The criticism of former Chancellor Schröder is great. The SPD politician is being asked to let his posts at Russian state-owned companies rest. The city of Hanover wants to withdraw his honorary citizenship, and his ex-wife Schröder-Köpf wants to prevent that.
Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has been criticized for his business connections with Russian state-owned companies. The SPD leadership and the incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on the 77-year-old to resign his posts at Russian state companies because of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. Schröder’s honorary citizenship is also to be revoked in the city of Hanover.
His former wife Doris Schröder-Köpf is apparently trying to prevent this. As the „Bild“ newspaper reports, the Lower Saxony state commissioner for migration and participation sent a text message to the „comrades“ of the SPD. „I am firmly convinced that we should not put Gerd in the same row as Hitler,“ she is said to have written. Adolf Hitler was deprived of his honorary citizenship in Hanover on November 9, 1978, having received it on April 6, 1933.
Schröder-Köpf points out that it is still too early for a decision on Schröder’s honorary citizenship. According to the report, „also with a view to the Ukrainian demand for Gerd as a mediator“, she appeals not to make the decision now. In addition, the decision of social democrats would not stand up in a historical perspective. Schröder’s no to the Iraq war should also be taken into account.
The withdrawal of honorary citizenship in Hanover has recently come closer for Schröder. On Thursday, the city’s management committee decided that the city administration would initiate the appropriate procedure, the city said. The committee came to the conclusion that Schröder „no longer shares the values and goals of the state capital due to his ongoing business connections with Russian state-owned companies“. Schröder should now be given the opportunity to take a stand. According to the information, a decision is planned for the next council meeting on March 31.
Source: ntv.de, ses/dpa