The central German city of Halle has ordered the operator of a lido to withdraw a controversial entry rule that bars visitors who cannot demonstrate sufficient German-language comprehension, city spokesman Drago Bock said on Tuesday.
Bock said the city had contacted the operator by phone and in writing, with the aim of reaching an agreed solution as quickly as possible.
The dispute centres on the Heidebad lakeside swimming facility. The operator recently introduced a policy under which visitors may be denied entry if staff believe they do not have sufficient German-language skills to understand the site's safety and swimming rules. The decision has drawn criticism from across Germany.
The city is basing its demand on the operating contract concluded with Heidebad GmbH, under which the leaseholder must ensure that public access to the facility is guaranteed. "The exercise of house rules may not undermine this public character through blanket entry bans for entire population groups," Bock said.
Are the entry rules xenophobic?
Any approach that could be perceived by the public as "xenophobic" would damage the city's reputation and would breach the contractual duty of good conduct, the city said.
The city also said that less restrictive measures should be tried before any blanket ban.
The head of the Heidebad, Mathias Nobel, recently reserved the right to check whether people with poor German-language skills had sufficiently understood the swimming rules before being admitted. He said the move was prompted by a rescue operation in which a toddler had to be pulled from several metres of water.
"German is spoken at our entrance. If it becomes apparent at the entrance that there are communication problems, we decide on a case-by-case basis how to proceed," the lido's manager said. "We have to be sure that visitors understand our swimming rules and be consistent enough to guarantee the safety of bathers."
City offers safety information in foreign languages
The city of Halle has now offered the lido operator support in achieving safety by other means.
"The city's aim is to help resolve the communication difficulties in order to guarantee the safety and health of all bathers," Bock said. "Possible assistance could therefore be aimed at all those who cannot read or who do not speak German for various reasons - that could include pictograms, translations or QR codes with multilingual content."
