Emil Riemer

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Emil Riemer (born April 13, 1875 in Rixdorf , † August 22, 1965 in Berlin ) was a German artist and the famous Berlin original straw hat Emil .

Early years as an artist

As a teenager, Emil Riemer was enthusiastic about the artists who performed in pubs, ballrooms and theaters around the Hasenheide . He taught himself to juggle and made his first appearance as a comedian and weightlifter in the early 1890s. From 1893 he worked as an all-round artist - weightlifter, artist and clown - at the Schumann Circus . Then he switched to Circus Busch , where he worked as a trapeze artist; his partner Dusec and he called each other the Artistic Chinese . Circus tours brought him to Düsseldorf , Vienna and Budapest .

Inspired by a demonstration by an American bicycle artist, Riemer bought a bicycle for 300 marks and began training. Further plans were interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War, during which he was seriously wounded and spent two years in the hospital.

On the streets of Berlin

After the end of the war, Emil Riemer returned to Berlin and continued his acrobatics as a wrestler, juggler, trapeze artist and art cyclist. He ended his career as a trapeze artist when he seriously injured himself during a spectacular performance on his bike, during which he jumped from the 21-meter-high circus dome into the water-filled ring.

Riemer opened a bicycle shop in his apartment. However, he was mainly active as a street artist and showed acrobatic tricks on a bicycle. His props included a bicycle, a mandolin, and most importantly, a straw hat. The straw hat was prepared in such a way that the lid could be opened by means of a pull cord. Mainly because of this gag, he soon became Strohhut-Emil across the city and one of the most famous Berlin originals. In his tricks he did not always obey the usual traffic rules; so he crossed the busy Potsdamer Platz with a red light and in a handstand. His bike was an in-house construction that could be modified as required.

In 1933 Emil Riemer, who openly expressed his opinion, was briefly arrested by the National Socialists , taken to the SA prison in Papestrasse and sentenced to four months in prison in Torgau . When he tried in 1936 to get into the Olympic Stadium without a ticket at the 1936 Summer Olympics , numerous foreign newspapers reported on the Berlin original. During the Second World War , all his belongings were destroyed in a bomb attack.

When he reappeared on the streets of Berlin after the end of the war, the Tagesspiegel devoted a large article to him, and the Neue Zeit quoted an impromptu poet : "When spring comes to Berlin, you can see Emil straw hat walking through the streets"; at Aschinger he received a free plate of pea soup every day . Although he lives in East Berlin, Strohhut-Emil preferred to show his tricks in the West Berlin city ​​center, since there he received West money from the public . In the DEFA film They called him Amigo by Heiner Carow , Riemer played himself in 1958. The building of the Wall in 1961 severely restricted the activities of the now over 80-year-old. As a non-conformist personality who also lived in the border area, he was viewed with suspicion by the rulers of East Berlin. After an incident on Alexanderplatz , Riemer withdrew from the public.

Emil Riemer's motto in life was: "I kicked when I was a baby - and I kicked to my end." He died at the age of 90 in a hospital. Riemer is buried in Cemetery II of the Sophiengemeinde Berlin . His straw hat is exhibited in the Stadtmuseum Berlin .

literature

  • Werner Lenz: Straw hat Emil. Berlin stories . Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle / Saale 1981 (with illustration by the author)
  • Erhard Ingwersen: Berlin originals in the mirror of the times . arani-Verlag, Berlin-Grunewald 1958, DNB  452220165 .
  • Sabine Mücke: “A life on a bicycle: Strohhut Emil.” In: Kringeldreher and Strampelbrüder. Cycling in Neukölln . Published by the Neukölln District Office. Berlin 1997. pp. 33-45

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Sabine Mücke: “A life on a bicycle: Emil's straw hat.” P. 33
  2. ↑ a b c d Sabine Mücke: "A life on a bicycle: Emil's straw hat." P. 34
  3. ^ Neue Zeit , February 21, 1954
  4. ↑ Neue Zeit , June 4, 1950
  5. ↑ Emil Riemer on berlinstreet.de
  6. ↑ Riemer's straw hat in the Berlin City Museum
personal data
SURNAME Riemer, Emil
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Straw hat Emil
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Berlin original
DATE OF BIRTH April 13, 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH August 22, 1965
Place of death Berlin