House visits

What do the people of Berlin do on the weekend? They visit the government so that the tourists can stay at the museum district. On to the Chancellor's Office.

Unfortunately, 199,998 others have also had the same idea. Accordingly, the queue in the afternoon at 2:00 PM is very long. The access then surprisingly goes quickly and just in time, because something is lost in the courtyard. You can recognize it by the fact that a cluster of people with raised phones slowly moves across the courtyard. Sometimes a raspberry-colored spot appears in the cluster, which quickly gets covered again with cameras.

Since we're already here, let's get closer to the Chancellor. Surprisingly close. There are no fixed barriers, a red border rope is carried symbolically by a handful of security guards beside her. The people are literally within reach and smell. It is unimaginable here that someone somewhere is carrying a gallows with her name on it.

On the way, not even five meters away from the Chancellor, sits a singer/songwriter who plays unnoticed. Two young women are talking in English (Jens Spahn, where are you when you're needed?). The one, obviously an American, says: 'This would be unthinkable in the White House. No one would come this close to Trump, and that there would still be someone with a guitar sitting around....'

I have never voted for Merkel and never will, but I nod internally. Yes, it's not really that bad here...

Thank God there's still the helicopter. Ironically, it brings you back down to earth. Just the helicopter alone has cost 75,000 euros for this day and today the CDU doesn't even pay its contribution of 3000 euros.

Speaking of finances: We also visited the Ministry of Finance. No sign of Jens Spahn. Only an older, seemingly friendly gentleman is seen but doesn't utter a word.

The star of the ministry on this day is the building that houses Schäuble and Co. The visitor service presents it competently and in great detail. It sends a shiver down my spine when the minutes of the Wannsee Conference on November 12, 1938, three days after the Kristallnacht, are read out in the original preserved meeting room: 'Göring: I would have preferred if 200 Jews were beaten to death instead of demolishing all the businesses.'