The Mohr is to disappear from the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district coat of arms.
He is racist.
The district administrator rejects the request.
A precedent?
The debate about Mohren in the coat of arms has now also reached the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district.
A petition demands: The Mohr must disappear.
The Mohr also appears in the Mittenwald coat of arms - he is not affected.
For now.
Update 5.45 p.m.:
District
- The red lion could also look the Zugspitze in the eye.
Or the castle museum in Murnau.
Or a fluttering fellow in costume.
Everything is possible - the main thing is that the
Freising Mohr
with its red crown
disappears from
the coat of arms of
the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district
.
This is how a woman imagines it - neither the Landtag nor the Landratsamt are known about her origin - who
has submitted
a
petition
to
the
Bavarian State Parliament
.
In it she demands, the
Moor
from the
coat of arms
remove or redesign it accordingly.
In addition to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, this also applies to the city of Coburg and the district of Freising.
Reason: The representation contains "a false colonized image of the entire African population".
Could it, so feared the initiator,
prejudice
against black people emerge or existing prejudices
confirmed
are.
District Administrator Anton Speer: "The depiction of the dark-skinned crown bearer is by no means racist"
An argument that
District Administrator Anton Speer (FW)
does not follow.
On October 1, he sent a statement to the responsible Ministry of the Interior on almost three pages.
In it he goes into detail on the historical background of the coat of arms.
The Mohr symbolizes that the County of Werdenfels belongs to the Principality of Freising (see box below).
“The depiction of the
dark-skinned person wearing the crown
is by no means
racist.
“
Historians also
rated it as a mark of identification,
not as degradation
.
Speer writes of an "identification" with the district and its history.
“Should we negate them?” Asks his spokesman Wolfgang Rotzsche, who dealt intensively with the topic.
He is not surprised by the discussion after it has come up again and again in different places over the past months and years - also with regard to the Mohr as namesake for places or hotels, of which there are also examples in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
You can lead the debate, says Rotzsche.
Right or not, he doesn't comment on that.
But he makes one thing clear: "The petition falls short." According to the motto: all or none.
A Moor adorns the municipal coats of arms of Ismaning and Unterföhring.
Not everyone likes that.
The Greens want to debate the topic and explore the history of the motif.
According to Duden, the word “Mohr” is considered discriminatory.
In order to avoid the accusation of racism, the Unterföhring municipality has already made an important decision regarding an important award from the municipality.
The
Freising Mohr
appears many times
.
Also in the coat of arms of the Mittenwald market.
Mohr also in the Mittenwald coat of arms: Historians see no racist reference
"We were probably not looked at here," suspects Mayor Enrico Corongiu (SPD).
But the petition could have consequences for
Mittenwald
, he fears.
If it has consequences for the county.
Because the historical backgrounds are similar.
Some time ago, Corongiu and his employees dealt more intensively with the
coat of arms
.
Conclusion: There is no
racist reference.
The head of the
Moor
- in Mittenwald it wears a golden crown - is taken from the diocese of Freising, which Mittenwald also bought in 1294.
The coat of arms was awarded to Mittenwald as early as 1407 - to the very first Bavarian municipality.
Delete Mohr from all coats of arms?
The mayor lacks a differentiated discussion
You have to talk
about
racism
, question the familiar, the
"N-word"
has to disappear, Corongiu leaves no doubt about these points.
But he lacks differentiated thinking.
“That should be sensible and rational, what we are doing here.”
Removing
the
Moor
from the coat of arms after more than 600 years is not part of the mayor's opinion.
On the contrary.
Is
n't that maybe
racist
? He asks.
"This is how you erase a piece of history."
Speer wants to prevent that.
"I refuse to change the coat of arms on behalf of the district," he
lets the ministry know.
Now it is
the turn of
the
petitions committee
in the state parliament.
According to a spokeswoman, it is unclear when he will deal with the input and what the threats will be.
Rotzsche does not dare to predict whether the decision would be legally binding at all.
In the municipal ordinance it is said that changing coats of arms is the responsibility of the municipalities.
But Rotzsche puts "a big question mark" behind it.
The Mohr in the district coat of arms
The Mohrenkopf is the Freising coat of arms.
According to the Bavarian House of History, it symbolizes the affiliation of the County of Werdenfels to the Hochstift Freising from the 13th to the beginning of the 19th century.
It has been valid in its current form with diamonds and the lion - reference to the Guelphs as the dominant rule before Freising - since 1962. After the regional reform in 1972 it was taken over.
In general, the Mohr is an outdated term for people with dark skin.
Among other things, it is criticized that whites introduced the term, Africans did not call themselves that.
In addition, Mohr is often portrayed as a stereotype.
(kat)
Original message Tuesday, 10.30 am: District
- frizzy hair, plump lips and a ring in the ear: Does the depiction of a
"Mohr"
in Bavarian city arms
convey
a false, colonized image?
The
Bavarian State
Parliament
must now
decide on this.
A
petition
wants to have the city of Coburg, the district of Freising and the district of
Garmisch-Partenkirchen change
their
coats of arms
.
The Garmisch-Partenkirchen district office
submitted
a
statement
to the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior at the beginning of October
, which it also made available to the media on Tuesday.
In it, the authority precisely
explains
the historical background of the
Mohren figure
.
Mohr in the coat of arms racist: Petition is before the Bavarian state parliament
The Mohrenkopf, the
Freising coat of arms,
symbolizes the affiliation of the County of Werdenfels to the Hochstift Freising.
This lasted from the 13th to the beginning of the 19th century.
The coat of arms has existed in its current form since 1962.
District Administrator Anton Speer takes a clear position at the end of the almost three-page letter: "I reject a change in the coat of arms on behalf of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district."
Garmisch-Partenkirchen: District Administrator rejects change of coat of arms - "Mohr without racist reference"
The Lord Mayor of Coburg Dominik Sauerteig (SPD) had already asked around in his decision-making bodies.
"Political majorities to change the city coat of arms are not perceptible in the committees of the city of Coburg", he emphasized in a statement to the state government.
The representation honors the
city saint Mauritius
and has
no racist origin
.
According to the spokeswoman, it was still unclear
when the committee for submissions and complaints in the state parliament would deal with the petition and what
consequences
there might be.
According to the municipal code, changing coats of arms is basically the responsibility of the municipalities.
(further report follows)
dpa / lby / kat