Jürgen Weber and Willi Dürrnagel have been members of the Würzburg city council for a hundred years, each of them contributing 50 years of it. When the two started with city politics, the Chancellor’s name was Willy Brandt and a certain Ulrike Meyfarth was about to fly to Munich to win the Olympics.
The two started on different sides in 1972 with their local political drudgery, one with the SPD (Dürrnagel), the other with the CSU (Weber), until they found themselves – no joke – dozens of years later in one and the same city council faction. This in turn is called WL, which is generally translated as “Weber List” on the Main, but is officially called the Würzburg List.
All of that would be remarkable enough and a reason for a small bouquet of flowers in the media. In order to make this anniversary really bold, a world record suspicion has been blown into the world, which claims to be valid until the experts from the Guinness Book prove the opposite. So thesis: In no other place in the world are there two city councilors who can look back on 100 years of communal politics together and, here it comes, have gone through a total of eight city council factions. Except Weber & Dürrnagel.
Whereby the former mayor Jürgen Weber, as far as this is concerned, has the rather reserved part. His short political vita: Started with the CSU, then fell out with Würzburg’s Barbara Stamm CSU over a candidacy for mayor, founded his own list (said WL), made the CSU (and Barbara Stamm) blush in the face, twelve years OB and since then WL city councilor.
Dürrnagel’s faction vita, on the other hand: First the SPD, then the Free Voters’ Association, then the Independent Citizens of Würzburg, then the Christian Social Union, followed by the Würzburg List and now the ÖDP City Council. On a visit to his home two years ago, Dürrnagel explained that it was always important to him “to be able to say his opinion”. It’s the same with Weber.
They both have considerable success, the troublemaker stigma does not stick to Weber anyway and not even Dürrnagel. On the contrary, when he’s back on the open market and no longer wants to be part of his own faction, the parties in Würzburg will always knock on the door to ask if he doesn’t want to hire them. To which one can probably only say: Congratulations.