Ex-CDU General Secretary Peter Tauber: “My life was on a knife edge”

From top politician to spokesman for a clothing company: Peter Tauber makes a clear cut in his life. The reason is a physical collapse that almost cost him his life. In an interview, he explains what happened and how he is rearranged.

He was CDU General Secretary, State Secretary in the Defense Ministry and a member of the Bundestag for over ten years. Now the Frankfurt-born Peter Tauber has changed industry: the former CDU top politician is company spokesman for the Hessian workwear specialist Engelbert Strauss, who is also becoming increasingly popular with young, fashion-conscious trendsetters.

A severe intestinal inflammation in the middle of the formation of the government in 2017 made him think, says Tauber. He initially fought his way back, but then decided in the spring of this year that politics was over. A few days ago he started his new job in his old homeland, Hesse. In the hr interview, he tells how the move from the Berlin government bank to Biebergemünd in Hesse feels like and how he dealt with his physical breakdown.

You fell seriously ill in 2017 and withdrew from federal politics in the spring of this year. How are you today?

Peter Tauber: I’m doing very, very well. I am fortunate that I do not carry around with me any negative consequences from what my health is behind me. I can now devote myself to new tasks with a lot of joy and energy.

Let’s go back to the 2017 federal election year. What exactly was going on with you?

Tauber: Even before the general election, I thought that I could no longer go on with this as Secretary General. Of course, I wanted to continue doing politics, I was re-elected in my constituency and thought: Now is a good opportunity, now that this tough year is almost over, to rethink. I was looking forward to an event like I hadn’t in a long time – the Frankfurt Marathon. That was my own reward, so to speak: I run with it and then something new begins.

That sounds like a vigorous man who looks ahead …

Peter Tauber: I was back in Berlin the night after the marathon. There was Reformation Day, a public holiday in all of Germany, but not for me, because we were in these exploratory talks. I sat in the office and felt sick in the evenings. I’ve never had such pain in my life. I had to call the ambulance at three o’clock in the morning because I could no longer bear the pain. I had severe bowel inflammation called sigmoid diverticulitis.

How was it for you to be slowed down so brutally, to lose control?

Peter Tauber: The bad thing wasn’t the inflammation and the pain. The bad thing was that I didn’t know it and that I was no longer able to force myself. Before that, I had already acquired such a picture, I just force myself, it just has to work, no matter how tired I am, no matter how exhausted, no matter how irritable – I just work.

To accept that my body is now telling me what is possible and what is no longer, that was a bad experience and a deep turning point for me. After recovering from this inflammation, I had two surgeries earlier this year. One of them didn’t work as expected, I had to undergo emergency surgery, and my life was on the knife edge, without exaggerating. And of course that was another deep turning point.

What conclusions did you draw from this for yourself?

Peter Tauber: I started to think a lot and in the end I said to myself: You have to check your standards, you may not be able to endure as much as others, you have to be more careful. In the end I also had to ask myself: If you don’t treat yourself carefully, how do you want to do that with others? That does not work. I’ve thought about that a lot.

And at the end of this thought process, the decision was made: I’ll break off my political career, leave Berlin behind – is that all too much?

Peter Tauber: I was CDU General Secretary, I was a member of the Bundestag for over ten years, I was State Secretary in the Ministry of Defense. And to be honest: what else is there to come in a political career? I think you have to be realistic about your own limits. Whether I would have become a minister or something else, I raise three big question marks.

And then the point for me, even in my mid-40s, was to ask myself whether I would like to do something else other than politics? I said yes, and then I had the opportunity to take up a job in my home country. My home is very important to me.

You have been working as a spokesperson for Engelbert Strauss since the beginning of July. They make workwear. How did this choice come about?

Peter Tauber: It’s a family business and I know the two sons Henning and Steffen very well, they are about my age. I went to school with Henning. At one point he said: If you want to do something other than politics, then we have to talk. And then we started talking right now. Speaking for the company, including telling what is important to us, the circumstances under which the clothing is produced, how important sustainability is to us, that is, I think, a very interesting task that I am very interested in.

Are there any new insights for the former top politician after a few days in the new job?

Peter Tauber: Politicians can learn from business when it comes to decision-making processes, but also above all when it comes to the mindset. In the world I come from you meet a lot of people who just keep explaining to you why what is not possible. At least here in the company, I experience it more like people thinking together how to do it so that it works. And I find that very, very pleasant.

When government members switch to business, there is no binding waiting period. Do we now have to expect that the next order for Fleck-Tarn will go to Biebergemünd?

Peter Tauber: I don’t think that’s to be expected. And thank God there is a so-called waiting period committee in the federal government. You have to be transparent about what you do for a living, and that’s what I did. Then it is assessed and carefully checked: Are there any connections to the company from my previous political activities? There wasn’t. But, as I said, I was in contact with the family because of my personal connections. But that was not reflected in my work in the ministry or elsewhere. And that’s why the waiting period committee said that a three-month break is sufficient. And now I’m just an ostrich for the first of July. I’m happy about that.