Working group Burg Waldeck

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Column house of the ABW, 2004
Meeting house of the working group Burg Waldeck, 2012

The Arbeitsgemeinschaft Burg Waldeck (ABW) was founded in 1934 to save the property of the Nerother Wandering Bird from being attacked by the Nazi state . The association, which was continued after the Second World War, transformed Waldeck Castle in the Hunsrück into an important cultural site for musical activities and international understanding with a youth-related conference center and regular concerts. This led to long-term legal disputes with the Nerotherbund, which wanted to use the castle exclusively for its work in order to be able to continue its tradition in the youth movement of the Weimar Republic unchanged. A student working group of the ABW initiated and organized the Burg Waldeck Festival from 1964 to 1969 ; these were the first open-air festivals in Germany; they ushered in a decisive phase in German folk history .

history

Founded in 1934

When the organizations of the Bündische Jugend had to dissolve under the pressure of the new regime at the beginning of the National Socialist rule , the Nerother Wandervogel wanted to protect the area of ​​his headquarters, Waldeck Castle, from being attacked by the state with the help of a neutrally named organization. On July 25, 1934, the previous sponsor, the “Federation for the Establishment of the Rhenish Youth Castle”, decided to dissolve and re-establish itself as the association “Arbeitsgemeinschaft Burg Waldeck for the Establishment of a Memorial for the Fallen Heroes eV” (ABW). Robert Oelbermann became the first chairman . But due to great pressure from the state, the ABW had to disband on April 22, 1935. Robert Oelbermann was appointed liquidator. The ABW site was forcibly administered by the government.

Column house in 1982

Continuation after the Second World War

In October 1948 the association, which had outlived the Third Reich in the legal state of liquidation, was reactivated, the goal should no longer be the rebuilding of a large youth castle, as before, but the castle should with its existing potential (two houses and outdoor area) " Serving the youth in various forms and becoming an open home “and promoting musical activities and international understanding. Hannes Böhmer was elected first chairman. The association was recognized as a non-profit organization. As early as 1946, the first survivors of the Nerother / ABW period returned to the Waldeck. Under the leadership of the filmmaker Karl Mohri, they excused the association and repaired the building and furnishings. The Nerotherbund was re-founded in 1946 with friends from the Rhineland and Bremen under the leadership of ABW member Brecht Stempel. When Karl Oelbermann , the twin brother of the former Nero federal leader Robert Oelbermann, who died in 1941 in Dachau concentration camp , returned from exile in Africa in 1950, he was elected chairman and honorary chairman of the ABW. He took over the re-established Nerotherbund as federal leader. In 1951 he went back to Africa on a film expedition, from which he only returned three years later.

Audience on the Hunsrück area of ​​the "ABW" during the Burg Waldeck Festival 1968

During this time the Waldeck became a meeting place for many authors, artists and musicians. The writers Vitalis Pantenburg and Stefan Andres came among others , as well as Werner Helwig from Switzerland, who set a monument for the Waldeck with his memorial book “On the Boy Track”. The composer Wolfgang Fortner was there, several times the musician Walter Gerwig ; Sepp Gregor led singing seminars and the singer and musician Hai Frankl came from Sweden . The Südwestfunk broadcast on the Waldeck concerts, z. B. the "Hamburger Lautenkollegium". He also broadcast poetry readings from the Waldeck. There were also numerous young people from post-war groups of the youth movement , especially from the youth movement , as well as from musical circles, who played Hugo Distler or Orff , among others , and they built more huts and houses on the Waldeck site. Waldeck films, for example three films from Greece, were shown as cultural films in the opening programs in the cinemas. Karl Oelbermann returned in 1954. He initially accepted the diversity of youth groups that had developed in the meantime. In 1955, he and Rolf Gekeler (Gockel), the spokesman for the youth groups committed to the Waldeck, which had come together to form the “Jungschaft der Burg”, signed a document on the equality of all youth groups. From the area around Oelbermann, however, polemicises were made against the ABW and for sole rule of the Nerother at Waldeck Castle.

The conflict between the ABW and the Nerother Wandervogel

In October 1957, a legal opinion was drawn up on behalf of the Nerother Wandervogel as the basis for the appointment of a liquidator for ABW; This concluded that the ABW did not exist - but if it did, then wrongly - and in December Karl Oelbermann initiated a twenty-year lawsuit for ownership of the Waldecker premises before the local court in Kastellaun . In April 1958, Karl Oelbermann had a newly founded “Federation for the Establishment of the Rhenish Youth Castle” registered with Waldeck Castle in the register of associations. There were various attempts at mediation over the duration of the legal dispute, all of which failed. During and after the Waldeck Festival, there were repeated disruptions to ABW events by Nerother, including damage to the metal sculpture by the artist Eberhard Fiebig in 1967 . On November 17, 1972, the higher regional court in Zweibrücken ruled that ABW would be the legal successor to the pre-war club and the sole owner of the site. Efforts by Nerother to reverse the 1972 decision were dismissed in April 1976, as was an appeal to the Koblenz Higher Regional Court and the Federal Court of Justice, which was last appealed in 1978. In 1954, the ABW had awarded the Nero federal leader Karl Oelbermann lifelong right to live in the main building "Säulenhaus". Oelbermann lived there until his death in 1974. Immediately adjacent to the ABW site, he acquired ownership of the former upper castle "Trutz" for his federal government and began in 1956 to implement modified plans for the old youth castle idea. The "Nerother Waldeck" with the residence of Fritz Martin Schulz (FM), chairman elected for life after Oelbermann, is located on this separate site.

The Waldeck Festival

The cabaret artist Hanns Dieter Hüsch appeared at the Waldeck Festivals in 1966, 1967, 1968 and 1969.
Main article: Burg Waldeck festivals

In 1964 a student working group of the ABW organized the festival "Chanson Folklore International - Young Europeans sing" on the castle grounds, at which Franz Josef Degenhardt, among others, had his first public appearance, and then continued the "Burg Waldeck Festival" on an ever larger scale . Initially influenced by French chanson and the American folk and protest song scene, committed and critical songwriters prevailed until the festivals ended in 1969 when rock music and revolutionary-political debates predominated. With around 6000 visitors, the infrastructure of the ABW site was also completely overwhelmed. Reinhard Mey , Hannes Wader , Phil Ochs , Guy Caravan , Dieter Süverkrüp , the cabaret artist Hanns Dieter Hüsch and the writer Erich Fried performed, among others ; for some, the Waldeck festivals were the starting point for their careers. In 1968, debates about the socio-political status of his work became a traumatic experience for Hanns Dieter Hüsch ("I had to [...] break off my 'concert', sit down on a chair and answer questions [...]"). For several years the political song received a lot of attention. Another merit of these events was the rediscovery and processing of German folk songs of a democratic character from the past centuries as well as a renaissance of Yiddish folk music.

The time after the Waldeck Festival

Arno Lustiger attended the Whitsun meeting on the Waldeck in 1997.

Whitsun 1973, the “AG Song. Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Liedermacher ” , with the aim, among other things, to deal with the new song at singing and work meetings. The column house of the ABW was destroyed by fire in 1977. A larger new building was realized through numerous donations (for example, the artist Gertrude Degenhardt sold an etching for the benefit of the construction project, the German Youth Brand Foundation and the State of Rhineland-Palatinate gave grants) and extensive personal contributions and inaugurated in 1980. From 1980 to 2000 there was a working group “Youth Movement and Revolution” within the ABW, which organized events in the style of a community college and with seminars on topics such as “Writers in Exile” (with Theo Pinkus and Walter Janka ) or “The Future of Society” was, in which renowned speakers such as the historians Arno Lustiger and Walter Grab participated. In 1983, the expansion of the Waldeck into a "music and cultural center" of the ABW began, for which the German Youth Brand Foundation made another donation. Whitsun 1985, the stage built as part of this project was inaugurated. In 1985 the bilingual chanson rock project “Bourges - Waldeck” started with the support of the Franco-German Youth Office under the direction of Hotte Schneider, Walter Mossmann and Sabine Beloq. The music show "Jenseits von Casablanca" was developed alternately at Burg Waldeck and in Bourges , France. Apart from a few dates on the Waldeck and in France at the Franco-German cultural summit in Frankfurt in 1986 (with broadcast on ARD) and in 1987 at the 25th anniversary of the youth organization in Ludwigsburg. From 1993 to 1997 ABW events were integrated together with the SWF in the Rhineland-Palatinate Cultural Summer project . From 1955 to 1984 the ABW published the “well-tempered Baybachbote” as a newsletter, and since 1985 the magazine “Köpfchen. Outlooks, insights, reviews ”.

Hein and Oss Kröher performed frequently on the Waldeck and celebrated their 80th birthday there in September 2007.

The ABW today

The association is recognized as a non-profit organization and a member of the German Parity Welfare Association , the Heinrich Böll Foundation Rhineland-Palatinate and the state working group for socioculture and cultural education . The goals are set out in the statutes, the first sentence is: “The ABW strives to gather people from the spirit of the youth movement who look for intellectual and musical commonalities independently and are willing to develop them.” Chairwoman is Sandra Kupfer.

Buildings and facilities

The alternative conference and seminar house is surrounded by its own meadows and forests, near the castle ruins of Waldeck in the local community of Dommershausen , district of Dorweiler , and is run independently by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Burg Waldeck eV. There are overnight accommodations in two buildings, several huts and on campsites. The facilities include a covered open-air and rehearsal stage as well as a large outdoor area. The pillar house, which is characterized by a large covered terrace and in which there is a café, bedrooms, dining and group rooms, a fireplace room and two kitchens, has a hall with a wooden swing floor , which is particularly suitable for dance, music and Theater is suitable. The site includes some huts that were built by youth associations and are now permanently rented to groups (e.g. BDP MTK). Alternative building is promoted: a hut for small groups (2001) and the house for the manager couple (2005) have already been built with bales of straw as insulation; Moreover, a cabin by the Friends former was Zivis in Cordwoodbauweise of logs and mud built. The first plant-based sewage treatment plant for small settlements in the Hunsrück was built on the Waldeck in 1998 . The entire facility, including the campsites, has around 12,000 overnight stays by mostly young guests per year.

The writer, songwriter and cabaret artist Christof Stählin, here with a vihuela , was often with the ABW.
Johanna Zeul

Regular events

In addition to the numerous changing theater workshops, seminars, cabaret workshops (e.g. under Rolf Linnemann ), singing and music workshops (e.g. under Christof Stählin and Thomas Felder) and conferences (e.g. Heinrich-Böll Foundation ), theater and music groups regularly come to rehearsals (e.g. samba with Dudu Tucci ). There are also two events organized by ABW that are held regularly.

  • On a smaller scale than the festivals of the 1960s, the ABW organizes a multi-day song festival at Whitsun, at which new talents are discovered and well-known artists perform. Frank Baier , Barbara Thalheim and Jens-Paul Wollenberg performed at the 2007 song festival . In 2008, for example, Günter Gall and the songwriter and singer Johanna Zeul were there.
  • The Peter Rohland singles competition has been held in autumn since 2000 . The competition is divided into the categories of individual, ensemble and group singing, with members of Bund youth groups (2006 for example from the Zugvogel , the German Freischar and the German Scout Association Mosaik ) also applying. The evening program is mostly dedicated to a well-known songwriter. In 2006 the "Peter Rohland Foundation for the Promotion of the Song" was established as an independent non-profit foundation under the legal umbrella of the ABW. In addition to documenting Peter Rohland's legacy as a singer and song researcher, the foundation primarily promotes singing among children and young people. The foundation has also released a CD with early songs by Peter Rohland and put together a traveling exhibition on his life and work.

Well-known members of the ABW

ABW member Wolfram Wette

literature

  • Werner Helwig: On the boy track. A memory book . Asmus, Konstanz / Stuttgart 1951.
  • Michael Kleff (Ed.): The Burg Waldeck Festivals 1964–1969. Chansons Folklore International . Bear Family, Hambergen 2008, ISBN 978-3-89916-394-0 .
  • Hein & Oss Kröher: Red-gray ravens. From folk song to folk song . Südmarkverlag, Heidenheim / Brenz 1969.
  • Stefan Krolle: Bündische Umtriebe. The history of the Nerother wandering bird before and under the Nazi state. A youth association between conformity and resistance . 2nd Edition. Lit, Münster 1986, ISBN 3-88660-051-3 .
  • Stefan Krolle: Musical and cultural stages of the German youth movement from 1919 to 1964 . A regional study, history of youth, vol. 26, Münster 2004, ISBN 3-8258-7642-X .
  • Nerohm: The last migratory birds: Waldeck Castle and the Nerother. History of a youth movement. Deutscher Spurbuchverlag, Baunach 1995, ISBN 3-88778-197-X .
  • Hotte Schneider (Ed.): The Waldeck. Songs, rides, adventures. The history of Waldeck Castle from 1911 to the present day . Verlag für Berlin-Brandenburg, Potsdam 2005, ISBN 3-935035-71-3 .
  • The well-tempered Baybach messenger. Intelligence sheet of the ABW for the "Bündische" from yesterday and today . (From issue 11: The “Well-Tempered” Baybachbote. ABW newsletter for the “Bündische” from yesterday and today ). Dorweiler, issues 1955 to 1984.
  • Brains. Outlooks, insights, reviews. Bulletin of the working group Burg Waldeck . Working group Burg Waldeck, Dorweiler, editions 1985 to 2011.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Schneider: Die Waldeck , p. 191
  2. ^ Schneider: Die Waldeck , p. 238
  3. ↑ Köpfchen 2/2008 as well as "Stefan-Andres-Gesellschaft" in Schweich
  4. ↑ Werner Helwig: On the boy track. A memory book . Asmus, Konstanz / Stuttgart 1951
  5. ↑ "The trip to the rock monasteries", "Fischer von Trikeri" and "Encounter with Young Hellas"
  6. ↑ baybach bote , No. 3, Pentecost 1956, p. 11
  7. ↑ Jürgen Jekewitz: The process - not by Franz Kafka, but a similarly bizarre and terrifying view of the time . In: Schneider: The Waldeck
  8. ↑ Hanns Dieter Hüsch: You also appear in it. Thoughts of a traveling poet . Kindler, Munich 1990, p. 285 ff.
  9. ^ Statutes of the ABW of October 1, 1978
  10. ↑ head. Views. Insights. Retrospectives . Edition April 2011
  11. ↑ 2004 to 2006, see tree house page ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.baumhausseite.de.vu