A long fight over whether to rename a piece of Berlin after hometown girl Marlene Dietrich has turned into a war between two neighborhoods that want to be the first to honor the legendary star.
People in Schoeneberg, where the sultry star lived until she left for Hollywood in the 1930s, have been fighting for a year over where to put her on the map - with some questioning if she even deserved it.Angry letters and phone calls came in from Berliners still upset that she supported the Allies during World War II. Then there were the businesses on the proposed street who didn't want to pay to change their mailing address.
Tired of watching and waiting, next-door Tiergarten moved this week to beat its neighbors to the punch.
Officials announced a plan to officially name a square under construction at the historic Potsdamer Platz after the actress and singer who died in 1992.
"What happened in Schoeneberg was simply an undignified fight," said the district's building councilor, Horst Porath. "They can't get it in gear."
Since the city won't allow two new squares with the same name, Schoeneberg would be stymied if Tiergarten acts first.
Hanns Leske, the Schoeneberg official behind the Dietrich initiative, accused Tiergarten of violating an agreement to give Schoeneberg first dibs.
He called the Tiergarten plan "an unfriendly act . . . sad and above all unnecessary" because, he said, all the Schoeneberg parties agreed Wednesday on an alternate proposal: renaming Kaiser Wilhelm Square, which is near the house where Dietrich was born.
Tiergarten's district council is to formalize the neighborhood's decision at its Aug. 28 meeting, a procedural matter since all parties agree.