Merkel at the farewell ceremony: Do not tolerate hatred

BERLIN – The outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel called on the Germans at a military ceremony on Thursday to say goodbye after 16 years in office to face the hatred.

Merkel was honored with a traditional military music performance and a march in front of almost the entire political elite in the country – with the exception of the right-wing extremist Alternative for Germany, which was not invited.

“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 reach its limits,” said a speech before the ceremony.

The event, which was not held in a more public setting at the Ministry of Defense due to the pandemic, included a parade and a marching band that played three songs of Merkel’s choice.

The first piece was “You Forgot the Color Film”, which was released in 1974 by the East German punk singer Nina Hagen. In it, the singer tells of a young woman’s complaint that her boyfriend failed to take color pictures of her beach vacation.

Like Merkel, Hagen grew up in the GDR, but emigrated to the West in 1976 after clashes with the authorities in the communist country.

Merkel declared that the song was “a high point of my youth, which, as is well known, took place in the GDR”. East Germany was officially known as the German Democratic Republic.

“It also happens that (the song) is playing in a region that was in my former constituency,” on the Baltic Sea, she added. “Everything fits together.”

Her second choice was a popular chanson by the German singer Hildegard Knef with the title “It Shall Rain Red Roses for Me”. She received a bouquet of flowers.

The last piece chosen by the daughter of a Protestant pastor was an 18th century Christian hymn: “Holy God, we praise your nameâ€.

Merkel will remain Chancellor until her successor, Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, is sworn in next week. She wished him and his new center-left government “all the best, good luck and good luck”.

The long-time director also urged her audience to “always see the world through the eyes of others†and to work “with joy in the heartâ€.

Before the ceremony on Thursday evening, she met with other federal and state heads to agree on new measures to contain coronavirus infections in Germany.