Cultural struggle in Salzwedel: Loss of funds threatens readings and projects!

Cultural struggle in Salzwedel: Loss of funds threatens readings and projects!

Salzwedel, Deutschland - In Salzwedel, a real cultural struggle has unfolded, which not only does the waves locally. In April, national media reported a massive budget grade that leads to threatening cuts in cultural funding. The Mitteldeutsche Rundfunk came across the topic, followed by an article in the "ZEIT". This development has direct consequences, such as the cancellation of a project for young people and a planned reading of the writer Domenico Müllensiefen because the association was lacking the necessary funds. However, Müllensiefen showed solidarity and offered to forego his fee to collect donations for the club instead. It is clear to him that the cultural offers are of essential importance for the community.

The reading still took place, but without the presence of the invited politicians, which continued to cloud the mood. A folder was used for security to keep an eye on uninvited guests from the right political spectrum. According to the Volksstimme, the number of right -wing motivated crimes has increased in the Altmarkkreis, another worrying point that is in the background of this cultural discussion.

cuts at federal level

The cultural pressure in Salzwedel is not an isolated case. Cultural funding is also on the brink at the federal level. The planned federal budget 2025 provides for an increase in the budget for the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media (BKM), but reality is often different. Massive cuts in cultural funding, which are primarily promoted by the Minister of Culture Claudia Roth (Greens), are expected. The six Federal Cultural Funds are particularly affected, the funds of which are to be almost halved for 2025 - from 34.3 million euros to only 18 million euros. The free scenes have to adjust to almost 10 million euros less, which could have fatal consequences for the cultural landscape. Free access to cultural education and support for refugee artists? Is also on the brink.

There are great resistance in the cultural scene. A petition from the director Heinrich Horwitz, who has now collected over 36,000 signatures, shows that those affected will not simply put up with these cuts. Artists, articles and cultural institutions express loud displeasure about these developments.

debate about cultural identity

But it is not just the financing that deals with the cultural landscape. An application by the AfD parliamentary group, which is on the agenda on Thursday in the Bundestag, calls for a realignment of cultural policy to defend German identity. The application aims to correct the current reduction in cultural identity on guilt and shame culture. MPs criticize that cultural policy has been increasingly ideologized under the leadership of Scholz cabinet and is now about the conversion of society. One wonders: How will that affect regional cultural scenes? And what influence do these political endeavors have on the already battered cultural financing?

A look at the Salzwedel region raises the question of whether the culture in Altmark is endangered in the long term. With a view to Müllensiefen's book "Snall, it starts", which deals with explosive topics such as poverty, racism and suspended infrastructure, it becomes clear that the challenges are diverse and not only about reducing funds. It is a struggle for the soul of culture.

at a time when the voices for and against cultural changes become louder, the question remains how it will continue. One thing is certain: the people in Salzwedel and the entire Federal Republic will not stand by and see how the cultural identities are increasingly under pressure.