The interview with Angela Merkel in full length.
Oct 2, 2023 | 12:00 min
Insights into 16 years of chancellorship
United for 33 years. But how do East Germans and people with a migration background experience their country? Mitri Sirin travels through Germany and interviews former Chancellor Angela Merkel. The documentary in full length.
Oct 3, 2023 | 53:37 minutes
Merkel: “I felt gutted”
A feeling that the long-time Chancellor took up in her last big and probably most personal speech of 2021. Merkel quoted with concern from an article in which her 35-year GDR past was described as “ballast”.
What did she feel when she read these lines about herself for the first time? When answering this question, her hands, close together on her lap, briefly form the world-famous diamond.
Yes, it was like a little punch in the stomach, I have to be honest.
Review: The big coup for Angela Merkel. A farewell with red roses in Berlin’s Bendler Block.
12/02/2021 | 54:58 minutes
“I saw myself as Chancellor of all Germans”
During her chancellorship, Angela Merkel never gave many interviews. And when she gave one, she was more likely to be perceived as cool and rational. In this conversation she gives a little insight into her emotional world. Why didn’t she formulate such words about East German identity earlier – words that millions from Appolda to Zeitz could have identified with?
“Because I always saw myself as the chancellor of all Germans, and perhaps sometimes I didn’t dare to speak openly and freely about the GDR era because that would have become a kind of stigmatization again: ‘Now she’s coming back with her East Germany ‘ or so.” Did the once most powerful woman in the world just admit to insecurity?
Sirin has been working for ZDF since 2009. He moderates the main edition of the 7 p.m. news and the ZDF morning magazine. He occasionally travels as a reporter for major political events or documentaries.
Many East Germans feel like second-class citizens
A feeling that is also reflected in the latest ZDF political barometer. The statement “Do you still feel like a second-class citizen after German unification?” 50 percent of East Germans agree – an increase of four percentage points compared to a 2019 survey.
The documentary “Disputed Republic”.
Oct 3, 2023 | 29:03 mins
“We can do it” is remembered
Merkel was never held in high regard for her East German identity, but her “We can do it” statement was very much so. That was in 2015, in the midst of the tense refugee situation.
Even before, but especially after these Merkel words, a large majority of migrants living here felt embraced and a sense of belonging. In a Germany that they experienced for years and decades as unwelcoming and stigmatizing and in which they had to prove themselves more than the majority of society.
East Germans and migrants share the feeling that their biographies are less valuable, that upheavals and integration achievements are not seen enough. Does the rapidly changing country need a changed perspective? Does Germany need a new narrative that includes everyone, including immigrants? “Yes, of course,” says Merkel.
Merkel therefore expressed no understanding for the AfD electorate in this context. She understands that people are upset about some things. But she is not prepared to accept that people therefore support ideas and ideas that, for her, have nothing to do with tolerance.
Many municipalities are groaning under the increasing number of incoming asylum seekers. Chancellor Scholz also calls for action. However, opinions differ widely as to what should be done.
Oct 2, 2023 | 01:48 minutes
Merkel: “Germany includes everyone”
This narrative is needed, it has actually always been needed. Yes, Germany includes everyone.