On good old Merkel – Konstantin von Hammerstein in Der Spiegel:

‘It is a small, intimate gathering that Norbert Lammert has invited to the Deutsche Parlamentarische Gesellschaft – a non-partisan organization of German lawmakers at all levels – in Berlin on this Thursday in October. The chairman of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Lammert is hosting a dinner for former Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, who turned 80 in June. And Schüssel was able to invite whoever he wanted.’

(…)
‘But what makes this evening a special one is the second guest of honor. It’s Angela Merkel. The former chancellor was in a fantastic mood, participants will later report.’

(…)

‘A few days earlier, the Swedish Academy of Sciences had awarded the Nobel prize in chemistry to three researchers from Japan, Australia and the U.S. for their "new form of molecular architecture.” It’s really fascinating, says Schüssel – and Merkel, the physicist, begins holding forth.
She knows the researchers, she says, and is even friends with one of them. She then launches into a detailed explanation of the "metal-organic frameworks” that the three Nobel winners were working on. The group listens attentively. Merkel was able to explain the complex material so clearly and accessibly, a participant would later say, that even he was able to understand. It was clear, the participant said, just how deep her understanding was of the research results.’

(…)

‘Here, Merkel stands for all that many people believe her successor Merz is lacking. The moderate tone, the reasonableness, the trustworthiness, empathy – qualities that unite. Whereas Merz polarizes, divides and excludes, Merkel embodies the opposite. It is her tone that many people have begun to miss, not necessarily her policies. With every coalition crisis and every verbal gaffe produced by the current chancellor, a wistful yearning grows for the purportedly good old Merkel era. Even among her political opponents.’

(…)

‘How does Merkel see these two worlds? How does she see the fact that, while she has a lot of fans, she also has a lot of enemies who blame her for the country’s current difficulties? When asked recently during a live-audience interview in Berlin hosted by DER SPIEGEL whether she is aware that she is so polarizing, Merkel responded: "To a certain extent, it is the nature of things.”’

(…)

‘A woman who, even in small, intimate gatherings, allows for little doubt that she was mostly – no, almost always – right. That her policies were, as she so often said while chancellor: without alternative.’

(…)

‘Of course she addresses her migrant policies as well on this evening. For Merkel, the refugee summer of 2015 was the defining event of her tenure. Her decision on the night of September 4 to allow the refugees to enter Germany divided her time in office into a before and after, she says. None of her decisions were as controversial as that one. She wants to justify herself – and it becomes the longest passage she will read on this evening.’

(…)

‘And still, the impression that she is distancing herself from her successor isn’t wrong. In the audience, after all, many people interpret the passages Merkel reads from her book exactly as Bild does. As criticism of the current chancellor – a criticism of which they approve. Because Merz intentionally initiated an 180-degree reversal of Merkel’s refugee policies and repeatedly said in public that this is precisely his plan: to do things differently than Merkel. More than anything, though, he has adopted a harsher tone – and that is something that many CDU supporters also find concerning.
As such, Merkel is facing a dilemma. She shaped Germany for 16 years. Her decisions continue to have ramifications to the present day. The reforms that were never implemented, her policy toward Russia, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, her refugee policies. If she defends the decisions she made back then, she is automatically contradicting Merz. She accepts that it will cause a stir. And she doesn’t seem to particularly care.’

(…)

‘"A new era is beginning for me,” Merkel said in a 2021 interview she gave after the CDU lost the election. "When I say myself that a different era, a new era, is beginning,” says a Merkel confidant, "then I also know that it isn’t my era. And she is fine with that.” Governing was Merkel’s life, never the party. She may still have contacts inside the party and receives parliamentarians if they ask for an appointment, but in contrast to Kohl or Adenauer, she does not cultivate old networks to damage her successor. If you can believe people in her orbit, she speaks surprisingly little about the chancellor. Merz, they say, is simply not someone she pays much attention to.’

(…)

‘At Merkel’s reading in Ulm, for example, none other than Hilde Mattheis is standing in line, waiting to get her copy of Merkel’s memoirs signed. As a hard-core leftist, the long-time SPD parliamentarian was even controversial within her own party. Now, in retirement, she is waiting patiently for her turn with the book under her arm. "We really did have quite a good time with her,” she says.’

(…)
‘When the conservatives flopped in the past, the SPD would head up the next government. And when they fail, it was the conservatives. But now, the situation is different, he says: "If Merz and Klingbeil don’t find success, the enemies of democracy will take over. That is why we support Merz, no matter what.”’

(…)

‘This time, the two women are recognized as they climb into the cars. "Oh, it’s Merkel,” one of the soldiers calls out. And the entire group turns to face them. They smile, wave and pull out their mobile phones in excitement. Wow, the former chancellor! What luck! Merkel turns around with a friendly smile on her face and waves. Just as the Queen Mum used to do.^

Read the article here.

I cannot remember having read such a positive article in Der Spiegel about Merkel for a long time. But the Merkel-nostalgia is understandable, a longing for slightly better times.

And yes, when Merz will fail, the enemies of democracy will take over. Nobody knows how far we are from that point, but nostalgia or not, the old order is dead.
The fact that Merkel is simply not interested in Merz is telling.

‘Her public image, her political legacy, her historical role – and little else,’ that’s on top of her mind. Understandable.