Bonn originals

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As Bonner originals is called in Bonn city known persons who have attained through their special abilities, habits, errors or weaknesses a high level of awareness among the local population and still have even after their demise. Some of them are described as originals in the literature. Heinrich Lützeler wrote in this regard:

“Originals are distinguished by the fact that they have idiosyncratic ideas of a pleasant kind. They are wrongly called somewhat disparagingly "eccentric" or "owls". Bonn had many originals, not only among ordinary people, but also at the university. "

Although some of them have been dead for more than a century, the originals live on in tales and legends.

Jan Loh

Jan Loh as a stencil graffito on a house wall in Bonn's Heerstraße
Jan Loh: 4 Wikipedians (12th regulars' table in Billa Bonn , Bonn, July 2008)

Ferdinand Johannes Gödde ; only known by his self-chosen name Jan Loh (born June 24, 1931 in Gladbeck ; † March 8, 2018 in Bonn ) achieved local fame as the “all-paint-man”. Every evening he wandered through Bonn's pubs and cafés and offered his services to the guests there. For little money he sketched his customers, interpreted their handwriting or dreams and carried out facial analyzes. Loh was a celebrity in Bonn's pub scene. Most of the time he addressed people with the same sentence, "Everybody paints here?", Which had earned him his nickname. According to his own statement, he started drawing at the age of eleven and had no artistic training. After the war, he said he worked for a federal agency in the field of development aid for over 30 years. In the address book of the federal capital Bonn 1975 , the profession press editor is given. He began with the portrait drawings in 1995. In the 2014 local election campaign, Die Linke used an election poster with the slogan “All times vote”, which shows the candidates drawn by Loh. He himself rejected the term 'original' for himself.

Loh died on March 8, 2018 as a result of a fall at the age of 86. The urn burial took place on April 14, 2018 in the Kessenich cemetery . On August 25, 2020, the Bonn district council decided to name an area behind the town hall (Weiherstraße / corner of Maxstraße) in the old town as Jan-Loh-Platz .

Egon Venus

Egon Venus in downtown Bonn (pedestrian zone)

Egon Venus († September 3, 2009 in Bonn ), the man with the beret , was known as "Brezel-Hein" in Bonn.
During the day he was found with his pretzel basket on Bonn's market square . In the evening he sold his pretzels in the Beethovenhalle , in the Brückenforum and in the Pantheon . During the times of the capital, he gave the pretzels to various heads of state, including Queen Elizabeth , François Mitterrand and Jimmy Carter .
He, who some also known as "Almond Hein", because he initially sold bags of almonds wrapped in chocolate, didn't tell much about his life. If so, his stories were about war and the Foreign Legion, prominent sisters and his son the general.
Mandel-Hein died at the age of 79 in Bonn's forest hospital and was buried in the north cemetery.

Ria Maternus

Ria Maternus (1914-2001) was the landlady of the Weinhaus Maternus in Bonn-Bad Godesberg. Many German members of the Bundestag, Federal Ministers and Chancellors, but also international politicians - including all American presidents from Harry S. Truman to Ronald Reagan - met there. The Godesberg station forecourt was renamed Ria-Maternus-Platz after her.

Bramson & Munkes

Nikolaus Josten alias Bramson was a giant, Anton Goelden alias Munkes was small and thin . Bramson got his nickname from an Englishman who lived on Endeicher Allee and where he knocked out carpets and was also otherwise active. How Munkes got his nickname is unknown. As the predecessors of Pat and Patachon, the two inseparable servants made jokes in Bonn at the end of the 19th century. In mercenary costumes and armed with halberds , they guarded the carnival sessions of the Bonn shooting stars.

Bernhard Schiefgen

Bernhard Schiefgen (1820 to June 25, 1907), a street musician from Danzig. For decades he played with his flute together with his fellow musicians "Lollipop" on the violin and "Bem" on the guitar in Bonn restaurants, played at family celebrations and in Bonn student pubs, serenaded them and got through life. “De Schiefges Kapell” was an integral part of Bonn's cultural life during the imperial era. Schiefgen died in the men's asylum in Bonn.

Frank Hannes

As a "Rhingschürjer" (worker at the Bonn Rhine port), Fränze Hannes is said to have carried sacks of coal weighing three hundred pounds at a young age. Later he was a fixture in the Bonn carnival as a morality singer . In 1897 he could even be seen on postcards in Bonn.

Mother Schüffelgen

Veronika Schüffelgen born Münch (1845 to July 22, 1937), the flower woman from Villip near Bonn. For many decades she moved from Villip to Bonn every day and offered her “Strüßje” on the streets and in bars. It is one of the Bonn originals and was immortalized in a carnival order in 1985. She has an honor grave in the Villiper cemetery. Even Kaiser Wilhelm II congratulated her on her golden wedding in 1918.

Matthias Natius

The Godesberg locksmith Matthias Natius (1859–1922) was widely known as the “Rheinischer Götz ” . His strength was legendary, with an amputated left hand he could lift 125 pounds. The self-made iron hand prosthesis earned him his nickname . Even the university was interested in his invention, which was widely recognized at the time. Ruth Underhill described his claw (German: Kralle) in 1918 in Provision for war cripples in Germany .

Mökmann

Mökmann , whose real name was Christian Merker, lived in Bonn in the Rheingasse in the 1880s and later in a house on the corner of Wilhelmstrasse and Friedensplatz. Mökmann was well known in Bonn for his appearance, always dressed in frock coat and patricide , as well as for his financial transactions, the lending of money for high interest.

At that time Mökmann owned the house Rheingasse No. 7, formerly called "Zum Walfisch", which was erroneously called the house where Beethoven was born. Even Mökmann did nothing to counteract the erroneous belief and was happy to show travelers what, according to him, was the true "birthplace of Beethoven".

As a special attraction on these tours he showed the bed in which Beethoven is said to be born. For a corresponding sum, Mökmann was willing to cut off a piece of veneer from the bed and give it to visitors as a souvenir. If there was nothing left of the veneer, Mökmann bought a new used bed and the trade in “real” Beethoven souvenirs continued.

Sometimes, so the story goes, Mökmann even rented out the “Beethoven bed” as a night camp. If the overnight guests took a piece of veneer with them as a souvenir, Mökmann complained until the guests bought the entire bed.

This lucrative business went well until the real birthplace of Beethoven in Bonngasse was bought by the city of Bonn and thus became known.

From 1776 to 1785, the Beethoven family lived in the house at Rheingasse 7 with two interruptions from the master baker Gottfried Fischer.

Aennchen Schumacher

The "Lindenwirtin" Aennchen Schumacher (1860-1935) was a landlady of the "Gasthof zum Godesberg" who was particularly famous among students. Her Rhenish cheerfulness, her amiable authority and unusual musicality made the inn one of the most popular student meeting places in Germany. Aennchenstrasse and Aennchenplatz in Bad Godesberg are named after her.

Wolf Michael Schmidt

The "Blues Wolf" poses, 1997

"Blues-Wolf" Wolf Michael Schmidt (1949–2009) was a Bonn musician and poet who hung around the Bonn (music) scene from the late 1960s and played on various stages with his harmonica. When he wasn't traveling, he could always be found in downtown Bonn, where the qualified philosopher met friends and acquaintances, had profound conversations, wrote poems or smoked hashish. At the beginning of the 1980s, a volume of his poetry was published by Peter Wegener. On October 20, 2009, he was found dead in his home.

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Individual evidence

  1. ^ Heinrich Lützeler: Bonn - the way it was . 6th edition. Droste Verlag , Düsseldorf 1988, ISBN 3-7700-0330-6 , p. 19 .
  2. ↑ a b Christoph Meurer: Farewell to the all-time-painting man. In: General-Anzeiger (Bonn) . April 14, 2018. Retrieved April 14, 2018 .
  3. ↑ general-anzeiger-bonn.de: One night with Jan Loh. "Everybody paint?" (accessed on July 17, 2015)
  4. ↑ general-anzeiger-bonn.de: The "all-time-painting-man" is dead (accessed on March 12, 2018)
  5. ↑ http://digitale-sammlungen.ulb.uni-bonn.de/periodical/pageview/5049922
  6. ↑ https://www.express.de/bonn/tops-und-flops-der-parts-so-funktionieren-die-bonner--wahl-pappen-,2860,27212008.html
  7. ↑ "There is another reason why he does not want to be called that way:" Original always means that someone is a bit quirky, doesn't it? "": The "everybody paints" man draws in the Irish pub » James Joyce «in: Anspach, 2016 (see sources)
  8. ↑ Lisa Inhoffen: Honor for the all-time-painting man: Square in Bonn's old town is named after Jan Loh. Retrieved August 27, 2020 .
  9. ↑ 201192 - application. In: ALLRIS net. Retrieved August 27, 2020 .
  10. ^ Mourning for the Bonn original Hein In: Express , September 11, 2009. Accessed March 30, 2018.
  11. ↑ One of the last Bonn originals is dead. In: General-Anzeiger , September 12, 2009. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
  12. ^ Ruth Underhill : Provision for war cripples in Germany . 1918, OCLC 1014365744 ( digitized (full text) copy from the University of California, Berkeley Library ).
  13. ↑ Report from Bonn: "The blues wolf was tough stuff". Retrieved November 11, 2017 .
  14. ↑ Schnüss 2010/01, p. 11: "Two obituaries for Wolf" Blues Wolf "Schmidt". Retrieved December 5, 2017 .

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