After it had rained for days, the cloud cover in the sky broke up on Thursday morning and a white-blue sky stretched over Lake Chiemsee, the grandeur of which can only be seen here. The pleasant weather did the summer day justice, because exactly 75 years ago, on August 10, 1948, a great moment in the history of German democracy began on the island of Herrenchiemsee. Here the course was set for the development of the second German democracy. In order to get all of this off the ground, a constitutional convention met, which achieved the unbelievable feat of creating a draft for the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany in just 14 days, which is still praised today.
Because such an anniversary is characterized by splendor and glory, the ceremony was not celebrated in the rather sparse Old Castle, i.e. in the historic site of the Constitutional Convention, but in the magnificent Hall of Mirrors in the New Castle. The celebration would probably have pleased the builder Ludwig II. The ranks were full of representatives and dignitaries from all walks of life, the Euphonia Orchestra from Munich played the sounds of Mozart and provided Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier with the right setting for a keynote speech on the value of a constitution, which Germans have had since 1949 .
The Federal President paid tribute to the enormous achievements of the experts who wanted to build a state that would never again be misused for such monstrous crimes as in the Nazi era. In the fight against extremism, there is a historical lesson that runs like a red thread through the Herrenchiemsee draft constitution and is still valid today: “A democracy must be able to defend itself against its enemies. Never again should democratic liberties be abused in order to protect freedom and democracy abolished,” said Steinmeier to lively applause and appealed to everyone: “We have a common responsibility for our democracy. We must protect it.”
No voter, Steinmeier continued, “can excuse himself from mitigating circumstances if he sees his eyes to strengthen political forces that contribute to the brutalization of our society and the undermining of free democracy.”
The president of the state parliament, Ilse Aigner, also warned in her speech: “In a serious situation in which everyone is called upon to keep the country together, stirring up anger is extremely dangerous.” Resist the beginnings, she said, and reminded the people in Germany that in this country, too, one should not be sure that democracy is always a given. Germany has already had to experience how a democracy with too few democrats has failed.
In response to Steinmeier’s state speech, Prime Minister Markus Söder included some ironic elements in his eulogy. They didn’t follow everyone very carefully. Some prefer to check on their smartphones. So it was quite fitting that Söder pointed out that the efficiency of the 1948 convention was probably also due to the fact that there were only two telephones on the island at the time. “So they had no distractions and could work with concentration.”
Incidentally, Söder pointed out with a smile how much the influence of the host Bavaria influenced the result and steered it in an important federal direction. He interpreted the later rejection of the Basic Law by the Bavarians as a “tradition of suppleness” that the Wittelsbachers had already cultivated, for example by being for and then against Napoleon. Overall, he attested to the convention’s incredible achievement and called the result a compass for the future that is still valid today. The human image contained therein is the basis that holds us together, which is why there should be no freedom for the enemies of freedom.
At the end, the words of the Federal President hung summarily over the assembly, which read: “The constitutional convention 75 years ago may have met in the bare old castle. But with its central emphasis on human dignity as the maxim of all state action, the draft constitution that was created at that time shines brighter to the present than all the pomp and splendor of this hall.”
A counterpoint to these solemn words was provided by a group of climate activists of the so-called last generation. On a meadow at the foot of the Old Castle, they announced that protests would be stepped up in cities in the Free State from next week. The start is on Monday afternoon in Würzburg, after which it will go south to Munich.
In almost painfully somber words, they declared on this bright, bright day that they were taking to the streets in Bavaria “because we are protesting against the federal government’s breach of the constitution in the state where our constitution was written 75 years ago.” They accused politicians of violating the constitution by leaving the population vulnerable to the climate catastrophe.