In my letter published in the Badische Zeitung, I proposed that instead of renaming Rennerstraße*, it would be easy to look into Wikipedia and find another famous innocent "Renner" as the godfather of the street, thus avoiding residents had to change their addresses.
*named after Johann Jacob Renner, the "burner of witches." In the meantime, I wrote his missing article on Wikipedia.
In the case of Alexander Ecker, I criticized the argumentation of the naming commission that a skull collection in the 19th century would have given rise to the racist ideology of the Nazis. At that time, the study of skulls was à la mode and even practiced by Goethe.
In 1826 the mayor of Weimar presented him with Schiller's skull, which Goethe gauged according to the then-latest method: the Gallische Schädellehre (Gallic skull theory). He even wrote a poem: Bei der Betrachtung von Schillers Schädel (In contemplation of Schiller's skull).
Goethe's choice. With three skulls in front of him, doesn't he look skeptical? |
A recurring remark in those letters to the editor concerned Luther's anti-Semitism and why the street bearing his name was not proposed for renaming. Did the naming commission beat Alban Stolz but meant Martin Luther?
Alban Stolz's bust in Freiburg (©BZ) |
In their argumentation, they simply follow John 8:7. When Jesus was asked about the fate of a woman caught in adultery, He answered: Whoever is without sin among you, let him be the first to cast a stone at her. The two clergymen pleaded to leave all street names, including that of Martin Heidegger, but to add explanatory texts to the street signs.
©Michael Bamberger/BZ |
As you already know, they have.
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