Günther-Wünsch affair: Now things are getting tight for Kai Wegner's partner
Blunt blind obedience, personal misjudgment, harmful lack of empathy: How the affair surrounding a bullied teacher could become the Katharina Günther-Wünsch affair.
The motion of censure was the least of the problems. The motion, submitted by Green Party education politician Louis Krüger in the plenary session of the Berlin House of Representatives on Thursday, was rejected by the coalition. In the end, the entire coalition, present in attendance, voted unanimously against it. Katharina Günther-Wünsch, Berlin's education senator from the CDU , was not censured—meaning she was not officially reprimanded.
As a precaution, the Senator for Education had sent her State Secretary to the Conference of Education Ministers in Klütz in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and had preferred to appear in the House of Representatives instead.
In any case, removal or recall was not even up for debate. Unlike until 2006, senators in Berlin are no longer elected by parliament, and thus cannot be recalled by it. Since then, the Governing Mayor has appointed the senators – and only he can recall them. It's surely little more than a minor quibble that Kai Wegner would hardly dismiss his partner, Katharina Günther-Wünsch .
Nevertheless, the situation is precarious. Katharina Günther-Wünsch, the CDU's hopeful after almost three decades of the SPD's permanent occupancy of the education department, is in trouble. Her impeccable reputation as a professional, also nurtured by her professional expertise as the seasoned deputy head of a secondary school in Neukölln, has suffered severely in recent weeks due to the Oziel Inácio-Stech affair.
The 43-year-old, a teaching assistant – the correct title is "pedagogical teaching assistant" – at the Carl Bolle Elementary School in Wedding, was harassed and bullied for years by several of the predominantly Muslim children at the school. Because he is gay. He was told: "Go away, you faggot. Islam is the boss here." One day, a fifth-grader, a boy from a Lebanese family, came into class with a toy gun and announced: "I don't want a gay teacher."
After claiming he found no help in his distress from the relevant departments in the education administration, Stech went public. He denounced the situation. In an initial newspaper article, he described a "complete systemic failure" in dealing with bullying and violence.
This reinforced the perception that no one from the school administration had intervened, let alone taken his side. On the contrary, the school administration and the school board had bullied and discriminated against him just as they had his students. There were vague allegations that he had approached children inappropriately.
Bullied teacher wanted to speak to education senator – in vainThere was no response from the Senator for Education to his request for a meeting. The impression was created that she would have viewed such a meeting as an affront to the school administration, school supervision, and all sorts of other bodies in a convoluted system. The image that remained was of a politician who grossly misjudged a controversial case, combining blind obedience with a lack of empathy.
The case escalated when Katharina Günther-Wünsch found herself at a loss for words regarding a letter from Stech's lawyer. It reached her office in December of last year, but she apparently didn't read it until months later – after the case had already been in the media.
At the latest when she had to admit that she had originally unknowingly – as she says today – made an incorrect statement before the House of Representatives about the exact reading date, the Oziel Inácio-Stech affair had completely become the Katharina Günther-Wünsch affair.
The bullied teacher's prolonged, apparent inactivity apparently fuels his fury against the senator, whom he feels personally let down. "She has lied repeatedly, that's a fact," says Stech.
Bullied teacher after conversation with senator: “We cried”Such a statement shouldn't bother Günther-Wünsch unduly. She would certainly have easily coped with the fact that the opposition, Greens and Left Party, would want to cash in on the CDU star's blatant mismanagement.
Günther-Wünsch apologized to Parliament during the plenary session. This wasn't enough for Green Party member Krüger. He clarified his view: This was "not a 'mishap' or 'a stupid move'." The senator had thus "denied her personal responsibility."
What's particularly unpleasant for Günther-Wünsch, however, is that her coalition partner, the SPD, also wants to gain recognition at her expense. Earlier this week, it was revealed that Cansel Kiziltepe, Senator for Anti-Discrimination and Head of the Senate's Queer Commissioner, had spoken with the homosexual bullying victim Stech two weeks ago. Kiziltepe declined to comment, citing the confidentiality of the conversation.
Next year there will be elections in Berlin: A dirty election campaign is aheadStech then takes over himself. In an interview with the Berliner Zeitung, he says: "We cried." Such a statement is intended to reinforce the image of a heartless, perhaps not very queer-friendly politician who seems indifferent to the fact that a Berlin teacher is suffering. And on the other side is Cansel Kiziltepe.
But the process can also be interpreted this way: A new House of Representatives will be elected in Berlin next fall. It's certain that things will get messy.
Kiziltepe's intervention was only mentioned in two speeches. Louis Krüger of the Green Party explicitly praised her. While CDU speaker Heiko Melzer didn't even mention Kiziltepe's actions, which were apparently not coordinated with her colleague, BSW MP Alexander King was clear: "Anyone who has colleagues like her in their own coalition doesn't need an opposition." The SPD declined to make its own contribution on the topic.
The last time a motion of censure was passed in parliament against a government member was almost exactly three years ago – the Senator for Education was also affected. The motion against Astrid-Sabine Busse of the SPD came from Katharina Günther-Wünsch, of all people, while the CDU was still in opposition at the time. The motion was rejected with the votes of the red-green-red coalition.
"What's missing is a sense of responsibility for those entrusted to you," criticized Günther-Wünsch, the CDU's then education spokeswoman. Busse isn't providing answers to urgent questions.
Astrid-Sabine Busse is long gone.
Berliner-zeitung
