Sahra Wagenknecht is gone, but she is still there: Janine Wissler talks about the crisis in her party and an evening attack in Berlin.
Ms. Wissler, how often have you thought about resigning in the past three years?
Of course there were moments when I thought: This is getting too much for me, the public disputes, the fact that people are constantly busy with internal party conflicts instead of working on the content. But I never seriously thought about resigning.
Astonishing. During your time as party leader, the Left slipped into its greatest crisis. Your parliamentary group has broken up and your most prominent opponent has founded her own party.
This conflict did not begin with my election as party leader, but years before. The party confirmed me in office in 2022, which is an honor and an obligation.
When the remaining left-wing troops in the Bundestag recently elected a new board, their candidates were unable to prevail. Are you a party leader on call?
We advocated for a broad roster, but didn’t make any specific personnel suggestions. There were three good candidates for the presidency. Together with the two new group chairmen, we will now do everything we can to make the left strong again.
How much did the constant strife in the party take a physical toll on you?
Luckily, I have a pretty good constitution. But of course it leaves its mark when you are publicly attacked by your own party and don’t have a day off for weeks. But it was less the party that affected me physically than some personal bad luck. Because of water damage in my apartment, I’ve been living out of travel bags at friends’ houses and in hotels since last summer, which is really tiring. And that after I had to deal with a major injury after an attack for weeks at the beginning of the term.