Angela Merkel calls for defending democracy on 50th anniversary of Wolf Biermann’s expatriation, Digi Mart USA News (Berlin, Germany): Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for greater active commitment to protecting democracy in Germany. Speaking at an event in Berlin marking the 50th anniversary of the expatriation of singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann from East Germany, she said the country is united but also agitated and divided.
Singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann is known for his texts critical of the German Democratic Republic. Fifty years ago he was punished and stripped of his citizenship.
On the occasion of the anniversary, Merkel offered a warning about the current situation.
“Our country is united, but also agitated and torn,” Merkel said. “We sense that democracy is more vulnerable than we thought, that it needs more than just free elections.
It needs us, the citizens who want to live in a democracy.”
Merkel described a duty to actively commit to the free state, including the indivisible dignity of every person, the separation of powers, the independence of the judiciary and the press, freedom of expression and the protection of minorities. “We as citizens must once again speak up loudly and resolutely for this state,” she said.
The former chancellor added: “It is a struggle for something that, fortunately, one is not persecuted for. But so that one is not persecuted someday, one must today engage for the values of our state.”
