Big tattoo for Angela Merkel. The Bundeswehr said goodbye to the outgoing Chancellor, who was allowed to wish three songs for the ceremony. All information in the news ticker.
- Angela Merkel * will be adopted as Federal Chancellor on Thursday (October 2).
- The Bundeswehr pays tribute to the CDU politician with a big tattoo.
- Merkel was allowed to create the background music for the evening herself.
This news ticker is continuously updated.
Update from December 2, 7:29 p.m .: Now things are being rebuilt, Merkel takes a seat in an armchair to take off the big tattoo. The move begins.
Update from December 2nd, 7:25 p.m .: Merkel thanks those present and the Bundeswehr for organizing this tattoo for them “under the difficult conditions of the pandemic”. She talks about what it’s like to say goodbye after 16 years as Chancellor. The years were “eventful, but also challenging,” said Merkel.
She mentions important political events in recent years, the financial crisis, the refugee crisis and also the pandemic. You have always advocated a balance of interests. Her speech ends with the words: “I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
Update from December 2nd, 7:22 p.m .: The guests have already taken their seats, now Angela Merkel is coming, accompanied by Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. Merkel will first give a speech before the ceremony begins.
Update from December 2nd, 6.15 p.m .: The big tattoo for Angela Merkel will be broadcast live on ZDF on Thursday evening. The second switches to the farewell ceremony from 7:20 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.
Update from December 2, 3:40 p.m.: The Corona summit is over. In the evening, Angela Merkel will go to the big tattoo with the Bundeswehr. Before that, she also received her song selection at the press conference after the federal-state meeting. On the GDR hit “You forgot the color film” by Nina Hagen, Merkel said: “The song was a highlight of my youth.” Merkel was born in Hamburg, but grew up in the GDR. A few weeks after she was born, the family moved to East Germany. Merkel spent large parts of her childhood and youth in the Uckermark.
On the sidelines of the Corona summit, the farewell ceremony of the outgoing Chancellor should also have been briefly discussed. As the image reports, soon-to-be Chancellor Olaf Scholz is said to have given a small swipe at Merkel. When Thuringia’s Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow asked how to deal with contact restrictions when parting, there was a brief silence. Scholz is said to have joked in the direction of Merkel: “Cancel the Zapfenstreich?” Merkel smiled and received support from Hamburg’s First Mayor Peter Tschentscher: “That’s nasty,” the SPD politician is said to have replied with a smile.
Merkel’s tattoo: “Goodbye, Chancellor” under Corona rules
First report from December 2nd: Berlin – Angela Merkel has experienced many eventful days in 16 years as Chancellor. Towards the end of her term of office, an exciting and stressful day is on the program on Thursday (December 2nd). First, the executive head of government decides on new restrictions on the sidelines of the Corona summit – then the party is going to take place.
Merkel’s big tattoo is on the program on Thursday evening. The Bundeswehr said goodbye to the CDU politician in front of the Berlin office of the Federal Ministry of Defense. The one-hour ceremony is the highest form of military homage to German soldiers. The ceremony has a long tradition in military history and may only be performed on very special occasions.
The corona pandemic * forces an adjustment of the traditional ceremonial: The event takes place under 2G-plus conditions, the number of guests is limited, they must wear an FFP2 mask and, if possible, keep a minimum distance of 1.5 meters from each other .
Big tattoo: This is the farewell by the Bundeswehr
The origins of the Zapfenstreich go back to the days of the mercenaries in the 16th century. At that time, a troop leader in inns and taverns announced the beginning of the night’s rest with a stroke on the spigot of the drink barrels – hence the name “Zapfenstreich”. After that, the innkeepers were no longer allowed to serve the soldiers. Over the centuries this signal was musically enhanced by playing the trumpet, flute and drum.
The ceremonial emerged in its current form in the early 19th century during the wars of liberation, when the ritual was supplemented by a short evening song and then also by a prayer. The big tattoo of the Bundeswehr today consists of the “luring” of the minstrels, the appearance of the music corps and the mounted troops, a prayer and the national anthem.
Merkels-Zapfenstreich: song selection poses problems for the Bundeswehr
Personally selected pieces of music by the honoree are also played. Angela Merkel has decided on a total of three songs *. Merkel, who was born in Hamburg but grew up in the GDR, wanted the GDR hit “You forgot the color film” by Nina Hagen. Merkel and Hagen already had a point of contact on television in the past. In 1992, the then Federal Minister for Youth and Women, together with the punk singer, was a guest on the Sat.1 talk show “Talk in the Tower”. During the discussion about heroin addiction, Hagen landed a scandal that is known to this day: with the words “I’m fed up with your lies, your hypocrisy”, she yelled at Merkel and other panellists and finally left the studio.
In addition, the outgoing Chancellor relies on the chanson “For me it should rain red roses” by Hildegard Knef and the hymn “Great God, we praise you”. The sometimes unusual requests presented the military musicians with a difficult task: the pieces by Hagen and Knef were not in the music archive of the Bundeswehr Orchestra, reported the taz citing the conductor.
Merkel will also give a short speech at the Zapfenstreich (around 7:20 p.m.). She is only the second woman to be honored by the Bundeswehr with a major tattoo. The first was Ursula von der Leyen * when she said goodbye as Federal Defense Minister in August 2019. In this ticker we will keep you up to date on all developments relating to the big tattoo. The ZDF shows the ceremony in the special program “End of an Era – Big Zapfenstreich for Angela Merkel”. (as / AFP) *Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
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