LETTER FROM BERLIN
A few weeks ago, the name of Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) was displayed in golden letters above the door of one of the rooms of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Berlin. As of November 9, 2022, this is no longer the case. That Wednesday, thirty-three years to the day after the fall of the wall, the “Bismarck room” was renamed “German Unity room”. And the portrait of the former “iron chancellor” by Franz von Lenbach, which hung in the center of the back wall of this austere second-floor room, has been taken down.
Revealed the following December 6 by the daily Picturethis decision – like the controversy it arouses – reminds us to what extent, one hundred and twenty-four years after his death, Bismarck remains a divisive figure across the Rhine.
The precise reasons for this name change, however, remain relatively unclear. At Spiegelwhich devoted a long investigation to the affair, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs contented itself with replying that “nothing connects[ait] historically the room in question in Bismarck »and that its new name aims to highlight “the experience of reunification as a model of today’s German diplomacy”.
According to the weekly, the idea of renaming this room did not come directly from the current foreign minister, the ecologist Annalena Baerbock, but from one of his secretaries of state, Andreas Michaelis. Already in office under the previous government, when German diplomacy was led by the Social Democrat (SPD) Heiko Maas, this Secretary of State had proposed for the first time, in 2018, to change the name of the room . The Minister having considered that the decision should not be up to him, but to the senior civil servants who are used to meeting there, a vote was organized among the latter. That year, however, a majority decided to keep the Bismarck name. Four years later, Andreas Michaelis convinced the new foreign minister to organize a new consultation. And this time he won.
“German diplomacy would do better to take a thoughtful look at its history rather than conceal it. Jürgen Hardt, Christian Democrat MP (CDU)
If she did not take the initiative herself, Annalena Baerbock is nonetheless politically responsible for this decision which, unsurprisingly, was sharply criticized by the conservative right.
“This change of name aims to make people forget history, which the Greens are used to as soon as a reality does not correspond to their vision of the world”, accused the Christian Democratic MP (CDU) Jürgen Hardt in particular. And to add: “German diplomacy would do better to take a thoughtful look at its history rather than conceal it. The person of Bismarck and his action must of course be considered in a nuanced way today, but his historical importance for Germany and for the unity of our homeland is undeniable. »
You have 47.43% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.