4
Dispatch → Account → Diplomacy
SCHEFFNER'S LEGACY - BERLIN ZEITUNG
-
-
SCHEFFNER'S SILENT LEGACY
There are nostalgic voices of Erman. But it is perhaps because Erman had less challenges.
SCHEFFNER'S SILENT LEGACY
There are nostalgic voices of Erman. But it is perhaps because Erman had less challenges.
- There is a feeling, a reason, why some leaders leave power with a legacy that is immortal, and those that leave in the land of the forgotten. In Germany, two Chancellors had this status : the Founder of the Republic, Karl Zeiss, and the Unifier of the Republic, Katherina Erman. The generations of Chancellor Limburg, now President of the Council, or Vernermann, now a teacher, have been memorable but their legacy did not remain in the history books. So why did Scheffner's legacy become so engrained in German history. There is nothing different between Scheffner and her predecessor Vernermann. What has changed was the Germany and the challenges she faced.
- In 2015, the arrival of this young woman from the plains of Thuringia had surprised the electoral context after 30 years since the last victory of the Ermanist party. Germany had seen its international position dwindle and the Ermanist thinking slowly fade away. But Scheffner had no intention of being the Chancellor she is today. Years later, it was revealed that Scheffner had more internal ambitions. She dreamed to be a Chancellor "des Volkes" (of the People). But this ambition could never be achieved. Destiny had chosen her to lead Germany in its darkest hours to come.
- The Silent Defender of Germany and of Europe
- Since 1945, Germany had never lived through the sounds of bombs and tanks. This silence had been broken only five days after the inauguration of Scheffner. Five days of a normal Chancellor to make her normal mandate and perhaps make her way positively but without the status of an Erman. On the 12th of September 2015, the German Republic was invaded. The forces of the Sorbian State had launched a surprise invasion of the island of Usedom (northern Germany). On this day, Scheffner became a commander and for the first time, pronounced the allegiance as Supreme Commander of the Bundeswehr to defend the nation. The one and only time the Republic of Germany switched to the red war flag. This woman out of the countryside, just winning her election, was now on the frontline of a war less than 200 kilometers away. We may never know how she handled this situation. But it is fair to say, in order to shoot down the critics, that Scheffner handled the crisis in a way that surprised even the most critical members of society and opposition. After 4 months of terrible conflict, and the death of nearly 481 soldiers and two italian pilots, Sorbia was defeated. The Chancellor gave back the sword and returned to her duty with the grace of leaders. She never bloated the strength of the German people. It was never a war for glory and honour. It was in her view, something to be done but nothing to be celebrated.
- When we look at her eyes, we wonder, if the War of Yugoslavia prevents her from sleeping on certain nights. What is remarkable in this woman is the way she has kept composure and grace through such traumatising moments. In 2019, the invasion of Yugoslavia would prove to be the decisive point in Scheffner's legacy as a Commander of War. In an interview she said "death is the companion of any Chancellor that takes the role of Commander". Those words could do little to describe the sheer violence and absurdity of the Yugoslav war in which Germany defended the integrity of the Yugoslav Republic, avoiding its total collapse (which eventually happened). The war resulted in 4000 casualties for the Bundeswehr. A number never to be seen again. Not so many leaders in Europe in modern times have seen more conflicts than her. War is something that shaped her persona far beyond what we could imagine. It is something still secret within her, and mostly private, to the point where when this journal asked about the Yugoslav War and her feelings she replied "no words can describe what I had to live in reading the 4000 names of german souls that never came back from the battlefield, some that I know by heart".
- Crisis after crisis, she maintained the path
- The mandate of Scheffner was described by Professor Bernard Grüber as "a series of unfortunate and tiresome events". He recalls the "disappeared of Moscow" case where four citizens were effectively kidnapped and taken hostage by ex-SGRI authorities. From there started a diplomatic crisis between President Putin and Chancellor Scheffner and Ambassador Bernard Schweis. In the end, the hostages were released. But this would not be the end. Months later, the "Great Embassy Fire" would trigger new tensions between Germany and the ex-SGRI. Scheffner had to maintain composure and firmness as evidence piled to suggest that SGRI operatives had deliberately burned down the German Embassy in Moscow.
- What about the artists of the SGRI, or the death of these ten German sailors by Central American forces. It is undeniable that her tenacity and determination to do right never faltered against adversity and even worse, possible Germanophobia. One staff members recalls Scheffner working nearly 15 hours per day in crisis times and especially during both wars. The question of Sorbia is one that also took her to use diplomacy and firm management against rebellion and violence. It is possible that without all these tragic events, the path and weight of Scheffner in history would have been completely different.
- Hated or loved but a leader secured in history
- The legacy behind Scheffner is one that indeed divides. Between those who believe she did too much, or not enough, or too liberal, or not enough. There is never satisfaction. However, gratitude towards her should be respected. It was not easy to lead a country faced by invasions on Germany and on Europe. It was not easy to deal with multiple attacks on German citizens in foreign nations. To deal with the pressures in the European Union, to the betrayals of supposed new friends, or to Germanophonic stances. The legacy of Scheffner is the calmness, the silence in which she dealt with all these challengses, and where this nation was supposed to fall, it remained. There was never excess in her words, in her actions. The rule of law remained. Where she could have kept full powers from the Sorbian or the Yugoslav war, she gave them up as soon as the war was done. There was no vengeance on her part when German citizens were feeling fear and persecution in the streets of Moscow. There was no shut down of the media when German media had been censored and still do in certain parts of the world. There was no boat sinking when 10 sailors never came back home. There was always the search for truth.
- In this sense, Scheffner leaves the country in stability despite all the odds stacked against her. An experienced leader that contributed to European unity and promoted close cooperation with allies including the United States, Japan and renewed ones in Africa and Asia. Her name is remembered worldwide for good or for worse. Perhaps it is why Scheffner is deemed one of the most influencial leaders of the 21st century. She has done and faced more than many other heads of State in her time, and for that, Germany would have had the privilege of being under the leadership of a Commander and one kind of a Chancellor. It is hopeful that the next generation of German leaders keep it this way...
