After criticism of passage to RAF murderer: Federal President corrects congratulatory letter to director

Margarethe von Trotta turned 80 in February

Photo: Britta Pedersen / DPA

After the excitement about his letter of congratulations to the director Margarethe von Trotta, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier corrected the appreciation and republished it.

The passage in which the RAF terrorist Gudrun Ensslin was placed in the same category as Rosa Luxemburg, Hildegard von Bingen or Hannah Arendt and counted among the "great women of world history" is now missing.

This formulation had triggered considerable irritation and criticism on social media.

The new letter on the Federal President's website was overseen with the note: "There was an error in an earlier version of this letter of congratulations, which has now been corrected and for which we once again expressly apologize."

New version does not mention Ensslin

The new version says: »With your biographies of resistant women in films like ›Hannah Arendt‹ or ›Rosenstraße‹ you have proven yourself to be a great chronicler of German history.

Her work takes a documentary as well as poetic look at the world and at the borderline situations of human existence.«

The letter originally said: »With your own handwriting, you enable new perspectives, especially on great women in world history, who have faced the ruptures and impositions of their respective times with great intelligence, personal strength and a pronounced will to change social and political life and further: »Be it the life of Gudrun Ensslin, Rosa Luxemburg, Hildegard von Bingen or Hannah Arendt – you have dedicated unforgettable cinematic portraits to all these women and many others.«

Ensslin belonged to the first generation of the Red Army Faction, a left-wing terrorist organization.

The RAF declared itself dissolved in 1998.

A total of 34 murders go to her account.

Ensslin was also convicted of murder and died in prison.

After the former "Bild" editor-in-chief Julian Reichelt criticized this via Twitter, the spokeswoman for the Federal President, Anna Engelke, immediately admitted a mistake.

"A convicted murderer does not belong in this series," she also wrote on Twitter and announced a correction.

The letter was then initially deleted from the website of the Office of the Federal President.

svs/dpa