Flute-Ewald
Flöten-Ewald (actually Ewald Mergemeier , * 1929 in Lippstadt ; † January 11, 1992 in Soest ) was an independent clerk at the Lippstadt train station , an art piper and a well-known original .
Life and work
The on epilepsy sufferer Mergemeier drove to the Second World War for hamsters on the villages.
Later he worked for decades as an independent servant (porter) at the Lippstadt train station , where he soon became known as "Flöten-Ewald". He wore a white service cap with a polished brass plaque with the inscription "Self-employed servant" and used a hand luggage cart with which he delivered luggage or freight from the train station in the city center or brought it to the train station. It was also known as the “walking route book”, as it apparently knew all the train connections to and from Lippstadt by heart.
Flöten-Ewald mastered the art of whistling a multitude of pieces of music from operas, operettas, hits or pop with several voices, was quick-witted and always had a good saying on his lips. Mergemeier appeared as an art piper at events and at Westdeutscher Rundfunk . Thomas Valentin is said to have immortalized him in one of his television games.
In later years the Deutsche Bundesbahn tried to keep him away from his independent work at the station. He spent the last months of his life in the Westphalian State Hospital in Eickelborn . At the beginning of January 1992 he urgently needed inpatient treatment and, due to lack of capacity, was transferred to Soest, where he died four days later.
Flute Ewald Monument
51 ° 40 ′ 16 " N , 8 ° 20 ′ 56.7" E
The city of Lippstadt honored Ewald Mergemeier in 1994 with a monument made by the artist Manfred Feith-Umbehr in front of the Lippstadt train station. The monument, made of metal, consists of a symbolized luggage cart on a pedestal, which is loaded with an approximately 2.5 m high plaque. Flöten-Ewald is depicted on both sides of the board, each with artistically depicted scenes from his life. The service man's cap is on a pole above the board. An oversized whistle lies on the plinth, next to the plinth is a suitcase and a tied cardboard box. The monument on the station forecourt is freely accessible and is misused as a parking space for bicycles.
The inscription on the explanatory board reads homage to ewald mergemeier / - flöten-ewald - / manfred feith-umbehr (1994) . The board also contains a thank you to various donors in small print.
Flöten-Ewald in literature
The art-whistling service man Flöten-Ewald, who is known beyond Lippstadt, has been described several times in the literature:
- Edzard Schaper : One carries the other's burden: an elegy on the last porter. Publishing house Die Arche, 1965.
- Willi Kröger: Dienstmann, Kunstpfeifer, original. Local calendar of the Soest district, year 1994, pp. 74–76 (with illustrations).
- Ingo Salmen: Swim in your swimming trunks - stories and anecdotes from Lippstadt. Wartberg Verlag, 2010.
- Michael Göring : In front of the wall. Osburg Verlag, 2013.
- Franz-Paul Hammling: Praise of the cell phone masts / Of frogs and people / Of the weather / Flöten-Ewald / Knut Panzer. Unpublished manuscript
Web links
- And then I'll see something - Blicker, March 2009, with photos by Flöten-Ewald
- The Last Service Man - Blicker No. 73, December 2013, with photos by Flöten-Ewald
- Citizen radio interview with Flöten-Ewald
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Flute-Ewald |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Mergemeier, Ewald (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German servant and art piper |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1929 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Lippstadt |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 11, 1992 |
| Place of death | Soest |