Status: 07/01/2021 9:02 p.m.
After the plagiarism allegations because of her book, Green leader Baerbock defended herself against the criticism. Many ideas from others were incorporated, she said. But she has not written a non-fiction book.
In the debate about her book, Green Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock rejected criticism. “A lot of ideas from others have been incorporated,” she said in a conversation with journalists from the “Brigitte” magazine in Berlin. “But I haven’t written a non-fiction book or something, but what I want to do with this country – and on the other hand I have described the world as it is, based on facts and realities.”
After her nomination as chancellor candidate in April, she saw that false claims were deliberately made about her, said Baerbock. For example, it is repeatedly doubted that she graduated from the London School of Economics (LSE). In the USA it has been shown what happens to a society when truth and falsehood are mixed. Your party has therefore made it clear that there is no copyright infringement in the book.
Media scientist names several positions
The allegations against the politician concern her book “Now. How we renew our country”. The Austrian media scientist Stefan Weber pointed out several passages in it that show striking similarities to other publications.
It was about, for example, that Baerbock’s demand for an indicator of prosperity to distinguish it from the gross domestic product can be found in similar words on Wikipedia. Elsewhere, Baerbock names three planned massive wooden buildings in Amsterdam, Chicago and Tokyo, information that can be read word for word in a “Spiegel” article from 2019. There are also similarities to a blog entry when Baerbock describes the consequences of climate change.
The Greens reject the allegation of alleged copyright infringement. Like the publisher, they argue that reproducing well-known facts is unproblematic.
Baerbock: No to more attack
You wrote this book to explain “who I am and what drives me,” said Baerbock. You think it is important to be self-critical, but also to make it clear what you stand for and to reject false claims.
When asked whether she wanted to attack more in the election campaign in the future, she said no. “If you just let yourself be carried away by others, then you are a flag in the wind.” The Greens do not claim to make others bad.