The burnout of Aschheim’s mayor draws attention to the demands that electoral officials face. Four of them explain how they set limits and take time out.
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Iris Hilberth, District of Munich
When Stefan Schelle, the mayor of Oberhaching, takes a little break, he likes to go hunting. “Then I’m in the forest and look at trees,” he says. Or he relaxes while playing brass band music. “I’m sitting in the back row with the tuba and half a beer. And nobody wants anything from me.” Colleague Wolfgang Panzer from Unterhaching rolls out the yoga mat in his basement before going to work in the morning. All alone when his family is out of the house. Unterschleißheim’s head of town hall, Christoph Böck, regularly jogs around the Hollerner See at a pace where no one speaks to him. And Pullach’s mayor, Susanna Millennium, clears her head when she works in the garden or rides her bike. They all say that they do their job with passion, with “heart and soul” and that it is “not a normal job,” as thousand friends put it. They also know they need breaks. “You have to learn to create free space,” says Böck.