At risk: Federal President Steinmeier before his second term in office – politics

When Herbert Achterbusch’s film “Die Atlantikschwimmer” was released decades ago, the young Frank-Walter Steinmeier had just finished his military service in Goslar and started studying law at the Justus Liebig University in Gießen. He began his impressive political career there as a member of the Juso University Group and as a financial advisor at the AStA. For 45 years there was nothing to indicate what influence the postman Heinz, a main character in the film mentioned, must have had on Steinmeier. But Steinmeier’s actions in May 2021, when he applied for a second term as Federal President, can be explained if you know the sentence with which the whimsical, anarchic Bavarian film about “The Atlantic Swimmers” ends.