Club Aachener Casino
At the end of the 18th century, sixteen Aachen citizens, mostly young merchants from wealthy families, founded a sociable association within the framework of a casino company .
Founding history
The founding members had previously belonged to a civil club and on March 29, 1798 submitted an application to the French governorate to form an association. Whether this was already approved at the time cannot be proven today. Therefore, the foundation date was set according to the oldest surviving document, the charter of December 9, 1805. Around 1809 the foundation date was postponed to July 1, 1805, the reason may have been the lighter and warmer summer time for social festivities.
Originally the association was supposed to be set up under the name "Die Deutsche Gesellschaft". It is not known whether the government objected to the name or whether the foundation members themselves rejected the proposal. The first page of the register from 1805 bears the heading: "Association and Foundation of the Society of the Casinos" and already has 28 members who can be regarded as extended co-founders. The final constitution was passed on February 12, 1806, the financial basis was created by issuing 50 shares at 50 francs to the members. The annual contribution was 24 livres (francs) and was payable every six months. New members could be proposed by friends, the admission took place with 2/3 majority of votes. Voting sessions with covert ballotage were held every Saturday evening at 7 p.m. Right from the start, the club set itself the task of making it easier for new Aacheners who have taken on responsible functions in business, science, art, church, administration, medicine, etc. to get started in the imperial city and to integrate them into Aachen society .
Development and clubhouses
With their own furniture and billiard table, the members met in the Alte Redoute Aachen at the Kompesbad (later Komphausbadstrasse 11, from 1878 the old Suermondt Museum ) from September 1, 1806 . Due to the steadily growing number of members, the premises were no longer sufficient for celebrations and meetings, so from 1822 additional floors were rented in the Neue Redoute .
By 1844 the club already had 185 members and the board decided to buy its own suitable property. After lengthy negotiations, the general assembly agreed in September 1845 to buy the house at Theaterplatz 9 for 25,500 thalers. The share subscription membership brought by subscription 31,000 dollars on, funded also further renovations of the new headquarters.
No general meetings or social events took place during the First World War . In the spring of 1919, French and Belgian occupation troops were quartered in the house.
A merger with Club Continental took place on April 23, 1919. This Club Continental (around 1890) originally emerged from two groups of friends of young people, still high school students from Aachen and Burtscheid families. There was no prospect of regaining the building on Theaterplatz that had been confiscated by the occupation in the foreseeable future. But already in September 1919 there was the opportunity to sell the requisitioned house for 450,000 marks, after repayment of mortgage and other costs a surplus of 230,000 marks remained. With a mortgage taken out, Wagner's house at Hindenburgstrasse 61 was then acquired at a price of 350,000 marks.
On April 10, 1920, the first general assembly took place in the new headquarters, which unanimously decided that the name of the company should henceforth be "Club Aachener Casino".
But on September 4, 1923, the Rhineland Commission declared the confiscation of the new house as an officers' mess. The accommodation allowance was enough to pay the rent for an alternative location in the Nuellens Hotel am Elisenbrunnen. In November 1927, the club had to give way to the planned demolition of the Nuellens Hotel, but the crew could rent the former floor of the Club Continental (corner of Theaterplatz 1), which had meanwhile been released.
After the occupation troops had withdrawn in late autumn 1929, the company got the house back at Hindenburgstrasse 61, but the newly levied house interest tax exceeded the annual membership fees. In response to pressure from the tax burden, a general meeting on October 25, 1929 unanimously decided to sell the property (for 160,000 Reichsmarks). The company stayed in the old Continental Club rooms on the corner of Theaterplatz for the next few years.
On December 14, 1930, the 125-year-old foundation festival was celebrated in the Quellenhof with lively participation . In the winter of 1934 the club moved into the second floor of the newly built Haus-Nuellens, which was inaugurated with a festive drink on Boxing Day. Although the DC circuit during the Nazi disbanded most casino companies, the club Aachen Casino des could be community life with an adaptation of the statutes by taking Aryan paragraph and a reduced supply maintained. From 1951 and with the move into the rebuilt Nuellens house, the club was able to offer its full program again with a revised statute from 1921 and open up to new members again.
The Club Aachener Casino now has 160 members, who, as from the beginning, come from old Aachen merchant and industrial families and all other important areas of social life and come together for regular activities.
activities
Club life in the founding years consisted of foundation dinners, gentlemen's meals or, later, the festive balls. The members met more or less daily in their own club rooms, read one of the more than 30 different newspapers on display and exchanged the latest news. Nowadays the festive highlights are the annual foundation dinner and the Epiphany Ball or the Epiphany Reception. In addition, there are monthly events such as the gentleman's dinner with or without a lecture, sometimes with women, visits to member companies, hikes, house concerts, book presentations, golf tournaments and joint excursions with friends of the Euregional Six Cercles .
In addition, there are a large number of informal meetings of the various groups of friends that have emerged from the club. These include private parties, bridge tournaments, business meetings, golf dates, bowling evenings that have been organized since 1812, as well as dinners, twilight drinks, trips, etc.
From the beginning, a variety of sporting activities and suggestions came from the members of the club. In the beginning, the Aachen-Laurensberger Rennverein consisted mainly of club members, others built the first Aachen tennis courts at the end of the 19th century and were involved in the founding of the first Aachen hockey club in 1906, which they presided over for many decades, and in the founding of the in 1927 Aachen golf clubs.
Friends companies
The Club Aachener Casino has been cultivating close friendships with similar clubs from neighboring countries for a long time, most of which are much older and together they shape the so-called Six Cercles . These include:
- the Société Littéraire de Huy (founded 1771),
- the Société du Cabinet Littéraire de Verviers (founded 1775)
- the Société Littéraire de Liege (founded 1779),
- the Société Royale Littéraire 'de Hasselt (founded 1782)
- the Cercle L`Union de Maastricht (founded 1833).
In 1984 the clubs of Hasselt, Huy, Lüttich and Verviers met annually to eat together. Since 1991, all six clubs have come together at joint events. Since then there has been a so-called culture day every year, organized by the Six Cercles in turn, with joint visits to cities, museums, castles, exhibitions and concerts, as well as their own golf tournament. The chairmen and secretaries of the associations meet regularly to exchange views on new activities and initiatives and to promote the development and expansion of the region.
In 2010, a new, common coat of arms for the Six Cercles was introduced, which has since been incorporated into the official stationery of the Club Aachener Casino. The coat of arms refers to Charlemagne with its double-headed eagle and lily . The six round, gold-colored elements correspond to those of the European flag and the linguistic division of the Six Cercles, 3 × French, 2 × Dutch and 1 × German.
President
Between 1805 and July 1, 1809, the board consisted of three so-called commissioners , a cashier and a secretary, plus five deputies.
| Surname | job | Period | task | Period | task | Period | task |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heinrich van Houtem (1777–1809) |
Needle manufacturer | 1806 | Commissioner | 1807 | - | 1808 | - |
| Fritz Schlösser (* 1779) |
Cloth manufacturer | 1806 | Commissioner | 1807 | Deputy | 1808 | Deputy |
| Johann Heuten (* 1788) |
Cloth manufacturer | 1806 | Commissioner | 1807 | Commissioner | 1808 | - |
| Matthias Pelzer (* 1774) |
Cloth manufacturer | 1806 | cashier | 1807 | cashier | 1808 | cashier |
| WFW Diez | unknown | 1806 | secretary | 1807 | - | 1808 | - |
| Nicolaus Startz (1766-1837) |
Needle manufacturer | 1806 | Deputy | 1807 | Commissioner | 1808 | Commissioner |
| Ludwig Beissel (1781–1831) |
Cloth manufacturer | 1806 | Deputy | 1807 | Commissioner | 1808 | Commissioner |
| Caspar Braff (1776–1846) |
Cloth manufacturer | 1806 | Deputy | 1807 | Deputy | 1808 | Commissioner |
| Peter Heutten (* 1779) |
Cloth manufacturer | 1806 | Deputy | 1807 | Deputy | 1808 | Deputy |
| Heinrich Schlösser (1783-1851) |
Merchant | 1806 | Deputy | 1807 | Deputy | 1808 | Deputy |
| Henri Fischer | Cloth manufacturer | 1806 | - | 1807 | secretary | 1808 | secretary |
| Friedrich Gottschalk (* 1779) |
Cloth manufacturer | 1806 | - | 1807 | Deputy | 1808 | Deputy |
| Georg Springsfeld (1785-1870) |
Needle manufacturer | 1806 | - | 1807 | - | 1808 | Deputy |
| Surname | Period | job | image |
|---|---|---|---|
| (Johann) Caspar Braff (1776–1846) |
1809 | Cloth manufacturer | |
| Rütger Ambroisius Imhaus (1777–1833) |
1810, 1811 | Wool merchant | |
| Fritz Schlösser (* 1779) |
1812, 1814 | Cloth manufacturer | |
| Ludwig (Louis) Beissel (1781–1831) |
1813 | Cloth manufacturer |
 |
| (Jakob) Leopold Bettendorf (1779–1839) |
1815 | Cloth manufacturer | |
| Christian Friedrich Deusner (1756–1844) |
1816, 1818 | Cloth manufacturer |
 |
| Leonhard Startz (1754-1837) |
1817, 1827 | Needle manufacturer | |
| Johann Theodor Peltzer (1771–1824) |
1819, 1820 | Cloth manufacturer | |
| (Franz) Johann Nepomuc Würth (1781–1842) |
1821 | Wool merchant | |
| (Jakob) Wilhelm von dem Bruch (1777–1867) |
1822 | Cloth manufacturer | |
| (Johann Werner) Josef Tilmanns (1775–1839) |
1823-1826, 1838 | Cloth manufacturer | |
| Theodor Zurhelle (1789-1856) |
1826 | Wool merchant | |
| (Johann) Friedrich Pastor (1784–1866) |
July 1828 | Cloth and needle manufacturer | |
| Friedrich Wilhelm Frankenhoff | 1828 | Cloth manufacturer | |
| Wilhelm Gilles (Egidius) Zurhelle (1786–1849) |
1829, 1832 | Wool merchant |
 |
| (Franz Josef) Heinrich Jungbluth (1775–1846) |
1830, 1834 | Advocate | |
| Georg Wagner (1788–1841) |
1831, 1835, 1837 | Cloth manufacturer |
 |
| Detmar (Christoph Carl) von Mallinckrodt (1769–1842) |
1833 | Government Vice President | |
|
Johann Peter Joseph Monheim (1786–1855) |
1836 | pharmacist |
 |
| Karl Walther (1789–1871) |
1838-1843 | Wool merchant | |
| (Peter Carl) Josef Küchen (1801–1882) |
1843 | Lawyer and Counselor | |
| Carl Koenen (around 1796–1879) |
1844, 1845, 1847 | Lawyer and Counselor | |
|
Theodor Geyr von Schweppenburg (1806–1882) |
1846, 1848, 1850, 1852, 1854-1856, 1859-1862 | Manor owner | |
| (Clemens Franz Carl Joseph Anton) Heinrich Nellessen (1789–1866) |
1853 | Cloth manufacturer, councilor of commerce | |
| Stephan Anton Pelzer (1781–1865) |
1849, 1851 | Council of Justice | |
|
Leopold Scheibler (1799–1881) |
1857, 1858, 1863, 1865, 1867, 1869 | Forwarder, go. Commerce Council |
 |
| Theodor Nellessen (1802–1880) |
1864, 1866, 1868, 1870, 1872, 1874, 1876, 1878, 1880 | Cloth manufacturer |
 |
| (Leonard Gotthard Jakob) August Startz (1817–1897) |
1871, 1873, 1875, 1877, 1879, 1881, 1883, 1885, 1887, 1889, 1893, 1895 | Cloth exporter | |
| Carl Suermondt (1822–1902) |
1882, 1884 | banker |
 |
|
Robert (Oskar Julius) von Görschen (1829–1914) |
1886, 1888, 1890-1892, 1894, 1896-1898, 1900, 1902-1907 | District court assessor, legal advisor |
 |
| (Ludwig Emil Hubert) Robert Kesselkaul (1831–1914) |
1899, 1901 | Cloth manufacturer, councilor of commerce | |
|
Robert Friedrich Suermondt (1844–1919) |
1908-1912, 1914 | Banker and industrialist |
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| (Phillip Heinrich) Arthur Pastor (1856–1931) |
1913, 1914-1919 | Needle manufacturer |
 |
| Alfred Carl Paul Jakob Honigmann (1880–1948) |
1919 | Industrialist |
 |
| Maximilian Otto Richard Erckens (1873–1956) |
1920-1951 | Cloth manufacturer |
 |
| Waldemar Croon (1880–1967) |
1951-1955 | Cloth manufacturer |
 |
|
Felix Kuetgens (1890–1976) |
1955-1963 | Museum director |
 |
| Willy Kuetgens (* 1887) |
1963-1965 | Bank director |
 |
| Fritz-Günther Heinrigs (1917-2004) |
1965-1980 | Print shop owner |
 |
|
Bernd Monheim (1933-2010) |
1980-1984 | Manufacturer |
 |
| Gustav Peltzer (1936–2013) |
1984-2013 | Engineer and farmer |
 |
| Ruprecht von Mangoldt | since 2013 | Engineer and managing director of Hans von Mangoldt GmbH & Co KG |
 |
List of members (incomplete)
( not public - therefore only deceased persons with their own Wikipedia article )
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literature
- Eduard Arens, Wilhelm Leopold Janssen : History of the Club Aachener Casino , Heinrigs, Aachen 1937.
- Elisabeth Janssen, Otto Erckens, Bodo von Koppen: Addendum to the history of Club Aachener Casino , Aachen 1987.
- 200 years Club Aachener Casino 1805–2005 , commemorative publication for the 200th anniversary of the Club Aachener Casino, Aachen 2005.
- Hanns-Stephan Beissel, Alfred Max Erckens, Gustav Peltzer, Burkhard von Reumont: Addendum to the history of Club Aachener Casino , Aachen 2011.
