Berlin. Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is celebrating his birthday in Berlin today. He looks back on an exceptional career with a tragic end.
- Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder’s birthday is today
- At 80, the SPD man can look back on a great career
- In the end, his political legacy remains in ruins
It was a huge party at the “Hamburger Bahnhof” museum in Berlin. The silverbacks of the party were gathered, along with friends, companions and artists like Markus Lüpertz. SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel said to loud applause: “It is an honor for me to recognize one of the most unusual social democratic politicians.” That was on Gerhard Schröder’s 70th birthday. Birthday and it’s been ten years now. On Sunday the former chancellor, who doesn’t appreciate this term at all, will be 80 – and there will be no public anthems. Schröder’s wife Soeyon has planned a secret surprise party in the capital, nothing more is known even to the person celebrating his birthday.
The Former Chancellor has been very present since Russia invaded Ukraine. At the official celebration of German unity in Hamburg’s Michel, the government directors placed him so that he was not in the picture. That annoyed Schröder, and on his 80th the old media professional is once again causing a lot of hype. In an interview with the German Press Agency, he used the million-dollar reach to hold on to his friendship with Vladimir Putin.
Also read:Schröder criticizes SPD comrades – “They are poor people”
He even let the filmmaker Lucas Stratmann get very close to him for six months. The ARD thanked it in prime time with the one-hour documentary “The Gerhard Schröder Story”. Schröder at Golfing. Schröder in his magnificent office full of art. Schröder at the party anniversary celebration with comrades. This is how the Germans should see him. “Gerd,” as his comrades reverently called him, has grown old. His sonorous, deep voice sounds more muffled.
Russia: Schröder defends his friendship with Putin
But Schröder is as quick-witted as he was in his Juso days. In the ARD documentary, filmmaker Stratmann struggles to finish his questions before the former chancellor intervenes. He delivers great images, but fails when he tries to give even a hint of the 79-year-old Self-criticism to wrest off. Schröder’s stubbornness has become even harder when it comes to Russia. This outraged Schröder’s opponents, who were always numerous. And that hurts everyone who once voted for him and found him fascinating.
Already good friends in 2009: Gerhard Schröder and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
© picture alliance / dpa | Mudrats Alexandra
Schröder has become lonely. He only receives public recognition from a small group of loyal friends or during visits abroad, for example to China. The powerful editors-in-chief who once courted him and whom he won over to his side with the offer of “Du” over his favorite wine, Brunello di Montalcino, are long gone. The Media coverage on Schröder’s course towards Russia is devastating today. Never has a former chancellor been criticized more harshly than Schröder. Rightly so.
And yet: the self-confidence of the man celebrating his 80th birthday remains unbroken. He is legally fighting for his office. He is fighting for his rights as a party member. He fights against that Party establishment. Secretary General Kevin Kühnert? “A poor wretch.” He is also fighting for a better handicap on the golf course. And he is waging a hopeless battle for his reputation as a politician. “I’m a little different than others,” he says with his typical wolf grin on ARD. Probably true.
SPD low in surveys is satisfaction for the former Chancellor
Schröder’s adherence to Putin despite his campaign against the people of Ukraine can no longer be explained rationally. He must know how criminal this war is. It is because of his stubbornness that he does not break away from Putin, the well-meaning ones analyze. It’s them Gazprom millions, say the less well-meaning – and remind us of Schröder’s tough youth. “We were the anti-social ones. “I ate window putty for years,” is how Schröder remembers his toughest years.
In any case, it is tragic that Schröder’s political successes are fading because of his stubborn Russia lobbying. But there were these successes. Agenda 2010, which was the key to overcoming unemployment. The “no” to the Iraq war, which would have been a bloody adventure. Also the Hartz rules, which brought many people back to work. They have long since been abolished by the new party leadership and replaced by “citizen money”. The SPD’s backward role didn’t help.
Schröder on August 3, 2005 in Hamburg with his party comrade Olaf Scholz having a beer. Today the two don’t have much to say to each other.
© picture alliance / ASSOCIATED PRESS | Fabian Bimmer
With his second candidacy for the SPD in 2002, Schröder got 38.5 percent – despite statements like “teachers are lazy sacks”. Today the Chancellor’s party is at 15 percent. That is satisfaction for the former Chancellor and he gleefully pokes his finger into the wound when he says: “As the leadership of the SPD, I would think about it, how is it that we are behind the AfD? That’s the central question, not what happens to my membership.”
Schröder’s companions will be on the guest list
The 79-year-old’s political career is impressive. Juso boss, parliamentary group leader, prime minister, party leader, chancellor. A journey like this requires loyal companions. The most important was Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who played Schröder office manager, Head of the State Chancellery and Head of the Federal Chancellery and protected him from many crises. Anyone who wanted to visit Prime Minister Schröder as a journalist in Hanover first had to get past the current Federal President.
On March 1, 1988, Schröder visited the Bergen military training area during a maneuver and found out about the training of soldiers who were still conscripted at the time.
© picture alliance / dpa | DB Hollemann
The two have now broken up with each other Federal President doesn’t even congratulate. But a few companions remained. Like Sigmar Gabriel, whom Schröder saw as his successor and ennobled in a small circle with the sentence “Only the fat person can be chancellor”. Or Otto Schily, the ex-Green who, as Interior Minister, was a banker for Schröder and brandished a rubber truncheon in front of cameras. You will be at the top of the secret 80th birthday guest list.
Strong women also influenced Schröder. Most of all, Schröder’s mother Erika, whom he affectionately called “Lion” and who, as a widow, supported five children with cleaning jobs. Schröder’s love affairs were honest, but finite. Schröder entered it five times registry office – German record for a top politician. At the age of 24 he married the librarian Eva Schubach, and after their separation he married the teacher Anne Taschenmacher. Both women remained hidden from the public.
Schröder and the women – wife Soyeon has a lot of influence
Hiltrud “Hillu” Schwetje, the attractive first lady of Lower Saxony with two daughters, was different and earned her husband a lot of sympathy, but annoyed Schröder’s schnitzel friend with vegetarian casseroles. The journalist Doris Schröder-Köpf later founded another family with Schröder and Russian adopted children. The marriage ended after 21 years with an ugly dispute over Schröder’s name.
Soyeon Schröder-Kim (53), Schröder’s current wife, is the woman with the greatest influence. She is a Korean native and translator Wife, consultant, editor, golf partner, health coach and social media consultant who lets the chancellor hang up fat balls in slippers and put them on Instagram. Schröder goes along with this with a smile. Not because he’s gone gaga, but because he still enjoys playing with the media.
In the ARD documentary, Schröder-Kim can be seen in almost every sequence and films all the interviews with her cell phone like a legal bodyguard. There are Peck and holding hands in front of the camera and the Chancellor looks as in love as a teenager. At least privately, Schröder doesn’t have to fight for recognition.
Kevin Kühnert: “This is more than just a difference of opinion”
The SPD leadership is having a much harder time with Schröder’s big birthday than the former chancellor himself.Secretary General Kevin Kühnert explained cryptically on n-tv: “No, I don’t think we have any meetings planned in the next few days,” and then he added: “We always have differences of opinion, but that’s what we’ve had with each other for two years , this is more than just a disagreement.”
The dispute with the current party leadership does not “challenge” Schröder, as the former Chancellor emphasized with a grin. “My 80th birthday doesn’t depend on who I get one from Congratulations letter wars.” It’s enough for Schröder that the party leaders signed his certificate for the party’s 60th anniversary. Schröder does not reveal that the signatures of Lars Klingbeil and Saskia Esken come from the signature computer.
| Political party | Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) |
| founding | May 23, 1863 |
| ideology | Social democracy, welfare state, European integration |
| Chairman | Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil (as of April 2023) |
| Faction strength | 206 members of the Bundestag (as of April 2023) |
| Known members | Olaf Scholz, Karl Lauterbach, Frank-Walter Steinmeier |