Ferdinand Kilian

Ferdinand Kilian Jr. (March 3, 1937 ; † September 3, 1985 ) was a German master hairdresser. He became known as the man who "almost" brought the Beatles to Marburg .

The family

Kilian Jr. was born as the son of the master hairdresser Ferdinand Kilian sen. born. His wealthy and respected family was strongly influenced by his right-wing conservative father. While his mother spoiled him, the relationship with his dominant and strict father remained distant. After attending the Friedrich-Ebert-Realschule, he entered - contrary to his own professional wishes - as a journeyman in his father's hairdressing salon on Neue Kasseler Strasse.

The tall and powerfully built Kilian was known throughout the city. In retrospect, he is described as fun-loving and likes to be the center of attention of others. Always elegantly dressed, with black horn-rimmed glasses on his nose to correct his nearsightedness, he drove through town in his Ford 20 M in his spare time . He always kept his arm casually leaning out of the window. He escaped from his conservative parents with occasional lavish excursions into the nightlife of Frankfurt am Main, 90 kilometers away . His true love was magic, beat music and the glamorous world of stars. With his own magic case, he performed on smaller stages in the city and in the surrounding area. He frequented Club E , the hottest beat club in Marburg, and occasionally stood drumming bongos himself on stage. With the Sunday Sinalco Ball in the Berggarten, he organized his own small dance event. He was also socially involved in a voluntary accident relief organization affiliated with the Red Cross .

He countered repeated rumors about his homosexuality by marrying in 1965. Under pressure from Kilian's father, his wife Inge had to break off her almost completed commercial training and learn to be a hairdresser. In the family environment, however, there was suspicion that the marriage had only been arranged by Kilian's mother to preserve her reputation.

Ferdie in the Sky with Diamonds

At the beginning of September 1966, two months after the Beatles had driven the euphoria around the band to its climax in Germany with concerts in Munich , Essen and Hamburg , a foreigner entered the Kilian Salon to get his hair cut. Kilian was immediately taken with the unconventional man. During the operation, a lively conversation developed between the two of them. The foreigner introduced himself with the name Öttringer. He comes from Göttingen and stopped in Marburg on the way through. Both recognized their common interests in fashion and music. Öttringer is also chairman of the Association of Former Middle School Students in Göttingen, in which Kilian had been active in Marburg for several years. Finally, the stranger said that he was good friends with the Beatle John Lennon , whom he had met a few weeks ago in Celle on the edge of filming. As proof, he showed Kilian a hand-signed autograph card from the Beatles. Lennon had promised him that despite the announcement that they would no longer go on tour, the band would come back to Göttingen for a concert. If Kilian wanted to take care of the organization, it would not be a problem to bring the band to Marburg for a second concert. Kilian was enthusiastic and took it without thinking twice.

Although he only shared the story with a few friends, it spread like wildfire across the city. Finally, on September 6, 1966, on the sidelines of an event in the city ​​halls , Kilian publicly announced that he would bring the Beatles to Marburg. The next day, the rest of the city also found out about the planned two concerts in the spring of 1967 through a report in the Oberhessische Presse .

In the following weeks Kilian devoted himself almost entirely to the meticulous organization of the two concerts. All over town he put up posters he had printed himself. He signed a lease with the Marburg city administration for March 17, 1967 for the 700-seat city halls in need of renovation, and in the renowned Ortenberg Hotel he reserved room allotments for the mushroom heads to stay overnight. He won the radio and television shop Radio Strecker on Elisabethstrasse for the advance sale of most of the tickets he had designed himself at a price of 70 D-Marks. Some of Kilian's friends took care of ticket sales in the surrounding villages. The Beatles fever was rampant in Marburg. Another article in the Oberhessische Presse on October 7, 1966, in which the band was due to postpone the two concerts by one week to March 24, 1967, silenced even the last of the skeptics. Herman's Hermits were announced as the opening act .

During this time, Kilian became the city's hero. The fans cheered him up in the Marburg pubs and served him drinks in the sociable rounds. Ferdie stood where he felt most comfortable: in the center.

The dream bursts

On October 18, 1966, the dream of the Beatles burst. The Marburg concert promoter Claus Schreiner and the newspaper editor Jürgen Böckling tried to get to the bottom of the story. They both went to Göttingen to contact Öttringer there themselves. However, all traces led nowhere. In order to finally uncover the ruse, the two finally contacted the Beatles' management in London directly by phone. There they announced in writing that the band was not planning a concert in Marburg and that there were no negotiations about it. The next day the letter was printed in the Oberhessische Presse .

Although he himself was a cheater, the Marburgers saw Kilian as the main culprit for the bluff. He was sidelined, verbally abused and beaten up several times by disappointed fans. His father took care of all financial claims related to ticket sales. But there was a falling out with his son. Shortly afterwards Kilian left the city with his wife Inge and settled in Dreihausen , where they opened their own hairdressing salon. While he continued to drive his car a lot, his wife and an employee kept the business going. When Inge gave birth to a son, doubts arose about Kilian's fatherhood. Eventually the marriage broke up. In the years that followed, Kilian suffered from a heart defect and diabetes . His eyesight deteriorated noticeably until he finally became completely blind. Ferdinand Kilian Jr. died on September 3, 1985. at the age of 48 after his parents and ex-wife had previously passed away.

filming

Almost 20 years after his death, the Marburg-born filmmaker Michael Wulfes took on Kilian's story. The documentary film The Day when the Beatles (almost) came to Marburg was made on behalf of Hessischer Rundfunk . Robert Kratz took over the role of Ferdinand Kilian in some scenes.

Web links

• The true story of Ferdinand Kilian