Selective Memory as a Political Strategy in Berlin

Political memory in Berlin is notoriously short, but SPD co-leader Lars Klingbeil has set a fresh benchmark for convenient amnesia. Facing internal coalition friction over the treatment of Bundestag President Bärbel Bas, Klingbeil sought the moral high ground during a recent parliamentary party meeting. He painted a touching picture of social democratic restraint, asserting that his party explicitly refrained from criticizing CDU politician Katherina Reiche while she was absent on sick leave during the summer. If only the opposition, so the narrative goes, displayed similar chivalry.

It is a charming tale of political nobility. Unfortunately for Klingbeil, it is entirely untrue.

When Reiche underwent surgery in August and was sidelined for roughly five weeks, her political opponents in the SPD did not pause to send get-well cards. Instead, they seized the opportunity to launch concerted strikes against her office. Nina Scheer, the SPD’s energy policy spokesperson, publicly accused the absent minister of deceiving the public and spreading fake news after Reiche dared to highlight the ballooning financial burdens of Germany’s energy transition. The party felt so strongly about this offensive that it proudly distributed Scheer’s denunciations through its official parliamentary group website.

Nor was Scheer a lone voice in the wilderness. SPD lawmaker Bernd Rützel took aim at Reiche during her convalescence, effectively framing her opposition to the European supply chain law as a disregard for human rights. To complete the welcome-back committee, veteran SPD politician Ralf Stegner took to the media the day after her return to declare that Reiche was certainly not among the top performers in government.

The glaring contradiction reveals more than just sloppy staff work in the SPD headquarters. It exposes a broader habit of weaponizing moral standards whenever convenient. When Bärbel Bas faces scrutiny, the SPD quickly reaches for accusations of unfair personal attacks and systemic misogyny. Yet when a female CDU minister questions the costs of green transformation or overbearing European red tape, the chivalrous shield vanishes, replaced by unyielding partisan hostility.

Whether Klingbeil deliberately fabricated this tale of social democratic virtue or simply forgot the public tirades of his own colleagues is almost beside the point. Both options point to a political class that views historical consistency as entirely optional. In modern Berlin, facts are secondary to the narrative of the day, leaving observers to wonder whether anyone at the helm is keeping track of reality.

Written by Freya Stensrud freya.stensrud@alpineweekly.com