Enlarge image
Doris Schröder-Köpf: "I feel strong enough to survive the election campaign"
Photo: Moritz Frankenberg / picture alliance / dpa
Doris Schröder-Köpf has been separated from the former chancellor since 2015, but she does not want to give up their common name.
Gerhard Schröder's former wife told the magazine "Bunte": "I've had Schröder as my family name for a quarter of a century and it will stay that way.
It's my name now.
Point."
The two are in contact with each other because of their children.
"I don't have to talk to him about politics - I know him and I know how he thinks," said Schröder-Köpf.
Former Chancellor Schröder has been criticized for months for his commitment to Russian energy companies and his contacts with warlord Vladimir Putin.
“Of course” the relationship is “not without tension,” says Schröder-Köpf.
However, she is of the opinion that Schröder is viewed "too one-sidedly".
She does not defend his position on Russia, but says: "Gerhard Schröder achieved a lot of good things for our country as Prime Minister in Lower Saxony and later as Federal Chancellor."
In the interview, Schröder-Köpf also commented on her own political plans.
The 59-year-old is currently a member of the Lower Saxony state parliament.
In the state elections on October 9, she wants to win her constituency in Hanover-Döhren again.
"I'm very physically fit," she said.
She had heart surgery about two years ago.
»I feel strong enough to survive the election campaign, which is primarily determined by federal politics.«
Schröder-Köpf was married to Gerhard Schröder from 1997 to 2018.
After that she was with the Lower Saxony Interior Minister Boris Pistorius (also SPD).
The couple's separation became known in June.
bbr/AFP
