German towns head to court over naming rights

Two German towns that straddle the former Iron Curtain are locked in a dispute over their nearly identical names.

The western German town of Oberharz ("Upper Harz") has brought suit against the eastern city of Oberharz am Brocken ("Upper Harz on Brocken") to change its name, arguing it is neither at a higher elevation nor on the mountain Brocken.

So far, three attempts to mediate the dispute between the two municipalities that lie just 20 km apart have failed, judge Heinrich Risse told Reuters. He added the case will now be heard in a administrative court in Magdeburg.

The dispute reflects lingering tensions between the formerly Communist east with western Germany that flare up from time to time -- more than 20 years after the country reunited in 1990.

The eastern municipality Oberharz am Brocken in the state of Saxony-Anhalt was formed only last year when a group of villages incorporated into a city and picked the name, which was similar to the name of the village in the western state of Lower Saxony.

"We chose the name 'Oberharz am Brocken' to differentiate our town from Oberharz," said Hans Henning Friedrichs, a senior official in the eastern city told Reuters. "It will be a long and expensive court process for both municipalities."

Rival Oberharz first filed suit in autumn 2009 after the eastern city settled on the new name, saying that it had rights to the name and that the similar names would confuse tourists.

"The name Oberharz dates to 1642," Helmut Martin, an official in the western town, told Reuters. "We want the name to stay with us. We have the oldest claim to name -- nothing like this has ever happened in Germany before."

The court has yet to schedule hearings for the case and a decision could take as long as a year, Martin said.