Hermann-Zilcher-Strasse in the rather quiet Frauenland district of Würzburg will soon be gone. That’s what the city council decided on Thursday – after a heated argument. It will be renamed, of all things, some say, since the namesake and composer Zilcher had rendered the city such great musical services. It was about time, others think, since an investigation by a historian had shown that the artist benefited from the National Socialists. Honor him with his own street name? You might think: of course not. But it wasn’t that easy. And if you believe the toughest adversary in the matter, the last round might not be over yet – despite the decision of the council.
In many Bavarian cities, checks are now being carried out to see whether streets still have reasonable, contemporary names. People who worked during National Socialism often come into focus. This is also the case in Regensburg. But that it gets as personal as in Würzburg, including violent mutual accusations, is rather rare.
The verdict was clear: the composer Hermann Zilcher was not just a follower, but a beneficiary of the Nazis.
(Photo: Scherl/Süddeutsche Zeitung)
It started in 2015 with a commission commissioned by the council to examine a good 120 street names more closely. On some streets, agreement was quickly reached, but here the city more or less waved a renaming through. It was more difficult with Zilcher (1881-1948), although the commission recommended renaming. Zilcher is still a respected composer in Würzburg, headed the Bavarian State Conservatory in Würzburg and founded the Mozart Festival in 1921, which is still a flagship for the city today. But Zilcher welcomed the establishment of a dictatorship in 1934 and was a member of the Nazi city council from 1939 to 1945 at the suggestion of a Gauleiter. He had paid homage to Hitler with a musical verse and reported a follower of a free church to the Gestapo, putting his life in danger – apparently to prevent his influence on his own family. The Munich historian Niels Weise worked on this for the commission and his verdict was unequivocal: Zilcher was not just a follower, but a beneficiary of the Nazis.
Scientific doubts and smoke screens in Würzburg
But one man in particular on the city council didn’t like that. Wolfgang Baumann (future for Würzburg) accused the historian of the Munich Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ) of methodological shortcomings. Wise rejected that, he had transparently proven according to scientific standards where his information came from. The son of the composer, Helmut Zilcher, expressed doubts, at some point the management of the IfZ very clearly supported their historian in a statement. It was heard in the city council that Baumann simply did not like the result of the investigation, so he drew attention to the methodology. The piquant thing: Baumann himself is a member of the Würzburg Hermann Zilcher Society and is in contact with descendants of Zilcher. He submitted a 90-page “memorandum”, his own expert opinion, so to speak.
Only Baumann is not a historian, but a lawyer, several city councilors pointedly pointed out. His memorandum was full of errors, criticized the head of the culture department. Both accused each other of lying. Baumann tried to the last to have the vote postponed, spoke of “new findings”, but reaped a shake of the head in the plenary session, saying that it was “fog candles”. The CSU was supportive. The Greens, the strongest faction in the city council, positioned themselves in favor of renaming, the FDP doubted Zilcher’s role model character.
The final vote on Thursday was finally clear with 29 out of 48 votes per renaming. It was noticed that Mayor Christian Schuchardt did not vote for it. Like the CSU, he spoke out in favor of contextualizing the street, i.e. a categorizing information board or a QR code. For observers, a sign that he doesn’t want to mess with the Zilcher society. In the hall there was still relief, some city council members visibly breathed a sigh of relief, an end after seven years.
Which doesn’t mean that Baumann would give up. The day after he was disappointed and said a citizens’ initiative was “in preparation”. Another smoke screen? But one thing is certain: If the renaming takes place, the street should be given a woman’s name, because this is only the case for around 15 percent of the streets in Würzburg that are named after people. The city council already has a list of dozens of proposals.
Salami tactics in Regensburg
A good 200 kilometers southeast, in Regensburg, a similar debate is going on, also after years of arguments. A majority actually agrees on what needs to be done – it’s just the wrong majority. In July 2020, the city council unanimously decided to check all streets, squares and buildings for a connection with National Socialism or another anti-democratic background. From 1300 street names, more than 400 have already been sorted out that are harmless. About 900 have yet to be verified.
According to Mayor Gertrud Maltz-Schwarzfischer (SPD) and her education officer Hermann Hage, you want to do this thoroughly – and above all, in its entirety. A panel of experts is to filter out all questionable names with the involvement of the citizens and submit proposed changes to the city council for a vote. This is what scientists recommend, the procedure has proven itself in other cities and the Greens, Left and all other factions in the city council are also in favor of it.
For years, the Regensburg CSU prevented the renaming of Florian-Seidl-Strasse. At Karl-Freitag-Park, the city council faction can’t move fast enough.
(Photo: Stefan Kiefer/dpa)
So the opposite of “salami tactics”, as education officer Hage says. It is precisely this tactic that the CSU has apparently committed itself to. The party is the largest faction in the city council, governing in a coalition with the SPD and three other parties. And she’s not exactly known around town for pushing ahead with street renaming. For years, the CSU majority prevented the renaming of Florian-Seidl-Strasse, a fervent supporter of Nazi ideology.
But things can’t go fast enough for her at Karl-Freitag-Park. The spelling of the name is sometimes wrong, but that’s not the biggest problem. Karl Freytag was a Nazi functionary and, for once, everyone agrees that he shouldn’t be honored with a park. The CSU now wants to rename the green area after the former social mayor of Regensburg and party colleague Hildegard Anke. But she’s still alive. According to a handout from the German Association of Cities, naming is only permitted after the deceased. Otherwise, the Christian Socialists do not see so much need for action. According to the CSU, a renaming of Drei-Mohren-Strasse, for example, will not find a majority among the citizens. However, they do not want to involve the public anyway, although experts unanimously recommend it.
From the decision to process and set up a committee to the actual vote on renaming the street, it takes an average of four years, said education officer Hage at the end of a heated city council meeting. Or even more, as the example in Würzburg shows. “The city of Regensburg will definitely not need that long.” Whether he will be right depends not so much on the current culture of remembrance as on how long the SPD and CSU can hold out in a joint coalition.