The owner of the Südbahnhotel in Semmering, Christian Zeller, is constantly at loggerheads with ‘Alma’ director Paulus Manker. On Monday, there was another hearing in the regional court in Vienna. The descriptions of both parties made listeners shake their heads.
In the Viennese countryside, things get theatrical when director Paulus Manker reads excerpts from documents to Mr. Rat. The 66-year-old is facing a private lawsuit from Südbahnhotel owner Christian Zeller for various insults in the media – from “psychopath” to “charlatan.”
Zeller had terminated the contract with Manker, who produced the plays “The Last Days of Mankind” and “Alma” in the impressive house at Semmering (Lower Austria). Since then, a “war” has been raging between the two on an open stage.
“He came with a group of thugs”
What the theater audience of ‘Alma’ also had to experience on August 3 and 4, 2023: Because Manker did not want to let in the guests who had bought their tickets from Zeller, an undignified spectacle arose: “The private prosecutor arrived with a group of criminals – nine two-meter bars, all dressed in black,” Manker said. They threatened that no one would be allowed in if Zeller’s guests were not allowed in. “The violent criminals blocked the entrance, it was quite violent. They threatened, pushed and physically attacked my employees and me,” he told the judge.
The police were called and the irritated spectators were eventually ushered into the former hotel through a side entrance. The theater experience began with Manker’s angry speech, in which he apparently insulted Zeller, the authorities, and the mayor, among others. Manker always refers to August 3 during the trial as “the day of the attack.”
Manker ‘barricaded’ himself in the hotel
“As the owner, I will not be excluded,” Zeller answers in his interrogation. The security guards were needed to protect him and two other people: “Purely to defend myself.” Paulus Manker “barricaded himself” in the hotel that night, the spectators did not know what was going on;
The next day, Manker also armed himself with security and there were skirmishes between the two groups – Zeller was injured. This time, police and ambulance arrived. “I’m tired of taking a stand against every claim that Mr. Manker makes out of the blue,” Zeller adds.
Continued on September 26
The drama, which increasingly makes listeners shake their heads, also has a number of actions to perform in the courtroom. Postponed until September 26 due to a long list of witnesses.
Source: Krone
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