German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s March 18 speech calling on people in Germany to take the coronavirus pandemic seriously has been voted “Speech of the Year” for 2020 by a panel of rhetoric experts.
A panel from the University of Tübingen said in a statement that in her speech on television, “Merkel impressively demonstrates […] how reason, aided by rhetoric, can lead to action and how good rhetoric can promote community and cohesion. “
It said the “historic” speech had been critical to the successful management of the first wave of the pandemic. “This televised speech probably directly affected the German population in a way that almost no other speech in recent years has done,” said the experts.
The panel said Merkel had signed up to all rhetorical registers in her address. The speech is vividly written and well structured […] and uses repetitions and variations of central ideas to create a sense of urgency, ”he said.
International fame
Merkel’s speech was compared favorably with that of other European leaders on the pandemic. French President Emmanuel Macron, for example, in his first speech on the subject tended to “authoritarian statements and sweeping war imagery,” while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had downplayed the dangers, he said.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson seemed to underestimate the coronavirus in his first speeches on the topic
Merkel, on the other hand, according to the experts, had used language to provide objective information and make a scientifically based case.
Merkel’s March 18 speech, seen by many as a reflection of the Chancellor’s scientific training, received widespread acclaim and recognition around the world. Its central theme was summed up in two sentences: “Allow me to say this is serious. Please take this seriously too.”