Congratulations from the Chancellor: Olaf Scholz gave the speech on Friede Springer’s birthday Photo: Getty Images
By Oliver Ohmann
150 invited guests of honor celebrated her 80th birthday with Friede Springer on Monday. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) also attended the reception on the 19th floor of the publishing house.
Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Axel Springer SE, said in his congratulatory speech: “Luck didn’t come your way. you were looking for it You fought for it. You seem happier today than I’ve ever seen you before – relaxed, free, above all free inside, more at peace than ever before.”
Hug and congratulations from Mathias Döpfner: “I envy your optimism” Photo: Britta Pedersen/dpa
Ralph Büchi, Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Axel Springer, emphasized: “Friede Springer personally stands for values that are so important to all of us: continuity while at the same time being very open to everything new, absolute reliability and unbroken confidence.”
Ex-Federal President Joachim Gauck: “She should stay as she is” Photo: EPA
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz underlined the “characteristics of a woman with a big heart and conviction” and thanked the jubilarian “for everything you have done and will continue to do for our country and the free press”.
Berlin’s Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (right) with Friede Springer Photo: EPA
Before Max Raabe performed two of her favorite chansons for the piano (including “Somewhere in the world there’s a little bit of happiness”), Friede Springer thanked her and recalled the difficult times after her husband’s death in September 1985. “I cried through many a night, but continued the next morning. Giving up was not an option.”
“It was always so nice with you,” sang entertainer Max Raabe Photo: picture alliance/dpa
Friede Springer (right) with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen Photo: picture alliance/dpa
Also guests: Margot Friedländer, Holocaust survivor, and Josef Schuster, President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany Photo: picture alliance/dpa