The talk from Ms. Yoder’s presentation on Angela Merkel provided some unique insights on how Merkel uses rhetoric to convey what is known as memory politics. This very rhetoric is what separates Merkel from past German leaders in how the topic of WW2 is remembered and spoken about. I thoroughly enjoyed this talk as I do not know much about the German political sphere or about Angela Merkel and her beliefs. As the Chancellor of Germany, I understand that Merkel has the great responsibility of governing Germany but she also plays are large role in shaping the discussion surrounding WW2 and the memories, policies, and political ties that are inextricably tied to this event.  

Merkel has received both praise and push-back from her use of memory politics. The remembrance of the past is something that Merkel strongly believes in and continues to reference in her many talks, globally. The importance of this is to keep the events of WW2 in perspective as Germany continues to create policies and attempts to repair the damage that was caused during the Nazi regime. This attempt is well founded in the idea that in order to continue to move forward in history, we must never forget the atrocities of the past so that we will not and cannot make the same mistakes. But this idea does not end there, Merkel feels a sense of responsibility to keep referencing and apologizing for what happened in order to “pay her dues” to what is known as one of the worst, if not the worst, events in human history. It was quite clear that Yoder holds Merkel in high regards, based off of her praise for Merkel and her political career. It was great to hear such a Merkel enthusiast explain the tactics that the German Chancellor uses in her speeches because I feel like that enthusiasm allowed us, the audience, to understand all of the progressive ideas that Germany, a historically conservative country, was pushing to the forefront of their ideology. Yoder’s point about making Germans feel more accountable for the actions of WW2 was perfectly supported with Yoder’s analysis of Merkel’s speeches. In around 2/3rds of Merkel’s speeches, she alluded to the German history and the need to continue to remember this event. Although this may seem like quite a retrospective idea, I agree with Merkel in that this event should not “dealt with” then simply forgotten like other historical events. Raising awareness to this issue and holding the German people and government accountable to this will help progress the country towards stronger relationships with allied nations and continue to keep this thought in the forefront of our minds. I think that constantly recounting the event is a good way for people to understand relationships both domestically and internationally. If we could all understand what happened during the nazi regime, I feel that it would only bring us closer as a human race and help us realize that we are all from the same species and should work to find peace among all people instead of racism, hate and division.

Furthermore, I enjoyed some of the questions that were posed at the end of the talk. One of the questions that was asked, touched on the image that Merkel had created for herself during her Chancellorship. I think that this use of “memory politics” and the idea of holding people accountable, will definitely be tied to Merkel and her overall ideology. Although I do not know what the general German public thinks about Merkel other than the fact that she brought her conventionally republic party towards the center of the political spectrum, I think that this aspect of her leadership role should be accepted by both sides of the political discourse. Merkel’s political discourse was not explicitly mentioned in this talk but I think that this agenda that Merkel is pursuing is one that can be purveyed by the German political system/public as a whole.

Emotion is definitely a tool that is used in politics when a politician is trying to pursue an agenda. In this case, I think that Merkel did a good job of tackling a seemingly unfinished job in terms of giving justice to what happened during the second World War. It was mentioned that the past German leaders did not do the best job of acknowledging the atrocious German history, and I think that Merkel did some justice by reintroducing this topic and constantly reminding people of what happened and how we must never fall for a regime or ideology like this ever again. Merkel with unquestionably go down in history as a leader and a visionary who spoke about Germany’s past in a way that conveyed condolence, empathy, inaction and renumeration.