Enlarge image

Frank-Walter Steinmeier also had to be patient in Leipzig

Photo: Jan Woitas/dpa

On Wednesday the Chancellor had to deal with disruptive activists, today the Federal President was affected. Frank-Walter Steinmeier also couldn't give his speech at the Leipzig Book Fair without interruption. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators disrupted Steinmeier's lecture on several occasions.

Seven activists called for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war and accused Israel of genocide. Steinmeier addressed the interruptions in his lecture several times. "You left your message, we don't agree, but we heard you," said Steinmeier. The activists were led out of the Old Stock Exchange by security guards.

The day before, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's speech at the opening of the book fair was interrupted several times by activists.

Fittingly, in his speech, Steinmeier called on people in Germany to be willing to talk to each other and warned against isolation and sticking to their own positions. In a society as diverse as Germany's, there will always be different experiences, different resonance spaces, depending on where you live and grew up, said Steinmeier after the speech manuscript published in advance. "There's only one thing that shouldn't happen: that these different worlds of experience become isolated retreats around which walls are built."

Society needs “curiosity instead of self-reflection, openness instead of withdrawal, trust instead of mistrust, suggestions instead of accusations,” said Steinmeier. "Because we only have political strength as a community and not if we see ourselves primarily as victims of differences." What is needed is energy for the major challenges ahead, trust in ourselves and a common narrative of our democracy. »We are a strong country that has also mastered crises in the past - with energy and ideas. Let’s trust that we will continue to succeed in this in the future.”

If Germans looked back this year on 75 years of the Basic Law and 35 years of the fall of the Berlin Wall, they could be proud of a lot. »Many things have been successful in our democracy. We still can't just sit back and relax in this double anniversary year," emphasized Steinmeier. Because democracy is threatened from outside and inside more than before. »That's why this double anniversary year is a year of joy and testing. Protecting and strengthening our democracy, making it more defensive, that is the test we face.«

svs/dpa