Ursberg in the Swabian district of Günzburg is a small town but with a lot of history. Some call it the heart of social Swabia, as the Dominikus-Ringeisen-Werk is based there. 130 years ago, Pastor Ringeisen founded the facility, which is now represented at 30 locations in Bavaria and supports and cares for 5,000 people with disabilities. One would think that a state exhibition with the motto “Healing and Helping” could not take place in a better place than in Ursberg. The region was “predestined” for this, the Ministry of Art announced on Wednesday after Minister Markus Blume visited Ursberg.
And yet the state government apparently received a little help in history lessons so that the location near Krumbach was chosen for the 42nd state exhibition.
Prime Minister Markus Söder actually favored Dillingen as the central exhibition location. Theo Waigel, among others, is committed to the fact that it has now become Ursberg. The man is perfect for tutoring in history lessons, 30 years in the German Bundestag, Federal Finance Minister, unity, European integration: Waigel can tell a lot about this, from his own experience, and it is a blessing for the small town of Ursberg that the former CSU chairman can not only speak vividly about Maastricht and the euro, but also about his homeland. Waigel now lives in the Allgäu, but was born in 1939 in Oberrohr, a district of Ursberg. In this respect, one can assume that Markus Söder and Markus Blume carefully studied his detailed letter about the advantages of his homeland. In any case, Ursberg is now the central exhibition location for the 2027 state exhibition. Dillingen can still operate as a secondary venue.
Sometimes it just depends on who is committed to something. In the Günzburg district, it was and still is the incumbent state parliament member Alfred Sauter, who fell into disgrace because of the mask affair, who often pulls the strings in the background. At the state level, this causes one or two fears in CSU circles when it comes to dealing with the district, although Günzburg can’t do anything about it. Theo Waigel, on the other hand, who asks emphatically – how could the Prime Minister refuse?