Herlinde Koelbl portrays the Defense Minister

He has not become Chancellor’s candidate of the SPD. But the famous photographer and chronicler made a book about him. So far only Angela Merkel has happened. A monograph of the man who is considered Germany’s most popular politician: In the Max-Liebermann-Haus at the Brandenburg Gate, the artist and the politician presented the current work.

“Boris Pistorius: Departure” is not a coffee-table book, rather a handy format, a reader. This fits a defense minister in these times and a pragmatist who has redefined the otherwise unpopular ejection seat in just two years: “I was in the mood for the job, but I didn’t have to be anything anymore,” says Pistorius that evening The journalist Michael Bröcker moderates, less than two weeks before the Bundestag election and almost three years after the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.

Like in football

Kiev’s ambassador is present, including Lithuania’s ambassador. The atmosphere seems solved, but that does not go wrong with the oppression. If the fan of VfL Osnabrück and formerly active footballers in one of these unusually open discussions answered the question “Where do they see themselves in the team”: “I am in defense. I’m a minister of defense, ”he means seriously.

Political scientist Herfried Münkler describes the commitment of Pistorius, who previously played a role in the Lower Saxony state policy and the SPD, which was previously only played in Lower Saxony’s state policy. Münkler wrote a contribution for Koelbl’s book as well as the security expert Claudia Major, who hits the point: “You don’t have to want conflicts, but you have to be able to carry them out. To defend your existential interests against the resistance and attacks of others.”

On the way with the Air Force

Herlinde Koelbl, 85 years old, accompanied Pistorius in Iraq and Jordan and in the Baltic States, in Berlin and to his homeland Osnabrück. Why he? The photo artist immediately liked his appearance, his “precise language”, the objectivity: “I was fascinated by the vitality that Pistorius has in the body, which makes him look bigger than he is.”

The recordings show that. Pistorius at the troop. The German Minister of Defense in London or Paris, in Kurdistan: Always engaging that one could think that he was the host and not the obviously welcome guest.

How does she photograph politics? Red carpets, flags on conference tables, flower containers, acting lids, gangways, a helmet with a name tag in the transport machine. Herlinde Koelbl is known for her detail. Does Pistorius always look so friendly? Did she want to see him like that? As was to be experienced at the book premiere, they understood themselves splendidly. People and politicians, that, when you look at these photos, does not have to be a contradiction.

Pistorius is now addressing a great future topic. The debt brake no longer works. In view of the threat, one had to get out of the small small of household years and even legislative periods for defense. This is what the new technologies and planning processes require. The turning point has only started. Neither Scholz nor Merz looked so far at the TV chancellor duel.