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Werner Schuering / DER SPIEGEL
SPIEGEL:
Professor Winkler, after meeting with EU colleagues, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer reported in the autumn that many allies had complained that the Germans were playing themselves as the "moral world champions".
Is the accusation justified?
Winkler:
There are reasons for this perception.
At the height of the so-called refugee crisis in September 2015, noises were loud in Germany that suggested a German sense of mission.
The parliamentary group leader of Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen Katrin Göring-Eckardt described the Germans in the Bundestag as "world champions of helpfulness and philanthropy", and there were many similar statements that spoke for a very high level of self-confidence.
SPIEGEL:
What bothers you about the joy of helpfulness and philanthropy?
Winkler:
This willingness to help is extremely gratifying.
But not the inclination to present Germany as Europe's leading moral nation.
That must meet with great skepticism from other peoples.
Sometimes one has the impression that many Germans believe that Germany can solve the world's problems.
According to the slogan: Come to us, all of you who are laborious and burdened.
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