Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) receives backing for his actions against Valery Gergiev, whom he wants to depose as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic. Meanwhile, he cannot decide this alone. But almost all factions in the Munich City Council – Green/Pink List, CSU/Free Voters, SPD/Volt, FDP/Bavaria Party, Linke/The Party – have now written a joint paper, according to which they “an immediate separation of the city of Munich from Mr Gergiev”.
The reason: Despite being asked to do so, he did not publicly distance himself from Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine, which violates international law. “This is not a vote of no confidence in the entire Russian population or a restriction on artistic freedom,” the letter said. “However, Mr. Gergiev has a prominent position as a representative of the city of Munich and is an ambassador for the whole of Munich. Mr. Gergiev has repeatedly shown his closeness to President Putin, demonstrating that this friendship is more important to him than our values when in doubt.”
Achieving this consensus took longer than expected. The statement was expected on Thursday after the City Council Culture Committee meeting. However, there was obviously a need for discussion on the details. Florian Roth (Die Grünen) in particular had repeatedly pointed out that they had previously urged to part with Gergiev, for example when the city council had to vote on his contract extension in 2018. Even then, the conductor was criticized for his closeness to Putin and the associated positions, for example in relation to the annexation of Crimea or homosexuals.
the Bavarian radio also quoted the cultural advisor Anton Biebl from an internal statement after a non-public meeting of the culture committee: “Anyone who says that one should never have cooperated or should not have cooperated for so long is doing so with the knowledge of today and in the light of a war of aggression against Ukraine that is taking place Nobody could have imagined before. We wanted to believe that we could develop together and emphasized dialogue. We failed with this idea.”
Reiter has also received a lot of criticism for his actions. For example, the Salzburg Festival Director Markus Hinterhäuser on ORF criticized the dismissal of Valery Gergiev as hypocritical. The mayor of Munich would have taken a stand if he had admitted that he had made a mistake in standing up for Gergiev and had resigned himself. According to Hinterhäuser, it is legitimate for cultural institutions to examine how prominent Russian artists feel about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Because of the political repression in Russia, however, it is wrong to demand statements from all people with a Russian passport that they are hardly able to give. “It can also be the naked fear of survival,” said Hinterhäuser.
The public controversy about the legal and financial aspects of Reiter’s actions also continues. Employment lawyers are speculating as to whether Gergiev can be proven to have misconduct at all that would justify the unilateral cancellation of the contractual relationship. The violation of the duty of loyalty, the disruption of the peace in the company and the significant violation of the interests of the contractual partner could be starting points for this. Then Gergiev’s fees would not have to be paid out until 2025. Because the text of the contract is not public, however, such statements are in the realm of speculation.