Press
Grab hold, hold on tight: these are core skills in politics. Only a few have mastered the art of letting go. Horst Seehofer wants to achieve this. He is now turning 75.
Horst Seehofer once prophesied that a political life would not be possible “without wounds and scars”. That sounds grim, but anyone who comes face to face with him now will not find a sickly veteran, limping with wounds. Seehofer welcomes guests in his garden in Ingolstadt-Gerolfing with a mischievous smile and a firm handshake, upright and ten kilos slimmer than before. He is clearly doing well in retirement. The lawn has been mowed, by him. “Retirement is a nice job,” he likes to say. There are wounds and scars, but he has dealt with it all quite well.
The concern was: Will he become a copycat?
In fact, when Seehofer, once the father of the country, turns 75 the day after tomorrow, he can claim that he has mastered the transition from alpha male to dropout with ease. Nobody thought he was capable of it. The “Spiegel”, which has always followed Seehofer with a deep love-hate relationship, dubbed him “The Grey Recalcitrance” in 2018. That suggested the worst for his retirement, another complainer and a complainer.
That was the first time I really realized that I am just a tiny little worm.
Instead, at the end of 2021, he simply went silent for a while. He gave only a few interviews and weighed his words carefully. A few subtle barbs against his successor Markus Söder – yes, that is one of the scars -, a bit of dig at Angela Merkel. He allows himself the luxury of being right, especially in migration policy. But he does not turn that into frontal attacks. “If you stop, you have to let go,” he told our newspaper last year. “I had my time. It was incredibly beautiful.”
His life: a rollercoaster ride
Well, it wasn’t always so nice. Horst Lorenz Seehofer’s career was actually a wild rollercoaster ride. He, the son of a truck driver, started out as an administrative inspector with a high school diploma. With a bit of luck, he was elected to the Bundestag, in Bonn at the time. Later, under Kohl, he became Federal Minister of Health from 1992 to 1998, and under Merkel, he became Minister of Agriculture and then Federal Minister of the Interior. In between, in 2008, he took over a struggling CSU as government and party leader for a decade, leading it back to an absolute majority.
![In the basement of the holiday home in the Altmühltal](https://www.merkur.de/assets/images/34/968/34968369-im-keller-des-ferienhauses-im-altmuehltal-Q4BG.jpg)
But also: falls. Seehofer’s resignation as deputy leader of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in 2004, a scandal over health policy, is legendary. Things got ugly in 2007, when an extramarital affair became public, although it is still not entirely clear how. Equally bitter, of course, was his departure from Bavaria when he lost the tough power struggle against Söder in 2018. He survived all of that politically. Although “survival” has a bitterly serious connotation for Seehofer.
In the intensive care unit he struggled with death
In January 2002, politics almost cost him his life. He became seriously ill with myocarditis, continued to work hard, and sought treatment far too late. He was taken to hospital at the last minute, his heart rate had dropped to seven percent, he was too weak to stand, and was torn apart by a coughing fit when he lay down. He spent three weeks in intensive care fighting for his life. “Suddenly I was an unconscious patient,” he later said. “It was the first time in my life that I really realized that I was just a tiny little worm.”
That shaped him and kept him grounded. Since then, he has not always taken it easy, as the doctors recommended. But he has slowed down now and then, even as Prime Minister, for example in his scheduling. Not everything is so tightly timed, preferring to spend more time with people he talks to. Journalists knew that he always took a few minutes to explain his often complex strategies.
Sometimes Seehofer even baffled his opponents. In Ingolstadt he once sat at a beer table one evening with a green-haired punk who had previously tried to disrupt his performance. They argued. As they left, they shook hands.
Old rival Söder praises: thoroughbred politician
Söder has very kind words for his birthday. “He managed crises in difficult times, actively shaped the future, and gave people confidence as a father of the country,” he says. “A thoroughbred politician.”
![CDU/CSU energy congress with Merkel and Seehofer](https://www.merkur.de/assets/images/34/968/34968355-cdu-csu-energiekongress-mit-merkel-und-seehofer-QQBG.jpg)
And now? Ceremonies? Eulogies? Birthday receptions? Seehofer has declined, say those in the CSU. He is celebrating with his wife. “As a very relaxed pensioner,” says his daughter Susanne, “he doesn’t want to celebrate in a big way. But of course he can’t avoid spontaneous visits from his children and grandchildren. He just has to get through it.”
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