Franz Müntefering: Bücher meines Lebens

Franz Müntefering learned from his mother how to stand up for himself and others. In an interview, he said: "I think I was very lucky as far as my childhood was concerned. There was a war. I lived alone with my mother. We were afraid for
my father. But it was a good time because my mother gave me security and the confidence that things could go on well." Born in 1940, the later Federal Minister and Vice-Chancellor still belongs to the generation for whom education also included the formation of the heart. Franz Müntefering is an increasingly vehement advocate of this education of the heart, which could also be called a political ethos. For example, in May 2024, when he and Gerhard Baum provided a great hour of television on Markus Lanz.

What books have accompanied a man who says he was always lucky later on: "A job that fulfills me. People who were and are important to me." A person who never stops asking how life could be meaningful, even in difficult times. Above all, he doesn't stay out of it and even now, in the days of his 85th year, asks: What can I do for society?

Insa Wilke talks to Franz Müntefering about the books of his life, about his view of the world and his questions for us, here and now.