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The then Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier as a guest in the Kremlin, March 2016
Photo: Kirill Kudryavtsev / AFP
It's the time of the big sorry.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has apologized for misjudging Russia and Putin.
He was wrong, he says.
Wrong, that sounds succinct, like a caller who dialed the wrong number.
As Federal President, Steinmeier constantly used pathetic words to call for the defense of democracy, but for a long time he showed a lot of understanding for the anti-democrat Vladimir Putin.
The Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Manuela Schwesig, has also apologized that her adherence to Nord Stream 2 was wrong.
Ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel is probably already working on an apology.
But what does all this bring?
In partnerships, an apology is meant to open up a conversation, therapists recommend.
In politics, a "sorry" is more used to end discussions.
Sorry, next topic.
Steinmeier effortlessly went to the other extreme, calling Putin a "bunkered warmonger."
You have to be flexible, otherwise you won't stay at the top of politics for thirty years.
And it's not just "the politicians" who have cultivated a one-sided image of Russia, born out of a complex mixture of guilt towards the Soviet Union, fear of nuclear power and self-righteousness.
So many people pride themselves on understanding Russia particularly well.
"Putin understanders" populated talk shows and bestseller lists.
The word has now passed into the English language, there is a Wikipedia entry.
And the Russian culture!
Not a day goes by without someone pointing out that you can still continue reading Tolstoy.
In this country, the Ukrainian ambassador, Andrei Melnyk, constantly has to position himself on Russian culture, as if it were somehow important whether he listened to Tchaikovsky or not.
And nothing against Tolstoy,
I still remember how I reported as a correspondent in 2006 about the poisoning of the Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko.
Back then, while doing research in a five-star hotel, I became afraid of Putin.
Even then, there was distrust in talks with colleagues in Germany.
That was a spy, wasn't he himself to blame for his fate?
The victim blaming continued subtly: who knows what the Georgians did to provoke Russia in 2008?
more on the subject
War Propaganda: Putin Isn't the Only Russian ProblemA column by Sascha Lobo
This thinking can also be observed after the Bucha crimes became known.
Despite a wide range of evidence, there is a great willingness to cast doubt on the images.
In the 1990s, the principle of »accepting youth work« existed in East Germany when dealing with right-wing extremism.
Young right-wing extremists should not be reprimanded or punished, that would drive them further into a corner, but they should be offered opportunities for talks, training places and positive confirmation.
Then, step by step, they would automatically develop into democratically minded citizens.
Right-wing youth were allowed to occupy youth clubs.
It was one factor - not the only one - why right-wing youth culture became mainstream in the East in the 1990s.
The relationship between Russia and Germany reminds me of this principle: for a long time Germany looked at Russia with the perspective of an understanding social worker.
One hits, the other excuses and pities.
The social worker hopes for purification if enough offers are made.
At some point, the perpetrator of violence will come to his senses.
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Behind it is helplessness.
Behind this is also the hubris, which has persisted for the past 30 years, of believing that Western democracy collectively defeated the totalitarian rule of the Soviet Union in 1989.
The Soviet era, the imperial legacy was never dealt with in Russia.
Unlike in East Germany and Eastern European countries, the communist elites remained in power after 1990.
For the majority of Russians, the fact that the military superpower Soviet Union had gone down peacefully was no reason to celebrate, but rather to be ashamed of.
As early as 2007, Vladimir Putin made it clear that his Russia would not behave like West Germany did in 1945, would regret its sins and allow itself to be accepted into the Western States Club, where they would be taught how to behave.
This is how Ivan Krastev and Stephen Holmes describe it in their book The Light
Many in Germany thought they had Russia under control.
Just as people thought for a long time that they had the enemies of democracy in their own country under control.
The only explanation they can give to the rejection of Western values such as the separation of powers, free elections, freedom of opinion, equal rights and the protection of minorities is that it is an illness.
Just like Steinmeier is now talking about Putin's "imperial madness" again.
The SPD foreign politician Günther Verheugen and others would like to shake hands with the Russians again.
Please do not.
At least not now.
Russia is not a patient, but an opponent.