Renaming One Dozen

In 2012 Freiburg's city council engaged a commission of experts to assess the names of Freiburg's streets in terms of persecution of minorities, dictatorship, antisemitism, militarism, nationalism, chauvinism, and colonialism.

Yesterday the commission presented a shortlist A of streets to be renamed and a more extended list B, where explanatory texts should be added to existing street signs.

Paul von Hindenburg, Hitler's Steigbügelhalter (stirrup holder), leads the dozen.

Here is the shortlist A of names, links to Wikipedia, and some explanatory remarks:

Alban-Stolz-Straße: Alban Stolz (1808-1883) was a professor of theology and a professing anti-Semite. His literary works are marked by racist-based aggressive antisemitism.

Eckerstraße: Alexander Ecker (1816-1887) was a professor of anatomy. According to the commission, he assembled a collection of skulls from Africa, Peru, and Malaysia that helped found racist ideologies in the 20th century.

Gallwitzstraße: Max von Gallwitz (1852-1937) was a general in the First World War. He strongly supported the Dolchstoßlegende (stab-in-the-back myth) and was a revisionist of the Versailles Treaty as a Schanddiktat (dictate of shame).

Hegarstraße: Ernst Ludwig Alfred Hegar (1830-1914) was a professor of gynecology. He was one of the first advocates of a state-regulated reproduction of humans.

Hindenburgstraße: Paul von Hindenburg (1847-1934) started it all!

Julius-Brecht-Straße: After the war, Julius Brecht (1900-1962) was a member of the SPD and Germany's Bundestag (House of Representatives). He had joined the NSDAP in 1938 and defrauded Jewish citizens in the Nazi era. A renaming commission in Hannover was faster with its "negative" vote than the one in Freiburg.

Lexerstraße: Erich Lexer (1867-1937) was a professor of surgery. He was a supporting member of the SS and responsible for the forced sterilization of 1050 persons.

Ludwig-Aschoff-Platz: Ludwig Aschoff (1866-1942) was a professor of pathology. His thinking, research, and political actions were determined by race hygiene and ethnic nationalism.

Ludwig-Heilmeier-Weg: Ludwig Heilmeyer (1899-1969) was a professor of medicine. He was a member of the SA Freikorps (volunteer corps) and co-founder of the National Socialist German Dozentenbund (federation of university lecturers).

Martin-Heidegger-Weg: About Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), you may want to re-read my blogs, starting with Heidegger's Götterdämmerung, through Heidegger's Black Notebooks and ending with Heidegger And No End.

Rennerstraße: Johann Jacob Renner (around 1600) was Schultheiß (sheriff) in Freiburg. In 1599 he sent twelve women to be burned at the stake as witches. Note that J. J. Renner had no article on Wikipedia, so I wrote but will surely get one.

Sepp-Allgeier-Straße: Sepp Allgeier (1895-1968) was a prominent cinematographer before and during the Third Reich, where he made Nazi propaganda films.

You will note that most of those persons were professors at Freiburg University. So the university will undoubtedly comment on the recommendation of the commission.

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