Wore a pirate armband, loyal to the old briefcase. 5 facts about outgoing Chancellor Scholz

On February 23, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will leave his post. He headed the FRG government for just over three years, surpassing only two of his predecessors. At the beginning of his career, Scholz was an opponent of capitalism and NATO, but later changed his views, becoming a much more traditional politician. What you need to know about the outgoing head of Germany - in the material of "Izvestia".

Fact 1: He was an opponent of NATO and visited the GDR

- Scholz began his political career in the youth movement of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) "Jusos" and served in it to vice chairman. Although when he was chancellor he was accused of being too right-wing for a socialist, as a young man he was a committed Marxist. Scholz published articles on social and political topics, in which he called NATO an aggressive-imperialist bloc and his native West Germany a European stronghold of big capital.

- As one of the leaders of Juzos, Scholz traveled frequently to the GDR in the 1980s. According to the Stasi (Ministry of State Security of the GDR. - Ed.), the future chancellor of the united Germany visited the Eastern Bloc republic nine times. Scholz took part in the activities of the ruling Socialist United Party of Germany (SED) and met with its leadership. During one visit, a delegation led by Scholz made the statement that "the true enemies of peace should be found in the U.S. military-industrial complex."

Fact 2: Proponent of gag pills

- In May 2001, Scholz became Hamburg's senator for internal affairs, i.e., head of the regional Interior Ministry. He held the post for four months and is remembered for his radical fight against drug trafficking in the city. Scholz authorized the use of vomit pills against suspects - in this way it was possible to obtain evidence against them if they swallowed drug packages during arrest. He explained his position on this issue with a phrase he later made his motto: "I am a liberal, but I am not stupid."

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- The medical community opposed the measure because forcibly administering pills could be dangerous to health. Lawyers argued that it was degrading and violated the rights of suspects. In December 2001, a scandal erupted when 19-year-old Nigerian refugee Achidi John died after a doctor forcibly administered a vomiting drug through his nose. Although he was indeed found to have drugs in his stomach after an autopsy, the vomiting pills eventually became illegal in Germany.

Fact 3: Loyal to the black briefcase

- Scholz takes a black leather briefcase with him on almost all of his trips. People in Germany have noticed that this bag brand Bree hardly corresponds to the level of the first person of the state: the briefcase looks old-fashioned and has scuffs. As it turned out, Scholz bought it more than 40 years ago, when he was still an aspiring lawyer, and is so attached to it that he cannot give it up.

- When Scholz started his TikTok in 2024, he dedicated one of his videos to his black briefcase. He revealed that he carries document folders, a case of glasses, and an electronic tablet in it. In addition to the black briefcase, Scholz also cherishes an old tube TV and continues to use it at home.

Fact 4: Wears a pirate's eye patch

- In 2023, Scholz surprised many when he posted a photo of himself on social media with a black patch over his right eye. Around it, abrasions were visible on her nose and chin. Scholz invited users to come up with memes with his new pirate image.

- It was later revealed that the chancellor was spending the weekend at his home in Potsdam and went for a jog. Although he followed his usual route through the woods, at one point he tripped and fell face down. He was not seriously injured, but for the next week and a half he continued to appear in public, including at the G20 summit, with an unusual accessory for a politician.

- It was no surprise that Scholz fell while jogging. Although he strongly disliked exercise as a child, his wife Britta Ernst got him used to regular exercise. Scholz said that he tries to go for two-hour jogs in his free time to keep his weight at 70 kilograms.

Fact 5: The first non-religious chancellor

- Scholz is known as the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany who does not belong to any religious denomination. If we take the history of pre-war Germany, the last non-religious head of government was Heinrich Müller, who held the office from 1928-1930.

- Scholz was born into a Lutheran family and was baptized into the Evangelical church as a child. However, he left it for unnamed reasons, without declaring himself a convinced atheist. When Scholz took the oath of office as chancellor in 2021, he did not add the phrase "so help me God," as all his predecessors except Gerhard Schröder had done.