Emil Naucke
Emil Naucke (born May 2, 1855 on Poel ; † January 25, 1900 in Hamburg ) was a German professional wrestler and artist .
Life
Legend has it that Emil Naucke weighed 14 kilograms after just one month as a baby. Despite his heavy weight, he distinguished himself as a gymnast at a young age who liked to devote himself to tightrope walking. Naucke had originally started an apprenticeship as a baker , but at the age of 14 he joined a troupe of artists with whom he traveled through Europe and the USA. At the age of 18 he went to Hamburg , where he appeared in the St. Georg Theater and in various bars in Sankt Pauli .
He was successful in the show business as a professional wrestler. Since his body weight increased steadily - at a height of only 1.70 m at the age of 38 years, he finally weighed 235 kilograms and had a waist circumference of 190 cm - he later gave up wrestling completely and, as a so-called colossal man, concentrated entirely on strength acrobatics , artistic performances and parodies .
In 1880 Naucke founded his own agency and appeared in numerous German and international cities such as Berlin, London, Paris, Madrid and Helsinki. As an extremely popular power man at the time, Emil Naucke performed in circuses and variety shows around the world . He presented sensational acts of strength, such as lifting a 106 kilogram iron weight and often carried an iron ball weighing almost 40 kilograms with him on a chain, with which he played effortlessly. He also showed cycling tricks and appeared in numerous skits written especially for him . One of his best-known comic roles was the figure of Pauline from the ballet , which he embodied in a ballerina costume that appears grotesque in view of his size . As a naucke with the kettledrum , he became a proverb among Berliners.
In 1890 he settled in Hamburg, but was initially only present between his tours in the city. Every year he directed an extensive variety program at the Hamburg Winter Cathedral festival and at the Circus Rauterkrug in Lübeck. In his own appearances, he slipped into self- conceived burlesque roles such as that of "Pauline from the Ballet". Despite its heavyweight, it showed an unusual agility and received a lot of applause. The small Paul Hansen, who was allegedly shorter than 1 meter, became his congenial partner in numerous comical appearances. The unequal couple presented themselves in the tradition of the freak show , for example they performed tricks together on the bike.
In 1896 he opened his own variety theater called Emil Naucke's Varieté at Spielbudenplatz No. 23/24. Naucke became a popular figure in Hamburg in the following years.
On January 25, 1900, immediately after performing at a charity event at the Sagebiel establishment , Emil Naucke died of a heart attack . On the day of his funeral , thousands of people lined the path that the funeral procession took from his vaudeville to Ohlsdorf cemetery , where he was buried. The memory of Emil Naucke's extraordinary appearance lived indirectly until the 1970s ; Seventy years after his death, children in Hamburg occasionally referred to a bulbous top or a thick marble as a naucke .
literature
- Carl Thinius : Back then in St. Pauli - pleasure and joy in the suburbs . Hans Christians Verlag, Hamburg 1975. ISBN 3-7672-0368-5
- Hans Scheugl : Show Freaks & Monsters. Felix Adanos Collection . DuMont publishing house: Cologne, 1978; P. 124; with fig.
Web links
- Lars Amenda: Emil Naucke (1855-1900) - "the heaviest cyclist in the world". In: altonaer-bicycle-club.de. August 12, 2016.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lars Amenda: Hamburg acrobat Emil Naucke. "The heaviest cyclist in the world" . At: Spiegel Geschichte , March 3, 2020. (Accessed March 7, 2020)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Naucke, Emil |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German professional wrestler and artist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 2, 1855 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Poel |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 25, 1900 |
| Place of death | Hamburg |