Ehr is Dwang gnog
Ehr is Dwang gnog , d. H. “Honor is compulsion enough” is a popular saying in Westphalia . It stands above the chimney of the Krameramtshaus in Münster and expresses the proud self-image of the Westphalian metropolis, but lives on elsewhere in the term honorable businessman .
history
Since when this has been the motto of the Münster merchants can no longer be determined. Hereditary families, who ruled Münster alone in the Middle Ages and represented it in the Hanseatic League , already used it, because Everwin von Droste zu Hülshoff , who came from such a family, cited it when interpreting the family coat of arms. The guilds who ruled the city from the 16th century took over it in the guild hall of the Krameramtshaus. This was probably remodeled with stucco by Wilhelm Ferdinand Lipper in 1771. A stucco decoration of laurel and oak branches was placed above the furnace niche in the great hall. A wreath was wound in the middle, on which the motto could be read. When the immovable inventory was lost in the Second World War, this saying was put back over the fireplace when the Krameramthaus was redesigned.
Quotes
“Münster is a city in whose coat of arms you want to write the words; standing above the chimney in the guild hall of the shopkeeper's office: Honor is dwang nog - honor is compulsion enough. The free, and according to the view of the time, the noble, does not tolerate compulsion, but he compels himself. "
“These four words express the spirit of the old German merchants who created the mighty work of the German Hanseatic League. A work would never have been created out of a pure commercial spirit and out of a merchant's disposition which in its time represents Germany and the German spirit itself; At that time the spirit and the gaze of the bourgeois families rose above a multitude of quarreling petty princes and ambitious rulers, reaching wider than the horizon of any other power of that time. "
“At that time, a single sentence was enough, a voluntary commitment to conduct business honestly, to regulate the relationship between merchants and their customers ... In the long run, honor does not seem to have been compulsory enough, otherwise there wouldn't be so many codes today that regulate almost every detail. The only question is, was it the decay of good morals that led the state to interfere with laws and regulations in every business relationship in order to give companies and customers security? Or has the state, with its unbridled mania for regulation, displaced honorable action through legal sophistication? "
“In between we read of 'role models', 'integrity', 'social competence', 'fairness', 'hard work', 'determination', 'common good', and finally even of 'credibility'. The whole thing culminates in the old - of course Westphalian - motto: 'Ehr is Dwang gnog'. Which means something like: 'Honor is compulsion enough'. A great saying! It is still in large letters on a golden yellow background in Münster - of course in Westphalia. "
“... at a time when we were in the greatest economic crisis after World War II. It was not without reason that people emphasized the importance of ethics for business. For the merchants of Münster this has been true for at least 175 years - after all, our motto is 'Ehr is Dwang gnog'. "
literature
- Wendelin Wiedeking: Different is better: An experiment on new paths in business and politics. Munich 2008, ISBN 3-492-25114-5 .
- Joseph Otto Plassmann : Honor is compulsion enough, thoughts on German ancestral heritage . Berlin-Dahlem 1941.
- Franz-Josef Jakobi: The Krameramtshaus in Münster 1589–1989. Testimony to 400 years of city history. Münster 1989, ISBN 3792305852 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ next to which the former "Hülshoffer Hof" was
- ↑ Ricarda Huch: In the old empire; Images of life in German cities. Berlin 1967, ISBN 3-548-37008-X , pp. 84-85.
- ↑ Honor is compulsion enough, thoughts on the German ancestral heritage . Berlin-Dahlem 1941, p. 11.
- ↑ Different is better: An experiment on new paths in business and politics. Munich 2008, ISBN 3-492-25114-5 , p. 35 f.
- ↑ Free World ( Memento of the original from June 5, 2009 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.
- ^ Westfälische Nachrichten, February 11, 2011
