ARD documentary about the former chancellor: Gerhard Schröder is state-supporting – and unreasonable on the Putin issue
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He had a decisive influence on the recent history of the Federal Republic: Gerhard Schröder polarized people like no other former chancellor – to this day. On the occasion of his 80th birthday, Erste is now dedicating a critical documentary to the restless retiree.
He rose from working class child to Federal Chancellor, saw himself as a hard worker and yet was seen by many as an Armani Chancellor and “comrade of the bosses”. He decided on the Agenda 2010 and refused to support the USA in the Iraq War. He led the first red-green federal government, eventually became a business lobbyist and maintained a close friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Gerhard Schröder not only had a decisive influence on the country’s fortunes in the recent past, but also polarized people like few other politicians during his career – and to this day. When he turns 80 on April 7th, the feature-length portraits will be recapitulated, classified and critically appraised again. Meanwhile, the former Chancellor himself has his say in the unusual TV documentary “Out of Duty? – The Gerhard Schröder Story”, which was first filmed on the occasion of the special day of honor and is initially available in the media library.
“I decided it was better to say something than to say nothing.”
“There’s been a lot of talk about him lately – rarely with him,” begins the documentary, for which the celebrant was followed with the camera for months – from the golf course in Hanover to distant China. The film was shot by Lucas Stratmann, who recently caused a stir with a worthwhile portrait of another, much younger social democrat: the filmmaker received a lot of praise and the German Television Prize for the documentary “Kevin Kühnert and the SPD” (2021).
In his new documentary, Stratmann approaches Schröder’s person in a similarly intimate, critical manner and with a sense of strange details. Whether philosophizing about the right golf strategy, during the trip in a VIP lounge at the airport or during interviews in Schröder’s law firm in Hanover: his wife Soyeon Schröder-Kim is almost always at his side and is also present in the documentary both on the public attention of her Instagram posts and on political issues.
“Of course people still see me as someone who played an important role in Germany,” says Schröder, describing his self-image. “It was just like that.” He also presents himself as a state-supporting character – a production that author Stratmann, as with Kühnert, knows how to uncover cleverly and calmly. The former Chancellor doesn’t really care about this exposition and probing – this is also something we know from his time in office: “If the first one does something, then it will be critical anyway. But I decided it was better to say something than to say nothing,” Schröder smugly comments on the documentary, which is critical just because of the mode of observation.
“I’m sometimes a little different than others”
Schröder has a lot to say. For example, about his 60-year membership in the SPD and about his distancing himself from German politics in recent years. But above all about his friendship with Vladimir Putin after the Russian attack on Ukraine, about his long silence about the war and about his role in the peace negotiations in Istanbul and Moscow in March 2022. Exclusive private recordings from that time provide rare insights into Schröder’s attempts at mediation , who would have liked to portray himself as a peacemaker. The ex-Chancellor, however, dismisses the interviewer’s prodding as to whether he had asked Putin about his motive for the attack on Ukraine in his conversation with Putin that it was “not a moral question.”
Of course, Putin’s Russia is not a “Westminster democracy”, but it is also a “mistake” that he can change anything about it. He continues to rely on dialogue, says Schröder, who is confrontational on the subject of Russia. There is a reason why the documentary devotes so much space to Schröder’s relationship with Putin: this is where the controversial retiree has been most offended in the past and most recently; this is where the former Chancellor’s ambivalent relationship with German society is most clearly shown. “I’m sometimes a little different than others,” he says knowingly at one point. In this sense, “Out of Service?” is no ordinary documentary. But rather an “attempt to get closer to a former German statesman who has become estranged from Germany,” as the announcement states.
He is still invited and received – for example at the ceremony on the occasion of German Unity Day in the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie. But every appearance by Schröder, every handshake and every public conversation can now turn into a scandal. The lobbying for Gazprom and Nordstream, the close relationship with Putin, the half-hearted condemnation of the Russian war of aggression (“There were many mistakes – on both sides”) – all of this was and is blamed on Schröder. One of the important questions that the hour-long documentary explores is whether it ultimately calls his entire political legacy into question.
“That doesn’t bother me at all”
The birthday child himself seems to be at peace, at least in front of the camera: “That doesn’t bother me at all,” he says with the typical Schröder smile when he is once again publicly criticized. Doubts seem foreign to the off-duty Chancellor. He doesn’t see himself as isolated anyway, not even in the SPD – apart from “a few officials” whom Schröder describes as “poor people”. The leadership of his party should think about why the SPD is behind the AfD in the polls.
Perhaps the balance also has to do with the fact that Schröder doesn’t have to complain about the lack of admirers outside of Germany. While he is treated as persona non grata in this country, his ego is still being played down elsewhere. As during his time in office, the former Chancellor is committed to good economic relations with China. Schröder proudly reports that he even holds the honorary title of “Old Friend of the Chinese People.” Accordingly, he considers it “superfluous” for the German Foreign Minister to describe the Chinese head of state as a “dictator”.
In the Middle Kingdom, where author Stratmann accompanies Schröder and his wife, the ex-politician, who is sometimes described as not exactly unpretentious, is received with all honors. Here, as grotesque scenes show, Gerhard Schröder is still considered an old-school statesman. “As if he were still in office,” says the voice-over comment, while you can see a flag-waving children’s choir singing and greeting Schröder. Does he travel to receptions and factory tours in China as a representative of Germany? “I wouldn’t claim that for myself,” Schröder replies with a phrase that you hear very often in the documentary.
“I have had to endure a lot of injustice”
The film traces the most important stages of Gerhard Schröder’s political career using archive footage: his time with the Jusos, his rise to the position of member of the Bundestag and Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, the development of the “male friendship” with Putin, the no to the Iraq war, the question of trust. Schröder has always been offended, as the reviews of the jovial character of the “new center” chancellor remind us. The sometimes devastating criticism in the press and television that Schröder was and is exposed to is also illustrated. From a subjective point of view, he “had to endure a lot of injustice,” the former chancellor complains in the film.
But Gerhard Schröder also says: “I decide for myself what I think is right, together with my wife.” He “never allowed himself to be greatly impressed – and it will stay that way.” Even his 80th birthday “doesn’t depend on who I get a congratulatory letter from.” These are statements that one immediately accepts from the controversial jubilarian.
“Off-duty? – The Gerhard Schröder Story” can be seen on Monday, April 8th, 9 p.m., on Erste and in advance in the media library.
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The original for this post “Gerhard Schröder is supportive of the state – and unreasonable on the Putin issue” comes from Teleschau.
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