The termination without notice of Daniel J. Schreiber, who was the successful director of the Buchheim Museum of Fantasy until August 11, came like a bolt from the blue for the friends of the facility on Lake Starnberg. But now the Bernried Friends of the Museum have recovered from the initial shock and have clearly sided with Schreiber. In an open letter, they communicated their dismay to Walter Schön, the chairman of the Buchheim Foundation, and asked him to withdraw the director’s resignation.
“In our eyes, Daniel J. Schreiber has made a unique contribution to the museum and stands for his further successful future,” the circle of friends justifies this claim. “Against this background and the fact that the reason for the separation, which is now on everyone’s lips despite the required confidentiality, seems incomprehensible to us, we ask you to spare our museum immense damage and to withdraw your resignation.”
The letter, Klaus Steffens and Gertrud Bayer, was signed not only by two members of the board of directors of the association, but also by numerous members of the support group, including the art collector Joseph Hierling, who donated parts of his collection to the museum under Schreiber’s aegis, and Nikolaus Buchheim, the nephew of the museum founder. The 21 signatories also include Andrea Jochner-Weiß, district administrator of Weilheim-Schongau, Georg Malterer and Robert Schiebel, first and second mayors of the municipality of Bernried, the artist and Stoa169 founder Bernd Zimmer and Robert Zucker, managing director of the Höhenried clinic.
Walther Schön, Chairman of the Buchheim Foundation, had no doubts that Schreiber had continued to develop the Museum of Fantasy with great success over the past ten years. One would have liked to go further into the future with him, but the separation was unavoidable due to serious misconduct, especially in the management of the employees, Schön had written in his statement. The unequal treatment of employees for personal reasons was in breach of duty and led to a significant disruption of peace in the company. “In the interests of all employees, we could not accept that.”
At the same time as the director, his head of communications, Claudia Lamas Cornejo, had to leave the house. She was only a year in office and has not yet personally commented on her dismissal. Both have now filed a lawsuit against the dismissal and hope, according to a statement by the writer on August 25, “that the situation will be clarified soon” so that they can soon go back to their “beloved work”.