Berlin original
Individuals as well as entire professional groups are referred to as Berlin originals and types who stand out in a popular way with their pronounced self-confidence - attributed to the Berliners - and their quick-witted urban wit.
history
In addition to the well-known people unmistakably associated with Berlin and its residents, the small traders, shoemaker boys, lantern pins, night watchmen , sand boys, market women, fish women , coal miners, wood cutters and cab drivers were typical Berliners until the end of the 19th century . Even the bitter corpse was included, that was a man dressed in an old-fashioned fantasy uniform with a ribbon on his arm. He had to comfort the bereaved with words, and usually a schnapps was also included. He also walked in front of the hearse and “invited to the corpse”, for example with the following words: “Oh yes, he is fine” or “Consol yourself Madammeken , Jott took him back “. The familiar professional groups also included "The lamp cleaner", " Bimmel-Bolle " as a milk cart driver, "The Wurstmaxe" and the " organ grinder ".
character
An allegedly detailed description of the character of Berliners can be found in Meyer's Konversationslexikon of the 19th century and in Mit Berlin auf du und du :
“It is difficult to determine the character of the Berliners, since in the course of time the most diverse elements have taken hold by the influx of foreigners. According to statistical calculations, 37 percent Germanic, 39 percent Roman and 24 percent Slavic blood flows in the veins of Berliners. From this mixture and the given circumstances, the peculiar type of Berliner developed over time, who combines all the good and bad qualities of the different nationalities, races and tribes: the persistence, tenacity and coziness of the German, but also the phlegm, the slowness and righteousness of the Germanic; the bravery, light-heartedness and esprit of the French, but also Gallic arrogance, vanity, boastfulness and bullying; the employability, language skills and quick comprehension of the Slavs, but also their carelessness, moodiness and lust for pleasure. The Berliner is by nature good-natured, easily touched, charitable to a high degree and, under certain circumstances, capable of great sacrifices. On the other hand, he is just as easily quick-tempered, inclined to quarrel, opinionated and mocking. He cannot suppress a good joke or a bad joke; the »Nil admirari« [to be amazed] finds numerous representatives among the Berliners. "
For example, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe experienced the Berliner in this way:
"But, as I can tell from everything, there lives together such a bold crowd that you don't go far with the delicacy, but that you have hair on your teeth and sometimes you have to be a bit coarse to stay afloat."
Hans Ostwald remarks in the introduction to his popularly written "Berlin Culture and Moral History" published in 1924:
“Almost half of the immigrants came from the province of Brandenburg. These people, who grew up on the banks of the Havel lakes and the banks of the Spree, laboriously looking for their bread on the poor sandy soil and in the heaths, provided the dough for the bold and daring breed of people, as Goethe called the Berliners [...] Many French and Jews came to them early on. […] The fact that the two peoples had to influence the character of Berlin can be explained if one calculates that under Friedrich II almost every tenth Berliner was a French or a Jew […] So the tendency to criticize was also explained by the mixture of blood like through the comparatively hard working life. Unlike the inhabitants of other cosmopolitan cities, the Berliner could not build his existence on the rich legacy of ancient cultures and the lush yields of large latifundia [...] So he developed a harder, rougher form, from which, however, a cozy core can often be extracted . "
Original types
In the 18th century, few personalities stood out from the crowd. The folk poet Karschin was at least a strange person during this period . After the Seven Years' War her improvisational style had appealed to a wide audience, but after initial successes had hardly been noticed in Berlin. She fell into poverty, but received some allowances. A hospitality could make her so happy that she spent the whole evening uttering improvised poems with typical Berlin expressions. When Frederick II asked for two talers to be sent to her, she returned the money with the following verse:
“No great king gives two talers;
Such a gift does not increase my happiness.
No! it degrades me a little;
So I'll give it back. "
Up until the end of the 19th century, it was the morality singers and the people calling out in front of the show booths at fairs and squares , among whom many original owls stood out with their big mouths and their expressions brimming with twisted formulations. The cab drivers who stopped with their chargers at the Brandenburg Gate and loudly and intrusively wanted to persuade passers-by to take a trip to the idyllic Charlottenburg also had the right Berlin mouth : “Herr Baron, come with us; there is only one ragged person missing! " Kurt Tucholsky took this kind of harsh judgment in 1920:" [...] we all know the well-known type of 'Berliner' in the field who had the biggest mouthpiece in the company, and all of his Sayings, even the most flattering ones, pretended to be saying the best joke in world history. "
Originals
For all the originality of the breed, real Berlin originals were and are comparatively rare. These few were and will be unmistakably associated with Berlin and the Berlin art during their lifetime and also after their death. Here are some of the most popular:
The shoemaker Friedrich Wilhelm Voigt achieved fame as the " Captain of Köpenick " when he tried to get money from the city treasury in Köpenick at the beginning of the 20th century . The expected two million marks were not in the safe and so he only “captured” 3557.45 marks, which had also been given to him voluntarily. That happened on the afternoon of October 16, 1906. After a reward of 3,000 marks, his former cellmate betrayed him and so Voigt was arrested on October 26, 1906 at 7 am at Langen Strasse 22 (at Ostbahnhof ). The whole thing could only succeed because he wore the uniform of a captain of the 1st Guards Regiment on foot ( nobility ), the "most distinguished regiment of civilized Christianity" and a team of ten guards fusiliers. He was sentenced to four years in prison, of which he was only served 20 months on pardon. In his coup he had the mayor, Georg Langerhans , and the city secretary arrested. The action of the wrong captain was generally understood as a satire on the zeitgeist with its exaggerated belief in authority and was a hit for the entire Berlin and international press. The “ Köpenickiade ” inspired the poet Carl Zuckmayer to write his 1931 comedy Der Hauptmann von Köpenick , which was an accusation against the glorification of the uniform. Since October 15, 2006 (world premiere in Köpenick) there has been a new play that deals with the true story of Wilhelm Voigt's life: The Schlitzohr von Köpenick by Felix Huby and Hans Münch, a showpiece for an actor in 15 roles.
The draftsman Heinrich Zille , affectionately known by Berliners as “Brush Heinrich Zille”, was the city's most popular artist at the beginning of the 20th century. He lived here, and the diversity of his descriptions of the environment , humor and anecdotes are a unity of image and mostly handwritten subtitles that are not tied to a specific location. They are apparently easily “thrown away” studies, paired with crude dialogues in flippant Berlin jargon without grammatical accuracy. The captions are to be understood more as comments that accompany Zille's view of the backyards and Wilhelmine offices of the turn of the century in an ironic, sometimes sarcastic and macabre way .
From 19th century Berlin, the “ Nante Corner Stand ” and “ Mother Lustig ” are considered originals. The Berlin service man Ferdinand Strumpf, who was located on the corner of König and Neue Friedrichstrasse, owes its fame as "Nante" to the popular play, Nante , the corner stand . This piece comes from the well-known actor Friedrich Beckmann , who brought it to the stage in 1833 based on a model from Adolf Glaßbrenner's groschenheft series, Eckensteher . Beckmann had the figure of Nante already in the listed 1832 piece A tragedy in Berlin by Karl von Holtei played. While Nante (short for Ferdinand) was waiting on the corner for casual work, he had ironic remarks and crude mockery ready for anything and everything. With his typical Berlin joke, he became the embodiment of the Berlin folk humor and a well-known original.
The laundress Henriette Lustig (1808–1888) became known as “Mother Lustig” . In 1835 she founded the first laundry service in Köpenick, from which an entire service industry was to develop.
Not to be forgotten are the courageous Berliner Julie Graebert , known as “Mother Graebert” , the poor doctor Ernst Ludwig Heim and Marie Anne du Titre . Mother Gräbert ran a drama theater and, shirt-sleeved, watched over the fact that the guests consumed enough during the breaks. Heim ran a well-known doctor's practice on Berlin's Gendarmenmarkt , where he often treated poor people free of charge. With subtle or coarse humor, he said his opinion straightforwardly to everyone regardless of class. Du Titre was the wife of a very wealthy factory owner who always ran a so-called "big house". In numerous everyday situations, “die du Titre” stood out for its quick-witted answers, many of which have been handed down.
Other Berlin originals can be found in literature: the " Harfenjule ", " Uncle Pelle ", " Strohhut-Emil ", " Krücke ", " Big Helga " and the cab driver Gustav Hartmann, who became known as "Iron Gustav" . The official Berlin Capital Portal also mentions the "organ-Trude," Gertrud Müller, the chimney sweep with clothes and a barrel organ entertained the Berliner. The tombstone at the Mahlsdorf municipal cemetery contains the original phrase "Chimney sweepers' body miller".
literature
- Meyers Konversationslexikon . 4th edition. Bibliographical Institute, Leipzig / Vienna, 1885–1892.
- Hans Ostwald: Cultural and Moral History of Berlin. Hermann Klemm AG publishing house, Berlin-Grunewald 1924. Reprinted as Berlin's cultural and moral history , Voltmedia, Paderborn, 2006, ISBN 3-938478-93-4 .
- Hans Ludwig: Berlin from yesterday . Verlag Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 1957.
- Hans Prang, Günter Kleinschmidt: With Berlin on you and you . Brockhaus Verlag, Leipzig 1980, pp. 113-121.
- Bodo Harenberg (Ed.): The Chronicle of Berlin . Chronik-Verlag, Dortmund 1986, ISBN 3-88379-082-6 .
- Gerhard Flügge: series of Berlin originals in the category "Berliner ABC", "Berliner Zeitung", 1971.
Web links
- Berlin originals at the Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein
- Berlin originals at the Berlin capital portal
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bodo Harenberg (Ed.): The Chronicle of Berlin . Chronik-Verlag, Dortmund 1986, ISBN 3-88379-082-6 , p. 194.
- ↑ Information from the BA Marzahn-Hellersdorf on the Mahlsdorf cemetery ( memento from August 9, 2010 in the Internet Archive )