Görlitz Mayor Octavian Ursu Visits the Joliot-Curie High School

On June 3, 2026, the Joliot-Curie High School hosted a Q&A session with Octavian Ursu, the re-elected mayor of Görlitz.

It has actually been a tradition at our high school since 2015 to organize panel discussions ahead of upcoming elections. This year, however, the mayoral election fell right in the middle of the high school graduation exams. Since the candidates weren’t finalized until quite late, a traditional pre-election discussion simply wasn’t feasible this time.

A New Format After the Election

A group of students refused to let this slow them down and promptly contacted all four candidates to arrange a post-election session. The plan: The new mayor and the runner-up would engage in a discussion in a small group. The discussion was to focus on evaluating the campaign, but also on how the losing candidates intended to remain active in city politics. However, since Sebastian Wippel (AfD) declined in advance, it was decided to hold the discussion with Octavian Ursu alone.

This resulted in a dynamic Q&A session: half of the questions were posed by student moderators, while the other half came directly from the audience—primarily from students in the 10th and 11th grades. The topics were wide-ranging: Octavian Ursu was grilled, among other things, on opportunities for young people to have a say, public transportation, and research in Görlitz.

One student wanted to know how much the mayor regretted the end of Görlitz’s railcar-building tradition and what opportunities he saw for the city in the defense contractor KNDS. Ursu replied that, naturally, the end of this tradition pained him, as railcar manufacturing had shaped Görlitz for over 160 years. At the same time, however, he sees new economic opportunities for the “European City” through the Franco-German manufacturer.

The Conclusion

The result was a new, successful format in which all students had the chance to ask Mr. Ursu questions in person. This not only provided an exciting insight into the campaign promises but also demonstrated how the implementation of the set goals is now being approached in practical terms.