They almost managed to enter the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz together, as it should be for “mother and son-in-law”. That this comparison of his relationship with Angela Merkel, which Markus Söder tried to make a few months ago, might be a bit lame, is not only proven by the fact that the two drove up in black limousines in front of the Munich theater in quick succession on Thursday evening, but also by their view of the Southgerman newspaper.
In front of numerous guests from politics, culture, journalism, publishing, science and business, the former Chancellor gave the commemorative speech on the occasion of the 77th anniversary of the SZ. Editors-in-chief Wolfgang Krach and Judith Wittwer emphasized that the SZ is at home all over the world but still has its heart in Bavaria.
Apparently Söder likes to do that and leathers it off properly with a wink over the SZ. Söder criticizes a “stable and predictable culture of opinion,” rails against individual SZ authors, in short: he lacks local patriotism and a modest Franconian like himself in the editor-in-chief. But then he manages to say: “It’s good that the SZ exists,” especially in times of fake news. “The SZ is the only serious opposition.” Without them, governing in Bavaria would be far too easy.
One can hardly avoid hearing Söder’s love-hate relationship with SZ reverberate in Tamino’s aria from Mozart’s Magic Flute, which Kammersänger Lucian Krasznec then performs accompanied by the orchestra of the Gärtnerplatztheater.
She found the term “Kohl’s girl” to be “rather depressing”.
Merkel prefers to speak of a “certain critical distance” between the CDU and the SZ. In her speech, which lasts just under ten minutes longer than Söder’s greeting, she weaves the history of the SZ into German history and her own. Surprisingly, she describes how it was “rather depressing” for her at the beginning of her political career to often be seen as “Kohl’s girl” and not as an independent personality – “but not only in the SZ”.
However, the later articles about the sister party “woke her interest” (the audience laughed loudly), and she was able to learn a few things about the “not very forthcoming” CSU. The SZ opinion page always manages to surprise her – there is a small disagreement with Söder.
“Your newspaper has moved and is moving with the times. It was and is successful and opinionated.” The variety of opinions within the SZ is “gratifyingly high”https://www.sueddeutsche.de/panorama/.” That’s why we’re not just celebrating 77 years today Southgerman newspaper and one of the most important German daily newspapers, but at the same time representative of the value of the freedom of the press.” This is by no means a matter of course. Freedom of the press also includes the mandate of the state to protect journalists.
At the beginning, SZ managing director Christian Wegner mentioned that the newspaper had never had as many subscribers as it does today. Merkel congratulated: “It could go on like this, from your point of view, and from my point of view too.”