Hans Meiser (German link) was Regional Bishop for the Protestant Church in Bavaria from 1933 through 1955. He had stepped down from his office in 1945 but was unanimously re-elected by the Synode. As early as the 1920s he had published articles in church papers disparaging Judaism, bemoaning the “Verjudung� (Jew-ization) of the German nation and called “the race question the center of the Jewish Question�, demanding that “the Jewish mentality be repressed� and that “German blood must remain pure�. His critics’ main issue is Meiser’s definition of Jewish and German being opposed and not reconcilable.
QUOTE
In seinem Aufsatz zur „Judenfrage“ befasste sich Meiser mit der Frage, wie sich Christen Juden gegenüber zu verhalten haben. In diesem Aufsatz äußerte sich Meiser sehr abfällig gegenüber dem Judentum und beklagte die „Verjudung unseres Volkes“, betrachtete „die Rassenfrage als den Kernpunkt der Judenfrage“ und forderte das „Zurückdrängen des jüdischen Geistes im öffentlichen Leben“ sowie die „Reinhaltung des deutschen Blutes“
Under the Nazi regime Meiser did his best to protect his church while not collaborating with the government. He did protest vehemently against euthanizing the retarded and handicapped but did not actively help Jews in spite of pleas from the Jewish community. Instead, his “Support Groups for Non-Arian Christians� aided app. 120 converted Jews.
Lord Mayor Christian Ude sharply criticized the Regional Church of Bavaria for their ambiguous reaction to similar decisions. The Church did not protest against the renaming of the Meiserstrasse in Nuremberg or the Meiserhaus in Neuendettelsau but strictly refused any cooperation regarding the street in Munich, seat of its headquarters.
While the Church has not yet decided whether to take the case to court the Munich City Council is already debating who should be the new namesake of the short, embattled street just off Königsplatz but will surely choose a prominent Protestant figure.
But where should this stop? Richard Wagner is known for his anti-Semitic remarks as well as the arch-Bavarian author Ludwig Thoma. Is the Protestant Church right in demanding a purge of these and other street names in Munich should the Meiserstrasse lose its name? Is the renaming of streets a righting of wrongs or an attempt to obliterate the past?
