Russian House. I saw an exhibition about Russians who took part in the resistance against the Nazis in Germany. Or the exhibition about the two pilots who saved Spandau by steering their plane away from residential buildings.
Dima Vachedin:
Russia has used this house for its propaganda.
Alexander King:
The Goethe Institutes, too, always have an interest in presenting Germany in a positive light. You can't expect the Russian House to criticize the Russian government or represent the opposition's agenda — that's not how it works.
Dima Vachedin:
Would you also visit the Russian embassy?
Alexander King:
I've already visited the Russian embassy. I'm a politician — I'd visit the American embassy or the French embassy just the same.
Dima Vachedin:
Do you want to revive the city partnership between Berlin and Moscow?
Alexander King:
Definitely, it's very important. City partnerships are a very promising field for reviving dialogue. Some people criticize the city partnership between Berlin and Tel Aviv — I don't criticize it; that channel can be used for a peace policy too. Even so, I reject Israel's policy in Gaza.
Dima Vachedin:
I have a few questions about city policy. Your platform names the housing shortage as the city's biggest problem. Is that right?
Alexander King:
Every Berliner would call the housing shortage the biggest problem. Over the last ten years rents in Berlin have risen by 70 percent. The parties that have governed the city during those years bear responsibility for that. We need to build more, regulate the rental market, and support the city's own housing companies. I was looking for an apartment myself recently and came across prices that were far beyond what's actually allowed. I was lucky to find one.
Dima Vachedin:
How did you manage that?
Alexander King:
Because as a member of parliament I earn relatively well. If I were a street sweeper, I wouldn't have found anything.
Dima Vachedin:
Die Linke wants every apartment that becomes vacant inside the Ring to be allocated as social housing. Do you agree with that?
Alexander King:
We have a lot of overlap with Die Linke on housing policy. We see migration differently, but on housing we think along similar lines.
Dima Vachedin:
What should be done with Tempelhofer Feld?
Alexander King:
Keeping Tempelhofer Feld undeveloped goes back to a referendum, and we respect that. If you want to change anything about it, you have to ask the public again. I'm not in favor of keeping the field 100 percent undeveloped for all eternity — it's state-owned land that's already connected to infrastructure, and it would make sense to build something there. But I believe in direct democracy, so people have to be asked.
Dima Vachedin:
Does Berlin have a problem with trash?
Alexander King:
What would you say?
Dima Vachedin:
Definitely.
Alexander King:
I think Berlin obviously has a problem. I haven't been to Moscow in 40 years, but I imagine it's cleaner there. Probably like in any Russian city. But that's just an expression of the general neglect our city is experiencing. There's trash everywhere, homeless people lying next to it that nobody looks after, drug addicts, piles of garbage and a broken subway system. Berlin is sliding downhill fast in every respect, and the trash is proof of that. If I love my city and feel connected to the people who live here, I don't throw away wrappers and cigarette butts. Something in our society isn't working properly.
Dima Vachedin:
There was recently a letter from the BSW to the AfD leadership proposing that they organize some joint appearances — essentially an offer of cooperation. What do you make of that, and what do you think of the "firewall" against the AfD?
Alexander King:
We don't support the firewall. It's undemocratic — a party supported by so many voters has to be part of political decision-making. The AfD is only glad about this ban on cooperation, because it only makes the party stronger. It stays in permanent opposition while all the other parties wear themselves out on the country's problems. But if you actually listen to that party's representatives, they don't have particularly clear proposals for what they actually intend to do. Sometimes they're for Russia, sometimes for the US, sometimes for Israel, sometimes for the Palestinians, sometimes for the little guy, sometimes for big capital — and the latter is probably closest to the truth. So of course you have to talk to that party's representatives. Otherwise how are you supposed to hold them to their word?
Dima Vachedin:
Would you speak in front of an AfD audience?
Alexander King:
Of course. They're perfectly ordinary people, just like the voters of any other party.
Dima Vachedin:
What was it like for you these past years, as almost the only BSW member of parliament in this chamber? What does that feel like?
Alexander King:
I was alone against the whole system. One against 158. That's a very particular feeling. Since Die Linke expelled me and Sahra Wagenknecht in October 2023, I've been completely alone. When you give a speech and no one supports you because you have no allies, you have to get used to it. The chamber falls into icy silence, or someone shouts something insulting. I've gotten used to it, and I do have colleagues in other parliamentary groups who I personally get along with well, but mostly I'm on my own. If support comes from anywhere, it's from the AfD. That's obviously a psychological strain. And afterward, after my speech, individual members from the SPD or CDU come up to me in the hallway and say: “Great speech, thanks.” — So why didn't you support me in the chamber? — You know how it is, we can't do that. — I understand. But it's unpleasant all the same.
Alexander King (BSW) | Photo: @aanufriev
Supported by
Partner
