There will continue to be a Wilhelm-Burkhardt-Straße in the market town of Allersberg in the Franconian district of Roth. The council made the decision on Monday. In 1934 Burkhardt was a member of the SA, the paramilitary organization of the National Socialists. In 1945 he was mayor of Allersberg for a few months. In 2021, the municipal council decided to name a street in a new development area after the former mayor. The City Council has now submitted a citizen’s motion to have the street renamed. This was rejected with the votes of the Free Voters and the Allersberg Citizens’ Forum. Greens and SPD voted for the application. The CSU was divided on the issue.
Before the meeting, the history student Gregory Bey presented the municipal councils with an excerpt of his emerging bachelor thesis with the planned title “The Wilhelm-Burkhardt-Straße in Allersberg – a wrongful honor?” made available. She comes to the conclusion that, according to the sources, Burkhardt is “by no means” a person who would be worthy of special honor. From a historical point of view, an honor in the 21st century was “irresponsible” due to numerous unanswered questions. Burkhardt’s assertion that he was expelled from the SA due to political unreliability cannot be verified; but is very doubtful, since Burkhardt also stated that he was dismissed from the Wehrmacht due to “democratic attitudes”. This is clearly refutable.
The non-party mayor Daniel Horndasch had already announced in the SZ interview before the meeting that he would not evaluate the excerpt as an expert opinion, but as a statement by a student. The community will first commission an expert opinion in which various historical people – not just Burkhardt – are to be assessed. In this respect, he is against a renaming at this point in time. The majority of councilors agreed. Georg Decker, municipal councilor of the Greens, criticizes this sharply: The vote was “shameful” for the place, given Burkhardt’s undisputed SA membership, the process was “hard to put into words”.