Steinbrück criticizes Söder for kneeling in Warsaw: “Synapses not wired correctly”

CSU boss Markus Söder is clearly criticized for his kneeling in Warsaw. “This is one of the greatest bad tastes that I have experienced from a German politician in recent years,” said former Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück (SPD) on Sunday evening on the ARD program “Miosga”.

A few days ago, Söder knelt in front of the monument to the heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto in Warsaw. On December 7, 1970, the then Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt also took a knee here – the picture became a symbol of the Federal Republic’s reconciliation efforts with its neighbors to the east. Shortly afterwards, Söder visited a Christmas market in Warsaw – and posed with a bratwurst.

According to Söder’s critics, this sequence shows that the kneeling was just a photo op. “To then be pictured with the sausage is a way of trivializing politics, which contributes to exactly the loss of trust that we are talking about here,” said Steinbrück. The show was, among other things, about citizens’ loss of trust in politicians and parties.

There was a brief silence in the studio after Steinbrück’s criticism. Moderator Caren Miosga objected that, unlike Brandt, Södner only knelt with one knee. But Steinbrück didn’t accept that. “You have to come up with the idea,” he said. “Some of the man’s synapses are not wired correctly.”

On Saturday, Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens) also heavily criticized Söder for his appearance in Poland. His kneeling in Warsaw a few days ago was an “absolute low point,” said Roth in Hirschaid (Bamberg district), where Bavaria’s Greens were drawing up their state list for the federal election.

The memory of the great statesman Willy Brandt (SPD) did not deserve this – Söder’s gesture was just a “social media fun fact”, after which the photo with a Polish sausage came, Roth also criticized. In addition, the former party leader Söder certified “pathological incitement” against the Greens.