Political stage
May 18, 2009
"My chances to become president are close to zero," said Peter Sodann with a chuckle.
The popular actor from communist East Germany (GDR) is disappointed that people are unwilling to accept him as a politician. A recent survey showed that only four percent of Germans were in favor of Sodann becoming president on May 23. That's even lower than the percentage of votes the Left party, which nominated him, has in the election body on May 23.
The born misfit
The 72-year-old may be convincing as the grumpy inspector in the popular crime series "Tatort," but he has muffed his lines thus far on the political stage.
Sodann made his first blunder in an interview when he said that he would like a role in which he could play an inspector and arrest Deutsche Bank chief Josef Ackermann. The media fallout was devastating. Sodann subsequently made several unfortunate comments that did little to calm the critics.
Sodann rose from humble beginnings as a toolmaker and went on to become an actor, director and theater manager. Off the stage, he was known for challenging authority. In 1961, the student cabaret he led was deemed politically unacceptable, and he was held in detention for nine months by the Stasi, East Germany's secret police.
As an actor at the Berliner Ensemble under Bertolt Brecht and Helene Weigel and later as a theater director, Sodann was highly critical of the GDR. He has said that the fall of the Berlin Wall was the most important event in his life.
Still a fan of socialism
The actor has promised to contribute a degree of levity to the office of president. He has said that he doesn't want the GDR back, while emphasizing that socialism remains a good idea which embraces justice and solidarity, and that it was a project which was far from finished, in the same way that Christianity was as well.
Sodann said he wants to fulfill his role no matter how hard it might be. It's a philosophy that's in line with his recently published memoires titled "No Half Measures."
Author: Bernd Graessler (nk)
Editor: Kate Bowen