A voice for a free and independent Bavaria

This could be the flag of independent Bavaria

"The fate of ordinary Bavarians can only improve, when the Free State no longer is at the mercy of the constraints and exploitations of a double transfer union, a German one and a European one."

Wilfried Scharnagl (in Welt am Sonntag)

Bavarians are hardworking, god-fearing and law-abiding people, who have managed to build a thriving society in their corner of the Germany. They are also tired of being the paymasters of both the rest of Germany and Europe. And who could blame them for that!

Bavarian veteran journalist, and CSU party member Wilfried Scharnagl has written a book, in which he propagates for an independent Bavarian state. The northern German weekly Der Spiegel, which does not like the idea, tries to make fun of Scharnagl and the Bavarians:  

The southern German state of Bavaria has a bigger population and economy than many European countries. Now one veteran journalist has written a book calling for Bavarian independence. The Bavarians, it seems, still haven't gotten over the trauma of joining the German Empire in 1871.

Last Thursday, the day when Bavaria's independence was proclaimed in Berlin, was a historic occasion. It was the day when Horst Seehofer, the famously outspoken leader of the conservative Christian Social Union, the Bavarian sister party to Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, had nothing to say for once.

For weeks, Seehofer and his CSU colleagues Markus Söder and Alexander Dobrindt have been outdoing themselves trying to come up with new insults, directed at the European Union, the Greeks or the rest of Germany, which the wealthy Bavarians resent because of the money they have to transfer to poorer regions under Germany's system of inter-state equalization payments. But noon came and went, and still there was no attack from Seehofer and his cronies.

It was the day when a man carrying a book took to a podium in Berlin. He wanted to finally draw the logical conclusions from all the things that make Seehofer and his colleagues so angry. The man was Wilfried Scharnagl and he was there to call for Bavaria's independence from Germany. "Bavaria does not have the place in the world, the rank and the role that would be appropriate because of its history, size and population," said Scharnagl, who was editor in chief of the Bayernkurier, a weekly newspaper published by the CSU, for 24 years.

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Scharnagl delves far back into German history and puts his finger on the open wound: Jan. 21, 1871. On that day, the Bavarian Chamber of Deputies voted to become part of the new German Empire -- in Scharnagl's words, a "to be or not to be" decision for Bavaria. Because a majority of deputies voted to join the German Empire, it was ultimately a "day of disaster for Bavaria," Scharnagl says. He cites his compatriot Prince Otto of Bavaria, who took part in the proclamation of the empire. "What a mournful impression it made on me to see our Bavaria bow before the emperor ... my heart wanted to burst. It was all so cold, so proud, so shiny, so showy and ostentatious and heartless and empty."
Sense of Sadness
More than 140 years later, Bavaria apparently still hasn't overcome its sense of sadness. If one believes Scharnagl, Bavaria is still feeling the consequences of 1871 today. After all, it has to transfer billions of euros to cash-strapped foreign states such as North Rhine-Westphalia, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin, whose citizens, as all Bavarians know, like to spend their days lounging around instead of grafting like the hard-working Bavarians. And ever since the euro was introduced, the Bavarians have also had to fork out for the even lazier Greeks, Spaniards and Italians. That, in a nutshell, is the opinion of Germany's south-east corner.

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