Ernst Geuder

Ernst Geuder (born September 4, 1884 in Berlin , † August 31, 1970 in Recklinghausen ) was a German racing driver, sports journalist and co-founder of the ADAC . He was one of the pioneers of motorcycling .

Life

Ernst Geuder was born on September 4, 1884 in Berlin and grew up in the nearby small town of Werneuchen  . From an early age he was enthusiastic about all the technical machines and reports about machine-operated means of transport. Geuder was also fascinated by the high-powered bikes of the time, which his father, like many others, felt as a “seller of souls” and therefore forbade him to ride such a high-bike. It was only when the " rovers " with pneumatic tires prevailed that Geuder was able to convince his father to buy a bicycle. Despite the small wheel, the longing for faster vehicles remained, which was finally fulfilled after the turn of the century in 1901, when Geuder sat on a motorcycle for the first time.

Even at the old age of over 75, it was unimaginable for Ernst Geuder in the 1960s to do without a motorized two-wheeler. In 1960 he took part in the "International Radio City Rally Hilversum" with his Vespa. Geuder also traveled through Germany and West Berlin at this time, giving lectures about his life as a motorcycle racing driver and presenting self-made photos of motorcycles from the beginning of the 20th century. In addition, Ernst Geuder looks back on his life as a motorcyclist in many of the texts he wrote himself, for example in this quote:

“A long generation dedicated to motorcycles is now behind me. I was able to experience how the 'ugly duckling' of the pioneering years became the shiny chrome, elegant motorcycle with every imaginable comfort, and it is still a great experience for me today when I get on my motorcycle and go on a long journey . I experience driving on it again and again like a revelation, and like 60 years ago it is an uplifting feeling for me when I turn my machine elegantly and it obeys me at every finger pressure. Then I don't trade with any driver who usually doesn't know about these beauties of motorcycling! "

Ernst Geuder died on August 31, 1970 at the age of 85 in Recklinghausen, where the funeral service took place on September 3, 1970 in the cemetery chapel at the north cemetery. Then his remains were brought to Bochum for cremation.

The estate of Ernst Geuder was donated to the Landesarchiv NRW Westphalia department in 1989 as a gift from the heirs .

motorcycle

On April 1, 1901, Ernst Geuder sat on a motorcycle for the first time in his life in Liège - Herstal, Belgium . It was a test machine from the local FN works with a ¾ HP four-stroke engine over the front wheel. Despite all the initial difficulties and teething troubles of the motorcycles of the time, Geuder could no longer imagine a life without a motorcycle from that day on. So it happened that on August 8, 1903, he completed his first motorcycle race in his hometown of Werneuchen. The race track led to Wegendorf, 4.5 km away, and back again. His only opponent and winner of the race was Hermann Mittenzwey. This first race was to be followed by many more and more successful races, for example the Grand Prix of Berlin on May 5, 1907 on the Treptower Cement Railway, which Geuder won, or the heavy machinery race in Hanover on May 31, 1908, which Geuder called Winner and thus German champion finished.

On March 20, 1906, Ernst Geuder founded the motorcycle club Werneuchen 1906 eV, which still exists today, together with the bicycle dealer Erich Hindenberg, the veterinarian Köppe, the cigar manufacturer Paul Kühn and the Nebel brothers.

During the First World War , Geuder initially belonged to the military reinforcement command of the imperial automobile department as a driver and was  stationed in the capital of the department Charleville in northern France. From 1917 he was called in as one of the few officers who had experience with motorcycles, together with Lieutenant Hans Poppe from Ahaus to build up Army Motorbike Department 14. In Mörchingen , Lorraine , Poppe was in charge of the repair workshop and Geuder took care of the field service and the training of new motorcyclists. At the end of December 1917, Army Motorcycles Department 14 was relocated to Schlettstadt in Alsace , where Geuder stayed until the end of the war with a short break. The time in Schlettstadt was interrupted by a trip to the cement railway race in Chauny in June 1918 , which was organized to improve the general mood of the soldiers at the front. Geuder was announced here as a guest of honor and won the hourly race on the cement track, which was specially patched for the race.

After the war Geuder took part in motorcycle races again. Including the hourly race on the cement track in Nuremberg-Reichelsdorferkeller in June 1920, which was about the Bavarian championship. In this race, Geuder had an accident in a collision with the racing driver Thumshirn, who later died as a result of the accident. Geuder was also falsely declared dead after this accident, which he learned on the way to his hotel room, as extra sheets with this message were distributed in Nuremberg.

Geuder drove non-stop from Berlin to Liège with a similar machine

Ernst Geuder caused a further stir with his non-stop trip from Werneuchen via Berlin to Liège within one day in 1928. He started with his friend, the master mechanic Reinhold Schmalle, on July 19, 1928 at 0:00 in Werneuchen and they reached the Hotel de l'Europe in Liège, where they stayed, at 10:48 p.m. on the same day, after driving 964 km. Nobody had expected the success of this mission:

“The idea of ​​covering the seemingly gigantic stretch from Berlin to Liège with a motorcycle in a single day in a non-stop drive had occupied me for years. However, he was even referred to the realm of utopia by the FN people. The motorcycles around the mid-1920s were already very powerful mechanically, but they were still equipped with high-pressure tires throughout, and my friends always told me that no rider would be able to withstand the hard bumps on the then, still quite primitive German Withstanding country roads for a whole day, not to mention the enormous physical and mental exertion of such a drive. "

Aviation

In 1906 Ernst Geuder made his first attempt at flight. The then 22-year-old Geuder was asked because of his well-known passion for motorized means of transport and the associated willingness to take risks if he wanted to test one of the two aircraft of the Flugtechnischer Verein Berlin. Geuder's attempt ended in a crash landing, but everyone present cheered because he had unconsciously flown a loop.

When Geuder had already covered 60 kilometers by air, his Swiss friend and motorcycle colleague Edmond Audemars asked him to fly with him from Paris to Berlin in 1911. The incentive for this was the 50,000 golf tendrils that the Michelin company had released for the first long-distance flight from Paris to Berlin within a day. Geuder agreed and, after Audemars had completed the first part of the route with his copilot Colombo in a monoplane , flew the last 475 km from Herten airfield to Berlin-Johannisthal airfield, where they were greeted by an enthusiastic crowd.

Awards

• Honorary member of the ADAC

swell

• Estate of Ernst Geuder, Landesarchiv NRW, Westphalia department

literature

• Ernst Geuder, Peter Bühner (ed.): Grandpa Geuder tells about the early days of motorcycling. Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2008, ISBN 978-3-7688-5269-2 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ernst Geuder, Peter Bühner (ed.): Grandpa Geuder tells from the early days of motorcycling . Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2008, ISBN 978-3-7688-5269-2 , p. 97 .
2. ↑ Ernst Geuder, Peter Bühner (ed.): Grandpa Geuder tells from the early days of motorcycling . Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2008, ISBN 978-3-7688-5269-2 , p. 151 .