Bullying, pressure from false ideals of beauty – in an interview, Sahra Wagenknecht reports how she acquired protective armor in her childhood. Her favorite fairy tale at the time is significant.
As a ten-year-old girl, Sahra Wagenknecht thought she was too fat. “Unfortunately I was too,” says the now 54-year-old politician in an interview with Alice Schwarzer in the magazine “Emma”. In response to Schwarzer’s objection that nothing of this can be seen in Wagenknecht’s childhood photos, she replies: “Yes, yes. But of course there is also this insane pressure in terms of weight and beauty that is especially exerted on young women.”
Wagenknecht also reports in the interview that she was bullied as a child because she looked different because of her Iranian father. When asked whether she has turned this weakness into a strength and has now become a perpetual outsider, she says: “I can bear being an outsider. But it’s not what I want.”
Her favorite fairy tale as a child was “The Snow Queen” by Hans Christian Andersen. She identified with the boy Kay, who is kept in the Snow Queen’s palace, numb to all feelings. “I had already experienced injuries,” she reports. “And everything bounced off the icy Kay in the ice palace.”
Organized a peace rally together
Wagenknecht’s father went back to Iran when she was three years old. “I remember him carrying me on his shoulders.” Until the age of seven, she grew up mainly with her grandparents because her mother worked. “My grandparents loved me very much and did everything to ensure that I had a sheltered childhood.”
Women’s rights activist Schwarzer also asks Wagenknecht how much time she needs to fix her hair. Answer: “Almost a quarter of an hour.” She can’t sleep with her hair updo because the hairpins prick and it looks shaggy the next day.
At the beginning of the year, Wagenknecht and Schwarzer jointly published a “Manifesto for Peace” in which they warned against an escalation of the war in Ukraine. Together they also organized a peace rally in Berlin with thousands of participants. But the initiative also attracted strong criticism. On Monday morning, Wagenknecht wants to present her plans for a possible party founding at the federal press conference.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
