Speech keepers
Saxon mayor honored as “language guardian” – because he is against gender
According to the justification for the award, Matthias Berger persuaded the administrations of the city of Grimma and the district of Leipzig to dispense with gender stars and similar spellings (archive photo from 2019)
© Sebastian Kahnert / Picture Alliance
A right-wing conservative magazine awarded the title “Language Guardian” to the mayor of Grimma in 2021 because he protested against gender. Dieter Hallervorden and Elke Heidenreich followed.
The magazine “Deutsche Sprachwelt” (“DSW”) has been awarding the “Language Preserver of the Year” award for several years. According to the magazine’s website, this is done “to honor exemplary commitment to the German language”. Linguists: in recent years, for example, Pope Benedict XVI, the controversial cabaret artist Lisa Eckhart and Alice Schwarzer.
For the year 2021, the Lord Mayor of the Saxon city of Grimma, Matthias Berger, the comedian Dieter Hallervorden and the literary critic Elke Heidenreich have received the award.
Commentary on “gender madness”: honored by the Lord Mayor of Grimma
The mayor of Grimma is turning against “gender madness”, as “DSW” justifies the award on its website. Matthias Berger has persuaded the administrations of the city of Grimma and the district of Leipzig to dispense with gender stars and similar spellings if they Recommendations by the Council for German spelling contradict it, and the example has already caught on in other cities in the region, including the city of Wurzen, which decided not to use gender stars.
Dieter Hallervorden is also opposed to gender and, as an ‘old white man’, would not be dissuaded even “despite racist insults”. The same justification also applies to Elke Heidenreich: She always finds clear words against gender language. She told the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung”: “When we were no longer supposed to say ‘Good evening, dear listeners’ on the radio, I always said: ‘Good evening, dear listeners on the radio sets.’ It took weeks for anyone to notice.” Today, gender is even more of an issue for her.
Heidenreich found very clear words to the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger: “Horrible when I hear that … It’s all lying shit.” She also “can’t stand to mortify the language like that.” When I say artist, I mean all artists who are artists, including women… I’m terribly sick of the feminist fuss in the language.”
The “DSW” sees itself as independent and non-partisan, but critics occasionally accuse it of being active in the right-wing conservative environment.