Protests in the Münster: Dispute over Domkapellmeister escalated!

Protests and unrest in the Freiburg Münster caused massive reactions after an incident on Christmas Eve. On the Epiphany, several dozen people demonstrated after the service in front of the church. The protesters showed banners and buttons with the message: "We want to keep our cathedral chapel master!" The cathedral choir and the cathedral chapel, which are under the direction of Boris Böhmann, have announced to suspend samples as a result of the clashes.

The chair of the cathedral choir, Christel Hoping, emphasized that the next steps should be discussed on Tuesday. In an emotional statement, she expressed that the church and choirs stood in front of a "shard heap". The reason for the conflict is the exemption of cathedral conductor Boris Böhmann, who took place after a scandal on Christmas Eve when Böhmann's supporter disrupted the Christmas mass.

background of the conflicts

Böhmann, in his position since 2003, has been released with immediate effect, and his termination is valid until the end of February 2025. A legal dispute that he had strained against the termination was unsuccessful before the labor court. However, he plans to continue the decision.

Archbishop Stephan Burger defends the termination as a “last way out” after years of internal disputes. For data protection reasons, the Archdiocese has not published any detailed information on the reasons for Böhmann's dismissal, which is criticized by the parents of the cathedral singing boy. They expressed that their children will no longer be sent to the cathedral singing school and face emotional and psychological stress, since many of them are not understand and unsettled the situation.

The tensions in the Freiburg cathedral choir have now pointed so that several singers plan to leave the choirs. The parents also call for a comprehensive processing of the conflict and a dialogue with the cathedral singing boys to clarify the situation for the children.

These events throw a shadow on the planned musical design of services in the Münster, since the cathedral singing boys will not take part in the first time, which significantly affects the tradition of choral singing in the Freiburg Münster.