Status: 12.12.2021 1:50 p.m.
On December 12, 2011, Federal President Wulff left a mailbox message with fatal consequences. The Wulff case is about taking advantage, reputation and the role of the media.
The affair of the then Federal President Christian Wulff began ten years ago and led to the second resignation of a head of state in a very short time. On December 12, 2011, Wulff spoke on the mailbox of the then editor-in-chief of the “Bild” newspaper, Kai Diekmann. A central sentence that has stuck in the memory of many: “And now my wife and I have simply crossed the Rubicon in their behavior.”
The mailbox message at Diekmann put Wulff under even more pressure in an already difficult time. In addition to allegations that he had too close contact with entrepreneurs and had taken vacations as a gift, there was now another: The Federal President wanted to prevent unpopular reporting. An attack on the freedom of the press, on the Basic Law?
This process was considered outrageous in a constitutional state like Germany. The mirror spoke of the “dark side of the nice Mr. Wulff”. And even in the population, the mood against the Federal President developed increasingly after it became known.
Did Wulff have something to hide?
What it was about: The “Bild” was planning a report on the processes surrounding the purchase of the Wulff family home. The question: How did Wulff finance his house in Großburgwedel near Hanover? The suspicion: An entrepreneur could have given him the money for it and thus possibly secured Wulff’s favor.
It is now known that there was nothing to be said about these allegations. And yet Wulff didn’t look good. Because in the state parliament of Hanover he had answered the question of whether he had business contacts with the entrepreneur Egon Geerkens in the negative. The loan for the house came from Geerken’s wife Edith.
So the answer was not untruthful. For many media outlets, however, it seemed clear that this man has something to hide. This triggered a domino effect – an unprecedented hunt involving various media and politicians. In the end, Wulff resigned. the SWR podcast “Christian Wulff – the case of the Federal President” goes back to the events, wants to know why the situation has escalated and what those involved think about it today.
Wulff admits mistakes …
Wulff himself also expresses himself in the podcast. In the interview he admits that he regrets today that he did not give the answer in the state parliament in more detail: “In the state parliament request I should have said frankly that I have the loan from the woman, but that the man was asked. ( …) Today I would even say that I should also have demonstrated that the children of the woman who gave me the loan should have lived with us if something had happened to the parents. “
But at the time he thought it was nobody’s business, said Wulff. Had he replied differently at the time, he might never have made the headlines.
Ten years ago a house in Großburgwedel made the headlines – who did the money for the loan from? Was there anything in return?
Image: picture alliance / dpa
… and speaks of a “request”
Wulff was evidently sure of his cause – and therefore wanted to ask for a respite from “Bild”, as he says: “It was just a request that the publication should be waited until I am back in Germany, until I give them a speech and The answer is. And that you don’t get such a report out during my stay abroad. ” Wulff was on a state visit at the time of the call. He did not threaten, so Wulff.
Ex- “Bild” boss Diekmann sees it differently: “When ‘war’ is mentioned twice, it is not to be understood as anything else than a threat.”
Deppendorf criticizes the choice of words
For the then head of the ARD capital studios, Ulrich Deppendorf, is clear regardless of the aim of the call: “This is the biggest mistake a Federal President can make.” Above all, the choice of words “Then we can decide how we wage the war” (original text on the mailbox) comes across Deppendorf. “That was actually inexcusable,” said Deppendorf in retrospect.
Despite the vortex that was triggered, Christian Wulff does not regret his actions: “I stand by everything I have said and made a very rational decision to call – because I didn’t want to blame myself later, you would have called. So that’s still the case something I’m okay with. “
“Image” did not print the mailbox message
How the mailbox message got public is still unclear. The message was spoken on December 12, 2011, but it was not made public until weeks later. It appeared in excerpts as text in various media, but not in the “Bild”.
The former editor-in-chief Diekmann gives an interview with the SWR stated that he was not responsible for the publication. He initially decided in an editorial conference to print the text of the mailbox. Then something happened that he didn’t expect: “Namely, that I received another call from the Federal President. He apologized, I accepted the apology and then made the decision that we won’t print the mailbox,” said Diekmann .
In the end, the pressure was too great: After around a year and a half, Christian Wulff resigned as Federal President. He was later legally exonerated.
Image: picture alliance / dpa
Media expert speaks of “predator feeding”
Nevertheless, excerpts from it appeared in various newspapers around the turn of the year. Diekmann says: “Try to get the toothpaste that has left the tube back into the tube. That won’t work. There are 15 to 20 colleagues who knew the text, had it physically on the table and I have it too not collected again. “
The media expert Wolfgang Storz does not believe in this version. He speaks of “predator feeding”. Diekmann passed on parts of the news bit by bit: “They kept reporting about it. And who was in a good position? In the center? The ‘Bild’.”
In the end, the Wulff affair was probably something of a power struggle between the media and a head of state. Wulff himself was acquitted of all allegations. According to his own statements, he has now dealt with the deep fall: “I would complain that I emerged stronger from it. But that was a laborious process that took years.”