A street named after Rudi Dutschke in Berlin

Joachim Güntner reports rather disapprovingly that Berlin's tageszeitung has won a court case to have Berlin's Kochstraße renamed Rudi-Dutschke-Straße after the famous German student leader. "A community of residents that under no circumstances wanted to live in a street called Rudi-Dutschke-Straße took the case to court, at the initiative of the Axel Springer publishing house. The plaintiffs argued that naming the street after the student leader was tantamount to endorsing criminal offences and would be an act of discrimination against the residents, who still have unpleasant memories of the riots against the Springer publishing house that followed the attempted assassination of Dutschke. Those who support the initiative to re-name the street are hailing the fact that it shares a corner with the Axel-Springer-Straße as a topographical allegory of reconciliation. How right they are: dialogue between the two sides without confrontation is possible today. But the leftists and left-wing liberals find it particularly funny that cars on Dutschke-Straße have the right of way. Does this really say anything good about politics?"

» to the homepage (external link, Neue Zürcher Zeitung)
More from the press review on the subject » Architecture / Cities, » Public Culture, » History, » Germany
All available articles from » Joachim Güntner

» To the complete press review of Wednesday, April 23, 2008