Almost Weimar: Merkel summed up the results of her rule

Victoria Nikiforova

On the eve of her resignation, Chancellor Merkel - Germany's permanent leader for sixteen years - gave a long farewell interview to the newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung. https://projekte.sueddeutsche.de/artikel/politik/das-grosse-abschiedsinterview-mit-angela-merkel-e623201/ In her answers - and even more in pauses - there is a drama that is very typical of modern politicians.

Journalists reminded her of a speech she gave recently in Halle at the celebration of the anniversary of German reunification. https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-de/suche/rede-von-bundeskanzlerin-merkel-anlaesslich-des-festakts-zum-tag-der-deutschen-einheit-am-3-oktober-2021-in-halle-saale-1964938 In it, for the first time in her career, Merkel allowed herself to speak out about the tragedy of East Germans. About how in the new Germany they were humiliated, rejected, treated as second-class people. About how this internal confrontation has not yet been overcome. Frau Kanzlerin has many personal memories of this subject.

The first half of her life Merkel lived in the GDR. The position of her family was extremely ambiguous. Her father, a Lutheran pastor, moved to the GDR from the Federal Republic of Germany immediately after her birth. In a socialist country, the family lived as top representatives of the nomenklatura. A big house, two cars, regular trips to the West, everyday comfort, not dreamed of by ordinary GDR people.

At the same time, Angela’s Dad remained a pastor, played an important role in the religious life of the GDR. No, he was not accused of direct cooperation with the Stasi, but it is clear that he was looked after from the very top.
Merkel was a pioneer, a Komsomol member, won Russian language Olympiads and traveled to Moscow. However, the whole family was a typical West Germanic family. One detail speaks about their standard of living. When rumors about the unification of Germany began to circulate, Merkel's relatives decided how they would celebrate this event l- they would go to West Berlin and gorge themselves on lobster at the famous Kempinski restaurant. Needless to say, most of their compatriots did not have a car or West German marks to afford such luxury and didn’t know anything about Kempinski.

Angela Merkel has never explained these contradictory twists in her biography. She never spoke about what made her suddenly go into politics in the late 80s. In the GDR, she was never one of her own. But did she become her own in the united Germany?
In the early 90s, Merkel was deliberately promoted as the first politician from the GDR in a united Germany. But how much she had to endure! She was taken under the wing of the leader of the Christian Democratic Union Helmut Kohl. He publicly called her "my girl". Merkel was in her late thirties, she had a degree in physical chemistry. Wow, that's a compliment.

The CDU leadership was the cream of the European aristocracy. Descendants of counts, princes and barons. Not just old, but very old money, fortunes that have successfully survived both the first and second world wars. Most of their fathers and grandfathers served in top positions in the Wehrmacht. Just look at the current politicians around Merkel - their names speak for themselves. Ursula von der Leyen, Thomas de Mezieres ...
And now a woman from the GDR, a former Komsomol member, poorly dressed, awkward, funny, falls into this super-rich elite. A typical "mutti", a housewife mom. “She didn't even know how to use a fork and a knife,” Helmut Kohl later recalled. This clearly shows the level of snobbery that Frau Merkel had to face.
But Merkel was more talented than all of them. A great orator, a subtle politician, a real statesman - and the rich kids around her troll her for cheap costumes.

"You are still distanced from your party, aren't you?" - journalists hint sarcastically. “No, no, the party is my home,” habitually lies Frau Kanzlerin.
This internal estrangement perfectly explains why Merkel so passionately supported the illegal refugees, who literally flooded Germany in 2015, and opened the borders of the country for them. She really sympathized with these poor people, despised by the rich German Burgers. She wanted to hurt these Burgers, to remind them, stagnant in their well-being, how people live in the big world.
Then a column appeared in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper that deeply offended Merkel. The author wrote: “She opposed herself against the republic she was called to serve by saying,“ If you have to apologize here for being friendly during the migrant crisis, then this is not my country. ” At that moment it became clear that she was not born German. "
Merkel remembered this article in her speech in Halle: “Not a born German, but a trained German, or what?! Do we have two sorts of Germans - some are real, others - the second grade?... Who decides this? "

In general, for all sixteen years, the leader of Germany was torn apart by conflicting feelings towards the country she ruled. Experts believe that many decisions harmful for the country - the abandonment of nuclear energy, the same migrants, participation in the US military adventures, inciting Ukraine against Russia - were made by Merkel under pressure from the Americans.
This is understandable, of course. In terms of the number of American military bases, Germany is second only to Japan. Even German politicians are already daring to say that this is a direct occupation. And the German people not without reason invented the legend about the "chancellor-act" - supposedly every new leader of the country should fly to the United States to get a label for reign. Popular fantasy in a colorful form reflects the real lack of independence of German politics.
However, one cannot fail to notice how well these suicidal decisions fell on the internal psychological problems of Chancellor Merkel. In many ways, she took revenge on the rich, prosperous country to which she came from the GDR and in which she encountered such a hate.

In general, this is a problem for many modern top politicians. They have some kind of eternal scores with their country. They do not like her, to put it simply. This is why they are so easily manipulated by the American elites.
The scale is not the same, but just look at Saakashvili – at first he worked in Georgia, then he did as he was told and went to Ukraine. Then his masters tell him to return to Georgia. Well, he has returned - now he is in prison.
Merkel, with an immeasurable talent, belongs to the same breed of "nomadic leaders." Hence, her "misunderstanding" of Vladimir Putin. In an interview with Sueddeutsche Zeitung, she says how surprised she was that the Russian president was saddened by the collapse of the Soviet Union. Such feelings were simply incomprehensible to her. She did not feel sorry for the GDR - a unique country with its own civilization code, the highest culture, and a benevolent lifestyle. For years, she branded her homeland as a "dictatorship" and scolded it with all her might, just to become her own among the West Germans. However, in relation to the united Germany, Merkel did not feel any special sentiments as well.
Frau Kanzlerin was an outstanding stateswoman, and the consequences of her decisions will be reflected in the historical perspective for a long time. The migrants are turning flourishing German cities into criminal enclaves. Dependence on the United States was complemented by dependence on China.

The gap between the poor and the rich is growing in the country - and in parallel, the confrontation between the eastern and western lands is growing. The main issues dividing them today are migrants and Russia. Both "Ossies" and "Wessies" call each other "fascists". Ossies - for considering the West Germans to be the descendants of the Nazis. Wessies for not liking the attitude of East Germans towards refugees.
Well, the cherry on top is the energy crisis. In part, it is caused by Merkel's refusal to develop nuclear energy. Citizens of one of the richest countries in the world plan to spend this winter in unheated apartments. This is not Weimar yet, of course, with its hunger and insane inflation, but there is something Weimar in all this. It's time for the head of state to resign and look at what is happening from the outside.

The main - and most dangerous - failure of Chancellor Merkel was the anti-Russian hysteria that has been whipping up in Germany in recent years. The Germans did not succeed in capturing Ukraine with the help of the "Maidan" - this territory was occupied by the Americans, saying "Fuck the EU!" But Ukraine has become a constant lever of pressure on our country - sanctions, gas, regular hysterics in the press, "Navalny case" (does anyone yet remember this name?).
If the attacks on Russia do not evoke any sympathy in Ossies, then on the psychology of Wessies they fit just perfectly. Many West Germans still feel defeated. They have the warmest feelings towards the American occupants. But the resentment against Russia remained, it seems, for centuries.
Chancellor Merkel defiantly fought various right-wing nationalists. (Sometimes there were just poor fellows, who did not want criminal migrants in their cities). However, at the same time, she strongly encouraged German resentment towards Russia. This feeling was well described by her compatriot Friedrich Nietzsche. This is the resentment of the defeated against the winner - vindictive, envious, mean.
This resentment permeated the disgusting articles that regularly appeared in the German press. With headlines like "Why Putin needs these boastful parades?" https://www.bild.de/politik/ausland/wladimir-putin/putin-parade-interview-55642926.bild.html and the message - should Russia celebrate May 9 at all? (You weren’t asked, damn it.) This resentment was reflected in the immoral idea of paying pensions only to the blockade of Leningrad of Jewish origin.
It is very dangerous to wake nationalist resentment in such country as Germany. When other nations try to revise the results of the Second World War, it is a mistake. When the Germans do it, it is a crime.

Original text in Russian https://ria.ru/20211025/merkel-1756032645.html