People: Fruit instead of currywurst: The Schröders hope for 30 years of marriage

Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and his wife Soyeon Schröder-Kim have been married for six years, and they have set themselves the goal of at least 24 more years of marriage. “When I married my husband, he had to promise 30 years together,” revealed Schröder-Kim in an interview with the German Press Agency shortly before her husband’s 80th birthday. And she provides the recipe with which she wants to achieve this: oatmeal instead of currywurst.

Schröder-Kim put her husband on a diet some time ago. Lots of fruit and vegetables, little meat. For dinner there is now non-alcoholic rosé wine instead of beer. But the most important thing is “that we have changed our breakfast so dramatically,” says Schröder-Kim. “Previously coffee, bread, milk, butter, jam and so on and so forth. And now oat flakes with oat milk and with fresh fruit. And of course you shouldn’t forget: nuts. Nuts are also very important for the diet.”

The currywurst, which Schröder once called the “power bar of the skilled worker”, is now “not eaten as much by her husband,” says Schröder-Kim. “Still, I suppose you think my husband is fit for his age, don’t you?”

Schröder-Kim: I can rely on my husband

When asked about her husband’s most striking character trait, Schröder-Kim compares him to Sisyphus, a figure from Greek mythology. She justifies this by saying that Schröder is someone “who draws strength from defeats and never gives up hope and also stands by his word, even though that is sometimes not exactly an advantage,” says Schröder-Kim. “So you can rely on him. So as a wife I can also rely on him and his word.”

Schröder, who was Chancellor from 1998 to 2005, will turn 80 on April 7. In 2018, he married the now 53-year-old South Korean interpreter and translator Soyeon Kim, who is his fifth wife. Almost three weeks after Schröder’s birthday, his wife wants to organize a celebration for him in Berlin. The guest list and location are kept secret.