Marla Svenja Liebich is once again making headlines: the convicted and fugitive far-right extremist is now reportedly trying, according to a report by the city magazine dubisthalle.de, to change his gender marker to “diverse” and his first name to “Anne Frank.” Anne Frank (1929-1945) was a Jewish girl whose diary, published after World War II, became internationally known.
According to the report, Liebich had already submitted the corresponding request with the Merseburg registry office in August. He said he chose the names without “any particular thought.” The neo‑Nazi, who has repeatedly voiced antisemitic statements and carried out actions in recent years, described Anne and Frank as “normal first names.” In an email to the Anne Frank Memorial in Amsterdam, he stated that his naming choice was “in no way connected with Anne Frank as a historical person, her life, or her fate.” He called the naming coincidence accidental and said there was “no point in time” when he intended to reference the historical Anne Frank.
Of course, there is more than a little doubt about whether that is true. Liebich had—after a conviction for incitement to hatred, defamation, and insult—already changed his gender marker to “female” and his first name to Marla Svenja about a year ago (TheColu.mn reported). He was supposed to begin serving an eighteen‑month sentence at the Chemnitz correctional facility by August 29, but he did not appear and remains at large.
Debate over Self‑Determination Law: CDU Cites Liebich
The first change to Liebich’s gender entry rekindled the debate over the Self‑Determination Law (SBGG) passed by Germany’s traffic‑light coalition. The Union questioned the law in principle. It’s speculated that Liebich may be using his own trans identity as a pretext to provoke—after all, his prominent role model for many far‑right extremists had previously warned about “transfascism” and, at a march against a Pride event, declared: “You are parasites of this society.”
But changing the gender marker and the first name is not a simple matter: after all, he would have to appear in person at the Merseburg registry office before the change could be processed. Liebich said he could not attend in person because of an arrest warrant that could lead to his arrest. He filed a formal complaint against the requirement for in‑person appearance, calling it an “unreasonable intrusion” into his fundamental rights.
The Self‑Determination Law (SBGG), which took effect on November 1, 2024, does not set a fixed upper limit on how often a person can change their gender marker and given name. There is only a three‑month reflection period, and after another change there is a one‑year waiting period. In other countries with similar laws, such as Denmark or Spain, the timeframes are typically shorter or do not exist.
Queer organizations have repeatedly warned against using Liebich’s campaign to attack the self‑determination rights of gender minorities. “A strategic assault on the SBGG, like the one mounted by the right‑wing individual Liebich, must not be used to challenge the Self‑Determination Law and, by extension, the basic and human rights of trans*, intersex, and non‑binary people as a whole,” said Robin Ivy Osterkamp of the Bundesverband Trans* in a press release last autumn. “Rather than questioning the existence of the Self‑Determination Law, the focus should be on ending the discrimination embedded in various provisions of the SBGG,” Osterkamp added.
