GERMANY, Renate Immler. At the moment all you hear in Durach are the words, “I would NEVER have thought it possible.” They are talking about the election of the mayor in Durach, with results that far exceeded all expectations. They are talking about a candidate for the position of mayor who was a complete outsider opposing the local school principal (CSU – Christian Socialist Union). He had the worst possible prospects for his election campaign. It was impossible, people thought, for him to succeed against “one of our own”, and he was met with a raw headwind coming from many sides. He was also representing a party that had been in the minority for thirty years. Yet there were some people who were convinced that he was the right man for Durach, and they worked hard for him – with what they had learnt from Fr Kentenich.
The situation was a real mess: There were fierce fights between the supporters of the two camps in the local clubs, and in the end hardly anyone dared to touch on the subject of the election campaign. Since no one wanted to be responsible for the fights, Gerhard Hock was blamed for splitting the town.
The likeable, competent and Christian Gerhard Hock fought a really good election campaign by “serving others selflessly”, and at his pre-election gatherings he won over many hearts. However, the majority of the local people simply did not attend such gatherings. The traditional CSU supporters posed a problem and were hardly to be reached. So his victory in the election was really in the balance.
Suitability of Kentenich’s pedagogy for fighting an election
There are people who maintain that the Kentenich pedagogy can be successfully applied everywhere, and it was precisely this that the Schoenstatters wanted to put to the test in the election campaign in Durach. They were convinced that Gerhard Hock would be an ideal mayor for the town, and they wanted to help him with Kentenich know-how. They were also convinced that a decision for the good of the community required more from them than prayer and approval.
It all started with a crazy idea, a frenzied collection of ideas that increasingly became more practical. The target group was the people who could not be reached by the traditional election events.
Kentenich principles were dug up and examined for their usefulness in an election campaign. Working with movement or currents, … life is enkindled by life … and a goodly quantity of naïveté, or childlikeness.
The prize question was, “Is it possible to take up a movement or trend that already existed, make it visible and strengthen it, so that many are ‘infected’ by it?”
So the two essential principles of working with currents according to Kentenich were applied – quite simply and consistently:
First principle: Bring nothing new, but work exclusively with those elements of the election campaign already present, and strengthen the existing movement.
Second principle: Don’t organise, don’t do things yourself, but get people enthusiastic and promote a movement or current.
How exactly?
In his election campaign Gerhard Hock had already played with his name on a number of occasions. For example, Hock Beer Festival instead of Bock Beer Festival. “Hocken” in the Bavarian dialect of Allgäu means “sit”, and a “Hock” is a relaxed gathering of friends. In his election video he appeared as a bus driver speaking to his passengers in the dialect of Upper Bavaria “I’ll take you all with me”. He donated benches for the park and called them “Hock-di-na” benches (Take a seat) benches, and introduced himself as “Candidate Hock”.
What we had to do was to take up this positive movement for Gerhard Hock, make it visible and intensify it.
- First of all we collected photos of Durach residents who were prepared to come out on his side. Then we built a train silhouette from wooden panels showing a locomotive and six carriages. The locomotive became the “Hock-Loc”. People from the town looked out of the carriage windows. The inscription was “Full steam ahead to the town hall”. We also attached a statement that this was a private initiative with the names of the initiators, as we learnt in the seminar on public relations activities given by Ms Fischer.
- The election team at first wanted to prevent this move and instead wanted us to hang up posters. However, after a discussion Mr Hock understood and accepted our initiative. “We still hung up the posters!“
- After we received a great many photos (112 people and 11 company logos) we added a “Hock Station”, a copy of the Durach town hall. Every few days we moved the train and its station to another part of the town, and it appeared on the main roads of every part of the town.
- The Hock-Loc soon became very popular. For some reason the people enjoyed it and made a point of visiting it.
- As a result of the Loc the subject of the election again cropped up in conversation, but this time the atmosphere was relaxed and friendly.
- The Hock supporters suddenly discovered that there were many who thought as they did, so in the conversations they had the courage to support their candidate.
- The municipal leaders could do nothing about it, because the initiative was a private enterprise and a movement had arisen among the people that they were unable to oppose.
- The local newspaper printed a photo and an article.
- In addition we produced car stickers. Gerhard Hock smiled from car and kitchen windows, as well as garden fences and garage doors. Each time they showed that someone had come out as a Hock supporter.
A word of thanks from Gerhard Hock follows:
“Many thanks for your untiring work. As you have already heard, what was at first a very sceptical election team has meanwhile become completely convinced that as a result of your initiative members of the public were addressed whom we could not have reached in any other way. So the election team is definitely interested in seeing the Loc travelling on to Miesenbach.”
Victory with almost a two-thirds majority
Gerhard Hock won with 65.8% of the votes, while his local opponent only received 34.2%.
A good climate and warm community developed among the Hock supporters, which is a good basis for the future work of the mayor.
Original: German. Translation: Mary Cole, Manchester, England
