Dresden. The decision was foreseeable and long overdue, but it still shocked Dresden’s Christmas market dealers and organizers.
The first markets such as the famous Striezelmarkt should open on Monday. On the weekend before, it becomes clear that there will be no Christmas markets in all of Saxony in 2021 either. On Friday evening, the state government around Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) issued the ban. The reason: the exploding new corona infections, especially among the unvaccinated.
The mood is gloomy on this Saturday at Dresden’s Altmarkt. Some traders are clearing out their huts. The entire market has already been set up, the stalls decorated and many of them already full of goods.
From Monday, 218 dealers wanted to sell Ore Mountain wood art, lace, mulled wine, sausages and much more to visitors. For many of the dealers, the market is a significant source of income for the entire year. Now they dismantle without having achieved anything. A trader sells something from her offer to passers-by with a sad look. Most of them waved their hand off and did not want to comment publicly on the ban. “We wouldn’t be able to say anything good,” it simply says.
Dirk Jedies from “Elbflorenz Gastronomie” has three huts on the Striezelmarkt – Prague grilled ham, raclette and another snack. He has already stored around 10,000 kilos of meat in cold stores, countless serviettes and entire pallets of rolls. He built up for ten days. “That’s big crap and way too late,” he says resignedly. “If the state government had canceled the market at the beginning of November, I would not have ordered all the goods.” The rejection is understandable from his point of view. “The measures are right so that the vaccination can go ahead and the incidence falls. But it is much too late.” He cannot yet quantify the damage, but he hopes for financial help from the federal and state governments.
The decoration for the Striezelmarkt on Dresden’s Altmarkt is bleak, the market has been canceled. © Christian Juppe
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Dirk Jedies has already bought around 10,000 kilos of meat and pallets of bread rolls. © Christian Juppe
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The deer and the princess also have to leave because there will be no Striezelmarkt. © Christian Juppe
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“I am deeply disappointed with the Prime Minister,” says Frank Schröder. He organizes the “Dresdner Winterlichter” on Prager Strasse on behalf of the city. “The ban – two days before the opening – puts the crown on the corona policy.” He too criticizes that the decision comes much too late. “That was a shock.” Everything is set up, the lighting has been tested and the cup washer has been removed. Now it is already being dismantled again.
The damage amounts to around 200,000 euros, says Schröder. The announced bridging aid is not a sufficient solution. “They only make up 90 percent of the fixed costs, there are neither decoration, goods nor costs for construction in it.”
Waiting now and hoping that the markets may open in three weeks is no solution, says Holger Zastrow. The FDP parliamentary group leader conducts the “Augustusmarkt” on Hauptstrasse on behalf of the city. “The decision is irresponsible and is a breach of trust on the part of the state government.” This has promised that the markets can take place. “We relied on that, the damage is huge and will be even greater in the future.” By this, Zastrow means that dealers will go bankrupt, many will never again rent stalls at Christmas markets because there is a lack of trust. “The Prime Minister is destroying the Christmas land of Saxony. He will no longer have markets as we know them.”
Zastrow is sure that the population no longer understands the back and forth. “Appeals for vaccinations do not get caught because the Prime Minister and his government act with propaganda, pressure and abuse. Now the cancellation of the markets after months of other promises. The resignation of this government would be the only logical consequence.” His damage is around 500,000 euros.
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Sven Erik Hitzer, who organizes “Advent on the Neumarkt” on behalf of the city, rates it differently. “We organizers were interested in sticking to it until the end. That is why we cannot accuse the government of the ban coming too late.” Hitzer wanted an “honest debate” instead of “polemics”. “3G or 2G would not be an alternative either, because that would destroy the mood and would be far too expensive and too difficult to control.”
However, he does not consider the ban to be factually and technically correct. “It is understandable that movement and contact should be reduced. But if retailers and restaurants are allowed to stay open, the ban on the Christmas markets is incomprehensible.” These are especially important. “The markets are mentally good and we need that now.”
Prime Minister Kretschmer acted the most honestly. “I am disappointed by the SPD and the Greens. Instead of weighing up economic interests, they are conducting a highly political debate. There is no self-criticism, no apology to us and no encouragement. Society will not show solidarity in this way.”
He, too, sees the future of the Christmas markets as pretty black. “There will be fewer dealers, all of which has an impact on trust.” He now has to pay quasi pointless bills because electrical and sewer pipes have already been laid, and the craftsmen have been booked for the dismantling for a year.
Every hut on the market is individually made for Neumarkt. Hitzer puts the damage caused by the failure at 650,000 to 950,000 euros. “The dealers have also invested a lot of money.”
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