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Guttenberg on his TV comeback: "I struggled with myself for a long time"

2022-11-29T09:21:23.409Z


Guttenberg on his TV comeback: "I struggled with myself for a long time" Created: 11/29/2022 10:13 am By: Christian Deutschländer, Stefanie Thyssen In the limelight again: Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg © RTL / Insa Rauscher / i&u TV Once celebrated as a political star, brought down by a plagiarism scandal - the life of Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg would (and was!) be ripe for a film adaptation. But


Guttenberg on his TV comeback: "I struggled with myself for a long time"

Created: 11/29/2022 10:13 am

By: Christian Deutschländer, Stefanie Thyssen

In the limelight again: Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg © RTL / Insa Rauscher / i&u TV

Once celebrated as a political star, brought down by a plagiarism scandal - the life of Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg would (and was!) be ripe for a film adaptation.

But the 50-year-old has chosen to switch to the other side of the camera.

He made a documentary about Putin for RTL, and together with Thomas Gottschalk he will also moderate the annual review - "KT" is back in the spotlight!

a conversation

When did the idea of ​​switching to the other side of the camera come about?

Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg:

About two years ago.

I asked myself the question: In a world full of upheavals, is there an opportunity to pass on a little of the experience you have had yourself?

I then wrestled with myself for a long time whether the other side of the camera was the right way and whether I wanted to go back into the public eye.

But we live in times when, on many issues, we are in danger of hurtling towards the abyss at great speed.

I believe we all have a duty to contribute.

For example empirical values, but also attempts to explain things to people.

For your first television documentary, you set your sights on Vladimir Putin.

Why him?

Guttenberg:

That can ultimately be explained by this year.

The fact that we are at war in Europe again calls for clarification and explanation - even if there are no easy answers.

That is indeed the central theme of your film: the question of how it came to this.

Did you find an answer?

Guttenberg:

Above all, it's not the big plan that was already apparent when Putin took power in 2000.

It is a mosaic, an interplay of many factors.

But one thing is certainly Putin's understanding of how classic elements of power can be used.

A second is the West's weakness in allowing this to happen.

You have strong interlocutors for your documentary: Experts, Russian members of the opposition, Sigmar Gabriel, Theo Waigel, and Volker Beck speak from German politics.

Didn't you want Gerhard Schröder, Angela Merkel and Markus Söder or didn't they want to be with you?

Guttenberg:

We asked ourselves very intensively whether they were dialogue partners from whom we could expect real added value.

With the documentary we want to provide new or at least different shades of answers.

And those three wouldn't have come, don't you think?

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Guttenberg:

The person Schröder and his behavior has been extensively examined in the past few weeks and months.

Angela Merkel has expressed and not expressed, mostly not expressed.

Against this background, requests from us were not worth the effort.

Soeder is still missing.

Did you also capitulate to him journalistically, so to speak?

Guttenberg:

(Laughs.) No.

Markus Söder is really not an explicit foreign politician, that's one thing.

And I don't think he would have made a fundamentally new contribution to what we're already telling.

The second commitment for RTL is the annual review together with Thomas Gottschalk.

How did that come about?

What connects you both - apart from the common Franconian homeland.

Guttenberg:

That's a lot.

(laughs) We've known each other for a long time and we like each other.

You have also been a guest on "Wetten, dass...?"

Guttenberg:

Yes, but that was at a time that, thank God, was a long, long time ago.

Okay, back to the year in review.

Guttenberg:

Gladly.

It's just that Günther Jauch is ending his commitment to the annual review for very understandable reasons.

Then the request came to me, which initially came as a surprise to me.

At the same time, it was already becoming apparent back then that the year 2022 would be a year that cannot be described solely from the point of view of entertainment and that an insight into these geopolitical upheavals is required.

I am very happy to help.

You are, so to speak, the Michelle Hunziker of the year in review, responsible for ensuring that things don't get completely out of hand.

Guttenberg:

Definitely not.

Alone the comparison of "Wetten, dass...?" with the annual review is mildly described as bold.

Many topics are of a completely different seriousness.

You recently said that you don't care about the limelight in your television work.

We'll take that away from you for the documentary - but wherever Gottschalk is, there are always spotlights.

So the limelight can't be that bad for you after all.

Gutenberg:

No.

But I look very carefully at how inflationary – or not – I want to put myself in the limelight.

The annual review only takes place once a year.

And I keep my private life out anyway.

And I know the risks.

Which ones would they be exactly?

Guttenberg:

For example, that you can fail with relative force.

With a thoughtless sentence, which can always happen in a live show, you can very quickly trigger what is described under the term shitstorm.

You have to be aware of that.

On the other hand, that doesn't have to mean that you fall silent.

The balance is the key.

And what about the glaring limelight of politics?

Are you sometimes itchy?

Gutenberg:

No.

Nobody needs me out there anymore.

I am an observer of politics.

And I'll do a devil to give good advice to my followers.

I'm sometimes amazed at how quickly political leaders are condemned today, how quick we are in this culture of outrage.

And that in a situation for which there are few historical examples.

Was it a mistake on your part to suspend conscription?

Guttenberg:

The circumstances were completely different back then.

If I had had 100 billion euros in special assets back then, my decision might have been different.

But there was a austerity dictate.

That was the basis for the decision at the time.

Finally, looking ahead: will we see the end of the war in Ukraine in 2023?

At least the armistice?

Guttenberg:

I ​​hope that we will come closer to viable solutions in 2023.

But hope must be measured against reality.

Unfortunately, the potential that we are dealing with a long-term conflict here is very high.

The interview was conducted by Stefanie Thyssen and Christian Deutschländer.

Broadcast note: The documentary, which is well worth seeing, will be available on RTL+ from November 30th.

RTL will show this year's annual review with Thomas Gottschalk and Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg on December 11 from 8:15 p.m.

Source: merkur

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