Municipalities - Legal dispute in Cologne: Dirk-Bach-Platz or Offenbachplatz?
In a curious legal dispute over the naming of a square in Cologne after comedian Dirk Bach, who died in 2012, the Cologne City Council has lost out. The Cologne Administrative Court ruled on Thursday in a non-final judgment that the district council of Cologne city center was responsible for naming the square.
The case concerns a small, long-unnamed forecourt of the Schauspielhaus. The district council has wanted to officially name the area "Dirk-Bach-Platz" since 2022. Colloquially, it has been known as the "small Offenbachplatz". However, the city council was of the opinion that it was responsible for naming the square. In September 2023, the majority decided to incorporate the officially nameless area into the existing Offenbachplatz. The district council took the matter to court and successfully applied for a declaration that it was responsible for the naming.
The court reasoned that the provisions of the NRW municipal code were based on the assumption that the district council had general jurisdiction in district matters. The responsibility only lies with the council if the significance of the matter to be decided goes significantly beyond the district. "The defendant had neither demonstrated that the naming of the "small Offenbachplatz" in particular had any significance beyond the district nor was such significance otherwise discernible," the court reasoned.
In the summer, a plan to remove around 100 privately installed benches - including the pink bench at Dirk Bach 's grave - from Cologne's largest cemetery, Melaten, sparked outrage. The bench at the cult comedian's grave even disappeared for a while, but then suddenly reappeared. It was then decided that private benches could remain in place under certain conditions.
Communication from the administrative court
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Source: www.stern.de
