Last week, Professor Jennifer Yoder gave an insightful lecture on “The Presence of the Past in Angela Merkel’s Political Discourse” which highlighted the political career of Merkel and the role which memory construction plays into it.
Angela Merkel is a German politician who has served as the nation’s Chancellor since 2005. When elected, she became the first female Chancellor of Germany and is now serving her fourth term. Professor Yoder believes and hopes to spread the interesting story behind Merkel’s political reign due to her visibility as a European leader, her role in memory politics and how she continues to talk about the past by connecting it to current times.
During her early years in leadership, Merkel was known to be indecisive. However, once she found her rhythm as Chancellor, she gained a loyal following. Merkel bi-passed the rudimentary formula for becoming a German political elite, which previously consisted of competition and forceful control. She employed the notion of a collective memory to further her political agenda. Merkel used speeches and policies to construct Germany’s memories of the past; a tactic which is rarely seen successful in politics.
Professor Yoder did a personal study on 58 of Merkel’s speeches from 2006 to 2015 and concluded that 67% (39) speeches invoked the German past. From these speeches, she most often reference the following memory frames: World Wars + The Holocaust (22 references), fall of The Berlin Wall + Unification (21 references), GDR + Communist past (9 references) and expulsions (2 references). These speeches called upon the emotional responses which surrounded such devastating events and ensured that they will never happen again.
During the lecture, Professor Yoder dissected a notable speech of Merkel. She examined a powerful image of the Chancellor bowing her head in response to The Shoah– a powerful, yet humbling moment of active remembrance. Merkel strives to drive a culture of remembrance through Germany and across the world even when the members of The Shoah are no longer among us. She never hid from the shame of this Nation’s tragedy. From this, Merkel emphasized how the past is importance for interpreting the future and how her Nation will not grow from this if the public remains complacent. In conclusion, Merkel hopes for Germany to stand in solidarity and must uphold a minimum humanitarian standard in order to have a strong Nation.
A fellow attendee posed the following question in the final moments of the lecture:
“In her 4th term, Merkel was courageous in bringing immigrants into Europe , however it appears that she is now struggling with these immigrants and its costing her political career, can she recover from this?” “Do you believe after she leaves office in 2021, will money that goes towards memorials still roll in?”
I found Professor Yoder’s response to be articulated very well and clearly showed her passion for the topic. Yoder admitted that immigration policies may have cost Merkel’s supporters. However, she also personally believes that memorial funding will still continue to come in after Merkel’s departure from office in 2021. Her argument built upon the strong culture of memorising the past which the Chancellor has built up so strongly. Germany is now more than ever setting a tone for the rest of the European Union for remembrance.
This lecture was highly interested and provided me with knowledge on a topic I had previously little of. Professor Yoder presented her content in a meaningful way which shed a new light on how our past is remembered throughout society. I personally am left with questions regarding the memory-shaping powers enforced in our US education regarding controversial topics in our recent history.