Landau Residents Vote to Retain Controversial Street Names

In a landmark referendum, 62.9% of voters rejected the city council's proposal to rename streets with ties to figures linked to the Nazi era.

Landau's first-ever referendum saw 62.9% of voters supporting the retention of street names honoring Paul von Hindenburg, Ludwig Kohl-Larsen, and Hans Stempel.
The city council had previously decided to rename the streets due to the namesakes' alleged connections to the Nazi regime or its supporters.
A citizen-led initiative opposing the renaming gathered enough signatures to force the referendum, which achieved the required quorum with 25,329 valid votes cast.
The proposed new names would have replaced Hindenburgstraße, Kohl-Larsen-Straße, and Hans-Stempel-Straße with names like Maria-Sibylla-Merian-Straße and Margot-Stempel-Lebert-Straße.
Landau's mayor, who supported the renaming, expressed disappointment but acknowledged the democratic outcome of the vote.