Big tattoo for Merkel: “happiness in the heart” and words of warning

Hildegard Knef, Nina Hagen and a hymn: Big tattoo for the outgoing Chancellor Merkel. This called for the defense of democracy against hatred, violence and misinformation.

After 16 years in office, the Bundeswehr said goodbye to Chancellor Angela Merkel with the big tattoo. The ceremony is the highest honor of the armed forces and is reserved above all for federal presidents, chancellors and defense ministers.

Like everyone honored on this path, Merkel was allowed to choose three pieces of music. She decided on the hymn “Great God, we praise you”, the chanson “For me it should rain red roses” by Hildegard Knef and Nina Hagens hit song “You forgot the color film”. The punk singer thus had a hit in the GDR in 1974.

In her speech on the premises of the Federal Ministry of Defense in Berlin, Merkel campaigned for more mutual understanding and condemned the denial of facts and the spread of conspiracy theories. “Our democracy lives from the ability to critically debate and to correct oneself,” said the CDU politician. “It lives from the constant balance of interests and from respect for one another. It lives from solidarity and trust.” Among other things, it is about “trust in facts”.

Thanks to the medical staff

The time of the corona pandemic “showed, like in a magnifying glass, the importance of trust in politics, science and social discourse,” said Merkel. But it also showed “how fragile that can be”. “I would like to encourage people to continue to see the world through the eyes of the other in the future,” said the outgoing Chancellor. “So to perceive the sometimes uncomfortable and contradicting perspectives of the other person, to work to balance interests.”

Merkel thanked the medical staff and the nurses. “I would like to thank everyone who is opposing the pandemic with all their might,” she said. She named doctors and nurses, but also “helping hands in aid organizations and the armed forces”.

At the same time, the CDU politician criticized all those who “deny scientific knowledge and spread conspiracy theories and agitation” with a view to the pandemic. There must be a contradiction here: wherever “hatred and violence are seen as a legitimate means of pursuing our own interests”, “our tolerance as democrats must find its limit,” said the outgoing Chancellor.

Merkel was visibly moved

Merkel wished her designated successor Olaf Scholz and the future government all the best, a lucky hand and every success. She is convinced that the future can be shaped well, “if we do not go to work with displeasure, resentment, with pessimism”, but “with happiness in our hearts”. This is how she always kept it herself, in her life in the GDR and even more so and all the more under the conditions of freedom.

Merkel emphasized that her 16 years in office had been “eventful and challenging”. They would have challenged them politically and humanely and “at the same time they have always fulfilled me very much”. As she said goodbye, Merkel continued, “Above all, she felt this: gratitude and humility. Humility in front of the office that I was allowed to hold for so long; gratitude for the trust that I was allowed to experience. Trust, which I was always aware of, is the most important asset in politics. It is anything but a matter of course, and for that I thank you from the bottom of my heart. ”

Merkel watched the big tattoo while seated and was visibly moved. Due to the corona, significantly fewer guests were able to take part than usual. Among the guests were Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the future Federal Chancellor-designate Olaf Scholz. In her speech before the actual ceremony, Merkel wished him and his government “all the best and a lucky hand and good luck”.