The mourning wave triggered by the passing of football legend Franz “Kaiser” Beckenbauer is also affecting the state parliaments. In Thuringia, the chairman of the CDU, Mario Voigt, has raised the possibility of legislative changes in honor of Beckenbauer.
“I would like to see the 8th of July – the day we became world champions in 1990 – become the ‘Franz Beckenbauer Commemoration Day’,” Voigt told “Bild”. “I could also imagine that the ‘Footballer of the Year’ award, which the Kaiser himself received four times, could be renamed the ‘Franz Beckenbauer Prize’.”
Munich Initiates Condolence Book at City Hall
In Munich, Beckenbauer’s birth city, politicians also expressed their thoughts on the departure of the football legend. The state parliament, which has its own FC Bayern fan club, has set up a condolence book at the city hall, as reported by “Bild”.
Bavarian Minister of Social Affairs, Ulrike Scharf (CSU), also referred to Voigt’s idea to establish a National Commemoration Day as a “charming idea”.
Official commemoration days serve to strengthen national unity
Generally speaking, official commemoration and public holidays are symbols through which a state presents itself publicly.
According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, they highlight “collectively experienced key events or experiences as significant and memorable for the present”. In the collective memory, the basic values that underpin the state and constitutional order are made vivid and tangible. Thus, commemoration and public holidays also contribute to consensus-building and identification with one’s own liberal democratic basic order.
Holidays are the responsibility of the states
The protection of individual public holidays is the responsibility of the states. The Basic Law does not contain any explicit legislative powers of the Federal Government for public holiday laws.
However, due to its status as a national symbol, the national public holiday is an exception: the “Day of German Unity” on October 3rd is regulated by federal law in the Unification Treaty.
