Honoring Ulrich Matthes
Merkel surprises with a performance in Bellevue Palace
5/3/2022 4:32 p.m
For 16 years, Angela Merkel has been virtually omnipresent as chancellor. After she retired from politics, the Christian Democrat became quiet. However, Merkel does not want to be denied the honor of the actor Ulrich Mathes.
For years, photos of Angela Merkel were so commonplace that you could almost miss them when reading the news. everyday life. But things have changed since the fall – the appearances of the former chancellor have become rare. Today, Tuesday, she came to Bellevue Palace in Berlin because actor Ulrich Matthes was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit there. Some know him from the theater and many from television.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier praised him as a committed citizen and wonderful actor. Steinmeier spoke about Thomas Bernhard’s “Der Theatermacher”, the acting profession – and about meatballs. Because they, he said, were in the canteen of the Deutsches Theater when they met there.
Merkel has also seen Matthes there on stage. The 62-year-old once described her as an interested theatergoer. “She then asks about staging or playful details and thinks out loud about what has just happened,” he wrote in the anthology “The High Art of Politics. The Angela Merkel Era”. On Tuesday, Merkel sat quietly next to other guests in the front row. He was “very touched, I’m embarrassed and nervous anyway,” said Matthes in his acceptance speech.
When he received the news in winter that he would receive the award, he was extremely happy. However, this anticipation was clouded by Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression in Ukraine. “The news and pictures do something to all of us,” said Matthes. “It’s war in Europe and it’s terrible.”
With Matthes in the restaurant
Russia attacked Ukraine in February, and millions of people have fled since then. Questions about Merkel’s reign have also arisen since then. The CDU politician was Chancellor from 2005 to 2021. Recently there had also been debates about Steinmeier’s planned visit to Kyiv – he had actually wanted to go there in April, but was rejected at short notice.
Matthes finally made a plea for social commitment in a few minutes. Democracy is a fragile structure. Politicians have to work on it on a large scale and “all of us” have to work on their small microcosm to keep it alive. He described his job as a privilege – exploring the abysses in a game, for example, but also “all of our splendor, all of our ability to imagine, to empathize”.
Matthes belongs to the ensemble of the Deutsches Theater in Berlin. But he is always in front of the camera. Most recently, he was seen in the thriller “Munich – In the Face of War” on Netflix. He was President of the German Film Academy for three years. Over the years, he and Merkel have also arranged to meet up outside of the Deutsches Theater, he wrote in the anthology. He remembers a restaurant date in January 2020. “As soon as she greeted her, she said: ‘Well, you look a bit gray, aren’t you fine?'” Matthes wrote. His state of mind was a bit shaky at the time and she took the first three quarters of an hour to talk about it.
Merkel said nothing officially during the ceremony on Tuesday. She smiled at the group photo. This time she didn’t make a diamond with her hands. The cameras clicked. “Good,” said Steinmeier at some point and the guests withdrew behind closed doors. At least from Tuesday there is a new picture of Angela Merkel.