Criticism for New Year's Eve fireworks from G7 Hotel - owner: "That's why no stag has died yet"

Created: 01/06/2022, 09:55 AM

From: Manuela Schauer

Time and again, fireworks spark discussions.

This year the spectacle in Schloss Elmau attracted attention.

And not because it was so beautiful to look at.

Elmau / Landkrei

s - Hans-Joachim Fünfstück looks at the photo in disbelief.

To the huge light fountains over Schloss Elmau.

On the billows of smoke that drift across the forest.

"This is madness," says the chairman of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen / Weilheim-Schongau regional group of the state association for bird protection, "a disaster over there." Amazement, but in a negative sense. “Absolutely stupid,” he says.

Fireworks at Elmau Castle: New Year's Eve party arouses criticism in the surrounding area

Fünfstück thinks above all of the birds that live in the Elmau valley basin.

Who are disturbed by the dimension of the noise and light level of the New Year's Eve spectacle.

The expert refers to radar investigations in wild birds.

They showed that the animals startled by fireworks, fly up to heights of 1000 meters and wander around there.

A show of strength that affects reproduction in spring.

“The condition is missing,” says Fünfstück.

Therefore the birds lay fewer eggs.

He doesn't know how this will affect the capercaillie.

Why owner Dietmar Müller-Elmau doesn't prefer to invest the money in a more environmentally friendly laser show is a mystery to him.

Impressive: the New Year's Eve fireworks over Elmau Castle.

© Hans Buchwieser

Close to the nature reserve: New Year's Eve fireworks at G7 Hotel in Elmau are undesirable

He finds a sister in spirit in Tessy Lödermann. Fireworks like this “really don't need to be in the middle of wilderness areas” and in the middle of winter, emphasizes the chairwoman of the animal protection association in the district. Apart from the fine dust pollution in the area, which is about 100 meters from the fauna-flora-habitat area "Mittenwalder Buckelwiesen". There are alternatives without noise and without smoke, says the third district administrator, without wanting to slip into the role of spoiler. You can work with fireplaces, and even the combination of pure silence and night considers it a special experience for the turn of the year. In view of the exposed location of the luxury accommodation, Lödermann urges consideration. “It doesn't always have to be the one that you have in the ski resorts.“In Garmisch-Partenkirchen, for example, fewer rockets were flying at midnight. And the GaPa Tourismus GmbH offered a light show for the first time this year.

New Year's fireworks in Elmau: cancellation would be a question of solidarity

Dietmar Müller-Elmau is not causing a stir for the first time.

At the time of the G7 - the meeting of heads of state and government went down in history as a climate summit - not everything was right.

He made the headlines with an illegal party tent at the helicopter landing pad and a blackened roof on the Elmauer Alm.

This time everything went correctly.

The necessary notification was made to the district office.

Nature conservation law reasons for a ban were not available, according to the Lower Nature Conservation.

The “conservation objectives” of the landscape protection area a little outside the castle area as well as the FFH area “were not impaired”, said spokesman Stephan Scharf.

Effects were not to be feared.

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The discussion about the usefulness of fireworks is not new. It kindles every year. The hotel industry also dealt intensively with the topic. Some houses are now moving away from the fountains of fire in the sky. The Riessersee Hotel in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, for example. Dörte Mäder has not done this since 2018. “I defend the lake and nature,” says the manager. She has little understanding for the scenery in Elmau. “Why do you do the rubbish?” She asks. Mäder does not want to raise the moral index finger, but misses solidarity. On the one hand, houses like hers refrain from offering fireworks for the guests, on the other hand, communities also preach to the population not to ignite firecrackers or rockets in private. Since the corona pandemic, this appeal has been increasingly expressed,so as not to burden hospitals with additional injuries.

Elmau: New Year's Eve fireworks at G7 hotel triggers criticism - operator remains unapologetic

Christian Bär from the Murnauer Alpenhof strikes a similar note.

There have been no fireworks there for three years.

This year the owner has even given up the "more agreeable" fire show and equipped his guests with extra-long sparklers on the terrace.

The Blue Danube Waltz ran in parallel.

His opinion: less fireworks are more.

In addition, the district chairman of the German Hotel and Restaurant Association thinks it is time to rethink - in view of the natural situation and the UNESCO application.

Bär does not want to criticize the actions of Schloss Elmau, "that is not my place," he says.

As with colleague Mäder, however, the feeling factor plays a role for him.

"If everyone renounces, why not we too." It is a question of morality.

That's why no deer has died yet.

Dietmar Müller-Elmau

Müller-Elmau, who is known to host the G7 again in June, does not understand the allegations.

The hotelier, who wants his luxury retreat to be climate-neutral in ten years' time, speaks of a "small, modest fireworks display" that only seemed so big because there was nothing else around - the neighboring Hotel Kranzbach had abandoned it.

He booked a pyrotechnician from Penzberg for this.

“People live from it.

I don't know whether we should deprive them of their livelihood, ”argues the lord of the castle.

The rockets also lit up the night sky elsewhere, for example in Berlin or Munich.

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The criticism of Fünfstück and Lödermann leaves Müller-Elmau cold.

“Conservation says a lot, but that's why no deer has died yet,” claims the 67-year-old.

"No wood grouse has woken up yet." If it were different, he would react.

The hotelier is aware of his responsibility to nature, "preserving it is the most important thing".

With the fireworks, he is convinced, “we did not cause any damage”.