To my colleagues from EUROIMMUN AG
Change at the Top of the Company
Winfried Stöcker
30 June 2019
When, to the Moment then, I say: ‘Ah, stay a while! You are so lovely!’
Then you can grasp me: then you may, then, to my ruin, I’ll go gladly!
Then they can ring the passing bell, then from your service you are free,
The clocks may halt, the hands be still, and time be past and done, for me!
First of all: My time is far from being past and done! Even when I am no longer running EUROIMMUN. I am pleased about the discharge and am looking forward to still being involved in the company and supporting it further.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wants to unravel the most fundamental of all mysteries, that of the meaning of life. He lets Dr Faust make a deal with the devil: Spiritual salvation against the correct answer. And Mephisto presented him with a lot of things: women, world journeys, antiques and free drinks – everything that one wishes for in life. But Faust was not happy with any of that. Television and computer games did not yet exist. But he was finally successful in his search: He came upon a region with hard-working people and a prospering economy; they made the land arable and drained the marshland, working together to create new living space:
Let me make room for many a million, not wholly secure, but free to work on.
Green fertile fields, where men and herds may gain swift comfort from the new-made earth.
Quickly settled in those hills’ embrace, piled high by a brave, industrious race.
And in the centre here, a Paradise.
Our company EUROIMMUN is filled with this kind of spirit, a paradise which we have created together. We sought and found technical solutions and scientific knowledge in the area of laboratory medical diagnostics to heal patients. Everyone envies us our working conditions. You, my dear colleagues, have not worked under me, but with me at eye level. We strived together for the same goal and no one was exploited. Without you I would not have achieved anything. I hope that you felt how grateful I always was that you turned my plans into reality and contributed so many of your own ideas.
In my concept for the company foundation I wrote at that time: “The company should guarantee its employees a free professional development and secure their livelihood.” 20 years ago I could already announce that this had, to a great extent, been achieved: “Anyone who visits our company is amazed at the many friendly faces, the trusting cooperation and the positive mutual good will. Every person is supported and makes a significant contribution. Women are not discriminated against and reach high positions in the company. And after having children, mothers are not forced to take a long professional break, but they can continue to work and bring their children to our kindergarden”.
And at a celebration 12 years ago I realised: At the current size and in over twenty individual departments we make a successful strike every week – an antigen is identified, a diagnostically potent protein is recombinantly produced, a new analytical principle is realised, a laboratory wing is opened, a loan commitment is obtained, another genius has signed a work contract with us, the building permit for an already completed project is approved, the kitchen has developed a new recipe, a key customer has switched to our Borrelia blots, or so many good friends are coming to the birthday or anniversary.
Yes, I’ve surrendered to this thought’s insistence, the last word Wisdom ever has to say:
He only earns his Freedom and Existence, who’s forced to win them freshly every day.
Childhood, manhood, age’s vigorous years, surrounded by dangers, they’ll spend here.
I wish to gaze again on such a land, free earth: where a free race, in freedom, stand.
Then, to the Moment I’d dare say: ‘Stay a while! You are so lovely!’
Free earth: where a free race, in freedom, stand. And seize freedom every day! This command is more relevant today than ever before! In the parallel world, the ideologists are trying to restrict our freedom where they can. With regard to food it starts with trying to convince us to abstain from eating a meat dish once a week. They appeal to our conscience. Later, two meat-free days a week will be demanded, and when they have us under their control there won’t be animal products any more.
We are excluded from many parts of our homeland so that amphibians and vermin can multiply undisturbed. It is fine to establish nature reserves, but these should be in regions that are less densely populated. Instead we are deprived of our own cultivated landscape, for instance, around Lübeck. The protection of the hazel dormouse, bat, blue throat and hermit beetle is taken as a pretext to hinder large building projects in the whole of Germany. The ideologists should not be accommodated too much, otherwise nothing will be able to be done without their agreement any more. But Germany does not belong to them alone.
A blinded clique make the decision over our heads that our homeland should once again be populated by wolves – since there is apparently not enough room for them in Siberia. Indeed it is generally known that wolves only want to play, but some “problem wolves” take lambs and other large prey. You can no longer send your children to collect mushrooms in the woods, in the evenings here in Rennersdorfer Kreppel, or let them swim in the blue lagoon of the Berzdorfer See. It’s as if someone has sway over you and can shut a fierce dog in your garden. And you have to put up with it! One person’s freedom ends when the freedom of their neighbour is restricted without need. Our constitution is seventy years old, long may it live! It should not be constantly meddled with by dilettantes.
Now the ideologists elevate themselves once again with the aim of reforming the people. Anyone who doesn’t join in is branded as unmoral. Apparently they need entertainment after the fall of the iron curtain. That Germany cannot accommodate a hundred million people from Africa and Asia, on this topic most people in the country are now closer to my point of view, even if politicians beat around the bush with regard to this subject, so that they don’t have to admit their past mistakes.
I hate the regulatory mania of the politicians, always quoting the rules of the European Union. A young pupil wants to do an internship at EUROIMMUN and is asked to read, understand, and sign 15 densely printed pages on data protection first. She is pushed into lying, since she will not read this trash. This is the same with all the bits of paper that you have to sign if you have the misfortune to need treatment in a hospital.
I also hate the indoctrination with which the German language is violated, meaning to always also use the female form so as to not offend anyone. This persistent pushing for gender fairness does not help any woman to gain expertise! And people get into top positions who are not able to handle the task. I cannot bear this gender nonsense any longer, and the majority of the population agrees with me (Heike Schmoll, FAZ, 1. April 2019, “Ungeliebter Stern” (unloved asterisk)), even though the media are painting a different picture. Rather let women become priests and popes and let them keep their maiden names. This way, we could accomplish more. At EUROIMMUN, it makes no difference whether a woman or a man does the work. Everyone is paid the same for the same skills and performance. And this works, without narrow-minded watchdogs, a socialist dictate or the silly gender asterisk.
Our countryside is full of rape fields, over-fertilised and impregnated with insecticides, to produce a poor petrol substitute, at the expense of biodiversity, bird populations and the tax payer. And corn for artificial fuel? The wild boar is delighted and moves on to reproduce! And he spreads the African swine fever virus! Windmills are importunately placed into the landscape, as can be seen in Rennersdorf from the idyllic Kreppel site. Photovoltaics are highly subsidised, but this technique should be applied where the sun shines a lot. Solar heat plants should be built in the desert and the electricity brought to Europe via low-loss 1000 kilovolt pipes. Until these are established, the safest nuclear plants worldwide should be continued to use and new ones built, such as those developed in Germany. Instead, other countries all over the world set up hundreds of poorly built reactors like those in Chernobyl and Fukushima.
This is the consequence of the arrogance of the red-green politicians. Every mistake that can be made is made! The nuclear waste would only give us a share of the worry that the increase of CO2 means for the world climate. To get this insight, naive hysteria is misplaced. Expert knowledge is required instead. However, this knowledge is not gained by skiving off school, even though this is so enthusiastically applauded by the narrow-minded public.
You can use desert electricity in order to produce environment-friendly synthetic petrol and you don’t even need a gram of fossil energy sources any more. The call to equip all cars with batteries which are harmful to the environment is one of politics’ worst stupidities. Once again, the closest option is snatched at! We will pay for it when, in five years’ time, batteries worth 10,000 to 20,000 euros per car have to be replaced after they do not work anymore. Quidquid agis, prudenter agas et respice finem.
But then again– what else to expect? The politicians are badly paid and chosen rather by their gender than expertise. They have now understood what works best. In Bavaria and Berlin, the Greens have replaced some boring people by young attractive ones. Now they have been elected, even though they don’t have anything else to offer than empty words, such as “Garantiesicherung” (Robert Habeck, Chairman of the Greens) and half-baked ideas. The Liberals just copy them.
In China, people are photographed everywhere in order to permanently observe them. Also outside of their country, they are monitored, as I have seen in Paris in the Moulin Rouge two months ago. The watchdogs took photos and notes. And all Chinese are asked to report any unduly behaviour of their neighbours. I always scolded my children for telling on others. The system is much more effective than that of the Stasi in the former GDR, since everyone can work as an informant, earning extra points on their account. Citizens who park in a wrong spot, who drive too fast, visit a casino or otherwise behave against the rules are subtracted points and might lose their jobs or not get an apartment, or even get one with 24/7 monitoring. My family fled from the former GDR because they wanted to get away from the ruling party’s dictatorship and the spying. But where to end up? A new dictatorship is in the making!
My dear colleagues! Nip this in the bud! Use your common sense and don’t participate in every nonsense! Do not let simple-minded politicians and journalists contaminate you with their hysteria. Resist with reasonable arguments, don’t remain indifferent, and convince your fellows! He only earns his Freedom and Existence, who’s forced to win them freshly every day. You can achieve this best by using your common sense! Lead a self-determined life, don’t let others patronise, exploit or bully you – neither the state, nor the church, your spouse, or employer.
Anyway, the state is there for us, not vice versa! And do not believe the promises of the church! You will not float on a cloud in heaven, nor suffer in hell. These are stories some grandma might like to hear, but no intelligent person still believes in. And every spouse should make the same effort in a share household and make concessions! This is something some still need to improve! Free yourself from anyone who restricts you!
And with respect to your employer, I hope that my successors will preserve our paradise in all its splendour.
Good luck! Winfried