Twelve direct candidates will run for the federal election on September 26th in the Weilheim constituency, which also includes the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district.
We portrayed the applicants at their workplace.
Today: Arnold Reuss (Free Voters) from Weilheim.
Weilheim
- A row house in Weilheim. The doorbell has barely stopped ringing when Arnold Reuss opens the door, smiles and waves in. Past the cloakroom, you go straight to the wooden table. The 38-year-old is in the home office today. Whereby the term doesn't quite fit with the Weilheimer. Because he is not at home in this building - but it belongs to the family, his brother is not there at the moment. Reuss uses the dining area during the day, with a view of the garden. "It's nice and quiet here," says the free voter direct candidate. "That is practical."
Laptops and telephones are his “tools”, that's all he needs.
When visiting the local newspaper, the computer is closed, Reuss can only provide insights into his work with words.
As a patent attorney assistant, he looks after customers who want to protect their developments and ideas.
Discretion is important here.
His office, which is based in Munich, takes care of patents in the fields of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and physics, among other things.
Speaking English: For Arnold Reuss "no magic work"
Reuss' customers are mainly in America and Singapore. The Weilheimer usually communicates in English. “It's not magic,” he says - although he never worked abroad. The language already inspired him as a boy. When acquaintances of the family gave children books, he picked out the English-language ones. “They grabbed me. Although I only learned the pronunciation at school. ”He took the advanced English course at the Weilheim grammar school.
And then started studying law.
But Reuss was missing something.
“I wanted to get into everyday working life.” He broke off, completed an internship at the local newspaper in 2014, and also searched the Internet for job offers using keywords such as “dropping out of law” and “legal background” - and ended up in the patent system.
Lateral entrants from the legal field “are not uncommon there,” says Reuss, who completed his training as a patent attorney assistant.
At his law firm “the chemistry was right”.
There he is “firmly in the saddle”.
Fresh with the “Free Voters” - and already a direct candidate
Nevertheless, he is applying for a political office in Berlin.
Knowing that the CSU is again relying on Alexander Dobrindt.
“I know what numbers he had in the last election.
And I know that many will put their cross where they always do, ”says Reuss.
"But I also know that it doesn't hurt to bring up the ideas of the Free Voters again and again."
The party to which Reuss has only been a member since 2020.
At that time he decided to get involved locally.
With the Free Voters, with their anchoring at the local level, “I have the feeling that I am in good hands”.
The question of whether he would run for the Bundestag came as a surprise.
In the last election, the Free Voters in constituency 224 had no applicants of their own.
Reuss agreed to prevent that from happening again.
As a complete newbie.
“I'm not a shrewd politician who can give an answer to every question.
I know that I have and should have a lot to learn, ”he says in a calm, pleasant tone.
Reuss answers thoughtfully.
He leaves no doubt that he is confident in the task - and that he is serious.
Commitment to direct democratic elements
He wants to help ensure that the politics of the free voters are heard nationwide.
And work to ensure that direct democratic elements such as referendums are established at the federal level.
“You have to take people with you,” he says.
Many people are deeply frustrated with politics.
"I would like to be part of a new style." Relevant, constructive.
"There is too much outrage in politics that is staged."
Many people from Weilheim have already agreed to vote for him.
No wonder: Reuss is from here, lives in Weilheimer Moos with grandparents and parents on an old farm.
He was involved in the Protestant church and played in the high school's big band.
You know him - and he knows Weilheim.
A real Weilheimer, born in Romania
He was not born here. Reuss is a Transylvanian Saxon, born in the Romanian Reuss market, he belonged to the local German-speaking minority. When he was ten months old, the family moved to Weilheim. Grandma and mother still speak the special dialect. Reuss himself did not become interested in his origins until he was an adult; he took his family on a trip to Reussmarkt. Visited graves of his ancestors, saw the hospital where he was born. “It is important for me that this is part of my identity,” he says. "Although Weilheim is my home."
And he is now running for that. Reuss is not afraid of failure. When people deal with the free voters because of his candidacy, "I've already won a lot," he says. “For that I jump into the deep end. And that doesn't matter either. Newbies are fine. It is you that society needs. "
