When Chancellor Angela Merkel comes, Joschka Fischer brings his wife with him, who does Gerhard Schröder dance with – these were topics of previous federal press balls. This year everything was focused on Ukraine.
Politicians were largely absent. The clothes were darker, the bars and dance floors less crowded, and the speeches more important. The Federal Press Ball, the annual party of the capital’s journalists, has hardly ever been as political as it was in 2022.
In recent years, the corona pandemic has caused several postponements. Now Russia’s attack on Ukraine gave the ball on Friday evening in Berlin’s Hotel Adlon at the Brandenburg Gate a new face and turned it into a “solidarity ball” for Ukraine.
Ambassador criticizes the absence of many politicians
Unlike in the past, the focus was not on the Federal President, who had canceled this year because of the war, high-ranking members of the government or celebrities. The attention of many of the approximately 1,800 journalists, publishers, moderators, managers, lobbyists and politicians at the 69th Federal Press Ball was focused on the Ukrainian ambassador Andriy Melnyk, who had already annoyed parts of politics in the past few weeks with his demands for heavy weapons and unusually clear words.
The federal press conference, the association of journalists in the capital, had asked Melnyk for a short speech. And he used them for clear announcements. Melnyk thanked the press for their necessary coverage of the war and credited the ball with Ukrainian performers and a fundraiser for Ukrainian journalists as a show of solidarity. He clearly criticized the cancellation of Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the entire federal cabinet: “I think it’s all the more a pity that many politicians shine mainly through their absence. But if you hope that you will avoid critical questions, then you are wrong. »
“Turning point” on the subject of arms deliveries
Only the media, by asking questions about the “hesitant” attitude of the federal government on the subject of arms deliveries, would have built up pressure without which the “turning point” would not have been possible, according to Melnyk. The Ukraine needs the arms to penetrate in order not to lose its existence. And then he turned directly to the journalists in the main dining room, who applauded him persistently: “If a war goes on for a long time, the attention of the media threatens to wane. I therefore ask you not to lose interest in what is being done to Ukraine, otherwise people will die unnoticed. And when people die unnoticed, then the truth dies too.”
Because of the corona pandemic, the organizers had reduced the number of guests in tuxedos and evening dresses by 500, so there was less crowding on the red carpet, where the singer Natalia Klitschko, wife of Vitali Klitschko, the former professional boxer and current mayor of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, thanked. “It’s about cohesion, about support, the help of the German population is incredible.”
Kubicki: “We don’t have to cancel everything”
Bundestag Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki (FDP) came with a blue and yellow bow tie, and many other visitors wore pins or ribbons in blue and yellow, the national colors of Ukraine. “We celebrate to help journalists. I don’t think we have to cancel everything either,” said Kubicki. The CDU chairman Friedrich Merz and his wife saw it similarly. They came “because we know that this press ball does something for Ukraine”. The SPD chairman Lars Klingbeil tried to defend his party friends and said he understood the ministers when they said: “We don’t feel like celebrating.”
As is often the case, Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens), regular guest at the ball, was the most emotional. “This is a strong signal for a staple of our democracy and that is the free and independent press. This is incredibly important because this war is also a war against culture and a propaganda war.” But also: “This is certainly not a press ball that we were looking forward to after such a long time of Corona.”
Good vibes, Ukrainian artists and donations
At the two champagne bars on the first floor of the Adlon, at the buffets and beer stands, the mood was by no means depressed as the time was getting late. Ukrainian artists performed, the dance floors filled up, a big band and quartets played, and later DJs played. The smoker’s bar, tucked away at the end of a corridor behind a restaurant, was the busiest and loudest. Hostesses walked around with large collection boxes filled with banknotes. A lot would be donated, said one of them. Most guests would transfer the money with their mobile phones.
The topic of the evening could also be seen by the tourists strolling by the Brandenburg Gate at the barriers in front of the Adlon. Blue and yellow spotlights lit up the hotel and the sky.
Source: Stern
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