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SPIEGEL author Feldenkirchen on the road with Minister of Health Lauterbach
Photo: Beckground TV / WDR
The Minister of Health wears his FFP2 mask in such a way that it folds his ear.
In the walls of his bare office are still the dowels of the pictures of his predecessor Jens Spahn.
And when the minister comes out to eat, he orders a loup de mer “with some vegetables on top, but senza sale” in the Ristorante “Il punto” in Mitte.
Without salt.
This is important.
Karl Lauterbach, SPD Minister of Health and the face of this pandemic for citizens, wants to define himself through content, not form.
The WDR documentary »Confrontation – Markus Feldenkirchen meets Karl Lauterbach« shows how difficult it is for a politician like him to remain true to his own high standards in the power struggle with the FDP.
After Armin Laschet and Robert Habeck, SPIEGEL author Feldenkirchen has now accompanied the Federal Minister of Health on professional and private appointments - and later confronted him in the studio with the films and his impressions.
Rising corona numbers and the war
The hour-long film portrays a health minister at a time when one major crisis is chasing the next.
Lauterbach seeks publicity early on after the Russian attack on Ukraine.
As the first member of the cabinet, he gets an idea of the refugees from the Ukraine at Berlin Central Station.
His ministry coordinates patient transport and healthcare in Ukraine.
And yet Lauterbach has to watch as the crisis that made him great recedes into the background: Corona.
The insight that it is deeply human not to be able to consider two crises at once must be bitter for him: »I believe that the increasing corona numbers also have something to do with the war.
Because people are concentrating on the war and have the impression that Corona no longer exists," says Lauterbach.
Trouble with Marco Buschmann
In truth, Corona is more widespread than ever before, and nobody thinks they know that better than Lauterbach.
He, the expert and scientist, who became a minister in defiance of some resistance, including resistance from within Ampel.
The fact that the FDP belongs to this coalition is becoming an increasing problem, especially for Lauterbach.
This is shown above all by the controversial new Infection Protection Act, the first defeat of the new Minister of Health.
The day before the decisive cabinet meeting, as you can see in the film, Lauterbach was sitting in Dresden and actually wanted to talk to vaccine skeptics when the dispute with Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) escalated.
The conflict: Despite record incidences, the traffic light should decide on far-reaching easing.
Lauterbach has to defend the law, speak of "compromise" and "balance".
These are not Lauterbach vocabulary.
In the film, he seems shattered and makes little effort to hide his disappointment.
»One may not agree with this position.
That was a legal requirement.
As Minister of Health, I cannot question that.«
Karl Lauterbach
When SPIEGEL author Feldenkirchen later shows Lauterbach the film sequences of this turbulent day in the studio and asks him about his about-face, he cheerlessly repeats the arguments of the Minister of Justice.
As long as the danger only emanates from a few unvaccinated people, stricter measures cannot be imposed on the majority.
»One may not agree with this position.
That was a legal requirement.
As Minister of Health, I cannot question that.«
At these points, Lauterbach seems almost resigned.
But then flee to the front, the Federal Minister calls on the federal states to get out of the "sulky corner", "that doesn't do any good", and then to promote compulsory vaccination, which he believes will come: "I'll do everything Therefore."
In the wrong room
Karl Lauterbach entered federal politics as a scientist and thus as an outsider.
With his meticulousness, he quickly got on the nerves of his colleagues.
Karl is not a team player, says comrade Jens Singer in the film, who, like Lauterbach, applied in 2005 for the SPD direct candidacy in the constituency of Leverkusen – Cologne IV.
At this point, Lauterbach has had enough.
Frustrated, he presses the black buzzer, interrupting the film's playback.
"When you hear him talk like that, the colleague, you can ask: why did he lose to me then?" he rumbles, only to add that Singer probably hasn't gotten over the defeat yet.
A little later in the film, while playing table tennis with his friend Günther Wallraff in Cologne, Lauterbach drops a saying that makes his relationship to others even clearer: "If you're the smartest in the room, you're in the wrong room."
Then keep playing.
Incidentally, Lauterbach refuses to play for points, which Wallraff repeatedly encourages.
Reason: In his professional life, it has always been about scoring points, about winning.
He just wanted to play in a relaxed manner privately.
And lose relaxed, it seems.
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Markus Feldenkirchen (right) visits the elementary school in Oberzier with Karl Lauterbach.
Photo: Beckground TV / WDR
Lauterbach knows fighting.
A visit to his home village of Oberzier, west of Cologne, makes it clear why.
Lauterbach tells how difficult it was for him to only have been recommended for secondary school, even though he had excellent grades.
Lauterbach suspects that the origin of his parents - father a dairy employee, mother a housewife - was to blame.
This unequal treatment and a serious medical misdiagnosis at a young age shaped and motivated him – also for his studies, which led him to Harvard.
more on the subject
Karl Lauterbach and his Corona career: The role of his life by Christoph Hickmann
Karl Lauterbach wedges against environmental organizations: "Misunderstood animal protection helps nobody" A SPIEGEL interview by Markus Feldenkirchen and Martin Knobbe
Lauterbach explains that he didn't become a doctor after all, but a politician: »The individual doctor makes an important difference, but the system is often the problem.
I realized this very early on when I was in America.«
As is well known, Karl Lauterbach also owes his political rise to television talk shows.
In the first phase of the pandemic he was a permanent guest there.
He, who sometimes looks like a moulting crane in front of the mask, still feels comfortable in the chairs of »Maischberger«, »Markus Lanz« and »Anne Will«.
Although: »The buffet has become much smaller.« Culinary highlight: the »berry plate« at Markus Lanz.
He now only goes on talk shows when he has a message to deliver, about once a week.
That's still too much for his advisors.
The WDR production shows him appearing on »Maischberger«.
Lauterbach seems bored and seems to know the arguments of his critics by heart, such as those on the question of whether people die with or from Corona: "This old thing."
The show “Confrontation – Markus Feldenkirchen meets Karl Lauterbach” is on ARD tonight at 10:50 p.m.
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