Borne – six members of the city council of Borne asked for a special meeting of the city council. The reason is an article in the town bulletin of Borne (BSJ), in which a freelance worker published “an article humiliating human beings”. The text was written by Gert Bundesmann. Under the rubric – “Explanation of street names” – he used common stereotypes to explain anti-Semitism when writing about Kant Street.
In this text the author deals with the Jews. According to his article the Jews are for many people, “the epitome of greed and exploitation of interest, that is to say, those ill patients who are generally despised by capitalism”. As the text goes on he writes:” The Jews considered themselves to be the chosen people of God”. The author speaks of the “arrogant mood” of the Jews, which, he claims “are rejected and hated – not only in Germany. The Jews, as representatives of Judaism, are not to blame alone (ie, themselves) for their disaster but they are still to blame”.
In the meantime, the text on the BSJ pages can no longer be retrieved online. The bulletin was not published by the municipality but since it bears a symbol of the city, it is still expected to apologize since it is distributed in every home in Borne.
Bernd Schneider, the publisher and editor-in-chief of BSJ, declares firmly: “The Bulletin of the City of Borne and I personally disapprove of this letter. None of Mr. Bundesman’s remarks are compatible with the publication’s position”.
According to the argument, the author, who is a member of the Borne Society of History, used a page in the BSJ to spread “rude slogans for the regular guest table at the neighborhood cafeteria”. Schneider has owned the printing press for more than 25 years, and emphasizes that he has ended “his cooperation with Mr. Bundesman immediately. Never Again an article by Bundesman will appear in the BSJ. Bundesman did answer the questions directed to him by the LVZ (“Leipzig People’s Newspaper”).
Schneider added that since “a great part of what is written falls under the responsibility of the municipality, the reader must assume that the additional articles are not contrary to the perception of the municipality.”
Mayor Luedtke explains that there is no concrete reason for convening a special session of the city council. If the applicants’ intention is to bring the municipality’s cooperation with the printing business to an end, this is not possible. According to her, there are contracts and dates between the municipality and the printing business. At the same time, she emphasized that she was personally against any form of anti-Semitism, denial of the Holocaust, or slander of the Jewish religion.
