Thursday, December 02, 2021
Emotional big tattoo
Do tears flow with Merkel too?
The big tattoo of the Bundeswehr is not just about music. The predecessors of long-time Chancellor Angela Merkel had tears when they said goodbye. So how will Merkel react, what does she say in her seven-minute speech?
For Angela Merkel, it is initially a completely normal working day in times of the pandemic. On Thursday afternoon, the Executive Chancellor will meet the Prime Ministers of the federal states via video link. As has often been the case since the beginning of the Corona crisis in spring 2020, the focus is on more stringent measures to reduce contact.
But this time it is above all a day of farewell for Merkel. Not only that it will be the very last Prime Minister’s Conference that she will chair. In the evening, the Bundeswehr also said goodbye to the Chancellor with a big tattoo. Her SPD successor Olaf Scholz is to be sworn in in the Bundestag next week.
The great tattoo is considered to be the highest honor that the German armed forces can bestow on a civilian. In addition to federal chancellors, federal presidents and defense ministers are also honored with the custom when they pass. Its origins go back to the 16th century. The ceremony always takes place in the evening, it consists of a parade, several pieces of music – including the national anthem – and the march out. Torches are also included when Merkel receives the ceremony in the Bendlerblock, the Berlin headquarters of the Ministry of Defense.
Schröder and Kohl showed emotions
How much emotion will physicist Merkel, often described as a sober pragmatist, show that evening? Your predecessors in office, Gerhard Schröder and Helmut Kohl, were deeply touched by the ceremonies. When the staff music corps of the German Armed Forces in Hanover in mid-November 2005, at Schröder’s request, intoned Frank Sinatra’s “My way” as the last song, tears came to the eyes of the outgoing Chancellor.
In mid-October 1998, Kohl was honored with a big tattoo on his farewell in Speyer, Palatinate. More than once he was moved to tears in front of the backdrop of the old imperial cathedral, reported reporters at the time. When he finished his address to 450 soldiers and more than 15,000 spectators with the words “I wish our fatherland luck and God’s blessing”, his voice seemed to fail.
The 67-year-old Merkel does not have that much pathos. Seven minutes are allotted for her speech. Because of the corona pandemic, there are significantly fewer guests than usual, and a reception is not planned. The 2G-plus rule applies. Only people who have been vaccinated or have recovered and who have also taken an up-to-date test are allowed in.
Merkel has invited a good 50 federal ministers from her time in government, as well as a number of companions from various areas of society. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is expected as a guest of honor, he will be accompanied by his wife Elke Büdenbender.
Reminiscence of your own youth
The outgoing Chancellor sets the tone with her selection of the traditional three pieces of music for the evening. “It should rain red roses for me” from Hildegard Knef wanted Merkel and the ecumenical hymn “Great God, we praise you”. She grew up in a parish household – her father Horst Kasner, who died in 2011, was a Protestant theologian. Merkel’s mother Herlind, who was still there when her daughter was sworn in as chancellor for the fourth time on March 14, 2018, is dead – she died in April 2019.
A reminiscence of Merkel’s youth in the GDR should be that the Bundeswehr should also play the title “You forgot the color film”. The punk singer Nina Hagen landed a hit with it in the GDR in 1974. For many East Germans, who may have wanted the Chancellor to acknowledge their roots more often, this could be a signal. Nina Hagen wrote in her autobiography that the song was dripping with irony, that it played “in the milieu of an insane longing to escape this black and white world”. A sample of the piece can already be seen in a video on Twitter – and it generated enthusiasm.
Merkel’s selection of the Bundeswehr staff music corps created time pressure. “The requests came late and surprised me,” said conductor and Lieutenant Colonel Reinhard Kiauka of the daily newspaper “taz”. “We had nine days ahead of time. It’s sporty.” The songs by Knef and Hagen were not in the music archive – the instrumentation for the Zapfenstreich is set with wind instruments and percussion. A clarinetist from the music corps wrote a new arrangement within two days. It will be interesting to see how Merkel reacts to the pieces of music.