Oskar Lafontaine is one of postwar Germany’s most remarkable politicians. Only former social-democratic Chancellor Willy Brandt provoked similarly emotional responses.

Yet ever since moving towards socialism a couple decades ago, Lafontaine has become an even more polarizing and controversial figure than Brandt. The former champion of European Union integration and sympathizer with the “post-material movements” of the 1980s is now one of the most vocal critics of Europe and staunchest defenders of the welfare state.

In his long career, Lafontaine served as minister-president of the tiny state of the Saar on the French-German border; mayor of its capital, Saarbrücken; German secretary of finance; chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP); and later cochair of the new left-wing party Die Linke (The Left).