Quotations of Joachim Gauck

We feel fear, but we are not consumed by it. We feel powerlessness, but we are not consumed by it. We feel rage, but we are not consumed by it. -- German Bundespraesident, Joachim Gauck, Christmas message, 25 December 2016.

Joachim Gauck

In September 1939, the French ship Winnipeg reached the port of Valparaíso. On board were over 2,000 people who had fled Spain following Franco’s victory and had now arrived in Chile with their hopes and dreams – 2,000 people, including one man who would later become a Chilean winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and who had organised the crossing. His name was Pablo Neruda. Entire families had travelled from Santiago to Valparaíso to welcome the ship on its arrival and to offer their hospitality to the refugees. This is an episode from Chilean history that I find deeply moving. It tells of profound humanity and kindness, virtues that shine out, time and again, in the history of peoples. Those who came from the Old World back then in 1939 found the freedom and security they longed for here in Chile. During the dark years of Augusto Pinochet’s rule, the roles were reversed. Europe then became the continent of refuge and hope for many Chileans – the place where they could hoist, before the eyes of the world, the banner of resistance against the oppression in their homeland. -- Joachim Gauck, Opening of the Challenges of Democracy Forum, Santiago de Chile, 12 July 2016

Joachim Gauck

What a beautiful day, what a beautiful ambience. What an amazing prize winner, what illustrious guests. Despite all of this, I feel I must begin my address on a dark note. ‘For the first time in post-war history, the failure of the European Union has become a realistic scenario.’ This sentence hits us like a bombshell. It is by the man whom we are here to honour today, this year’s winner of the International Charlemagne Prize. Martin Schulz puts it right at the beginning of his book on Europe. Bundespräsident Gauck, Charlemagne Preis, 14 May 2015

Joachim Gauck

How credible the European Union is in human rights issues depends in the current situation on how we in Europe treat those who seek refuge with us. We should not forget that countless Irish and Germans once set off across the Atlantic to escape hardship and a lack of freedom in their own countries or to embark on a new life. The history of our countries is in fact such that we ought to have understanding for those who flee. Bundespräsident Gauck, 15 July 2015, Honorary doctorate by the National University of Ireland

Joachim Gauck

(...) the kind of Europe that we want to work to achieve. We stand for a Europe that, especially in the face of crises and challenges, can be sure of its great strengths and which must act with its great achievements in mind. A Europe committed to the weakest and the persecuted, a Europe of peaceful cooperation between religions and cultures, a Europe of freedom and democracy and a Europe that, ultimately, time and again brings to mind the beauty of the world and the greatness of humanity. Bundespräsident Gauck to other European Heads of State on the occasion of the Arraiolos Meeting, 21 September 2015.

Joachim Gauck