Merz wants a leading culture again

“Keiling awareness of the singularity of the crimes of the German state during the National Socialist dictatorship as a universal reminder and perceiving the resulting historical responsibility is an urgent task of German memory culture,” says the Greens’ fundamental program. “The memory of the Holocaust is fundamental to democracy in Germany.”

A point later follows the memory of the SED dictatorship and its processing and then the appeal for openness and memory-political responsibility “of a diverse immigration society”.

The CDU, on the other hand, also calls for a “lively culture of remembrance”. On the one hand, however, it calls “the victims of the National Socialist tyranny and the Shoah” and the “of the SED Urrechstate” in one breath, in short: “The memory of the two totalitarian regimes in Germany.”

Memory policy rollback at the CDU

And on the other hand, it comes to the “war consequences of the resettlers and late repatriates”, ie to flee and displace Germans after 1945: “We want to strengthen the memory of the development and integration of refugees, displaced and resettlers after the Second World War Large success stories in our country belong. “

The CDU return to this memory -political rollback fits a term with which Friedrich Merz caused debates in 2000: leading culture. At that time it was about “that the foreigners living in Germany are willing to join a German leading culture”. Today it is either about “our leading culture” or a “yes to lead culture and cohesion”. The party certainly knows: “It takes a leading culture”.

And this would include the “cultural traditions”, which should be preserved together with the “customs” of places in the culture of museums to theater to memorial sites. In its government program, the CDU warns at least to protect and appreciate Jewish life and to strengthen “the Muslims in our middle”, but explains again in six points, as it holds it with the fate of emigrants and displaced persons to an “Foreign Pension Act” that should compensate for pension law disadvantages and alleviate the poverty in old age.

The fact that the CDU with its leading cultural idea and its concern for emigrants and displaced persons (and not least its rejection of “socio-political language regulations”, “gender compulsion” and “grammatically false gender language”) is programmatically concerned with the AfD itself. “German leading culture instead of multiculturalism” is overwritten by the AfD to culture, whereupon the expected is followed: “The leading German culture describes our consensus of values, which is identity for our people and distinguishes us from others.”

Or that the culture of remembrance should not only be concentrated on the low points of our history, but “to be appreciated” in its entirety and “must also have the highlights in view” (without being mentioned). Also clear: “ideological dislocations like the supposedly gender language have lost nothing in Germany”.

It may be the Greens’ government program that “growing together” is overwritten-but what is listed under culture at the CDU/CSU and AfD has something to rule out, as much as the Merz party insists on it, and the AfD the Wants to destroy the CDU.

While culture and media policy decide on the AfD program, sport follows almost all other parties. In fact, cultural policy does not matter in this heated election campaign. Which is why it is not surprising that the culture is managed in almost all election programs in the back places. In the government program of the SPD, the media and culture belong together with a “strong” sport, regardless of the first high sentences: the culture is “our core promise” for everyone and should be an “state goal in the constitution”, according to the SPD.

The SPD wants to promote Games

This is followed by the SPD program an course of dealing with all important points of culture: from the “indispensable” cultural work of “a broad understanding of culture in a democracy”, which recognizes high, pop, socio and subculture equally ”to strengthening the German films, the promotion of pop culture and that of Games. Promote, promote, promote, promote, of which there is even much talk to the SPD, without the party being more precise.

The Greens become more specific if they want to finance the film funding reform “by an investment obligation and tax incentive promotion” and want to promote the “Games location Germany” and small publishers for tax purposes. The cultural passport for 18-year-olds introduced by Claudia Roth and tirelessly is to be maintained and even “expanded”, and the free scene also wants to help the Habeck party “by expanding the Federal Cultural Fund”.

The FDP, which is the only party to be very far ahead, is very scarce, the Goethe Institutes want to promote and expand its digital offers. And she has recognized something very crucial, but at least, namely that pop culture is “more than entertainment”: “The creative potential of pop culture is mainstream and innovation in one”. Which is why the party wants to “work for a contemporary concept of culture”, “which includes the design, comics and games.”

Like the SPD, the FDP wants to “anchor the culture as a state goal in the Basic Law”, but not least sees it as a “expression of individuality”. It goes without saying that this cannot necessarily be combined with an artist social fund at the FDP – no speech from her, just like with CDU and AfD. But for the continued existence of the KSK or even its expansion, others feel much more responsible, in addition to the left, the SPD and the BSW the Greens. Because these know what many often do not know or ignore: “Culture is also hard work.”