Alexander-Martin Sardina

Sardina was born and raised in Hamburg, Germany.[1] His father moved from Sicily, Italy, to Germany in the 1960s, his mother is from Hamburg. Sardina went to the notable secondary school Sankt-Ansgar-Schule, at that time run by the Society of Jesus, an order of the Catholic Church. In 1990, he was an exchange student at the Loyola High School, Los Angeles, California.[2] He graduated from the Sankt-Ansgar-Schule with receiving the Abitur in 1994.[3]

He then studied pedagogy, American studies, and political science at the University of Hamburg. Research stays led him to the United States, China, Macau, and Hong Kong. In 1999, Sardina worked as a teacher intern at the Los Angeles Central High School, Hollywood.[4] He completed his studies with obtaining a Staatsexamen in 2002.[3] His state exam thesis deals with the contradicting educational concepts during the period of national socialism in Germany focussed on the National Political Institutes of Education (NAPOLAs).[5] In 2016, he became a Doctor of Philosophy (Dr. phil.) for examining the history of teaching English and all other foreign languages taught in the Soviet occupation zone (SBZ) and East Germany (DDR) from 1945 to 1989 (two volumes).[6][7] His dissertation is based both on the analysis of official documents and contributions made by contemporary witnesses.

Sardina works as a lecturer, translator, and consultant, mainly in Berlin, Germany.[3][8][9]

Sardina joined the CDU, Germany's leading conservative party, in 1994. His first public office was being a member of the board of the ministry of education (Behörde für Schule, Jugend und Berufsbildung) in Hamburg from 1997 to 2002.[10] Subsequently, as a result of the general state elections of 2001, he became a member of the board of the ministry of environment and health (Behörde für Umwelt und Gesundheit).[11] From 2001 to 2004, Sardina was the party secretary ("the whip") of the parliamentary group of the CDU in the regional assembly (Bezirksversammlung) of the district of Hamburg-Mitte. After the 2004 general elections, his party held the majority of seats and thus he became chairman of the regional assembly.[1]

From 2005 to 2008, Sardina was a member of the Hamburg Parliament, the Hamburgische Bürgerschaft. As an MP, he was a member of the committees for European affairs and for petitions as well as for the parliamentary investigation committee on the prison for juvenile delinquents located in Feuerbachstraße in the Barmbek district. He was a deputy member of the committees for budget affairs, for cultural affairs, and for urban development and planning.[12] Sardina also served as the spokesman of the CDU fraction for Asian affairs.[3] He additionally was a member of the board of directors of the "Asien-Brücke" (literally: Asia bridge), a Senate-run charity foundation for the benefit of Asian states with the main focus on development aid to Sri Lanka.[13]

Sardina was the first MP who had an electoral district office. It was open to the local public and located in a former Colonial goods store in the Horn district. First mayor Ole von Beust opened the location with a reception on 12 January 2006.[14]

Sardina joined the European Movement in 1994. He used to be a member and chairman of the Young European Federalists and was made their honorary member in 2009.[15] As a former MP, he is also a member of the German Parliamentary Society, Berlin.[16]

• Alexander-Martin Sardina: »Hello, girls and boys!« – Fremdsprachenunterricht in der SBZ und DDR. Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3941461-28-4. (Excerpts available on Google Books).
• Alexander-Martin Sardina: Die Nationalpolitischen Erziehungsanstalten (NAPOLAs) als Beleg für widersprüchliche NS-Erziehungskonzeptionen im Dritten Reich. Diskurs und Zeitzeugenbefragung. Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-640-54533-9.
• Alexander-Martin Sardina (editor): Die Quellensammlung zum "Traditionsprogramm Rote Kapelle" an der Mildred-Harnack-EOS, Berlin, vor der Wende in der DDR. Hamburg 2010.
• Alexander-Martin Sardina: 38 Fragen an den Abgeordneten Sardina MdHB – Eine kommentierte Dokumentation. Hamburg 2008 (PDF available at the University of Hamburg server).
• Alexander-Martin Sardina: The Invention of the Euro in Great Britain, Denmark, and Sweden. London 2003.
• Alexander-Martin Sardina: Amerikanisches Englisch unter besonderer Berücksichtigung seiner historischen Entwicklung. Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede im Vergleich zum britischen Englisch. Munich 2000, ISBN 3-640-52723-2.
• Alexander-Martin Sardina: Der administrativ-nachrichtendienstliche Verfassungsschutz als ein zentrales Instrument der "wehrhaften Demokratie" – Zwischen Frühwarnsystem und Existenz-Rechtfertigung. Hamburg 1998.

• Literature by and about Alexander-Martin Sardina in the German National Library catalogue
• Positions and questions answered by Alexander-Martin Sardina (2004–2008) on Parliamentwatch (German language).
• Books by Alexander-Martin Sardina at Amazon.com
• Official biography on Wolff Verlag, Berlin (German language).
• Sardina's political estate (15 files) has been deposited at the Archive for Christian Democratic Policy at Sankt Augustin, Germany. Its contents are partly classified.[17]