FOR Margarethe Schreinemakers, Germany's most popular television talk show host, the world is full of victims. Her three hour show every Thursday evening is a carnival parade of the unfortunate and the afflicted women who love too much, men who love too little, ancient nymphomaniacs or grandfathers who only feel happy in diapers.
Each is rewarded with a trembling lip and a firm, supportive clasp on the shoulder from the moist eyed Ms Schreinemakers, a 38 year old ex nun from the Rhineland who has become mother confessor to the nation.
A judge who lost his job when he fell in love with a prostitute became a hero overnight after he told Ms Schreinemakers that he had no regrets. When a Croatian woman soldier said she hoped she had killed as many of her enemies as possible, the talk show host was waiting with absolution.
"It's difficult to understand you," Ms Schreinemakers told her gently. "But I do."
Between four and eight million Germans watch her show every week, but when Ms Schreinemakers returns to the screens tomorrow evening after a long maternity break, the viewing figures are set to break all records. The reason is that this week's victim is more illustrious than any who have gone before and more certain to elicit maximum sympathy from the host. Because this week's victim is Ms Schreinemakers herself.
The star, who lives in Belgium is being pursued by the German taxman on suspicion of channelling her earnings through shadowy companies in the Netherlands and the Dutch Antilles to avoid Germany's high tax rates. Many German entertainers and sports stars use similar ruses for the same reason, usually employing clever accountants and lawyers to make sure they stay within the law.
Thus Boris Becker and Formula One driver Michael Schumacher live in Monte Carlo, while tennis player Michael Stich and Germany's former football captain Franz Beckenbauer have moved to Austria. Steffi Graf is one of the few stars to remain in Germany, but her father is now in prison on charges of multi million pound tax evasion and fraud.
Ms Schreinemnkers's ploy of using a company based in the Dutch Antilles is not new either. More than 7,000 such firms exist, mainly for the benefit of international pop stars and celebrities who want to stow away theirs earnings from advertising and franchising arrangements. A special arrangement with the Dutch government means they pay only seven per cent in tax.
What makes the case of Ms Schreinemakers different is that she is convinced the investigation is part of a vendetta against her by the German Finance Minister, Mr Theo Waigel. She claims the minister is determined to destroy her because she interviewed his ex wife shortly after their marriage broke up.
Mr Waigel left his wife for a ski instructor almost 20 years younger, and Ms Schreinemakers wasted n time in homing in on the pain he had left behind. By the end of the interview, both women were in tears and Mr Waigel's, public image had been dealt a potentially lethal blow.
Ms Schreinemakers alleges that an anonymous caller from Mr Waigel's office warned her before the interview that there would be serious consequences if she went ahead. She also claims the politician's son wrote to her complaining about the show, but admits that she threw his letter in the wastepaper basket.
She points to a speech Mr Waigel made in the Bavarian town of Passau on Ash Wednesday, when he voiced concern at the financial tricks employed by German celebrities.
"If German talk show hosts or hostesses earn their living from German viewers, they ought to pay their fair share of tax in Germany too," he said.
Mr Waigel dismisses the allegations as absurd, insisting he had nothing to do with the investigation into Ms Schreinemakers's affairs and that the tax authorities acted on her own initiative.
When Ms Schreinemakers announced her intention of making the issue the centrepiece of tomorrow's show, politicians from all parties rallied to the finance minister, threatening to boycott the programme in future.
Sat 1, the commercial television company that broadcasts the show, asked the star to change her mind, when she refused, the station announced that it will pull the plug on the programme as soon as she starts discussing her own affairs.
"During the past 14 days, the presenter has gone public in a big way about her own tax problems and she wants to do this extensively again on her own programme. A popular programme on Sat I cannot be used for a personal argument with the tax authorities," a company lawyer said yesterday.
Ms Schreinemakers, who has threatened to move to a rival station once her contract with Sat 1 ends next year, has refused to budge.
"I can be incredibly strong when I'm provoked," she said last week, sounding just the right note of wounded feistiness she needs for her starring role tomorrow evening.
