SPIEGEL: Mr. Domian, more than two years after your departure from the nightly talk show "Domian" you are now returning with an extended talk concept. Why did you even leave?
Jürgen Domian: I was not completely gone, I just retired from the night program.
SPIEGEL: Because the night was too deep?
Domian: That's right. I lived totally twisted for 22 years because I did not go to bed until about half past five every night. We had debriefing until three o'clock, and when you get home, you can not sleep right away. ...
SPIEGEL: Especially when you hear the birds chirping.
Domian: Exactly! Like a vampire I dimmed the apartment and made with ear plugs for peace. This of course had a serious impact on social life and brought with it major complications in everyday life, if you come to the pots in the afternoon. But decisive for the exit was the health. I got some shots from the bow. And then not a few doctors said, but all: "Get out of the night!"
SPIEGEL: The program went well.
Domian: Absolutely! It was good to go to the climax. It's terrible to be carried out of the studio.
SPIEGEL: Just stop and let it go, that's no longer appropriate.
Domian: For me sometime. I believe that very few people can really convincingly let go. In addition, there is a shining example in the media and in politics. In the media, these were Kurt Felix and Paola. They were at the zenith and have "Do you understand fun?" on the grounds that she had earned enough money and wanted to enjoy it for a while in her house in Lugano.
SPIEGEL: Only a few years later, Kurt Felix was dead.
Domian: Yes. And that's exactly why they did it right. In politics, that was Genscher. Everyone thought he was going to be Secretary-General or something ... - but nothing, at most a talk show, that's it. Respect!
SPIEGEL: You were touring while you were away, writing a book, going on a reading tour - and then you did a sabbatical. Where?
Domian: I was in Lapland. I have been doing this for 17 years. I rent a log cabin in the wilderness, mostly in northern Finland, sometimes in Sweden.
SPIEGEL: And what are you doing there?
Domian: Nothing. I sleep and walk. It's like holding retreats. I always have a sack of books with me, but I usually do not read anything because that's too much input for me. To dive into silence and nothingness is great. But the first days are always bad.
SPIEGEL: Why?
Domian: It's like withdrawal. Our everyday life is loud, hectic, nervous, we are overstimulated. Silence and silence hardly exist in our world. And we are not used to seeing ourselves. But this is exactly what happens when you walk alone through the tundra for hours. You are mercilessly confronted with yourself, you have to look into your own abysses. The bad time lasts about a week. After that it will be great. I do not think anything anymore. It's like a deep meditation.
SPIEGEL: Lucky?
Domian: More than luck, that's not luck. Happiness is a firework that goes by. Fierce is then always the return. I drive by car, and as soon as I get back on the German Autobahn ... that's war, here. I can barely speak the first time, even though that's my job.
more on the subject
SPIEGEL: "Domian" was a place for deviations where the alleged perverts could be discussed. Today that's almost normal, right?
Domian: Yes. And that's good. In the past, people who had a transsexual identity were completely outlawed. Today we at WDR are so far that we consider all gender in public letters. That's great! Not to mention being gay. That was when we started, still offside. Today it is widely accepted. We were also the first to talk extensively about sexual abuse. Today, that's a big topic. In the meantime, the Internet is also a space in which a talk or an exchange about these things is possible.
SPIEGEL: What not everybody likes. Are not you also seeing a political setback, a longing for bygone times when everything was supposedly "normal" and the deviation from the norm was outlawed?
Domian: Yes, but we can handle this recoil. I am optimistic that the liberal or progressive forces will prevail in our society. I think the AfD is terrible, but you have to deal with that. That's democracy, period. We will do it.
SPIEGEL: A true saying is: "One should not say that today!". Could someone come on your mission and declare that he does not like "Negroes"?
Domian: He could say that. And he would then be corrected immediately, that one does not use this expression, because with it people were unbelievably degraded and injured for centuries. If he has something to say about bad experiences with blacks, with Afro-Germans or whoever - yes, why not?
SPIEGEL: Because it would be racist?
Domian: Let me give you an example. I come myself from the left and alternative corner. What upsets me is that there are also prohibitions on thinking. I'll soon go insane about the silence in this ideological corner when it comes to the horror and suffering that gay boys or lesbian girls from Islamic families experience. We used to complain about discrimination. These young people are afraid for life and limb. Why not demand that this should also be based on the liberal orientation of our society? No, that's racism. That's absurd! In such matters I like to exceed the political correctness.
SPIEGEL: Has your image of people changed in the dark mine of human abysses for almost a quarter of a century?
Domian: It's getting worse. For that I have looked into too many abysses. On the other hand, I have met so many great, brave and courageous people that I am deeply impressed by the goodness of man. So it balances itself.
" Domian Live ", from 8 November on WDR television. Hotline number 0800 220 88 99, contact e-mail: domian@wdr.de
