from
Nicholas Piper
It was in the early hours of May 19, 1978 at 4:30 a.m. when two hundred police officers moved into Ermershausen. The officials were tasked with enforcing the Bavarian municipal reform of 1972 in the Franconian village of 600 people, located directly on the border with the GDR. After this reform, Ermershausen was to be incorporated into the neighboring municipality of Maroldsweisach. The people of Ermershausen, however, wanted to remain independent and had resisted the reform for years. In a poll, 98 percent voted for independence, and the local elections in March 1978 boycotted the entire village. When the mayor of Maroldsheim finally wanted to collect the municipal files from the Ermershausen town hall, around 100 citizens stormed the square in front of the town hall and forced their way into the building. “The mayor and his helpers were forcibly carried outside, which resulted in physical injuries,” the SZ reported at the time. The consequence was the police operation on May 19th.