Almost 3000 Bavarian restaurateurs and hoteliers. There was a great crowd at the gastro spring, to which the German Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga) had invited on Monday at the Munich Spring Festival, and the range of topics that were discussed was wide: lack of skilled workers, price increases, uncertainty – and , very up-to-date, sexist and racist images on Oktoberfest rides. A discussion broke out about this after the culture mayor Katrin habenschaden (The Greens) called for more sensitivity, but Wiesn boss and economics officer Clemens Baumgärtner (CSU) strictly rejected bans.
Christian Schottenhamel, Oktoberfest innkeeper and deputy district chairman at Dehoga in Upper Bavaria and district chairman in Munich, can understand Baumgärtner’s position. “Last year the authorities are said to have counted 32 rides with potentially offensive motives. Should they all lose their approval?” says Schottenhamel. “Of course you could paint over it, but where does it start and where does it end?” A ban is not the solution here, says Schottenhamel, who prefers to appeal to the common sense of every operator.
At the event, Clemens Baumgärtner emphasized his opinion once again: “I hate censorship and it’s not my job to ban something like that. On what legal basis? I’m an administrator.” He, too, uses the where-it-starts-where-it-stops argument: A dirndl neckline could then just as well be considered sexist. Or is it cultural appropriation when a Munich resident goes to the Oktoberfest in traditional Tegernsee costumes? It’s not up to him to decide.
When asked about his personal opinion on the motives that sparked the debate, Baumgärtner, 46, replies: “To be honest, I never noticed them.” But he doesn’t find them beautiful, neither aesthetically nor politically. “You can say and write a lot about me. That I’m white and middle-aged, okay. Fine, that I’m fat. But I don’t want to let it stand that I’m supposed to be a racist.”
The discussion is about drawings like these, which could be seen at the Oktoberfest last year at the “Crazy Alm” booth.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
The focus of the debate is, among other things, the paintings on the “Crazy Alm” shack: its facade shows a black man lifting a woman’s dress with a broad smile, which two other men take no offense at. The operator, Enrico Agtsch, was clearly caught off guard by the whole fuss. “I can’t understand the criticism,” said Agtsch on Monday when asked. “There have never been any complaints about the motives in the last twenty years. Not a single person has ever found it discriminatory.” It never occurred to him that the scene could be perceived as racist.
When he took over the litter booth in the early 2000s, he even had it repainted to demonstrate the Oktoberfest’s cosmopolitanism. People from all parts of the world, presented in a crude Bavarian way – that’s funny. “People laughed their heads off and took photos, it was always a positive attraction,” says Agtsch.
The operator of the “Crazy Alm” was caught off guard by the debate
He learned from the media about the criticism of his and other booths that no one official has spoken to him yet. Now he is waiting for the outcome of the debate – what else is left for him. “They should decide that in the town hall.” He only wishes one thing after the lean Corona years: “If the motif is to go, then the city should also pay for the repainting.”
The city declined to comment on the debate on Monday. On request, the municipal press office only said: “The state capital of Munich is against all forms of racism and sexism. The depictions that are the subject of current reporting are therefore currently the subject of discussions in an intergroup working group. The result of these discussions will be presented at the appropriate time communicated to the public.”