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Tears and triumph are close together on this Saturday.
Around lunchtime, Kevin Kühnert turns away from the cameras to dig a handkerchief out of his pocket.
"It might be a bit strange for people who are watching now," says Kühnert, dabbing his eyes.
"Why is he crying around now?" The 31-year-old has just given his farewell speech as chairman of the Jusos - a possibly painful, but definitely an emotional experience.
But there is also the triumph.
The triumph that shows when Kühnert lists his successes: The Jusos have succeeded in shifting the “discourse” in recent years and months.
It is their job to “influence real political decisions”.
They had succeeded in filling places: in town halls, state parliaments or the European Parliament.
There is still a vacancy, says Kühnert, but it will be filled next year: "If we board this parliament with the largest youth movement that has ever made its way to the German Bundestag."
It is the self-confident expression of an SPD functionary who was never at a loss for clear words.
Kühnert knows what he has achieved in the last three years of his tenure: Under his leadership, the Jusos have become a powerful association.
Around 20,000 members have joined in the last few years, now there are almost 80,000.
The Berliner pushed the SPD in front of him by influencing content and staff.
Now Kühnert wants to resign - and the Jusos have to manage the transition.
At their federal congress on Saturday it becomes clear that they are by no means planning to revert to the old role of the party opposition.
On the contrary: with a new leadership and a program for the federal elections, they want to consolidate the path that Kühnert has taken.
Namely the path that Kühnert followed last.
Less rebellious.
Less radical.
But with the unconditional will to influence and power.
Jessica Rosenthal and predecessor Kevin Kühnert
Source: Getty Images
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"About 80 have made their way," says Kühnert - and means his Juso friends, who have already announced that they will run for the Bundestag.
Many of them submitted their applications faster, earlier and more publicly than older Social Democrats.
Kühnert himself announced that he would be running for the Berlin district of Tempelhof-Schöneberg, and many others did the same.
It is not about posts, the outgoing Juso boss claims on Saturday, not even about influence for the sake of influence.
Instead, the motto is: "We will make the future ourselves."
Rhetorically skillful, he presents his youth organization as an association that had its finger on the pulse from an early age.
The Jusos had already demonstrated against the bad effects of globalization at the G8 summit in Heiligendamm in 2007.
They went to Belarus when others had no idea of the dictatorship there.
They had already demonstrated against the AfD when others "smiled away" them.
“To listen more to Jusos often means to notice earlier where dangerous political debates are pending.” Kühnert goes unmentioned that the Jusos jumped on the climate change train much too late.
When they finally developed a comprehensive program for this purpose last year, the Fridays for Future movement had been on the streets for almost a year.
In general it is noticeable what Kühnert does not address today.
Unlike last year, he does not use the word “radicalism” in his mouth.
He only touched on his socialization theses when he criticized that he was criticized as a provocateur for this statement in 2019.
He only roughly reveals the main features of the Juso program: less capitalism, more state, more investments.
He leaves the details to his colleagues from the federal executive board - and his potential successor.
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Jessica Rosenthal, 28, a teacher from North Rhine-Westphalia, is the only one running for Kühnert's successor.
In the past she has made it clear that she is firmly committed to the socialist program of the Jusos.
But today there is no revolutionary rhetoric.
Instead: a clear speech - and a clear program.
“Do you know Dieter Schwarz?” She asks, referring to “the mighty founder” of the Schwarz Group, to which Lidl and Kaufland belong.
This had increased his assets in the Corona crisis by "11.1 billion euros".
It is built on the “back of the employees”.
“Anyone who still needs proof that capitalism and justice are as far apart as feminist emancipation and Friedrich Merz's worldview should look to the Schwarz group, comrades.” The Greens, too, attacked Rosenthal, whom they accuse, the employees not having enough in view.
As the most important concern, she calls for a right to work, the state should guarantee jobs for people who have not got a job in the private sector.
It is better to finance work than unemployment.
How the program itself is to be financed, Rosenthal initially does not explain on Saturday.
Boldly wiped the tears from his face in between
Source: Getty Images
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But that doesn't bother those present noticeably.
The speech is charismatic.
Identifying an enemy image, naming a problem, offering a solution yourself: a well-known means to
Convince people.
The Jusos only clap cautiously - most of them are digitally connected due to the Corona crisis.
But there is no contradiction, on the contrary.
Even those who criticized Kühnert's course last year are now standing behind the new top, which still has to be confirmed by postal vote.
After Rosenthal, the head of the Hamburg regional association speaks and promises her his support.
In the past, Hamburg had positioned itself more centrally than the left Juso tip.
Behind this new unity and clear program lies a strategic and communicative skill from which the parent party is far removed.
The Jusos also know this and confidently make it clear to the party leadership that the election campaign will not run without them.
It is you who will be sticking up posters during the election campaign and standing at the stands.
For their commitment they expect to be heard and to be supported in their candidacies for the Bundestag.
And they get the promise - at least in the beginning.
Because the party leaders Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans are there - as well as SPD chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz.
The Federal Finance Minister knows that some Jusos are having a hard time with him - and would rather not have seen him as a candidate for chancellor.
Today he is soliciting their trust - and promising, for example, that the billions in investments demanded by the Jusos will be his concern.
Esken and Walter-Borjans are even more specific.
Esken announced that she supported part of the Juso election manifesto demands.
For example, after a “free public transport”.
And Walter-Borjans is modest.
"Thank you for letting Saskia and I speak to you today," the boss says to the offspring.
The statement shows how much power in the SPD has shifted.