Radical ideals - Berlin's street temporarily renamed in honor of Lübcke's commemoration.
The International Auschwitz Committee (IAC) marked the temporary renaming of a Berlin street in honor of murdered Kassel government president Walter Lübcke. The committee expressed its intention to "leave a mark of remembrance in the disputed public discussion and in the public space" during the 75th anniversary of the Basic Law. On Sunday morning, the Joachim-Friedrich-Straße in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf was renamed Dr.-Walter-Lübcke-Straße for thirty minutes.
According to the statement, members of the committee, along with Volkswagen AG apprentices in Braunschweig and Salzgitter, took part in the event. They were also supposed to participate in a project at the Auschwitz Memorial for the next twelve days, it was mentioned. With the action, the IAC aimed to highlight the growing readiness for violence since the murder of Lübcke against politicians and public figures. The IAC's action was intended to encourage other communities, cities, and schools to follow suit and shape public spaces democratically, it was stated.
Five years prior, on the night of June 1-2, 2019, the far-right extremist Stephan E. killed Kassel's government president Walter Lübcke on the terrace of his Wolfhagen-Istha house. The killer's motive was his rejection of Lübcke's liberal stance on refugee policy. The killer is serving a life sentence. Lübcke's murder is considered the first politically motivated murder of a German politician by a neo-Nazi in the Federal Republic.
