Free travelers

Free travelers , even Vogtländer called, are journeymen and -gesellinnen that without membership in a shaft travel.

development

Ever since journeyman travel began in the form practiced today at the end of the 19th century , there have always been travelers without a mine affiliation.

The founding history of the Foreign Freedom Shaft and the Free Vogtland of Germany shows that there were a large number of such Vogtland travelers in the first third of the 20th century (at that time probably significantly more than journeyman chessmen).

The term freelance journeyman craftsman did not appear in its current meaning until the beginning of the 1980s , when the new social movements brought about a fresh upswing in journeyman travel. At that time, the free travelers were still a small minority who wanted to travel according to the traditions of wandering, but had decided against membership in a shaft mainly for personal reasons.

At the end of the 1990s , the number of free travelers reached a critical level, so that for many newcomers, traveling without a shaft affiliation (but in a loose association with other free travelers and journeymen) turned out to be an equal option for their typing.

today

Today, the free travelers probably make up the numerically largest group of those with foreign letters . Even without formal membership, they have created a certain infrastructure (regular meetings, means of communication). Occasionally they appear to the outside like a closed group and are therefore mockingly referred to as the 7th shaft .

The paradox of having non-membership in an organization as the only binding common ground repeatedly causes discussions and confusion even among free travelers.

Most of the free travelers feel that they are morally fully committed to the traditions of journeyman hiking ( proper and on foot , gap , ban mile, minimum travel time, etc.) and the good reputation of all journeyman journeys .

To distinguish it from this, the term wild travelers has emerged in recent years (for craftsmen who are not in full view of these traditional rules) .

Individual evidence

Grit Lemke: "With your permission", "We were here, we were there"