“Local time Germany”: Frank-Walter Steinmeier – days in Altenburg

When the state carriage with the number plate 0-1 stops on the market square in Altenburg, a small crowd is waiting for the Federal President. Maybe 30, 40 people. And indeed: they clap.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier approaches the people, a student wants a photo with him. “It would be a great honor for me,” says the youngster.

This sets the tone for these three days in the East Thuringian city. Steinmeier will later say: “I’m happy about the friendly reception I’m enjoying here in this city.” He probably wasn’t quite sure how this was going to play out.

Altenburg, district town in Altenburger Land, almost 32,000 inhabitants, actually known for the invention of the game of skat, has recently made rather negative headlines. Again and again on Mondays, hundreds went for a “walk” against state corona measures. CDU Lord Mayor André Neumann has reported emails that threatened him that he and his family would be hanged in the market on day X.

The boys are moving away

In the 2021 federal election, the AfD was the strongest party in the constituency with around 28 percent of the votes. 6,000 apartments are empty, the rural women’s association complains about a lack of young people, as does the local furniture dealer. The young people, on the other hand, find that there is nothing going on, that you can’t even really shop here. They move to Leipzig, Berlin, Mannheim.

First Corona, now the shock of the Ukraine war, the many refugees, another crisis. Steinmeier wants to “take the pulse” of this society under constant stress, as he says before leaving for Altenburg. Out of Berlin’s Bellevue Palace, out into the country, consciously in a small town, consciously in East Germany, where many people feel ignored. Steinmeier devotes three days to this “local time in Germany” at the beginning of his second term.

President meets real life, it’s not easy in these times, not just because of the pandemic. Around him security officers and speakers, of course, indispensable. And Steinmeier knows that he is not perceived as a simple fellow citizen, as a neighbor or buddy. A man with government office is coming. But measured against this, the 66-year-old manages the balance between closeness and distance surprisingly well.

Some of his contacts in Altenburg are invited guests – volunteers, for example, like the organizer of the “Skatstadt” marathon, Helmut Nitschke. “I have to say that until half an hour ago I thought I was a cool dog, but now sitting there, even next to the Federal President, makes my heart beat a little faster,” says Nitschke on Saturday morning at a breakfast appointment Steinmeier. “That’s something special.”

Steinmeier moderates in a friendly manner, he knows the history of these guests, who are proud of their city, but also concerned about emigration and aging, about digitally sedated young people, about the influx of right-wing extremists on the “walks”. In the afternoon, at a “controversial coffee table”, there is also a woman who organized “walks” out of concern for her child and others who, from her point of view, suffer from the mask requirement.

Steinmeier contradicts, promotes the government measures. The “walker” is still impressed. Everyone just seems happy that someone is listening.

This also applies to the local politicians with whom Steinmeier meets on Sunday morning. The debate revolves around the accommodation of Ukraine refugees, financial support from the state and federal government.

distrust in people

Then Peter Müller, city councilor of the Pro Altenburg party, takes the floor with a topic that has nothing to do with money, as he says: the credibility of politics, more precisely, of the established parties. “The normal person turns away,” says Müller. Only new parties like his are still popular. “It can’t all go so well anymore, Mr. Federal President.”

Here, too, Steinmeier counters. You can discuss anything, but please don’t make insinuations that you don’t mean it honestly. “Then we will also allow democracy to erode at the municipal level,” warns the President.

The distrust of “people” can hardly be felt in Steinmeier’s chance encounters in Altenburg. The President walks from the Parkhotel, where he has his official residence for three days, into the magnificently preserved old town with its narrow streets and squares. A woman waves at him from the window – it looks real.

Dozens want photos and selfies, just for a moment, would that work? Steinmeier seems ready for anything, he laughs into the cell phone cameras. Mayor Neumann, who accompanies him almost non-stop through Altenburg for three days, acts as an icebreaker, apparently everyone knows “André”.

A Thuringian with mustard

At the bratwurst stand on the market square, Neumann buys the president a Thuringian with mustard – no small risk for Steinmeier in a blue suit and black coat. But it’s fine. “What else?” he asks the men at the bar table. “We pensioners are satisfied,” says one. The resentment about the big bucks in Berlin, the stupid politicians – apparently forget when there is someone in person in front of you. “Bye, take care,” Steinmeier calls to the men as they say goodbye.

Anyone who remembers Steinmeier as a stone-gray top official under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, as the wooden candidate for chancellor in 2009, as foreign minister with aloof diplomatic German, may be a little surprised at this transformation into a kind of people’s tribune. Of course, Steinmeier was also isolated in his castle for two years because of the pandemic, with far fewer contacts than usual, like everyone else. He’s obviously happy to see people again.

But he chose this visit at the beginning of his second term as a mission: He wants to highlight the often forgotten province, especially the East German one, which is struggling to remain livable in times of upheaval. The President has set a theme for the next five years.