The honest clothing seller in Braunschweig

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The “Kleiderseller” on September 21, 1890 (each from left):
Group of three top left: Johannes Fehn, Heinrich Stegmann , Otto Haeusler Group of
five top right: Friedrich Brauns, from the east, Ulrich Kirchenpauer, Seeck, Bodenstein Second to
last row from below (seated ): Adolf Bäbenroth, Thiel
Bottom row: Wilhelm Raabe , Wilhelm Brandes , Heinrich Büssing

The honest clothing sellers in Braunschweig , usually just called “clothing sellers” for short, are a social association that was founded in Braunschweig in 1859 under the direction of the private scholar Carl Schiller in order to preserve objects from the cultural and local history of the city and the local history for a local museum that has yet to be founded State of Brunswick to collect. After the opening of the municipal museum in 1861, the community gradually developed into a round table with changing members. The heyday of the “clothing sellers” was between 1882 and 1892, when the writer Wilhelm Raabe was one of the members. The Braunschweiger Kleiderseller is likely to be one of the oldest in Germany, as this regulars' table still exists.

history

Municipal Museum (back)

Origin and name

In the run-up to its 1000th anniversary in 1861, the city of Braunschweig did not yet have its own city or local museum . Therefore, in 1859, the city magistrate and the city council decided to set up one up to the city anniversary. For the purpose of compiling and collecting appropriate exhibits, some personalities of the city met under the direction of the private scholar and later first director of the municipal museum Carl Schiller. Jokingly based on the activities of the second-hand dealers and second-hand dealers, who were called "clothing sellers" in Braunschweig, they gave themselves the name "The honest clothing sellers in Braunschweig".

Wilhelm Brandes and Ludwig Hänselmann were among the first members . Nothing is known about other early members or the exact founding date of the clothing sellers, since it was not an association (with a list of members and minutes), but a loose social group, the members of which changed quickly and sometimes participated irregularly.

aims

The main goals of the clothing sellers were initially to establish and promote the museum to be founded by collating and collecting exhibits on the cultural and local history of the city and the Duchy of Braunschweig.

Change

After the Municipal Museum was opened in 1861 on time for the 1000th anniversary celebration and the main task of the clothing seller was thus fulfilled, the composition of the members gradually changed as well as the purpose of the community and its meetings. Carl Schiller was now present on a voluntary basis at the meetings that turned into an unconventional round table at the beginning of the 1870s. At this time, people met in various restaurants, including "Zum Gieseler", "Johanniskeller" and, after it was demolished in 1875, in "Ulrici" in a sack , and finally in "Holsts Garten". Today none of them exist anymore.

Wilhelm Raabe in Braunschweig

In 1870 the writer Wilhelm Raabe moved to Braunschweig and a little later, on December 15, 1870, Ludwig Hänselmann became a member of the Kleiderseller. Around 1878, Theodor Steinweg, who had returned to Braunschweig from the USA, also became a member of the social group. By 1881, however, membership began to decline for a variety of reasons. The turning point came in 1882 with the decision to use the “Grüner Jäger” tavern as the future meeting place for clothing sellers.

"To the Green Hunter" and "Kleidersellerweg"

Memorial plaque "Kleiderseller-Weg"

The Kleiderseller regulars' table then met every Thursday between 1882 and 1892 in the “ Grüner Jäger ” restaurant in the east of Braunschweig, in front of the city gates. A walk together brought the members there. This walk took the same path past the Riddagshausen monastery . On October 10, 1949, this path was given the name “Kleidersellerweg”. In the monastery wall, along which the path partially runs, there is a memorial plaque to the walkers.

The meeting at the “Grüner Jäger” came to an abrupt end when Gertrud Raabe, Wilhelm Raabe's youngest daughter, died on June 24, 1892 at the age of only 16. As a result, her father no longer appeared at the meeting (allegedly because he could not get over to continue walking along the path to the "Green Hunter", as this led right past the cemetery where Gertrude was buried).

They did not meet again until September 24th - but now in relatively quickly changing locations, e.g. B. in the Gewandhaus and in the Große Weghaus in Klein Stöckheim.

Persistence to the present

Over the years the "old" regulars' table participants died and new ones came instead. The “Kleiderseller” had now developed into a circle of friends of Wilhelm Raabe who wanted to keep the memory of the life and work of the poet, who died in 1910, alive. The Stammtisch survived the First and Second World Wars .

100th anniversary in 1959

The Raabe House

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the “honest clothing sellers in Braunschweig”, a large group of 19 men met again on June 20, 1959 for the first time since the end of the war to celebrate the occasion.

The “clothing sellers” continue to exist and meet today in the “Raabe-Haus”, Wilhelm Raabe's last residence, which has been converted into a museum, at Leonhardstrasse 29a, in Braunschweig.

Members

The approximately 200 members since the foundation of the Kleiderseller include (t) en u. a .:

Interestingly, the clothing sellers are largely recruited from (former) teachers and / or students from two Braunschweig high schools - the Martino-Katharineum and the Wilhelm-Gymnasium .

literature

  • Herbert Blume / Eberhard Rohse (Hrsg.): Literature in Braunschweig between the pre-March and early days. Contributions to the colloquium of the Braunschweig Literary Association from May 22nd to 24th, 1992. In: Braunschweiger Werkstücke , series A, publications from the city archive and the city library, vol. 33, the whole series vol. 84. Braunschweig 1993.
  • Wilhelm Brandes : Wilhelm Raabe and the clothes seller. With an afterword by Bernhard Mewes. Literary Association Braunschweig , Braunschweig 1980.
  • Kurt Hoffmeister : From the Green Hunter to the Great Way House. The clothing sellers before, with and after Wilhelm Raabe in almost 150 years. Chronicle of the clothing seller . Braunschweig 2002.
  • Rolf Parr : The honest clothing seller Braunschweig . In: Wulf Wülfing / Karin Bruns / Rolf Parr (eds.): Handbook of literary-cultural associations, groups and unions 1825-1933. Stuttgart / Weimar: Metzler 1998 ( Repertories for the History of German Literature , Vol. 18), pp. 226–239.