The district councilors of Berlin-Mitte have voted to rename Mohrenstrasse in their district. It is now the turn of the district office.
The District Assembly (BVV) in Berlin-Mitte decided on Thursday evening to rename Mohrenstrasse. In the future, the street will bear the name of Anton Wilhelm Arno – the first philosopher of African origin at a Prussian university. This was announced by the local SPD association after the vote. BVV confirmed the decision to the RBB.
Now it is the turn of the district office. It says in the BVV decision according to RBB informationthat the “process for renaming” should be started “immediately”.
At the meeting on Thursday there were not only supporters of the renaming: For the AfD, renaming would not be considered at all, said MP Martin Trefzer in the debate. Anyone who wants to rename it is guilty of the city’s cultural identity.
AfD and CDU against renaming
Oliver Friederici from the CDU also advocated keeping the name. “We do not believe in renaming disease,” said Friederici. The SPD and the left saw it differently. Regina Kittler from the Left Group emphasized that it was about removing racist labels. Therefore they support a renaming.
The term “Mohr” was discriminatory, said Sebastian Walter from the Greens. He welcomed the plans of the district assembly in Mitte to give the street a new name. The accusation that this is supposed to erase history runs nowhere, he said.
BVG failed to rename the stop
The Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) initially announced at the beginning of July that it would rename the station name Mohrenstrasse to Glinkastrasse. A street is named after the Russian composer Michail Iwanowitsch Glinka (1804-1857), which meets Mohrenstraße near the underground station.
After allegations that Glinka was an anti-Semite, the Senate whistled back the BVG. Senator for Economics Ramona Pop (Greens), who is also the chairwoman of the BVG supervisory board, called for an “open procedure” with the participation of associations, initiatives and neighbors.
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