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Sixteen years is a long time - especially in politics.
And yet in the end it may only be a few months that will decide which image - and which images - of Angela Merkel's chancellorship will be remembered as defining.
Your party, the CDU, elected a new chairman at the weekend.
It is already the second attempt to arrange the succession of Angela Merkel and we will see whether it is more successful than the first.
Already two years ago, when she announced her withdrawal from the party leadership, the big summary began.
The tenor was that not many would have bet that Angela Merkel would remain in office until the end of the legislative period.
Also this week we will be able to read a lot of articles that not only deal with the new chairman, but also declare the Merkel era over.
I still think that's too early today.
Because right now we are not finished in any way.
But in the middle of it all.
From miner's son to candidate for chancellor - "That would be a nice headline"
The new CDU chairman Armin Laschet also wants to stand for continuity in his party.
In an interview with WELT he says: “My goal is to lead and bring together.” When asked about the candidacy for chancellor, he evades.
Source: WELT / Michael Wüllenweber
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Right in the middle of a pandemic that can certainly be called historical in its scope and consequences.
We all have to deal with something every day for which we cannot fall back on any pattern of experience: none of us has experienced anything like this before.
This pandemic hits us existentially.
And it affects each of us, regardless of money or power and influence.
At the same time, we are at a point where we feel that the constitution of our democratic system is being redefined.
There is a lot at stake in this.
How resilient is this democracy?
The images of the storming of the Capitol in Washington by a mob no longer open to argument have so disturbed us also because there is hardly a stronger image of the fragility of a democracy that we have considered unshakable.
The fear creeps up on us that not only in America, but also here here in Europe, in Germany, it may not take much to make the unthinkable happen.
The pandemic acts as both a catalyst and a fire accelerator, in a process that decides how we will live together in the future: how stable this society will be, how united or divided, how democratic or authoritarian, how solidarity or ego-driven, how openly diverse or hermetically reactionary.
Exit open.
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I like to admit it: I am reassured that the Chancellor is Angela Merkel in this situation.
As pathetic as it sounds, it gives me hope that our chances of getting through this double crisis will be much greater as a result.
Not because I believe that Angela Merkel will solve all problems single-handedly - which politician could do that?
- but because, in addition to all of her experience, she has brought a style and tone into German politics, the impact and value of which now seems more valuable than seldom before.
Also because this acts like the counter-model to a political behavior that we are currently experiencing all around us.
Can he prevail and become chancellor?
Armin Laschet
Source: Amin Akhtar / WORLD
It is quiet, where otherwise the loud tones dominate the debate without being less power conscious.
It is driven by an analytical rationality where the populist claim increasingly replaces the political argument.
And above all, he sets a female counterpoint to the male-dominated political narcissism, which not only stands out pleasantly in the whole testosterone-driven, male-union political scene, but is also absolutely necessary.
Because he not only follows power, but also combines political action with empathy.
Angela Merkel's political style has long been misunderstood.
She was often accused of lack of attitude and vision, and of orienting her political action towards the path of least resistance and the preservation of the option of power.
Her decision to phase out nuclear power after the reactor accident in Fukushima was interpreted as a spontaneous populist turnaround.
I felt differently.
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With this decision and with the decision not to close the borders in view of the flow of refugees, she has occupied the most important topics of our time: The question of our responsibility for dealing with our environment and the importance of migration.
Not following a cheap calculation, but out of the humane conviction to do what was necessary at the moment - and still is.
The interaction of power, reason and empathy is particularly evident in the final phase of Angela Merkel's chancellorship.
Because it now combines perfectly with the weight of the experience of a long life as a politician, and with a personal life experience.
And it is becoming more approachable because Angela Merkel, unlike in the past, lets herself look more into the cards in what she does.
It is remarkable what authority and sovereign independence this Chancellor exudes at a time when many of her predecessors were paralyzed by the office.
Angela Merkel's political integrity is immense.
But also her personal - unthinkable that this politician would subject her actions to a personal, even a material advantage.
This integrity of a Federal Chancellor, which stands above any materialism and egoism, is perhaps the most important stabilizer we have in a world that threatens to fall apart.
There are complicated months ahead of us, with unreasonable expectations that we presumably continue to underestimate, as well as the fundamental social impact they will have.
These months will not only be about defeating the pandemic, but also preventing a division in society.
It is important to maintain the social balance of a society that, in view of the crisis, must not only submit to economic materialism.
Whether we can do this will also determine whether we can really live diversity and diversity together, or whether exclusion and egoism (again) gain the upper hand.
A duo?
Merkel and Laschet under the sign of the pandemic
Source: REUTERS
All of this will also focus on Armin Laschet in perspective - the question of his own integrity, the focus on social balance, diversity, the great desire for a different coexistence - personality, tone, one's own political life experience - it is more about them than ever honest, noticeable resilience of political morality.
Taking over the chairmanship of the party may be an exciting test - and it has not yet been decided how the two Union parties will vote on the candidacy for chancellor.
There is a general election on September 21.
The world may be different at this point.
And then Angela Merkel will no longer be Chancellor.
It is still difficult for me to imagine it.
Nico Hofmann is the head of UFA, one of the largest film and television production companies in Europe. As a director and producer, he has been responsible for many major film adaptations of contemporary history, including "Our Mothers, Our Fathers", "The Tunnel" and "Naked Among Wolves". Hofmann's father was a Bonn correspondent for the "Rheinpfalz" and knew Helmut Kohl well. In 2009 Hofmann produced the film “The Man from the Palatinate” about Kohl's life.