“I thank you from the bottom of my heart”: Merkel’s tattoo speech in full

“I thank you from the bottom of my heart”
Merkel’s tattoo speech in full

After 16 years, Angela Merkel’s chancellorship ends – and with it an era too. The Bundeswehr says goodbye with the big tattoo. Merkel speaks of defending democracy and thanks her family. You can read the full speech here.

“Dear Federal President, dear President of the Bundestag, Your Excellencies, dear ladies and gentlemen, dear fellow citizens,

when I stand before you today, I feel this above all: gratitude and humility – humility in front of the office that I have been able to hold for so long; Gratitude for the trust that I was allowed to experience. I was always aware that trust is the most important asset in politics. It is anything but a matter of course, and for that I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I would also like to thank you, Federal Minister, dear Annegret, and the Bundeswehr for hosting the Great Zapfenstreich – especially at this place of the Bendler Block, which is so important in our history. My thanks also go to the staff music corps of the Bundeswehr for the musical accompaniment – all under the difficult conditions of the pandemic.

Therefore, at the beginning I would particularly like to think of those who, at the same time, are resisting the fourth wave of the pandemic with all their might, who are doing everything to save and protect lives: the doctors, the nurses in the hospitals, the vaccination teams, the helping hands in the Bundeswehr and in the aid organizations. My and all of us deserve special thanks and highest appreciation to all of them.

Today I sat down with the heads of government of the countries in another pandemic meeting. Now, a few hours later, I can bid you farewell to you after 16 years as Federal Chancellor in this festive setting. Little shows as much as this sequence what incredible time we are currently living in.

The 16 years as Federal Chancellor were eventful and often very challenging. They challenged me politically and personally, and at the same time they always fulfilled me. The past two years of the pandemic in particular have shown in a magnifying glass how important trust in politics, science and social discourse is, but also how fragile it can be.

Our democracy thrives on the ability to critically examine and correct oneself. It lives from the constant balance of interests and from the respect for one another. It lives from solidarity and trust, moreover also from trust in facts and from the fact that wherever scientific knowledge is denied and conspiracy theories and agitation are disseminated, contradictions must be voiced. Our democracy also lives from the fact that wherever hatred and violence are seen as a legitimate means of pursuing our own interests, our tolerance as democrats has to find its limit.

The diverse internal challenges are also reflected in foreign policy action, and not just since the pandemic. The financial and economic crisis of 2008 and the many people seeking refuge in 2015 made it clear how much we depend on cooperation across national borders and how indispensable international institutions and multilateral instruments are in order to be able to cope with the great challenges of our time : climate change, digitization, flight and migration. I would like to encourage you to always see the world through the eyes of the other in the future as well, so also to perceive the sometimes uncomfortable and contradicting perspectives of the other person, and to work to balance interests.

Ladies and gentlemen, my political work would not have been possible without the diverse support of political companions, both nationally and internationally. I would like to thank you all very much. I would like to thank my colleagues in the Federal Government, in the German Bundestag and in the German Bundesrat for our cooperation. I am also grateful for a culture of political debate that many other nations envy us for. I owe a very special, special thank you to my closest employees. Thank you for all the help and support, and so do my family.

Now it will be up to the next government to find answers to the challenges ahead and to shape our future. For this I wish you, dear Olaf Scholz, and the federal government that you lead all the best, the best of luck and every success. I am convinced that we can continue to shape the future well if we do not go to work with displeasure, resentment, pessimism, but, as I said three years ago in a different context, with happiness in our hearts . At least that’s how I always kept it to myself, in my life in the GDR and especially and all the more under the conditions of freedom. It is this happiness in the heart that I wish all of us and, in a figurative sense, our country for the future as well.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. “

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