Cologne – Huge Zoff for a great honor for TV legend Dirk Bach († 51)!
The Cologne composer Jacques Offenbach (1819-1888) is considered the founder of the operetta. The Cologne comedian Dirk Bach (1961-2012) as a great ambassador for tolerance. Dirk-Bach-Platz is now to be built on the edge of Offenbachplatz. There is sharp criticism – and prominent applause.
A thriller about a small area between the theater and the opera: ten years after Bach’s death, the Cologne Aidshilfe and the “Centrum Schwule Geschichte” want to rename a small part of Offenbachplatz after the actor. In the vernacular, the previously “Kleiner Offenbachplatz” was called. An application in favor of Dirk Bach is to be submitted to the district council in April.
“Brilliant,” says downtown mayor Andreas Hupke (72, Greens): “His life’s work fascinates me, because even as a young man he bravely admitted his homosexuality.” His artistic work also deserves recognition. “Many reduce Dirk to him as a joker in the jungle. He has played serious, supporting roles. A genius on stage.”
Maren Kroymann: Bach was a “symbol of Cologne tolerance”
Support also from Bach’s longtime companion and actress Maren Kroymann (72).
Satirist Maren Kroymann (72) has known Bach since 1992. They were stage colleagues. Kroymann is still on stage, around Saturday again in Cologne
You to BILD: “He was a highly political person who tirelessly collected money in the fight against AIDS. He was also a staunch and persuasive activist for gay and lesbian rights as one of the first public gay celebrities in this country. A symbol of the proverbial Cologne tolerance.”
Comedy star Tom Gerhardt (64, “Hausmeister Krause”) went to school with Bach and was a class above him. He thinks: “A small, round square would suit him perfectly.”
Association criticizes ignorance of the work of Jews
But at the Cologne Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation, the application has since met with “strong rejection”, according to chairman Jürgen Wilhelm. At a time when anti-Semitism was growing stronger, the project “also testified to a lack of knowledge of the cultural and political work of Jews in general and Jacques Offenbach in particular”.
Mayor Hupke does not accept the criticism: “I am appalled. Both artists should be given equal credit.”
Mayor Andreas Hupke (72, Greens): “Playing both off against each other is shocking”
The politician hopes that Dirk-Bach-Platz will attract more visitors. “Cologne’s culture will benefit from this!”
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