Mysterious protest action Activists kidnap the mouse from "Die Sendung mit der Maus"
Suddenly the mouse known from "Die Sendung mit der Maus" is gone. He stands as a statue in front of the building of the public broadcaster WDR. With the kidnapping, activists are fighting against cuts to state TV.
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- A statue of the mouse from "Die Sendung mit der Maus" was removed from its place in front of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk building in Cologne on Tuesday this week.
- Two days later, the mouse is in Mainz, first in front of the ZDF editorial office, then in front of the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament.
- The abduction of the mouse is a campaign by the Campact association, which is protesting against budget cuts to public broadcasters as part of the broadcasting reform.
The mouse has been standing in front of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) building in Cologne for years. But on Tuesday, October 13, it is gone. In its place is just a sign: "I have something important to do. That's why I'm going on a little trip," it says. "But don't worry! I'm fine and I'll be back safe and sound in a few days."
The sign already suggests that there is more than conventional theft behind the disappearance of the man-sized mouse.
Even then, German media suspected that employees of the public broadcaster were behind the abduction.
One day after the "mouse napping", the German activist group Campact claimed responsibility for the crime. "We accompanied the mouse," the association wrote on its X channel, "... on its journey." She was furious about cuts to public broadcasters in Germany.
Protest against cuts at ARD, ZDF and Co.
On Thursday, another day later, the giant orange mouse stands in Mainz, around 150 kilometers away from its usual place, in the entrance area of ZDF, as this public broadcaster also announces. Later, the figure appears in front of the state parliament of Rhineland-Palatinate, which is located in the same city.
The mouse will make stops in various German cities to send a signal against the drastic cuts to the information and education services offered by public broadcasters, ZDF quotes Astrid Dellmann, managing director of the Campact association.
The background to this is the broadcasting reform, which is intended to make Germany's state broadcasters fit for the future. The federal states recently submitted their proposals. According to media reports, special-interest channels such as 3Sat, ZDF Neo and Tagesschau24 are also under scrutiny.
Campact wants to bring back the mouse after one week
The Campact association claims that it is not fundamentally opposed to budget cuts in public broadcasters, but that it is opposed to cuts in educational and information programs. The mouse will therefore continue its journey and draw attention to this. In other words, the activists want to set up the statue, if not stolen, then at least borrowed without consent, in other German cities.
At the moment, neither WDR nor the police seem to want to put an end to the mouse's tour. Campact has promised to put the statue back in its place after a week. This could cost WDR less than if it were to enter into a trial of strength with the media activists.