Bodo Ramelow has to get angry again. To be precise: Annoy 18 times. At any rate, this is the number of tweets fired by Thuringia's prime minister onto his critics on a campaign Monday in October.
It's about the old debate.
In the morning, a quote from Ramelow went around: once again his explanation why he does not call the GDR "unlawful state". It is a legal term from the Auschwitz trials of the 1960s, argues the left-wing politician. That's why he did not want to use it for the SED dictatorship.
One can see it that way, however, Ramelow and the red-red-green alliance partners had written in 2014 in the Thuringian coalition agreement even from the "injustice" GDR.
In that sense, the reaction of the political opponents is expectable. But in a Twitter shitstorm Bodo Ramelow storms back always. He is then the polterer:
13:28 . The prime minister responds to a tweet by the FDP member of parliament Christian Jung. He had accused him, among other things, "relativizations". "An audacity," rams Ramelow.
13:32 . Ramelow replies to the Liberal Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann: "What was the role of the block party LDPD again?"
1:45 pm . Message to the CDU district association Eichsfeld: "Oh, the block parties come from the afternoon nap."
Shortly after 15 o'clock Bodo Ramelow, 63 years, jacket, waistcoat, tie, gets out of a black limousine. Ramelow smiles and shakes hands, here at the factory gate of Nouryon, an international chemical company located on the outskirts of the small town of Greiz.
No trace of Twitter rage. Ramelow is now a statesman.
He talks to company representatives about jobs and sealants, he listens to the statements about flood protection and the plant fire brigade. And he uses every opportunity to praise his own accomplishments. The trainee ticket for public transport, a better connection of the regions: "For this I fight like a lion."
Most confident comrade
The role change Ramelow is not difficult. He likes to be the center of attention, whether in social networks or as a political expert. Ramelow is probably the most confident comrade in a party that has fallen into a deep depression.
And he has reason to do so.
For five years, the native of Lower Saxony and so far the only left-leaning Prime Minister of Germany in Thuringia ruled together with the SPD and Greens. And contrary to some prophecies, no chaos has broken out in the state, nor has the coalition split apart:
- Although the government messed up the major project of a territorial reform.
- Otherwise Thuringia is passable. The unemployment rate is lower than anywhere else in the East.
- The economy is growing above average.
- In education one counts to the top group in Germany.
The Left Alliance in Erfurt has long been a model for other red-red-green dreams. Although it is likely to be close again in the election on 27 October - but it could be enough for a new edition of the coalition. Surveys saw the three parties together last between 43 and 47 percent. The left is in the front overall, in front of the AfD.
It is clear who the comrades owe most of that. Ramelow is one of the most popular prime ministers, reaching approval levels around 65 percent. And this in a country that was governed by the CDU for 24 years after the fall of the Wall.
So Bodo Ramelow has become the last hope of the left. Ironically.
Left crashed in the east
For years, the federal party has made headlines especially with internal quarrels. At the latest after the elections in Brandenburg and Saxony, the comrades are in an existential crisis. In the East they had always acted as a people's party. But now the party has fallen - only a good ten percent received it in the recent polls.
In the East, the AfD is now the first choice among the poor and the hung. If the left now also fly out of the government in Thuringia, the case finally threatens the insignificance.
16:40 . Ramelow has blocked FDP politician Jung on Twitter. He complains. Ramelow taps his cellphone: "Poor!"
A few minutes later, the Prime Minister sits in the Greizer nursing home "Anna Seghers". On the table in front of him is a fruit plate. Ramelow throws a raspberry in his mouth, then bites into a pineapple slice. Meanwhile, a staff member of the home talks to him. There is no money for the renovation of the stately old building. Ramelow lashes out: "You have to check that first solid."
When asked if the expectations of a left-leaning prime minister's willingness to spend were particularly high, Ramelow later replied: "I can not fool people into making an X for a U."
On distance
Ramelow has always been one of the reformers on the left. But as Prime Minister he gives himself so pragmatically that it is always a test of endurance for his party. And not only because in Thuringia is further deported - what the left actually reject.
Ramelow was recently upset in the Bild am Sonntag on the demand of the left for a coalition exit in 2030. "There is much that can be resolved and demanded, but if you do not say what you want in the end, you will not find solutions." Also requests for a free public transport rejected Ramelow. He said he was there at once, "if anyone tells me how to pay."
Distance to your own party, this is the election strategy of Ramelow. At least a distance to that image, according to which the comrades are predominantly dominated by grave-fighters, utopians and metropolitan hipster-leftists. You can not score with something like this in the East German area.
On Ramelow's election posters one searches in vain for a logo of the left. The prime minister stands above everything - that's the message. It is the method with which also the Green Winfried Kretschmann succeeds in the conservative Baden-Württemberg.
"Choose me with three parties"
Thuringia's left lead a determined people's election campaign, relying on many voters for fear of the AfD - as in Brandenburg and Saxony - in the end support the party of the Prime Minister. It's fortunate that Ramelow is one of her few charismatics who works the same way on Twitter skirmishes as in self-deprecating YouTube videos or thoughtful interviews about his dyslexia.
In the evening Ramelow waits for his last performance of the day in front of a hall in the Greiz old town. "Personal, Political, Direct" is the name of the event series. The process: An interview, a speech, then the audience can ask questions.
18:49 . Ramelow once again shares a photo of the GDR passage in the coalition agreement. He does not see a contradiction to his statements. "I stand by this text!"
When the prime minister is on stage, he looks in about 30 faces. Less than usual, in the city, the local constituency candidates introduce themselves at the same time. But one could also see it this way: The left-wing leader Ramelow has long become normal.
He talks about child poverty and Kitabeiträge, a citizen insurance and teaching posts. "I want to be measured by what we've done in practice," he says. "Not to anything that was talked about at party conferences."
And again he comes to the injustice state. In the GDR, "screaming injustice had been committed," says Ramelow. But for the competition the word is a "fighting concept". He is now talking in rage. The topic moves in the East, it speaks a sense of disregard, the unequal treatment. The audience applauds very loud.
The prime minister looks satisfied in the round. Confident. He fights for the SPD, the Greens, the left, proclaims Ramelow. "You can choose me with three parties."
