The inscriptions “Zum Mohrenkopf” and “Zum Mohrentanz” in Zurich are still legible.

The Zurich city council had decided that the inscriptions “Zum Mohrentanz” on the house at Niederdorfstrasse 29 and “Zum Mohrenkopf” on the house at Neumarkt 13 should be covered. On the other hand, the Zurich Homeland Security (ZHV) appealed under the direction of the City of Zurich Homeland Security SZH. On March 17, the Zurich construction appeals court approved the appeal, as the ZHV announced on Wednesday. In contrast to the city council, the building appeal court considered the lettering to be important for the external appearance of the facades of the two houses.

In the opinion of the court, covering the lettering would impair the protective purpose or the appearance to be preserved and the witness value of the building. The history of the house at Neumarkt 13 goes back to the 14th century. The name «Zum Mohrenkopf» appears in the sources as early as 1443. The house name “Zum Mohrentanz” for the building at Niederdorfstrasse 29 was mentioned in the sources as early as 1682.

With regard to the report of the project group Racism in Public Space (PG RiöR), the court found that the term “Mohr” is at least today perceived as racist and discriminatory. However, the report also comes to the conclusion that there is no legal obligation to remove such house names. Instead, he proposes three approaches: removal, processing, and contextualization.

According to the court, the two house names “Zum Mohrentanz” and “Zum Mohrenkopf” are not directly discriminatory statements. The indirectly discriminatory effect, on the other hand, remains subtle and difficult to grasp. This is not least because the term “Mohr” is hardly ever used today and obviously seems archaic.

The court comes to the conclusion that with a contextualization, i.e. with an explanatory text on the house names, the historical background can be explained, reference can be made to the racist connotation of the term Mohr and at the same time a distancing from the racist attitude can be expressed. It points out that with a corresponding information board, the house names are not tacitly tolerated and at the same time the racist effect is broken.

The court makes it clear that there is a gentle alternative to removing or covering the lettering. Therefore, the intervention in the object to be protected or in the protected house facade, which would be associated with a cover, is not justified.

The decision of the Building Appeals Court is not yet final. The city council has since announced that it will proceed with the decision.