Mr. and Mrs. Miller
Anna and Hans Müller (also Mr. and Mrs. Müller ) was the pseudonym of two activists of the Zurich youth riots who appeared on the Swiss talk show CH-Magazin on July 15, 1980. The episode is considered to be one of the biggest TV scandals in German-speaking Switzerland .
In the talk show, the two activists met two Zurich city councilors, the police commanders of the city of Zurich and the city of Zurich's SP president. Instead of campaigning for the activists' goals, the two played the role of concerned citizens and, contrary to expectations, called for more repressive measures against the activists. This paradoxical intervention by Mr. and Mrs. Müller led to an escalation in the program. The city councilor who was present threatened to leave the live broadcast. After the broadcast, civil circles reacted with great indignation.
Starting position
After the Zurich City Council granted a loan for the renovation of the Zurich Opera House in May 1980 , this was perceived as a provocation among young people, and youth riots broke out in Zurich. The demands of the youth for the legalization and support of an autonomous youth center "AJZ" near the main train station were rejected by the city council at the same time. The so-called "moving" from the youth scene fought with the police for hours on various days for hours in the street and threw stones in shop windows and set cars on fire. The unrest in the 1980s culminated in the so-called "opera house riot" on May 30 in front of the opera house.
The activists of this Zurich youth riots initially closed themselves to the Zurich and Swiss media. This only changed after the request from German-speaking Swiss television , which left the activists free to choose who to delegate. Two activists went into the studio as Mr. and Mrs. Müller. Mr Müller, whose real name is Fredy Meier, made a statement in 2019 for a documentary on that program and its consequences.
Course of the talk show
On July 15, 1980, Mr and Mrs Müller were invited to the CH-Magazin on Swiss television , along with City Councilors Emilie Lieberherr and Hans Frick ( LdU ), Rolf Bertschi (Police Commander of the City of Zurich) and the SP President Leonhard Fünfschilling from Zurich . The show was moderated by Jan Kriesemer .
The city councils and the chief of police expressed mainly allegations in the direction of the youth activists, while Fünfschilling tried to bring their concerns into discussion and to demand understanding for them.
Instead of campaigning for the goals of their movement, as expected, the two youth activists exaggerated the usual expressions of indignation by conservative citizens and demanded, for example, the use of larger rubber bullets against the activists, the use of the army or even the use of napalm . Mr. and Mrs. Müller underpinned this reversal of roles with their appearance: suit, tie, blouse, traditional hairstyle; In addition, towards the end of the program, Mr. Müller blew thick clouds of smoke into the group with a cigar. This paradoxical intervention by Mr. and Mrs. Müller led to an escalation in the program. City councilor Emilie Lieberherr threatened to leave the studio if the moderator did not get a better grip on the discussion.
The strategy of the two corresponded to an article in the trendy magazine Stilett , in the issue that appeared immediately before the talk show:
"We are there to create confusion, because only confusion can bring about change."
Effect and consequences
After the broadcast, civil circles reacted with great indignation. The failed talk show is considered one of the biggest TV scandals in German-speaking Switzerland .
The two actors were exposed shortly afterwards. The real names of the characters of Anna and Hans Müller were revealed through an official message from City Councilor Hans Frick and Police Commander Rolf Bertschi. This announcement was published in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung two days after the talk show .
The publicist Karl Lüönd also claimed in 2012 for the newspaper “Züri Leu”, of which he was editor-in-chief in 1980, that he had uncovered the identity of the two activists. The «Züri Leu», he said, was therefore accused of a violation of personality.
Anna Müller was attacked in the aftermath of the talk show in the Swiss tabloid newspaper Blick . In retrospect, Hans Müller described the attacks as “racist” in 2015. The fact is that the attacks against Anna Müller were violent and that the reporting about her took up significantly more space than that about Hans Müller.
Occasionally, because of the scandal broadcast, paradoxical behavior in the political context is referred to as “millers”.
See also
Web links
- Still from the broadcast on July 15, 1980
- The entire broadcast from July 15, 1980 in the video archive on the video portal of Swiss television
- Silvan Lerch, Anja Nora Schulthess: «And that subito». In: Das Magazin No. 45, November 9, 2019, pp. 8–13.
Individual evidence
- ↑ In the hot summer of 1980, when Zurich was on fire, swissinfo.ch on May 31, 2010.
- ↑ a b c d Denise Marquard: In: Tages-Anzeiger, June 22, 2015: How Mullers embarrassed the government. . Retrieved June 24, 2015.
- ↑ The informer and the chaos. In: Swiss radio and television . May 14, 2020, accessed May 15, 2020 .
- ↑ scene magazine "Stiletto", 1980. Quoted in the Basler Zeitung of 17 July 1980th
- ^ Neue Zürcher Zeitung of July 17, 1980.
- ↑ Article of the WoZ from November 8, 2012.
- ↑ View from July 17, 1980.
- ↑ View from July 18, 1980: Everyone is mad at "Frau Müller" .
- ↑ Article at Mattschiibe.ch from March 17, 2010: CH license plate - The millers do it. (Archive)