Let us recall the facts: this Spring, a teacher in Cleebourg, close tWissembourg, was at the center of a controversy raised by parents of his students who claimed he devoted too much time to the practice of the Alsatian language at the expense of core subjects. The teacher, Jean-Philippe Ziegler, was offered (without any other alternative) another position. When the school year resumes, he'll be working for a bilingual post in Wissembourg. 

We were surprised that the Schickele Circle waited for the controversy to be "terminated" before being heard. "We did not want tointerfere in the personal files of J-Ph. Ziegler" claimed the president ofthis group, Francois Schaffner, during a press conference. "Either way, wewanted to clear the honor of a man." At the head of a support group for theteacher, Raymond Piela, an illustrator, initiated a petition to support him.

"From 150 signatures the first few days, we're now at more than 3,000 ! Andit's still going. Not only are there Alsatians who are writing us, from allcorners of France we're getting letters of support." Yesterday Pielaofficially gave the letters to Ziegler. Recently the hierarchy of theinstitution let it be known that Ziegler's transfer was due rather to thequality of his instruction "in other subjects besides German." "Prove it"says Ziegler. "My last performance review was three years ago. And it was positive." "So then it took us twenty years to realize the incompetence of the teacher" asks Francois Schaffner, who sees only pretense. "Who are we kidding? We often sense here in Alsace a Germanophobia with certain teachers, at the cost of professional ethics." And there are claims by parents of attempts at certain schools to suppress an identity. HenriGoetschy, Honorary President, not beating around the bush, himself considers the affair as an "aggression" and an "insult." "If it was in Corsica or in the Basque region would the reaction have been the same? It's not because the Alsatian people are more disciplined that they should be kicked around."

The Circle is closely following the declarations made by the minister JackLang and believes that Jean-Philippe Ziegler "is totally in line with what the minister prescribes."