A German Mayor and his City Council Intervene for Justice

The City Government of Marburg/Germany sponsors the exhibition “The Way of Falun Dafa.”

Marburg, a university town of 80,000 inhabitants, lies in the middle of the state of Hessen in Germany. It is the place where the Brothers’ Grimm chronicled most of their fairy tales. Marburg’s city hall, built in the image of a medieval castle, dates back 500 years, and boasts of a stately reception hall. In this hall, on the afternoon of October 16, 2001, the exhibition “The Way of Falun Gong” was officially opened.

Marburg does not have many practitioners. When they informed the Lord Mayor, Mr. Mueller, of the persecution in China, it was his suggestion to hold the exhibition in the city’s official reception hall, to give the citizens a chance to hear the truth about Falun Gong. Members of the city’s women’s organization took it upon themselves to write letters of support on behalf of Falun Gong to Chancellor Schroeder and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer. The women appealed to the German government’s ministers to do anything in their power to help bring an end to the persecution in China.

The mayor himself gave the welcoming speech at the exhibition’s opening ceremony. Falun Dafa practitioners were present as were other citizens, the media and the leader of the women’s organization of the City of Marburg.

In his speech, the mayor mentioned having seen dozens of people in China practising qigong in parks during one of his visits to Northern China a few years ago. He surmised that most of those could have been Falun Gong practitioners. He mentioned further that he is aware of the anti-Falun Gong propaganda and has received information from several sources. He finished by remarking that we can no longer speak for those who have already perished. But we, the living, have the opportunity to clarify the truth to people.

Everyone present applauded heartily. Journalists from the city media were skeptical about Falun Gong at the beginning of the festivities, due to influences from the dark side of the media. Once they had heard the mayor’s speech and listened to the testimonies from practitioners they changed their mind. One practitioner demonstrated the five exercises.

Fellow practitioners were happy for the citizenry of Marburg to have a mayor and city council aware of and interested in justice and who have chosen a rosy future for their people.

A Practitioner from Germany