Two new streets in Stockdorf

Old and new: At the beginning of June, Stockdorf's Zugspitzstraße became Wettersteinstraße. 58 residents are affected by the measure. © private

The former Zugspitzstraße and the Max-Dingler-Straße in Stockdorf have been renamed - for different reasons.

Gauting – Years ago there was a heated debate about it, now the street renaming in Stockdorf has been carried out. Since 1 June, Zugspitzstraße has been called Wettersteinstraße and Max-Dingler-Straße Oskar-Maria-Graf-Straße. This has been announced in the Official Journal.

The reasons for the renaming are very different. In the case of Zugspitzstraße, it is because there are two streets of this name in the municipality, one in the main town, one in Stockdorf. So-called twin roads are primarily a problem for emergency services, which run the risk of heading for the wrong address first. According to the law, "the municipalities must ensure the orderly conduct of business in the municipality and thus also a quick and reliable orientation in the municipal area," says the Official Gazette. The new name is fitting, after all, the Zugspitze is located in the Wetterstein Mountains.

The renaming to Wettersteinstraße goes back to a decision of the building committee of 9 April 2013, according to which twin streets are to be removed. The Zugspitzstraße is the last of its kind. The fact that Stockdorfer and not Gautinger Straße was renamed is due to the fact that more citizens would be affected in Gautinger (199) than in Stockdorf (58). The fact that this is associated with inconveniences for citizens is clear to the decision-makers in the municipality. "But this cannot outweigh the municipality's interest in renaming."

High effort for local residents

Management consultant and author Werner Siegert (93), who protested against the measure, describes to the Starnberger Merkur what this entails: "I have certainly written 50 letters at home and abroad." In addition to the costs of 250 euros, citizens will also have to spend a considerable amount of time. "My wife and I must have been busy for two or three days." It is particularly difficult to communicate the new address to banks because this is mainly done online, and for this you need various PINs. "Of course, we're not digital natives at our age," he says. It's all very annoying."

Since 1 June, Max-Dingler-Straße has also been called Oskar-Maria-Graf-Straße. One poet, Dingler (1883 - 1961), was an ardent admirer of National Socialism. Graf (1894 - 1964), on the other hand, a native of Berg on Lake Starnberg, had to flee to America because of his openly displayed aversion to the regime. "Today, we are justifiably very sensitive to the names incriminated by the Nazi regime," says the Official Gazette. The decision was made by the municipal council on July 19, 2022.