News about upcoming events is still spread here on flyers, so when I saw advertisements for a Friday afternoon rally with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Marienplatz — Munich’s historic central square — I decided to check it out. It was markedly different from any political event I’ve covered in the U.S. during the last 15 years.
First, a bit of context. As chancellor, Scholz is the top figure in the executive branch of the German federal government – equivalent to the U.S. president. He’s a member of the SPD, which in German politics is basically a center-left party. But in the state of Bavaria, which includes Munich, the SPD is historically far less popular than the Christian conservative parties — CDU and the local version, CSU. A recent poll has the SPD at around 10%. There are no federal elections this year, but there are state contests here in Bavaria in October and Scholz was in town for a campaign kick-off.
I don’t speak German well enough to have understood the chancellor’s entire speech or to pick up on any rhetorical nuances. But I was reminded of a passage Norman Mailer wrote when covering the 1968 political conventions for Harper’s Magazine:
Unless one knows him well, or has done a sizable work of preparation, it is next to useless to interview a politician. … One cannot therefore tell a great deal from interviews with a candidate. His teeth are bound to be white, his manner mild and pleasant, his presence attractive, and his ability to slide off the question and return with an answer is as implicit in the work of his jaws as the ability to bite a piece of meat. Interviewing a candidate is about as intimate as catching him on television. Therefore, it is sometimes easier to pick up the truth of his campaign by studying the outriggers of his activity.
Scholz appeared on a stage in the western part of the square, flanked by a large display screen. There was an area in the middle of the square for supporters and then space on the sides for protesters. (Germans, who as we’ve established are all about following the rules, only went in if they were going to behave.) I started on the outside and then entered the pen a bit later.
Access would be highly controlled for any political rally in the U.S. with an official of Scholz’s stature. Whenever President Biden goes on the stump, tickets to any event are tightly regulated and attendees have to be fully screened by security and in place about an hour before the president shows up. By contrast, I was able to walk up to the entrance, show someone at the table checking bags that I only had a water bottle, and was waved in. And there was plenty of space: even though Munich is a city of around 1.5 million people, the SPD didn’t fill the square.
But the protesters came out in force. Most of the people where I was standing initially were faulting Scholz over the German government’s support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. There was a person on stilts dressed as a dove; other people waved peace flags and held anti-NATO signs. They yelled “hau ab!” — an impolite version of “get out!” — and said “boo” in a German accent, which sounded very funny to me.
Most notably, though, were the whistles. A cacophony of whistles that drowned out Scholz’s words for anyone who wasn’t standing in the SPD pen. It was widespread and sustained, and only stopped when a moderator declared the program would be paused at 5 p.m. so everyone could watch the famous glockenspiel at Munich’s Neues Rathaus. In the modern U.S. it would be unheard of for a counter-protest to get so close to the main event, lest the officials speaking be thrown off script.
Scholz appeared in shirtsleeves that were rolled up above his forearms and pressed ahead. He started his speech with a strong defense of his support for Ukraine, and also talked about the importance of energy independence and maintaining Germany’s export economy. There was polite applause. According to Süddeutsche Zeitung, Scholz “countered the pacifists on Marienplatz with their doves of peace - ‘symbols of the 1980s’ as he noted - that they were ‘fallen angels from hell speaking to a warmonger,’” namely Vladimir Putin.
The chancellor spoke for 26 minutes and walked away after shaking a few hands from the stage. The crowd dissipated without any incident. Nobody played any music during the event, so attendees and passersby were left with sore ears from all the whistling and minds that didn’t really seem to have changed.
CORRECTION: Last week I said that Al Pacino did the famous “I’m walkin’ here!” exhortation in Midnight Cowboy. It was, of course, Dustin Hoffman. What an embarrassing error; thanks to the many readers who wrote to correct and chastise me.
THE QUESTION: What beach sport is popular in Munich’s Englischer Garten, even though it’s a landlocked city?
Know the answer? Drop me a line at jimmy.vielkind@gmail.com. Or just write with thoughts, feedback or to say hi.
THE LAST ANSWER: Germans, on average, drink more coffee than beer. One of my teachers at Sprachschule told us this, and the Internet confirms it.