In Memmingen there is a dispute in court because an association blocks women from a traditional spectacle
She would like to “itch in”, says Christiane Renz, very much even. “And preferably with my brother and my nephew.” Itching – that’s what they call it in Memmingen when men and boys jump into the Stadtbach to fish out on the fishing day. 30,000 to 40,000 visitors: there are in the city and organize a huge spectacle. And whoever catches the heaviest trout is the new king of fishermen. It’s been like this for a long time, a seemingly immovable tradition.
Christiane Renz is not allowed to itch, at least not so far – because she is a woman. Fishing out the stream so that it could be cleaned remained a privilege of the male sex. Until now. This is what it says in the statutes of the Fischertagsverein, which has around 4800 members and is a huge power in the Allgäu city. Renz sued because she sees discrimination against women in it and was ruled by the local court in August 2020. Such an exclusion of women should not exist in an association that is both charitable and enjoys tax advantages, argued the judge at the time. Since then, the topic has haunted the city.
The Fisherman’s Day Association does not allow the verdict to sit on itself, yesterday, Wednesday, the appeal hearing was at which no new verdict has yet been reached. Konrad Beß, chairman of the regional court, leads the hearing personally. Because in this case, both authority and sensitivity are required. Here in the Bavarian Allgäu it is about the largest traditional club in the city. And it is about something very fundamental that should no longer exist in society – discrimination against women.
Can or should there be a compromise at all, an “amicable agreement” as judge Beß envisions? With the tongues of angels he speaks to the two parties: That it will be expensive for the losers if they sue the European Court of Human Rights. That the association is in danger of being deprived of its non-profit status “if they exclude women forever and ever”. And Beß mentions that the alleged backwardness of the city was reported throughout Germany during the first trial – partly with indignation, partly as a bizarre farce from the country. At least not for the city’s glory. This time, too, 15 journalists came and the same number of visitors. Because of the corona intervals, the procedure was moved from the courthouse to a hall in the town hall.
The judge’s proposals for an “amicable settlement” met with rejection. Christiane Renz does not believe in founding her own women’s club to fish out, or a subdivision in the club that organizes women out-fishing. “I want to take part in normal fishing out,” she says. And her lawyer Susann Bräcklein from Berlin sees two events separated by gender as “gender apartheid”. The chairman Michael Ruppert considers the proposal to include an exception rule in the association’s statutes as “impractical”.
The climate: unforgiving
Before the first trial, Ruppert, who is also a member of the CSU city council, said: “The fact that women are not allowed to participate is based on a centuries-old tradition.” Now he says: “We are acting in keeping with the times, we are a modern association.” The 55- year old Christiane Renz says that she tried to advertise her position internally. That she applied to two general assemblies to admit women – but that was rejected by a large majority. Ruppert sees the woman’s behavior differently: “She never really advertised her cause, it’s all or nothing to her.”
Christiane Renz has become a controversial figure in the city, and sometimes receives the stamp of the troublemaker, the nest-polluter. She was born in Memmingen, works as a veterinarian and always had her first place of residence in the city. She has been a member of the Fisherman’s Day Association since the mid-1980s, for half an eternity. Again and again, she says, she is now being attacked in Memmingen. She doesn’t want to give details.
Legally, the key question is whether the prohibition of discrimination or freedom of association weigh more – both are protected in the Basic Law. In court, the association downplays the importance of fishing out: it only takes 20 minutes and is more of a marginal aspect of the fishing day. For everything else, the women are naturally there on the last Saturday in July.
Christiane Renz, on the other hand, says: “The fishing out is the central part of the festival, because the fisherman king is determined.” The lawyer Bräcklein sees it as a “civil right”. The exclusion of women is a “clear feature of discrimination, sheer arbitrariness”. She has not yet given a thought to whether Renz will ever be the first fisherman queen in Memmingen. But about the itching, she says: “Those who want to go in should be allowed to go in.”
On July 28th, the Memmingen Regional Court announced its verdict.
