Fred Witschel, President of the Berlin-Brandenburg Carnival Association, greeted the journalists in the press room of the Brandenburg state parliament on Tuesday with a cheerful “Brandenburg, Helau!” And the first thing he did was present MP Mathias Stefke (BVB/Freie Wahler) with a fool’s cap in the blue and yellow colors of his parliamentary group – not as a sign of irony, but as a gesture of recognition.
Because Brandenburg’s free voters want to achieve greater support for carnival in the state. “We demand the official recognition and promotion of carnival as a cultural asset in Brandenburg,” said Stefke. The smallest opposition group in the Brandenburg state parliament intends to submit a corresponding motion to the Potsdam state parliament next Wednesday, Ash Wednesday. And Stefke even wants to give a speech about it.
The energy crisis is affecting the clubs very much
In fact, Brandenburg’s fools are not only in the mood to laugh at the moment. “We are facing major challenges in the energy crisis,” said Witschel. “The rents for event rooms are hardly affordable, electricity and gas prices are rising to immeasurable dimensions.” However, the carnival cannot live on sponsorship money alone. There is limited funding for youth work from the state youth council.
“But during the corona crisis there was no support for our Brandenburg clubs,” says Witschel. “An application by the Blankenfelde carnival association for corona aid was rejected by the investment bank of the state of Brandenburg with the words that the carnival was not a culture.”
134 carnival clubs in Berlin and Brandenburg
That hurts the Brandenburg carnivalists. After all, 15,000 people are organized in the 134 carnival clubs in Berlin and Brandenburg. 20 of the clubs are based in Berlin, the rest in Brandenburg. “And not just in Lusatia,” says Witschel. “There is no region in the country that is in any way inferior to Lusatia”.
But in Lusatia, the most well-known carnival events in the region actually take place with the Cottbus “Train of the Happy People” and the carnival gala “Heut steppt der Adler”, broadcast by the RBB.
We are facing major challenges in the energy crisis. The rents for event rooms are hardly affordable, electricity and gas prices are increasing to immeasurable proportions.
Fred Witschel, President of the Berlin-Brandenburg Carnival Association
And unlike the carnival in the Rhineland, they are organized exclusively by volunteers. “We don’t have a single full-time employee at the carnival,” says Witschel. “The entire program is designed by volunteers and often organized a year in advance.” In Brandenburg, carnival is still a “custom far away from commerce.” The clubs are welcome guests at village and city festivals and would “joy everyday life bring”.
Coalition factions want to examine the application thoroughly
If only it weren’t for the tiresome money. One would like the state government to provide a five- to six-digit amount in the budget for the promotion of the carnival associations, said the MP for the Free Voters, Matthias Stefke. Representatives of the coalition factions announced on Tuesday that they would at least examine the application from BVB/Freie Wahler thoroughly. “The carnival clubs can also get support from the municipalities,” said the SPD parliamentary group leader Daniel Keller. “It might be wise to work this out with the municipal level.”
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