The Christmas markets are being canceled all over Bavaria. All over Bavaria? No! In beautiful Regensburg, at Thurn und Taxis Castle, a well-known local organizer is preparing to oppose the line of the Bavarian state government. Peter Kittel, who runs the private Christmas market in the courtyard of Thurn und Taxis Palace every year, has no plans to close. “We’re opening punctually today, as planned,” said Kittel on Monday on the phone. And the market should continue to do so.
In pre-Corona times, according to the organizer, almost 300,000 people visited the market every year, it is known all over Germany – also because the lady of the castle Gloria occasionally serenades on the balcony. This means that the “Romantic Christmas Market” should be the only Christmas market currently open in Bavaria, at least on this scale. In Regensburg anyway.
Kittel is combative. He has an existing permit from the city of Regensburg and as long as he is not served “a legally binding cease-and-desist order”, the market will remain open, says Kittel. In the city you are waiting for the ordinance from the Free State, which still has to go through the state parliament. “But it will probably say that public and private markets have to be canceled. And then the city has to step in,” says a city spokeswoman. Kittel then wants to have it checked legally. “Is that what is done with us?”
“Of course the way to court is open to everyone,” said Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) on Monday. The organizer already has “legal experience” – a point against Kittel, which was recently condemned in connection with the Regensburg party donation affair. The decision that Christmas markets have to close is “clear and unambiguous,” said Söder. Everyone must “make a contribution now” to slow the pandemic.
Kittel’s objection: “This is a highly safe event.” It is important to him that his market is not lumped together with others and is not seen as a driver of pandemics. “They put us straight away with mulled wine booths at any main train station, that is extremely unfair.”
He’s mad at politics. “I can’t understand that with the best will in the world. For months politicians have neglected to put pressure on the unvaccinated and now we who are loyal to the state are being punished. I’m not playing along with that.” He decided early on, even when this was not yet mandatory, in favor of a 2-G rule for his market. All stand operators – there are 120 – and employees are fully vaccinated.
Unlike most of the other Christmas markets in Bavaria, the market in St. Emmeram’s courtyard is only accessible from a few places. It is completely enclosed, tickets have to be bought beforehand and a security service checks the vaccination and recovery certificates. “The ban goes against all logic,” says Kittel.