"Glorifying war and inhuman": Excitement about the Hörnle memorial plaque

A left district council is putting the community of Bad Kohlgrub and the mountain costume preservation association Edelweiß under pressure.

He turns to a wooden plaque that hangs on the summit cross on the Hinterer Hörnle.

He describes the inscription as "glorifying war and inhuman".

Bad Kohlgrub

- Dr.

Klaus Weber (60) already wrote, who teaches as a professor at the University of Applied Sciences in Munich.

At the same time he is politically active.

Weber leads the party Die Linke, which has three seats in the district assembly of Upper Bavaria, as a parliamentary group spokesman.

At the same time he sees himself as a fighter against war and fascism.

In this function he wrote a letter to Bad Kohlgrub's mayor Franz Degele, dated January 10th.

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Dr.

Klaus Weber is extremely irritated by the behavior of the community.

© The Left

“A concerned citizen”, it says, sent him a picture of a wooden plaque that is emblazoned on the summit cross on the Hinteres Hörne.

It reads: "We greet our heroes from this quiet mountain top, may their spirit and self-sacrifice never wither." Above are the dates 14-18 and 39-45, which apparently stand for the period of the First and Second World Wars.

An iron cross is carved in between.

The memorial plaque, which is surrounded by oak leaves, was erected by the Gebirgs-Trachten-Preservation Association (GTEV) Edelweiss Bad Kohlgrub in 1934. However, it should not be an original from this time, as the pane is hardly weathered.

Appeal: "Stop the glorification of war against the fascist attack on other nations and peoples"

The letter to Degele also went to the head of the costume association, Anton Niklas junior, with almost identical wording.

The association owns the cross, the property belongs to the Hörnle pasture lawyers.

Weber's appeal to Niklas and Degele, who are also honorary chairmen of the GTEV: "I think that you as mayor (as chairman) don't want to have a public scandal about this war-glorifying and inhuman inscription." In the following sentence Weber asks the town hall chief and Niklas to put everything in their " There are possibilities to do to prevent this glorification of war of the fascist attack on other nations and peoples ”.

Weber wanted to know from Niklas whether the wooden plaque was "officially installed by your association or whether it is a private initiative".

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The municipality sees no reason to take action: Mayor Franz Degele.

© MM archive

In the following weeks there was a lot of correspondence between the community of Bad Kohlgrub and Weber - with an increasingly harsher tone.

What makes Weber angry: He had no direct contact with Degele - until the end of last week.

Lukas Eitzenberger replied to the first letter two days later.

The managing official let Weber know that the facts were known in Bad Kohlgrub, since the inscription had already caused irritation for a few people.

Eitzenberger specifies that: He names the number three - with several thousand visitors per year at the Hinterer Hörnle.

"That is in the alcohol range," says Degele in an interview with the Tagblatt.

The municipal administration makes it clear that, from their point of view, “intervention” is not necessary, since the inscription is not criminally relevant.

The municipality makes it clear: no intervention necessary, the property is privately owned

Degele made a similar statement in a letter to Weber dated March 1st.

Like Eitzenberger, he points out that both the cross and the property are privately owned.

Weber contradicts both assessments.

According to him, it is not about a criminally relevant issue, but about the political assessment of a "monument" that glorifies the Nazi war and the extermination of more than 30 million people by the German Wehrmacht and the SS men who followed it as " Self-sacrifice ”means to be able to denote.

Deegele's reaction comes late, but still in time.

Weber had threatened him several times with an administrative court dispute over the right to information.

He suspects that the gentle pressure caused Degele to answer him.

The town hall chief rejects Weber's claim to information because it is a matter of private law.

He plans to no longer correspond with the left-wing politician.

Further inquiries and correspondence will not be dealt with.

Weber is free to “have our factual and legal opinion reviewed by a court”.

University professor criticizes Mayor Degele: No cooperation

The attitude of the head of the Bad Kohlgruber community irritates the university professor.

“I deal with mayors more often.

Those I know are mostly cooperative - even when it comes to the Nazi past. ”He describes Mittenwald's ex-Mayor Adolf Hornsteiner (CSU) as a shining example.

Years ago he showed himself to be extremely cooperative when Weber dealt with crimes that Mittenwald officers had committed in Italy during the Second World War.

“He called me and invited me to a conversation.” Weber would have expected a similar behavior from Degele.

"He preferred to cut off all contact."

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Will first discuss the topic with the club: Trachtenverein boss Anton Niklas junior.

When is unclear.

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The silence of the men seems to be widespread in Bad Kohlgrub.

Anton Niklas doesn't like to talk either.

At the present time, he refused to answer a written questionnaire that he insisted on during a telephone conversation with the daily newspaper.

Although he is the "board of directors, this matter is of such importance that it has to be discussed and resolved with the entire association".

Because of Corona, you cannot meet for a meeting.

When that will be: open.

University professor and supporters are planning an action on the Hinteren Hörnle

Weber doesn't want to wait that long.

He and his supporters are planning “a little action on the Hinterer Hörnle”.

How should it look?

“I'll leave that open.” He has specific ideas about how to deal with the board and the inscription.

In his opinion, the plaque and the inscription can still be anchored to the summit cross.

“What is necessary, however, is an explanatory and historically evaluating text, which should be attached next to it.” Michael Tarantik had one of these, who had also complained to Bad Kohlgrub's mayor Degele with a letter about the inscription (“I hope that a productive and a clearing discussion arises! "), already appropriate.

The laminated paper has now been removed.

Murnauer Taferl-Text makes the headlines

Inscriptions that cause anger and excitement - the Bad Kohlgruber events are not an isolated case in the district.

In the recent past there has been a real squabble about the saying that can be read on a table on the Murnau maypole.

There it says: “Love your homeland and its customs - then you don't need to ask for foreign things.” Joachim Lobewein from Seehaus had complained that one could perceive the saying “as xenophobic”.

A member of the Trachtler then removed the Taferl from the maypole in a quick action in February, “so that there is peace”.

But there was renewed displeasure.

Two weeks later, in March of last year, the role reversed.

Club representatives screwed the sign back into its original place - in front of more than 120 applauding spectators and various media representatives.

From Murnau traditional costume circles it was said that the plaque would only be removed if there was a judgment that the content was illegal.

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