“Walking Mediation Committee” – Alois Glück was given this label during his lifetime. It wasn’t so much a nickname as an honorary title. He respectfully mentioned a gift that has become rare in the political world. On Monday morning, a very special bridge builder died in a Munich clinic at the age of 84. He will be sorely missed, and not just in his party, the CSU.
The farmer’s son from Chiemgau was a man of duty. Perhaps this is inevitable if, like him, you lost your father in the war as a small boy and were given responsibility at an early age. Even as a primary school student, he had to lend a hand on his parents’ farm in Hörzing near Traunstein.
Even later, the Upper Bavarian rarely chose his tasks himself; rather, they came to him; in such a way that he couldn’t say no. That was the case when the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) failed in a presidential election in 2009 due to a bishop’s veto and was now desperately looking for a presentable figure of integration. And most recently in 2019, when Markus Söder called him, even though he hadn’t previously stood out for particularly appreciating Glück’s advice.
Skill as a moderator required
But after a campaign by the ÖDP under the striking title “Save the bees!” The cleverly initiated referendum required Glück’s ability as a moderator. The trained farmer and one of the first prominent environmental politicians in his party became the ideal person to bring the interests of farmers, conservationists, business and politics to a careful balance.
An important turning point for Glück’s life was associated with the abbreviation KLJB. In the Catholic rural youth movement he not only met his wife. He was also politically socialized in the association.
The CSU man told broadcast journalist Daniela Arnu about a key experience in 2023. As KLJB state secretary, he had to organize a seminar for volunteer managers. Glück remembered a central sentence from a speaker: “Before important negotiations – sit in the other person’s chair.”
Bild: ©katholisch.de (archive image)
Alois Glück (right) and Archbishop Heiner Koch at the presentation of the advertising campaign for the 100th German Catholic Day.
This attitude became characteristic of his political style, which was always aimed at good compromises. This attitude was also underpinned by religion. In his own words, he owed an important insight to the Jewish religious philosopher Martin Buber: God speaks through the people he puts in your way.
Glück translated this to mean that he made every effort to show genuine and not just tactical interest in those who thought differently. Then conversations arose that he particularly valued and that continually broadened his own horizons.
As much as political friends and opponents always valued thoughtfulness and consideration, in order to get to the top, Glück lacked the absolute will to power. But perhaps he also felt more comfortable in the role of the man pulling the strings in the background. And who prefers to think about fundamental things like a new party program, for which he liked to retreat to a lonely mountain hut.
Barely in public lately
He hasn’t been seen in public much in recent years: he accompanied his successor at the head of the state parliament’s presidency, Ilse Aigner, to Unterwössen last year. Together they visited the prayer room for victims of sexual abuse designed by a local artist in the parish church. Previously, he was part of the Bavarian delegation that visited the late former Pope Benedict XVI. gave his last respects in Rome.
For Glück, this was also a duty that he naturally fulfilled, even though he had crossed swords several times with Joseph Ratzinger during his time as religious prefect in the dispute over pregnancy conflict counseling before the turn of the millennium. He revealed to BR in 2023 that these “bad memories” filled twelve file folders at home.
When it comes to the subject of climate change, Glück’s unusually sharp tones have recently been heard: “My generation has failed sorely on the subject. We have known about the realities through appropriate reports for 30 years.” You can certainly see a legacy in this.
By Christoph Renzikowski (KNA)