Former minister takes stock
Guttenberg: “We are ruled by lonely people”
November 4, 2023, 4:02 p.m
At the age of 51 and a few years after the end of his political career, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg looks back on this time rather disillusioned. In his opinion, the country is ruled by lonely people.
According to the experience of former Federal Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, top politicians are losing their inner freedom – and their former friends. “It is a business that has destructive elements,” said CSU member zu Guttenberg to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. The “completely abnormal rhythm” leaves top politicians hardly any time to reflect. And with 15 or 16 appointments a day, you only see your family for a few hours a week. The price is loneliness.
“Yes, we are ruled by lonely people – but they claim the opposite,” said zu Guttenberg in the interview. There is no time to maintain friendships, so they are lost very quickly. After all, new bonds can sometimes form within politics. “The realization of mutual loneliness can also bring people together,” reported the 51-year-old. He also made some solid friendships in this way. “But almost exclusively in other parties. In your own shop you are easily a direct competitor. Or at least it is perceived that way.”
Zu Guttenberg initially had a brilliant career and was even considered a candidate for chancellor. Then he fell over plagiarism in his doctoral thesis. At the end of his political career, he said, he was at the end of his strength at the age of just 39, “after years of overexploitation.” “And yet I hope that young people with the will to shape things decide to get into politics. I hope that they don’t become disillusioned by rigid party structures.” To achieve this, there should be more opportunities to switch back and forth between politics and professional life.
Zu Guttenberg and his wife Stephanie recently announced that they had separated. The couple married in 2000 and have two daughters together.