Breaking News: Tübingen Mayor Palmer announces time-out after scandal

Time out announced after scandal Tübingen Mayor Palmer wants to get professional help

05/01/2023, 5:50 p.m

After the scandal surrounding his comments on the N-word and a comparison to the Jewish star, Tübingen’s Mayor Palmer announced a break. In a personal statement, he writes of “recurring storms of outrage” – and that he wants to seek professional help.

The mayor of Tübingen, Boris Palmer, wants to take a break after his controversial statements in Frankfurt am Main. He announced this in a personal statement about which the SWR reported. Palmer had drawn heavy criticism with controversial statements in Frankfurt am Main.

“One thing is clear to me: It can’t go on like this,” the statement said. “I can no longer put up with the recurring storms of outrage from my family, my friends and supporters, the employees in the city administration, the municipal council and the city society as a whole.” According to Palmer, his serious intentions to ensure that something like this doesn’t happen again were unsuccessful.

For this reason, Palmer also announced that he would seek professional help during his time off and try to work through his part in the increasingly destructive entanglements. He also wanted to apologize to the people he disappointed, especially the voters who put their trust in him for a completely different task. According to SWR, Palmer did not say exactly what the announced break should look like.

scandal about the n-word

Palmer caused a stir on Friday with a verbal argument with a group in front of a migration conference in Frankfurt am Main. In front of a building at the Goethe University, he had taken a stand on the way in which he used the “N-word”. When confronted with shouts of “Nazis out,” Palmer told the crowd, “It’s nothing but the Star of David. It’s because I used a word that you guys frame everything else by. If you say the wrong word , you’re a Nazi. Think about it.” The so-called N-word describes a racist term for black people that was used in Germany in the past.

Most recently, Palmer’s lawyer Rezzo Schlauch had turned away from him, the Tübingen Greens city association distanced itself and the group “Vert Realos” – an association of so-called real politicians in the Greens – wants to continue working without Palmer in the future.

Always controversial statements

Palmer, 50, has previously faced criticism for controversial statements. In May 2021, the Greens in Baden-Württemberg even decided on a party exclusion procedure against him. The reason was a post on Facebook about former national soccer player Dennis Aogo that was considered racist. According to Palmer, his entry was meant to be satirical.

Palmer and the party finally agreed on a compromise: Palmer declared that he would not be a member of the Greens until the end of 2023, which meant that the party’s expulsion was off the table. He then won the mayoral election in Tübingen again in October 2022 and began a third term.