Google Maps already knows this thing. From the center of the Central Franconian market town of Allersberg, you head south, take Lampersdorfer Straße and then, in the new development area, you can virtually turn into, ah, there it is: Wilhelm-Burkhardt-Straße.
There are no real street signs there yet, it’s just a new development area. But in the building yard they are already ready to be assembled, everything is perfectly prepared. Who was this Burkhardt? Well: After the end of the Second World War, he was briefly mayor of Allersberg. And before that, in 1934, a member of the SA. The National Socialists’ paramilitary fighting force.
Some people might now be asking themselves: huh, what? Yes, the local council decided in 2021 to dedicate a street to the dear former mayor. And no: the fact that Burkhardt was once an SA man was not yet known.
Since then there have been two dueling groups in Allersberg. Some say: Not everything has been historically researched down to the decimal point by the ex-mayor, who still has family advocates in town. We only recently decided to dedicate a street to him, so we can’t just vote to rename it again before the man has actually been on the street sign.
The others say: He was with the SA. It doesn’t belong on any street sign, especially not on a new one.
Anyone who wants to know why the three signs – which cost 40 euros each – have been lying in the building yard for a long time and whether there might be a change in thinking going on will get a call back from Mayor Daniel Horndasch himself. No, it’s winter, not the best time for assembly, hence the storage in the building yard. But the residents now finally wanted to live on a street with a street sign. So it will definitely happen soon.
So they will come, the SA men signs. How long will they hang? Who knows. But as a precautionary measure, the Allersbergers could ask Coburg what it’s like there since a street was named in 2015 after a NSDAP member and military economics leader, who some people there still think highly of. It’s not entirely clear whether the latter is really the reason why young, naughty people in Coburg have been caught trying to steal something like this.