CVs, Lauterbach & Lang

It begins with birth and ends with the obituary. I'm talking about the course of life, the course of life. I like this image, I like the metaphor of the course of life. As I get older, I realize that in my own walk through life, the footprints I leave behind become more important, while I hardly plan future steps. Some footprints I am proud of, other footprints I would like to erase. Perhaps some readers feel the same way. There is something ironic about the fact that the first CVs are formulated in writing even before the actual run begins. At a time when, as a young person, you are barely standing on your own two feet, let alone walking through life on them. You sit in the warm nest of your parents' house writing your first applications and CVs. Do you remember applying for jobs in the past?

Father's occupation, details of mother and siblings! Such information was considered standard in older applications. The potential employer wanted to know what kind of family the applicant came from. Did he come from a good or a bad home? These discriminatory times are thankfully over. Today's applications are all about certificates, grades and skills of all kinds. It's all about the candidate's abilities. New German skills! Not only the social background should remain secret. Even the name, age, gender and appearance are no longer requested on many job portals. No employer wants to be suspected of excluding people in advance, whatever their prejudices may be. Well, okay. You can also overdo it. Sometimes a disadvantage or even incompetence can even be an advantage. Who doesn't remember the words of Dr. Franziska Brantner in the German Bundestag? According to Habeck's State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, even people who cannot read have every opportunity in the German Bundestag [1]. Educational qualifications are unimportant. After all, the Bundestag is a place of democracy.

Dr. Brantner was right, albeit probably involuntarily. Skills, abilities, competencies, life or work experience are unimportant in the job description of a politician. A straightforward application and a short CV are enough. The starting point of the political career is the youth organization of a party; by means of the competence of cadaver obedience, the candidate moves forward to the highest possible position on the list and thus reaches the actual finish line of the short route, the financially cushioned seat in parliament. This is more reminiscent of a leisurely 100-meter jog than a strenuous marathon. Dropped out of university, a short stint as a cab driver, a job as a call center agent or an internship in the theater may not impress voters. However, in reality, these are insignificant little things. And even if a politician supposedly has skills by claiming that she "comes from international law", this does not necessarily correspond to the biographical facts. Then the CV is simply updated and adapted. The footprints left behind are blurred and repainted. As an informed reader, you know who I am referring to. The limited qualifications of many politicians combined with the hubris of wanting to tell citizens in which direction they should run through life is often discussed and angrily criticized. And rightly so.

The father's profession, details of the mother and the politicians' siblings? That is rarely criticized. That's a good thing. We are no longer living in the 1980s. Whether a person grew up with a golden spoon in their orifice or comes from a precarious background is really of no interest. With one exception. I prick up my ears when the politician in question repeatedly refers to his childhood in order to paint a good picture of himself. These politicians include Karl Lauterbach and Ricarda Lang.

The German health minister had a hard time in life "as the son of dairy worker Wilhelm Lauterbach and his wife Gertrud". "Despite performing very well, he only received a secondary school recommendation, which he later regarded as discrimination due to his family background." This is what it says on the omniscient encyclopaedia Wikipedia [2], which relies on self-reporting by politicians when it comes to vitae. The message is clear: Karl Lauterbach had to work for everything himself against the odds in life. Ever since it became known that the Lauterbach family home is to be sold for 800,000 euros [3], doubts have arisen as to whether the story of his family origins really corresponds to the facts or whether it is just another Lauterbach legend from Fantasy Island. Coming from a well-off family may have been an advantage in previous candidacies, but not in the political candidacy in 2024. For the homo politicus, it is more beneficial for his image and poll ratings to let voters know that he was already delivering newspapers in all weathers at the age of 14. And so to Ricarda Lang's arduous childhood.

"Lang grew up in Nürtingen as the daughter of a single social worker who worked in a women's shelter. Her father was the sculptor Eckhart Dietz." [4]

That's what it says on Wikipedia. The Green Party leader uses it to promote herself, not only on the online encyclopaedia but also in interviews. Ricarda Lang's story goes like this: Through her mother, Ricarda knows what poor conditions and hard work mean. Ricarda also got her sense of justice from her mother, who was not in the Green Party, but was active in the women's movement. Because of her mother, Ricarda Lang went into politics, and because of her mother, issues such as gender-equitable pay and feminism are still close to Ricarda Lang's heart today.

This life story touches me. Mrs. Lang has my spontaneous sympathy, just as anyone who tells me about such a childhood would have my sympathy. Indeed, there is hardly anything more honorable than helping abused women for little pay. Nevertheless, I have questions about the official traces of this life story, even at the risk of appearing tactless. As I've already mentioned, it doesn't matter to me which stable a person comes from. I only become alert and journalistically curious when a politician repeatedly makes an issue of his origins. In such a case, I think it is permissible to ask tactful questions and question the story being told.

Why does Ricarda Lang never mention her mother's name and where can I find it? After all, Ricarda says she owes everything to her mother. She was her role model and her motivation to go into politics. Why does the father Ricarda never mentions, the now deceased sculptor Eckhart Dietz, not only have a name but even his own Wikipedia entry [5]?

Perhaps the Green Party leader will do the same as me at some point. Take a critical look at the course of your own life. The traces you are proud of, but also the traces you try in vain to cover up. It's never too late for that. The skill you need to do this is to be honest with yourself. A rare gift, if you ask me. I also had to acquire this gift in the course of my life.

PS: Footprints do not refer to the ecological footprint.