When it comes to Wernher von Braun, the Nazi rocket researcher, everyone actually agrees. Get the name off the street sign. The mayor sees it that way, the majority of the city council and Bernhard Lehmann. The latter submitted a request to the Gersthofen city council to change five street names or at least explain the context in which the namesake stood. But Lehmann is also the person who sparked the dispute.
“There must be no Wernher-von-Braun-Strasse in the long term,” says SPD parliamentary group leader Peter Schönfelder. Emphasis on the long term. Because Schönfelder currently sees no majority in the city council to erase the names of men with a Nazi past from the street signs, and his “long-time companion in the fight against the right” – Bernhard Lehmann – is to blame for this. Because the members of the city council “did not want to upgrade Lehmann’s idea”.
A quarrel about sensitivities, although everyone agrees on the matter? That’s how it is in Gersthofen, even if Schönfelder admits that personal antipathy shouldn’t be the basis for political decisions. But Bernhard Lehmann, who has a doctorate in history and is a retired teacher, is also aware that he is part of the problem. “I’m not a stranger,” he says laconically. In 2001 he sued the city to get access to the city archive and to research the forced laborers in Gersthofen with schoolchildren. He got it right. He also takes part in the laying of stumbling blocks, which are rarely undisputed – and prevails. In short: Bernhard Lehmann may often be right, but he’s annoying.
In 1975 Wendler became an honorary citizen
Also because his application does not only concern Wernher von Braun. But also Georg Wendler. He was mayor in Gersthofen during the war and again from 1952 to 1967. A convinced National Socialist, however, he was not accused of any violent crimes or denunciations.
In 1975, Wendler became an honorary citizen of Gersthofen because he had rendered outstanding service during his second term as mayor. Lehmann doesn’t dispute that either. Only: Does that outweigh his commitment during the Nazi era? After all, Wendler was a NSDAP local group leader, then a district leader and he also appeared as a speaker.
The non-party mayor Michael Wörle and SPD man Schönfelder are trying hard to relieve Wendler. Schönfelder even speaks of a “denazification” through the re-election as mayor in 1952, because even the SPD voted for him. Wörle points out that there is no new knowledge about the former mayor and that a reassessment cannot be carried out every time the zeitgeist changes.
He’s generally reluctant to rename streets. Gersthofen is very active in terms of culture of remembrance – as emphasized by both Schönfelder and Wörle. To commemorate those who were persecuted and murdered, stumbling blocks were laid, and there is a stumbling block at the entrance to the former IG Farben plant where hundreds of forced laborers had to toil. The middle school was named in 2018 after the communist resistance fighter Anna Proell.
If you remove the names from the street signs, there is a risk of being forgotten, says Wörle. Instead, he advertises annual events on the relevant streets, a more active culture of remembrance. The city council plans to issue a statement next week. The renaming of all affected streets is not expected to be part of the plan, nor is Georg Wendler’s honorary citizenship revoked. And Bernhard Lehmann will presumably file motions and protest again, because, says Schönfelder: “If he has to, Bernhard Lehmann will also call the UN.”