From BZ/dpa
Harald Juhnke was one of the most famous actors in Germany. There is no street or square in his hometown of Berlin named after him. Some think this should change.
The Free Democrats in Berlin want a Harald-Juhnke-Platz on Kurfürstendamm. The FDP parliamentary group in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf has submitted a corresponding application to the district assembly. It is required to check where in the district a street or square could be named after the actor and entertainer who died in 2005.
The liberals already have a proposal: they believe that Joachimsthaler Platz at the intersection of Kurfürstendamm and Joachimsthaler Strasse should in future be called Harald-Juhnke-Platz. The reason given in the application, which is available to the dpa, is that Juhnke is firmly connected to the district. “He was born in the municipal women’s clinic in Charlottenburg in 1929 and married his wife Susanne in Schmargendorf town hall in 1971.”
From 1950 he celebrated successes on the stages of the Theater am Kurfürstendamm. “For more than five decades, Harald Juhnke was Germany’s most famous actor and entertainer, to whom his hometown owes a lot,” the liberals continue to argue. “A square named after Harald Juhnke or a street in our district would therefore be more than appropriate.”
Juhnke’s longtime manager Peter Wolf told the dpa that the FDP’s initiative was his initiative. He and Juhnke’s family are very grateful for the application. Joachimsthaler Platz is only a few hundred meters away from the former Ku’damm stages where Juhnke was at home.
The FDP chairman in the Berlin House of Representatives, Sebastian Czaja, said that Juhnke had played his many roles in the hearts of Berliners and the whole republic. “Berlin and Harald Juhnke were an inseparable duo even when he was alive, and it’s still like that after his death.”
The liberals are pulling in the same direction as comedian Mario Barth. He thinks it’s bad that there is no street or square in the capital with the name of the Berlin entertainer, he told the dpa at the end of October. He himself is a big Harald Juhnke fan. “He could sing, he could dance, he acted. I thought that was great.”
Juhnke is still considered one of the greatest entertainers in Germany. After persistent alcohol problems, he fell ill with severe dementia and died a few years later at the age of 75.