The Marxist-Leninist party of Germany (MLPD) has been erected in front of their party headquarters in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, a Statue of Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870-1924). Several visitors were present. The with a red cloth veiled the Statue in 1957, was unveiled at the end of the Ceremony. At two counter-demonstrations, more than 50 people took part. Among the counter-demonstrators, members were right-wing groups, said a police spokesman.
The Statue was cast in 1957 in Czechoslovakia. It is about two feet tall and stands in the Gelsenkirchen district of Horst to the road on a terrain, which is part of the protection of the Constitution observed party.
the erection of The Statue was preceded by a legal dispute in advance, because the city of Gelsenkirchen had initially imposed a construction freeze against the monument. She justified this by saying that the initiators have to apply for a monument-legal permission. Through the Statue the appearance of the adjacent listed building will be affected, a 1930’s built former Sparkasse building. The city failed with their argument, however, in front of the Gelsenkirchen administrative court and subsequently before the administrative court (OVG) of Münster. The historical value of the savings Bank building will not be set by the installation of the Statue of the Russian revolutionary down, was in the court in March.
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Lenin, standing for violence, oppression, Terror, and terrible human suffering, had observed the district representation Gelsenkirchen-West in a Resolution. The MLPD Chairman Gabi Fechtner contrast to Lenin, according to an announcement for a “world-historically significant thought leader and champion for freedom and democracy for the masses”. They told the news Agency AFP on the sidelines of the unveiling, it had something “to do with the social Situation that we do now”. Criticism of capitalism and the search for social Alternatives are currently “ubiquitous”. Your party will criticize, “that there is no open discussion about socialism as an Alternative”.
Once you could not prevent the establishment, launched the municipality, now under the title #is no place for Lenin an Online video project. In the neighbouring castle of Horst, the city also shows an exhibition about the history of communism. “This monument is situated in Gelsenkirchen, it is hard to endure. But now we have to deal with that,“ had the Lord mayor Frank Baranowski (SPD) said in the run-up.
