Angela Merkel’s emotional speech and the punk song that sounded at her farewell

The long was of Angela Merkel, who dominated German and European politics in recent years, came to an end.

After 16 years in power, Merkel decided not to run for a new term and will be succeeded by a coalition government led by Social Democrat Olaf Scholz.

Merkel to step down as chancellor of Germany next week And this Thursday night she participated in a military ceremony in her honor, for which she chose the music herself.

At the event, Merkel urged the audience to “Always see the world through the eyes of others”.

“As I stand here in front of you, I feel so grateful and honored. Honored for the position that I was allowed to work in for so long,” she said.

Merkel said her four terms (of four years each) were “eventful and often very challenging years.”

“They have challenged me politically and humanly and, at the same time, they were also satisfying,” he said.

After almost two years of pandemic, The still chancellor could not avoid referring to the false news that complicates the fight against the coronavirus, and conspiracy theories.

“The last two years of the pandemic, in particular, have shown, like a magnifying glass, the great importance of trust in politics, science and social discourse, and also how fragile all of that is,” Merkel said.

“Our democracy thrives on the ability to have a critical and self-correcting discourse. It thrives on the constant discourse of mutual interests and respect. It thrives on solidarity and trust, also on trust in the facts. In all places where we scientific facts are denied, conspiracy theories and smear campaigns are propagated. The resistance must be strong, “he added.

Surprising music

The military ceremony, known as big tattoo (“great tattoo”), has its origins in the sixteenth century and is the Greatest tribute the German Army offers to outgoing politicians.

In the evening there was a torchlight procession. But what most caught the attention of the Germans was the music that Merkel chose.

The chancellor is passionate about music, “mainly classical music,” she says, and is a regular at the Bayreuth Festival, dedicated to the German composer Richard Wagner.

So It was a surprise that German punk singer Nina Hagen was one of his three musical choices..

The other two pieces were quite traditional: a Hildegard Knef folk song called For Me It Should Rain Red Roses and an 18th century hymn.

But You Forgot The Color FilmHagen’s 1974 hit in East Germany is very different. The song is about a young man who goes on vacation with his girlfriend and forgets to bring color film to film the trip, and instead records in black and white.

“Now no one is going to believe us, how beautiful it was here, haha, haha,” sings Hagen, in an apparent reference to the colorlessness of old communist East Germany.

The choice widely impressed Germans, who saw it as testament to Angela Merkel’s underrated sense of humor and as a nod to her youth in East Germany.

New government

It is expected that the new government can be definitively formed in December, once it passes the vote in Parliament scheduled for between 6 and 9 of that month.

In the German press they have already dubbed him the “government semaphore”, by the colors of the parties that will form it (red for the Social Democrats, green for the greens and yellow for the Liberal Democrats).

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