“Mother’s Days” | Wladimir Kaminer: “I asked whether Putin was a complete idiot”

Mr. Kaminer, what is special about writing about your own mother?

I have always enjoyed writing about my family members. About children who are becoming more and more adults and parents who are becoming more and more childish. Now we are in a very interesting phase because the family has grown. The children have life partners, these life partners have their own parents and, above all, mothers. These people, I don't think, have ever been related to a writer. This ensures many happy hours.

And in the middle of it all, your mother. What role does this “everyday heroine” play in the family structure?

I have always been amazed at the willingness of elderly people to become actively involved in world events. And now I'm experiencing this in my own family. My mother is turning 95, she hardly leaves the house anymore, switches between television and computer, is fully integrated into the world news and constantly provides solutions for the Middle East conflict, the war in Ukraine or the German election campaign. I find that outstanding.

Wladimir Kaminer was born in Moscow in 1967 and received asylum in the GDR in 1990. Since then he has lived in Berlin, where he works as a writer. His cult book “Russian Disco” sold millions of copies. He is currently on a reading tour with his latest collection of short stories, “Mother’s Days.” Kaminer, along with numerous other celebrities, is a supporter of the “Elif Eralp Elect!” campaign, which supports the Berlin Left Party and its top candidate in the House of Representatives election.

Your book begins with a possible solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

Mom wanted all single men under 30 to take a cat from the shelter so that they would develop a sense of responsibility for another living creature. This is certainly not easy to implement, but at its core the idea is not wrong. There are many paths that can lead to peace. Maybe that's the shortest.

You write that your mother has “fog in her head.” How has this changed your family life?

When we're done talking, I'll go to mom with a chess board. I want to see how well she can still play. It's not just my mother who has fog in her head. This is a very common phenomenon today, especially on social media. Simply because people are confronted with tons of messages every day, all of which speak to them personally. Never before have people known so much and never been able to do so little as they do today. This is a condition that is not healthy. People tend to develop a sense of responsibility for everything they know. But what should they do when they hear of an earthquake on the other side of the planet or of wars being waged thousands of miles away? This is a drama. Although I always tend to make fun of these dramas.

You describe your mother as a sensible optimist who can find something good in every piece of bad news. Has she always been like this, or has she earned this optimism over the years?

This is a special kind of maternal optimism. Many people believe that everything used to be better and now everything is getting worse and worse. My mother thinks everything has always been bad. This is much more realistic. I tried hard to make sure the book wasn't just about my mother. My aim is to show the secret world government: the mothers who control world events in the background and ensure that the earth revolves around the sun.

The whole world now knows what Russia is capable of and what it is not capable of.

What do you learn about Ukraine from conversations with your mother's caregiver that isn't in the official news?

Our Ukrainian nurse is actually constantly at the front. She has direct contact with her city, which is bombed every day. Her neighbors write to her and send her photos. She always checks how far away the bombs are from her apartment. She is badly damaged by the war, even though she is so far away from home. It's my job to calm her down and tell her: The war will soon be over, everything will be okay. With her friends who have similar life stories, she also has a lot of questions about Germany. I am also a Germany enlightener.

Amazing things I would never think of myself. It always starts with a tasting. The nurse cooks incredibly well, and from her point of view, German food has no taste - with the exception of the bread. “The Germans can’t make meatballs,” she says. They made balls of meat, dry and tough. Ukrainians did it right: with cream, fresh bread and pureed onions. There is always a bit too much garlic in this cuisine for my taste. But I've already gotten used to it. When I have conversations like this, I always think: This has to be processed through literature. Just the phone calls that my mother makes to her sister in Moscow.

The sister is 86, nine years younger, and actually deaf. My mother, on the other hand, very quickly forgets what she just said. When they talk on the phone, they have funny conversations: one can't hear and the other immediately forgets what was just said. Very interesting. But they talk about the world.

Death is apparently not an issue in these conversations. How do you explain this persistent silence about something that actually gets closer and closer as you get older?

I was always surprised that she wasn't interested in this problem. This is probably the wisdom of the elders: that they already see themselves as an indispensable part of the universe and know that they will not disappear but will continue to be there in a different form.

Does telecommunications with Russia actually still work smoothly?

The internet works very poorly there. If anything, my mother can interact with her sister maybe once a month. In Germany, all of her friends have either died or are no longer responsive. That's why she has so little communication with living people. These are the grandchildren, me, the Ukrainian caregiver. And so that Mom gets a WhatsApp message every now and then, I regularly send her pictures from my reading trips.

You write that your mother believes neither in the stars nor in communism. In Russia, however, fortune tellers and zodiac interpreters are booming. Do the fortune tellers there now know more about the future of the war in Ukraine than the news?

Fortune telling is currently experiencing a boom in Russia. Frustrated people are getting angry about things that would previously have ignored them because they have no opportunity to influence their country's politics. There is no independent institution in Russia that can implement the discontent of the population, which wants immediate peace - regardless of the conditions. That's why people go to fortune tellers. The use of antidepressants has also increased enormously, along with alcohol consumption. At least that's what the statistics show.

The story “Fog in the Head” revolves around the current wars and national flags – the Ukrainian, the Israeli, the German.

Yes, we have this Ukrainian flag. You can see: the five years of war have really taken their toll on this flag. It doesn't look like a flag anymore. But I will keep them on the balcony until peace finally prevails. And I hope it won't be long because she's already pretty tattered.

What do you think: Who can still stop Putin?

There is no specific person who can stop him. His problem is his bureaucratic apparatus, i.e. the government. The 500,000 civil servants who make the country function are not trained for this war. The system that Putin has built can currently guarantee his security - with the many security services, bodyguards and so on. But it cannot reinvent itself and escalate a five-year-old war again.

Putin no longer has any cards in his hand. This war is also a disclosure of a state. This military cannot do more than what we are seeing now. Europe is looking closely at the battlefield and at the Russians' ability to produce weapons. It now has many answers to questions that were previously unanswerable. The whole world now knows what Russia is capable of and what it is not capable of.

Couldn't Putin initiate a general mobilization?

If you take these men away, the whole economy will come to a standstill because everyone is well employed. There is a huge interior army that ensures security and ensures that people do not show their dissatisfaction and do not take to the streets. These millions of people also need to be paid well. The Interior Army is larger than the army fighting in Ukraine. There is also an army of people engaged in weapons and drone production. So everyone is at full capacity. In addition, we must not forget that Russia, like any other European country, is a country of older women. Demographics show that there are few men of military age there. A typical resident of Russia is a woman over 50, single parent or single. You cannot carry out general mobilization with such population groups.

One should not view Berlin as a “business location”.

Is an uprising of mothers and grandmothers conceivable in Russia?

They already say that it's enough. The internet is full of hysterical mothers who have lost their children. But they can say whatever they want: As long as there are no independent institutions that can translate this discontent into political action, these statements are just hot air.

In Russia there is the AI ​​assistant Alissa as a counterpart to Alexa. If you ask her critical questions about Putin's war, do you get a realistic answer?

We can try it out. I often watch Russian news that can only be seen via a Russian browser. What do we want to ask? Is Putin an idiot? What would Alissa say to that? That would be interesting. One second… Oh God! I'm surprised myself, I have to be honest. I just asked if Putin is a complete idiot. Alissa answers: »There are different opinions about Putin's actions and policies. Many of his actions appear to be illogical and unpragmatic." I believe the only way for the Russian leadership to get out of this would be a Security Council meeting with the replacement of the president. I think that's how it will happen. Even uninvolved, not so hostile states like China or India look at the Russian leadership with a shake of their heads and think: How stupid can you actually be to destroy your own country so consistently - because of imagined fears that have no real basis.

Elections will take place in Berlin on September 20th. What would a new Berlin state government have to do so that people get the feeling again: Politics actually cares about my concerns?

Politics could discover Berliners for themselves. Many different people live here, some of them want to sleep while others want to dance. One should not view Berlin as a “business location” or “investment area,” but rather as a place where everyone gets their money’s worth, made by people for people.

Berlin has always been a city of art, music and subculture. In your opinion, what should a new state government definitely not cut corners on?

Club life has made Berlin internationally known. The state government should support the youth; this is a better long-term investment than the Olympics.

The »nd.Genossenschaft« belongs to the people who make it possible: our readers and authors. They are the ones who ensure left-wing journalism for everyone with their contribution: without profit maximization, media companies or tech billionaires.

→ report independently and critically → make topics visible that would otherwise go unnoticed → make voices heard that are often ignored → counter disinformation with facts → initiate and deepen left-wing debates

“Pay voluntarily” now and support the financing of our solidarity-based newspaper. So that nd remains.