Overview
- The longtime SPD foreign‑policy figure served as State Minister in the Foreign Office and later chaired the Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee.
- He opted not to seek re‑election in the February 2025 vote, ending nearly 27 years and seven legislative terms in national politics.
- In recent interviews and in the book, he says the demands and public pressure made him seriously ill and compelled his withdrawal.
- The book recounts fears from youth alongside experiences in government, offering a candid look at the psychological costs of frontline office.
- Reporting describes his deliberate retreat to a quieter routine in a two‑room flat in Berlin‑Mitte and situates his story with cases like Peter Tauber’s.