Thursday, November 4th, 2021
Family: painful realization
City palace patron represented right-wing extremist theses
The reconstruction of the city palace in Berlin and the associated glorification of Prussia has been controversial from the start. The donor Ehrhardt Bödecker, who has since died, also represented right-wing extremist and anti-Semitic positions.
The family of Ehrhardt Bödecker, a controversial major donor for the reconstructed Berlin Palace (Humboldt Forum) has confirmed the allegations of anti-democratic statements. Bödecker, who died in 2016, was known “as a controversial conservative and Prussian enthusiast with numerous merits,” write daughter-in-law Elvira Tasbach and son Andreas Bödecker in a statement to the Humboldt Forum Foundation that was disseminated by a lawyer. The statements made known by the Kassel professor for architectural theory, Philipp Oswalt, were previously unknown to them.
The writings and lectures written from 2001 onwards contained “theses and formulations that are wrong and in some cases even right-wing extremists”, writes the family. In some cases, Bödecker presented or published these in places that belonged to right-wing extremist circles. “This realization is painful and fills us with great sadness. We both reject anti-Semitism and historical revisionism out of deep conviction and with determination,” the couple wrote. At the same time, they refer to the merits of Ehrhardt and Anneliese Bödecker in many areas, both of whom have been dead for several years.
The portrait medallion in the foyer should be removed
“We do not want to expect the Humboldt Forum Foundation to weigh up the recognized lifetime achievement of a sponsor and the unacceptable theses expressed by him at the end of his life,” the letter says. The portrait medallion in the foyer should therefore be removed. The foundation wanted to have the honor checked externally. Then it should be decided how to deal with the donation ceremony. The Humboldt Forum emphasized that it “in no way” shared the researched opinions on militaristic Prussia and empire, on war and the Holocaust, and was “clearly against any form of the minimization of violence, discrimination, marginalization or racism”.
Bödecker had published in right-wing and sometimes right-wing extremist media and gave lectures at the Institute for State Policy in Saxony-Anhalt, which was classified as right-wing extremist by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. In these essays and speeches, he had repeatedly glorified Wilhelmine Prussia and the Empire, but also made anti-Semitic statements. He complained about the alleged “brainwashing” of the Germans after the Second World War, for which the Jewish sociologists of the Frankfurt School were responsible. Bödecker also denied the number of six million Holocaust victims.
In the Humboldt Forum, major donors are honored if they request a tiered concept. The center for culture and science, which cost around 680 million euros, could only come into being because a private initiative collected a good 100 million euros in donations for the highly controversial reconstruction of the baroque palace facade. The no less criticized dome with the originally not intended cross is financed from donations. The approximately 40,000 square meter building in the heart of Berlin is shared by two museums of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, the State of Berlin, the Humboldt University and the Humboldt Forum Foundation. Exhibits from Asia, Africa, America and Oceania as well as objects on the history of Berlin are shown.