Doctors in great concernFormer German Chancellor Schröder in hospital
dpa
4.2.2025 - 10:00
Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD) has undergone clinical treatment for a burnout diagnosis.
dpa
Long ostracized as a Putin apologist, now summoned to a committee of inquiry: The stress was probably too much for former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. He goes to a clinic for burnout.
DPA
04.02.2025, 10:00
04.02.2025, 10:01
dpa
No time? blue News summarizes for you
Gerhard Schröder has to go to hospital because of burnout.
The SPD politician is in such a bad way that he has sought clinical treatment on the advice of a doctor.
Schröder's lawyer Hans-Peter Huber confirmed this to dpa.
The findings of the doctor treating him are alarming: "Mr. S. is suffering from severe burnout syndrome with the typical signs of profound exhaustion and a severe lack of energy." In addition, there were "concentration and memory difficulties as well as sleep disorders". In his statement on former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's state of health, which is available to the German Press Agency, the doctor also notes a "reduced emotional resilience".
The SPD politician is in such a bad way that he has sought clinical treatment on the advice of the doctor. Schröder's lawyer Hans-Peter Huber confirmed this to dpa. On behalf of the family, he asked the public to respect Schröder's privacy.
Burnout is a state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion caused by chronic stress. The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially recognized burnout as a health problem.
Schröder no longer seemed as agile as before
Schröder's companions had been worried for some time about the SPD politician, who is usually so efficient and energetic. He seemed stressed during meetings and no longer as agile as he was around his 80th birthday in April 2024. At the time, he gave an extensive interview to dpa and was accompanied by an NDR camera team on a trip to China and on the golf course. The film provided the familiar image of the "media chancellor". In other words, someone who wanted to paint his own picture and not have it determined by others.
Schröder's fifth wife Soyeon Schröder-Kim made sure of this. Since their marriage in 2018, the 55-year-old South Korean management consultant has repeatedly staged private moments of the former chancellor on the social network Instagram. However, she has been off the air since January 5.
Much criticism of the former chancellor due to closeness to Russia
The years behind Gerhard Schröder have been bitter. Even his rapid move to well-paid supervisory board positions in Russian companies after leaving the chancellorship in 2005 brought him heavy criticism. When Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom Schröder calls his friend, ordered his troops to attack Ukraine in February 2022, the former chancellor hesitated for a long time to distance himself from him. He even undertook an unsuccessful peace mission in Moscow a few weeks after the outbreak of war.
In political Germany, he largely isolated himself with his stance on Putin. The Bundestag stripped him of his former chancellor's office. However, an SPD party expulsion procedure failed. The current SPD General Secretary Matthias Miersch even attended Schröder's birthday party in Hanover last April.
Around his 80th birthday, Schröder appeared in public again more frequently. Recently, however, his cancellation of an appearance in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state parliament due to illness caused a stir. In mid-January, Schröder was due to appear before the committee of inquiry investigating the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea. The parliamentarians are particularly interested in Russia's political and financial influence on the actions of the SPD-led state governments in Schwerin.
Testimony in the U-committee is a distant prospect
This raises the question of what role Schröder played. He had promoted Nord Stream 1 as Chancellor and then the construction of the other pipeline in 2006 as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nord Stream 2 AG, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Russia's Gazprom.
Schröder's testimony in Schwerin is unlikely to come to fruition for the time being. He is "neither currently nor in the foreseeable future able to cope with the physical and psychological strain of a lengthy - especially public - questioning in an investigative committee", writes his doctor in his statement. And warns: "This would further worsen his state of health and, in the worst case, lead to total decompensation." In other words, a state in which even the best doctors would find it difficult to help the former chancellor.