Henriette Reker (born 9 December 1956) is a German lawyer and independent politician. She is known for her pro-immigration stance and for being the victim of an assassination attempt in 2015. A day after the attack, Reker was elected mayor of Cologne after gaining 52.66% of the votes.[1] She is the first female mayor elected in Cologne's history. Reker was re-elected in 2020.
Early career
Born in Cologne, Reker worked as legal counsel for the State Association of Guild Health Insurance Funds in Münster from 1992 until 2000.
Political career
From 2000 until 2010, Reker served as deputy mayor for Social Affairs, Health and Consumer Protection of Gelsenkirchen. In 2010 she was appointed a mayoral deputy for social affairs, integration and the environment of the city of Cologne.
At a public event on 17 October 2015, the day before the mayoral election, Reker was seriously wounded when a 44-year-old man stabbed her in the neck with a knife,[4] while shouting about an "influx of refugees".[5] State prosecutors confirmed the attack to be politically motivated,[6] after the perpetrator "confessed to having xenophobic motives at the uncontrolled influx of migrants". As a member of Cologne's municipal administration, Reker had been responsible for the housing and integration of refugees.[5] Her aide was also hurt in the attack, as were three other people who had tried to subdue her attacker.[7] Reker's main rival in the mayoral election, Social Democrat Jochen Ott, suspended his campaign after the attack.[7] Reker won the election while remaining in the intensive care unit of a local hospital.
Federal prosecutors soon took over the case from state prosecutors in Cologne on grounds of the particularly dangerous nature of the stabbing, which came against the backdrop of a rising tide of attacks on accommodation for refugees in Germany. In late October, they charged a 44-year-old German man with attempted murder and dangerous bodily harm. At the time, the authorities said the perpetrator was driven by his anger over Reker's work on the refugee issue. The attacker was sentenced to fourteen years in prison, with Reker recovering to testify at the trial.[8]
Reker was accused of victim blaming following the attacks at Cologne's 2016 New Year's Eve celebrations. She claimed that "there's always the possibility of keeping a certain distance of more than an arm's length – that is to say to make sure yourself you don't look to be too close to people who are not known to you, and to whom you don't have a trusting relationship".[9][10] Reker was condemned by Lodewijk Asscher, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands, for implying that women could have prevented the attacks against themselves.[11] Reker accused the media of taking her comments out of context: she claimed that she had only reacted to a reporter's question by quoting an existing communal guideline for safety during partying in a speech.[12]
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