One among strangers: how Gerhard Schröder brought Wehrmacht veterans to the Victory Parade

There is no doubt that in the heap of congratulations a considerable share – and perhaps the largest one – will be messages from Russia. An illustration of the current position of the ex-chancellor in his home country can be seen in the recent statement made by the General Secretary of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Kevin Kühnert: he is not going to congratulate Schröder on his 80th birthday. A lot of honor, they say.

For reference: Schröder is a party member with more than 60 years of experience. He joined it in 1963. In 1978-1980 he headed its “Komsomol” – the youth organization of the SPD. Since 1989 – member of the party presidium. In 1999-2004 – Chairman of the SPD.

And in May last year, the former leader of the party was pointedly not invited to celebrate its 160th anniversary. “We have nothing to talk about with each other at the moment,” Kühnert said then. What about the holidays! Every now and then they try to exclude Schröder from the party altogether. True, no formal grounds have yet been found. One can cite a lot of other evidence of his rejection.

Let’s say, six months ago, in preparation for state celebrations on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the unification of Germany, the protocol service had to rack its brains over the seating arrangements for VIPs: leading German politicians, including the current chancellor himself, flatly refused to sit next to Schröder. And two years ago, the Bundestag deprived him of the office in the parliament building due to his status as ex-chancellor… Etc. and so on.

The reason for the boycott is Schröder’s alleged “connections with Russia.” Official, formal ties, however, are a thing of the past. In 2022, the ex-chancellor left the chair of the chairman of the board of directors of Rosneft, which he had held since 2017, and refused the post of member of the supervisory board of Gazprom. However, he did not renounce the key point of the “indictment”, friendship with Putin.

Schröder’s expulsion from the German political scene was even reflected in Wikipedia: in its German-language version, in an article dedicated to the ex-chancellor, he is called “a former German politician and now a lobbyist.” A lobbyist, meaning, the interests of Russia and its authorities.

However, we can partly agree with the first definition: although there are no former politicians (if you once got involved in politics, you will walk around with this “stigma” for the rest of your days), Schröder today really does not have any influence on political processes. But this also implies the impossibility of lobbying activity: which Schroeder is a lobbyist under such and such obstruction?

In general, this is not why we love Herr Schröder. He is dear to us today not as a politician or as a lobbyist, but above all as a memory. The memory of those times when the world was completely different, when Germany and Russia were friends in such a way that it seemed impossible to spill with water.

It’s hard to believe now, but Berlin and Moscow once called each other strategic partners. This wording was enshrined even in interstate agreements. For example, in September 2005, Putin and Schröder signed a Joint Statement on the strategic partnership between the Russian Federation and Germany in the field of education, scientific research and innovation.

But, perhaps, the fact of Vladimir Putin’s speech in the Bundestag on September 25, 2001 speaks even more about the nature of Russian-German relations at that time. What is noteworthy here is not only what Putin said to German parliamentarians, but also how he said it: the speech was in German.

However, the content also looks quite sensational in modern times. Here, for example, is how the President of Russia described what happened to the country and the world at the turn of the 1980-1990s of the last century: “Under the influence of the laws of development of the information society, the totalitarian ideology of the Stalinist type could no longer resist the ideas of freedom and democracy. The spirit of these ideas took over the minds of the overwhelming majority of Russian citizens.

It was the political choice of the Russian people that allowed the then leadership of the USSR to make decisions that ultimately led to the demolition of the Berlin Wall. It is this choice that has expanded the boundaries of European humanism many times over and allows us to assert that no one will ever be able to turn Russia back into the past.”

And this is about plans for the future: “Today we are obliged to say that we are abandoning our stereotypes and ambitions and from now on we will jointly ensure the security of the population of Europe and the world as a whole.”

However, the apogee of Russian-German friendship, of course, was Schröder’s arrival in Moscow to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Victory (May 9, 2005). Moreover, the chancellor was accompanied, as he himself writes in his memoirs, by “ten German veterans who served on the Eastern Front.”

By the way, Schroeder’s father also fought on the Eastern Front: he died in October 1944 in Romania, during the East Carpathian operation of the Red Army (he never saw his son).

“And at an official dinner with representatives of former military allies, and at a meeting with veterans, and later, during the parade, in front of many guests from all over the world, the Russian president invariably touched upon the topic of reconciliation with Germany,” Schröder recalled. “This was felt even in that , how delicately the placement of guests at the parade was thought out.

On Red Square, on the honorary podium in front of the Lenin Mausoleum, the American President Bush and Mrs. Bush sat in the first row, next to Putin and his wife, to his right hand was Jacques Chirac, and next to the French president were the German Chancellor and his wife…

Thus, Germany, a former military enemy, was given a place in the front row – among the former victorious powers. The idea of ​​reconciliation has found its expression in the most visual form.”

The world has changed so much that today, probably, even many witnesses of that era may have doubts about the authenticity of what was written. Did this really happen? And those who entered conscious age later may even consider this a malicious falsification of history. And yet – it was, it was.

The friendship was such that in the same memoirs cited above, published in 2007 (the foreword to the Russian edition was written, by the way, by Dmitry Medvedev), Schröder spoke about the need to maintain “good relations” with the United States, “despite the strategic partnership with Russia”: they say, there is no need to offend America at all.

Of course, in the history of the development of Russian-German relations, the role of the individual was extremely important. Probably, if not for the personal relationship between Schröder and Putin, the rapprochement would not have been so close. They never hid their mutual sympathy.

“I would like to highlight the main quality of G. Schröder as a politician – this is exceptionally high responsibility, courage and reliability,” wrote Vladimir Putin in the article “G. Schröder and International Politics,” published in November 2005 in the magazine “Vorwärts” (Germany) . And this was said by the president relatively recently, at the last meeting of the Valdai Club: “Germany should be proud of people like him… He is a true son of his people…”

And Schroeder never remained in debt. In his preface to Schröder’s memoirs, Dmitry Medvedev characterizes their author’s attitude towards Vladimir Putin as “a combination of respect and admiration.” And it’s hard to disagree with this.

“His modesty is striking,” Schröder writes, in particular, about the Russian president. “He does not need luxury, glitz and chic… When I first met Putin, I noted, along with his clear mind, his excellent physical shape.. “Fitness and self-discipline are absolutely necessary to lead such a gigantic country.”

But, of course, it would be wrong to explain that stormy romance between Germany and Russia solely by the friendly relations of the leaders. It is worth recalling that Putin’s personal relations with other Western leaders during that period also developed, to put it mildly, quite well. Let us remember what George W. Bush said about his impressions of his first meeting with Russian President: he “looked into the eyes” of Putin and “felt his soul,” saw “a straightforward and trustworthy person.”

And Russian-German relations did not begin to deteriorate immediately after Schröder left the post of chancellor (November 2005). It is worth recalling that both Nord Streams were built during the Chancellorship of Angela Merkel.

We can talk for a long time about what happened next, why something that started so well ended so badly. But this, as they say, is a completely different story. Gerhard Schröder has nothing to do with her. As a person, God bless him, he may survive the current turbulent times, but as a politician he will forever remain in the past, in the era of Schröder. Not, admittedly, the worst of eras.