"Nobody but me..." Chancellor in riot mode - why Schröder's Elephant Round 2005 will never be forgotten
Since 1969, the leading politicians of the parties in Germany have appeared on television after every federal election. The "Elephant Round" in 2005 went down in history - thanks to a bizarre performance by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- On the evening of the 2005 Bundestag election, Gerhard Schröder makes a curious appearance on German television.
- Schröder was ready for a riot right from the start.
- The highlight of the talk show: Gerhard Schröder saw himself as the clear winner of the election and the next chancellor - even though Angela Merkel had a lead according to the projections.
- blue News shows you the chancellor's poltergeist appearance that went down in television history.
Millions of people watched Schröder's TV appearance on "Berliner Runde" on election night in September 2005. In this traditional TV format, also known as the Elephant Round, the leading candidates of the parties answer questions from journalists after the first projections on election night.
And many wondered afterwards: What was going on with Gerhard Schröder? Was he perhaps even drunk?
Ready to rant
Schröder accused the two TV journalists Nikolaus Brender and Hartmann von der Tann of running a campaign against him and refused to acknowledge Angela Merkel's - albeit wafer-thin - election victory: "Your intellectual problem in all honour" was his answer to the question of how he intended to form a government without a majority.
Years later, one of the two presenters at the time, Nikolaus Brender, ruled out the possibility that alcohol had been involved in the election in a guest article for the political magazine Cicero.
Merkel wins, Schröder leaves
Angela Merkel's CDU then of course won the 2005 Bundestag elections, while Schröder's poltergeist appearance made television history.
In the video, blue News shows you Gerhard Schröder's memorable appearance and explains the context.
