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Merz is the leader of the party that will likely get a plurality of votes in the upcoming elections (23 Feb. 2025). He gave an interview to the ZDF on 9 Dec. 2025. At 1 min 43 sec in the video he talks about the incoming American president where he uses a conditional interjection after "Jedenfalls scheint der amerikanische Präsident, ...". Despitegaza (talk) 01:12, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I have commented out the part of the infobox where Merz is indicated as "Chancellor designate". This is just not a thing under the German political system. You can say that he is expected to become Chancellor (which is obviously true and supported by reliable sources) or something similar, but under Article 63 of the German constitution, this is not how the procedure works. The way it rather works is that the President proposes a candidate for Chancellor, who is then elected by a majority of members of the Bundestag. Until that happens, there is no "designated" Chancellor. Accordingly, the terms used by sources covering the election are ones like "likely next Chancellor" or "poisted to be Chancellor". Gust Justice (talk) 17:21, 24 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I've added details about his grandfather's membership in the Nazi party and the Nazi stormtroopers. it was removed by User:Tataral with no explanation, not to mention discussion. this claim is supported by multiple reliable sources, and also based upon Merz's statements.
His grandfather was a Catholic Centre Party local politician, who, after he left office, became a member of the Nazi Party (he never held any kind of party office and was a regular member). This was so common at the time that there was nothing exceptional about it. His family said he was registered as a member without actually applying. The phrasing that made no mention of the party his grandfather represented as mayor for two decades was misleading and tendentious. His grandfather's memberships and complicated history during the Nazi era as a small-town mayor belong in the biography of his grandfather, not at the beginning of the biography of a grandchild, where it is WP:UNDUE. --Tataral (talk) 14:35, 25 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
sure, "nothing exceptional about it".
you realize that if you were to apply this logic to Jews, you wouldn't mention a Jew's death in the gas chambers, since, well, there was "nothing exceptional about it". thankfully - Wikipedia doesn't work this way, even about great-grandmothers (see this for example) אית11 (talk) 19:56, 25 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
"The phrasing that made no mention of the party his grandfather represented as mayor for two decades was misleading and tendentious." - so why didn't you fix it, or opened up a topic?
Halagil.com is a blog run by a club, which, for some reason, republished the taz.de article by Patrick Schwarz. Which is also given as a source for the "PB-Art-Sauvigny20210111.pdf". The jta.org source consists of four lines. It seems obvious that the 2004 TAZ article by Schwarz is the only "source" in this lineup and it does not give us much to work with. Alexpl (talk) 22:23, 25 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
So, can you help and find more sources? Try to be constructive instead of just critiquing
the assertion is reiterated in a profile in Foreign Policy, linking to the Taz article. Unless you have a source disputing this there isn't any problem with using this as a source. And also, the Taz article quotes Merz's own statement confirming it. So what exactly is your problem? אית11 (talk) 05:02, 26 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Whatever - it´s the same story, rearranged for the election. Just dont try to generate any relevancy for Sauvigny himself with those sources. Alexpl (talk) 08:53, 26 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
so what is your argument? If you think the source isn't sufficient - help me find more sources. It seems you are focused on hindering, rather than helping אית11 (talk) 09:07, 26 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
It´s super important - but this article is not about Sauvigny. Merz, on the other hand, invited Bibi yesterday and promised not to have him arrested and not hand him over to the International Court of Justice.[1] For some reason. This would be a violation of the Separation of powers, as laid down in the German constitution, and seems far more relevant for this article.[2] But now I´m too distracted to write about it. Alexpl (talk) 14:49, 26 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
This is the article about Friedrich Merz. His grandparents' memberships aren't relevant here. His grandfather was only known locally for being mayor of Brilon, a small town, and represented the Catholic Centre Party as mayor. It's sufficient to briefly mention his grandfather. The Nazi Party had almost 10 million members, and he didn't represent the party as mayor or in any other capacity. The nature of his membership, after he had retired as mayor, has been disputed by his family, who say he didn't apply to join. All this can be discussed in his own biography, it doesn't belong in biographies of grandchildren or great-grandchildren. --Tataral (talk) 21:33, 26 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
"The grandfather of Union parliamentary group vice-chairman Friedrich Merz was far more deeply involved in nationalism than previously assumed. This is the result of a three-page written statement that Merz published yesterday in Berlin. In it, the CDU politician admitted that his grandfather had been a "senior leader" of the "Reserve SA" and a member of the NSDAP. With his statement, Merz pre-empted a publication by the taz."
"Although, in Merz's view, the promotion to the SA or the transfer to the NSDAP took place "without any involvement" on Sauvigny's part, the politician does not deny that the mayor knew about both memberships. "
So Sauvigny joined in 1933, being 55/56 years old, a year before the SA became irrelevant in Summer 1934. "Senior leader" refers to his age then? This does not help the article, even if you present it in boldface. Alexpl (talk) 11:08, 27 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Senior leader refers to the rank of Oberscharführer, a relatively low-ranking rank (said to be equal to 'Junior Sergeant') within the SA structure. The SA was rapidly becoming irrelevant at that point; it was essentially a 'paper rank.' There were a ton of organizations in Nazi Germany, and it was rather the norm for public officials to have at least some kind of rank or membership in some of them. It's more remarkable that he didn't join the Nazi Party until 1938, which is comparatively late and also after he had retired from office and was a retiree. He was a Catholic Centre Party mayor of a small town (ca. 6,000 inhabitants then) who opportunistically adapted to the times he lived in, not unlike how many American civil servants and Republicans accept Donald Trump as their president, despite their past views and actions. But all of this is about the grandfather. It belongs in his biography, not the biographies of his descendants. And some time in the future, we will not write in the biography of a grandchild of a small-town mayor in the United States that their local politician grandfather failed to oppose Donald Trump publicly, or go on at length about the grandfather's specific memberships at various times. --Tataral (talk) 18:11, 27 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
It is not unimportant because it is the foundation to the mentality that getting ahead in life means to conform with the system. In East Germany people joined the ruling party or they could be isolated, in NAZI Germany they joined the NSDAP. Subsequent generations get roped in at a young age, like the Young Pioneers in East Germany or Junge Union (Young Union) in West Germany. I grew up there and if you don't join these organisations at the age of 16/17, getting ahead is a problem. It also ensures that only people of means, even though moderate means, who can pay membership, weekly trips to meetings, participate in seminars and trips are in the organisation. 2001:8003:A070:7F00:B4EA:B339:61C2:E6D8 (talk) 01:53, 29 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I was unaware of thus discussion on the talk page where I added these edits discussing his grandfather's past. I think this warrants inclusion as its about the (widely reported) reaction Merz's comments received / were perceived as saying, as well as his attitude towards his grandfather, rather than mere guilt by association by saying his grandfather was once a member of the Nazi Party. Pinging @Tataral:, @אית11:, @Alexpl: if there are objections to these edits please let me know. – GnocchiFan (talk) 16:43, 28 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Both images are indeed nice, but they each have some flaws:
Image A was taken in the summer, and Merz looks quite sweaty, which is a bit odd. Additionally, it was taken in 2024, making it less timely compared to Image B.
Image B, captured in 2025, is very timely, but Merz's expression is strange—it's a sort of half-smile with puffed cheeks, which might be the reason why this picture has been constantly replaced.
Therefore, I also provide a few other image options:
Image C was previously used in the information box. The smile of Merz in the picture is perfect, but it was still replaced. I suspect this was due to the presence of another person in the background, which made it look quite bad, and its aspect ratio isn’t great as it is 5:7, which is too narrow.
Image D is cropped by myself. It also has a similar issue to Image B, but it looks much better overall; at least the cheeks aren’t puffed up, and the background is clean, with no other people. The cropping ratio chosen is the most common one on Wikipedia, which is 3:4.
And then we have Image E, which has been the last weeks used as the infobox image. It seems to be slithly thinner (or is this just my perception?). Like Image B,C and D it was taken in 2025. I would vote for A, C or E. In Image C and E, Merz' head fills the picture the most...they were taken from the closest position of all five. --LennBr (talk) 17:57, 26 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]
For me, image C seems like the best, as it looks the most formal and professional and therefore appears to be the most neutral one. He looks kinda sad in image E, which would be my second choice. Maxeto0910 (talk) 14:50, 6 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I want to bring this discussion back up, since the current image is low quality. The German Wikipedia has chosen option C, which I also recommend, as it is the most neutral in terms of facial expression. If no one shares other opinions in the next few days, I’d like to go ahead and replace it. LukeTriton (talk) 00:40, 8 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
❌ Not Done: it's not clear what changes you want to make the the article. Please state your proposed changes in the format "Change X to Y" or "add B in between A and C"
Not done: The page's protection level has changed since this request was placed. You should now be able to edit the page yourself. If you still seem to be unable to, please reopen the request with further details. Sohom (talk) 05:23, 19 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]
.jpg)
(2).jpg)
Not done: The page's protection level has changed since this request was placed. You should now be able to edit the page yourself. If you still seem to be unable to, please reopen the request with further details. Sohom (talk) 05:23, 19 June 2025 (UTC)