{"id":44937,"date":"2022-05-23T15:52:43","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T13:52:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.steinmuehle.de\/blog\/2022\/05\/23\/we-are-currently-defending-our-democracy\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T17:35:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T15:35:42","slug":"we-are-currently-defending-our-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/blog\/2022\/05\/23\/we-are-currently-defending-our-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"“We are currently defending our democracy”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spotlight on Ukraine: Lucia Puttrich, Hesse\u2019s Minister for Federal and European Affairs, visited the Steinm\u00fchle<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t talk about<\/strong> politicians\u2014talk with<\/strong> them. That is the goal of Steinm\u00fchle High School, and it is also why the school always welcomes visits from members of parliament and ministers. Through local state parliament member Dirk Bamberger (CDU), Steinm\u00fchle established contact with Lucia Puttrich. She is not only Bamberger\u2019s colleague in the Hessian State Parliament, but also Hessian Minister for Federal and European Affairs and Plenipotentiary of the State of Hesse. She recently joined Dirk Bamberger and Horst Falk\u2014also a member of the state parliament and the education policy spokesperson for the CDU parliamentary group\u2014on the panel at the Steinm\u00fchlenforum event: \u201cStudents Ask\u2014Politicians Answer.\u201d <\/p>\n

A ministerial visit in the midst of the war in Ukraine\u2014this was a good opportunity for the 11th and 12th graders at Steinm\u00fchle to raise issues that were on their minds. It\u2019s no surprise that this topic was the main concern for the Steinm\u00fchle students. It was a serious event featuring in-depth questions and well-considered answers from the minister. And her answers didn\u2019t always dispel concerns or alleviate fears. Informative, but not sugarcoated. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“A War Against <\/strong>NATO and the EU”<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Ukraine is defending its sovereignty, and virtually every Ukrainian has a weapon,” said Lucia Puttrich as she began her description of the situation in the country that is currently the focus of attention in Europe and around the world. However, the minister was also keen to make it clear that the conflict does not stop at territorial borders but is imperialist in nature: \u201cPutin wants his old empire back. It is a war against NATO and the EU. And Putin is fundamentally unwilling to change the course of the war before achieving these goals.\u201d In response to the frequently asked question of whether Putin\u2019s absence from the scene would improve the situation, the minister offered no positive outlook: \u201cIt\u2019s not about the person; it\u2019s the system behind him.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is at stake in the war in Ukraine? What are we defending? What will happen if Russia cuts off the gas supply? \u2014 Questions from the minister to ponder, and questions from the students. \u201cWe\u2019re defending democracy,\u201d said Puttrich, \u201cand rising prices and economic downturns are currently the price we\u2019re paying for that.\u201d It\u2019s about our stance, about realizing that we shouldn\u2019t take anything for granted. \u201cWe have a responsibility toward Ukraine,\u201d Lucia Puttrich stated, and continued: \u201cAnd we also have a responsibility toward Russia. But that cannot mean condoning a war of annihilation.\u201d <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“A Time of Escalation”<\/strong><\/p>\n

The minister described NATO\u2019s foundation as a defense pact with a mutual assistance obligation. She noted that there are currently security threats in the Baltic states and in Poland. This situation means that certain events are interconnected: \u201cIf Ukraine falls, we\u2019ll see a domino effect.\u201d She noted that the current situation is fundamentally at odds with the formal realities. Puttrich: \u201cUkraine is a sovereign state, recognized even by Russia.\u201d This fact alone demonstrates a certain unpredictability: \u201cIf Putin wants World War III, then that\u2019s what he wants\u2014it\u2019s not up to us to decide. And war is most likely to be avoided if it is unwinnable for Russia.\u201d In fact, according to the visitor from Wiesbaden, we must probably brace ourselves for a long conflict: \u201cA ceasefire would already be a good thing.\u201d It takes a long time for sanctions to take effect. The minister considers it a mistake to dismiss the Russian president\u2019s behavior as mere caprice: \u201cPutin is serious about these matters. We are living in a time of escalation.\u201d<\/p>\n

“We must learn from history\u2014anything is possible,” said State Parliament Representative Horst Falk, concluding the overall discussion between the panel of politicians and the student body. The event\u2014prepared by Steinm\u00fchlen teachers Bernd H\u00fclsbeck and Erno Menzel and moderated by Tilmann Molzberger from the Q2 Political Science Honors Class\u2014did not end on a reassuring note, particularly given the minister\u2019s use of sources of information that were, in some cases, exclusive. Principal Bj\u00f6rn Gemmer expressed his gratitude for arranging the event, for the attendance and active participation of everyone present, and for their willingness to take the time to engage in dialogue with young people. <\/p>\n

When the event came to an end, the audience could have continued the discussion. This was certainly a sign that the topic was thought-provoking, but also that the exchange had been fruitful. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spotlight on Ukraine: Lucia Puttrich, Hesse\u2019s Minister for Federal and European Affairs, visited the Steinm\u00fchle Don\u2019t talk about politicians\u2014talk with them. That is the goal of Steinm\u00fchle High School, and it is also why the school always welcomes visits from members of parliament and ministers. Through local state parliament member Dirk Bamberger (CDU), Steinm\u00fchle established […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":44940,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics-business-responsibility"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44937"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49323,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44937\/revisions\/49323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}