Frank-Walter Steinmeier: “You are not alone with your suffering”

Frank-Walter Steinmeier
“You are not alone with your suffering”

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on April 18 in Berlin

© imago images / Future Image

At a memorial ceremony for those who died in the corona pandemic, Frank-Walter Steinmeier spoke about “deep wounds”.

On April 18, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (65, “Long live our democracy!”) Hosted a central memorial service for those who died during the corona pandemic in the Konzerthaus Berlin. In a moving speech, he expressed his sympathy and invoked the cohesion of the citizens. In Germany alone, almost 80,000 people have now died as a result of an infection with the coronavirus.

“Gaps torn in a terrible way”

The pandemic had “struck deep wounds everywhere and tore holes in terrible ways,” said Steinmeier. Tired of “the burden of the pandemic” it takes “a moment to pause, a moment beyond day-to-day politics, a moment that brings us together to take a look at human tragedy […]”Allow. One should not only remember those who died of Covid-19:” Many others, without being infected with the virus, were alone under the conditions of the pandemic; died without assistance or farewell. ”

On April 18, one should “look not at numbers and statistics, but at the people who have passed away”. Many, not only in Germany, but all over the world, have died without their loved ones being able to see them again: “We think of everyone who at the moment of their death could not hear a familiar voice or see a familiar face. They die had to without a last tender word, one last loving look, one last handshake. ”

At the same time, however, Steinmeier also thought of doctors, nurses, pastors and other helpers, as well as of the bereaved. Many would have “stood in front of locked hospital doors pleading to be allowed to see their wife or husband once more, their mother, their father, their daughter, their son. There are no words for your pain. But we hear your complaint. We understand your bitterness. ” On this day they wanted to express sympathy for those who mourn and say to them: “You are not alone in your grief, not alone in your grief.”

“Worry and uncertainty”

Everyone feels “worry and uncertainty” during the pandemic, said Steinmeier. Therefore, think on this Sunday of those who were hit particularly hard by the crisis, including people who suffer from the long-term effects of an illness, are mentally ill or who “fear for their existence”. Everyone carries “an extraordinary burden” and Steinmeier sees that there is “some bitterness and anger”.

Many citizens wrote to the Federal President and asked themselves “whether humanity sometimes fell by the wayside when trying to save human lives”. It is “a bitter truth” that “restrictions that are necessary in the exceptional situation of the pandemic have inadvertently also caused suffering and hardship”. In politics, “sometimes tragic decisions” have been made “in order to prevent an even greater catastrophe. […] And where there have been errors or omissions, we have to and will deal with them. But not that day. Not today.”

The country should not allow “the pandemic, which already forces us to distance ourselves as humans, also drives us apart as a society!” Already at the beginning of the Corona crisis last year, one saw “how much common sense and compassion there is in this society”. It is precisely this fellow humanity that is “a ray of hope in the dark”: “And I believe that this is the existential, lasting experience of this pandemic: When the going gets tough, we depend on others – and others on us! ” It was not for nothing that Steinmeier concluded with the words: “Let’s stay together and take care of each other.”

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