Should Franz Beckenbauer – by whatever means – ever see the book of condolence laid out in his honor by the State Chancellery: he will have to put on his reading glasses. Right at the front of page one, someone wrote something who obviously didn’t care that much about being able to read what he had put down on paper. If it wasn’t the Prime Minister, at least a Dr. jur. with an A-level (although the doctoral thesis was graded with a rather mediocre satis bene), which was immortalized in handwriting and filling pages, one would have to speak of a pig’s claw. Only because Markus Söder says a few sentences in front of the assembled camera group after the wordless entry in the condolence book (“We mourn a very, very great Bavarian, the most successful and best football player Germany has ever had. He was a kind of football god “, who changed the image of Germans in the world. We will never forget him.”), you can read a few fragments of sentences from the handwriting: Football God is there in line three, the FCB myth can be deciphered, as well as the 2006 World Cup , with a lot of good will also “One of the greatest Bavarians has left us!” and at the very end “don’t forget”. The rest is scratches.
The residence’s court chapel is a dignified place to say farewell to one of the city’s greats. Until Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., citizens have the opportunity to say goodbye to the most famous of all Giesingers with a few lines here, in the wedding chapel of Ludwig I and other Wittelsbachers. A certain Mozart performed his early piano concertos and the Missa Brevis here, and a book of condolence for Pope Benedict and Queen Elizabeth was also available in the same place. This is the Emperor’s League: Queen, Pope and a musical genius.
The setting: In front of the magnificent main altar on a table with a black cloth lies the portrait-format book, next to it – with a mourning bandage – a black and white portrait of the older emperor, on the other side the flags of Germany, Bavaria and the EU, also decorated with mourning flowers. In the front row: a good two dozen press people armed with cameras, waiting. In row three: Social Affairs Minister Ulrike Scharf alongside FC Bayern patron Uli Hoeneß, Beckenbauer’s companion for decades. The 72-year-old had previously stood in front of the friend’s portrait for a few minutes with his head bowed, and you would have to be blind not to be able to see how much the death of his former teammate affected him. Only the click of the shutter breaks the silence.
When Söder enters the chapel with State Chancellery Minister Florian Herrmann and the FC Bayern entourage of Herbert Hainer, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Jan-Christian Dreesen, there is movement in the camera carriers. The Prime Minister sits down at the table, pen in hand, opens the book, looks towards the press – and waits. It could be that a cameraman isn’t ready yet. The entry in question follows, and after Söder, then club president Hainer, then Hoeneß, Rummenigge, Dreesen, Scharf and finally Herrmann. Later you will read that Hoeneß said the following: “My dear Franz, I would like to thank you for everything you have done for us.” Rummenigge wrote: “Dear Franz, you were a great man, a loving person and a good friend.” Club president Hainer says in front of the cameras that like Muhammad Ali revolutionized boxing, the emperor revolutionized football. But even more than that, the deceased was “an incredibly lovable person”: “He always tried to meet people on an equal level.”
The entry by Uli Hoeneß.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
Half an hour after the VIPs have set off again in black limousines, the first citizens arrive to also offer their condolences. There are young people, old people, a silent gentleman in an FC Bayern jacket, a Swiss man who is currently on holiday in Munich, another who has just come from the dentist and who, as he says, is not feeling well, and is also carrying a family of four Enter: Grandma and Grandpa Hochheinz from Hesse with their two grandchildren. Grandpa Wolfgang used to be a footballer himself, wife Ellen has come out as a Bayern fan since 1969: “It was a shock on Monday. Franz Beckenbauer was such a nice man. There won’t be anyone like him again.” The grandson Arun, who may be eleven or twelve years old, says: “They were all so down-to-earth before and had a lot more fun playing. Nowadays they all change just because of the money. Beckenbauer is a football legend, we shouldn’t forget him. I hope that others like Uli Hoeneß will live on for a long time.”