Godesberg City Soldier Corps
The Godesberger Stadtsoldatenkorps eV from 1893 , the oldest carnival society in the Bonn - Bad Godesberg district , has committed itself as a traditional association in accordance with the statutes to the maintenance of cultural and local customs , local humor and the continuation of the carnival tradition. The company is recognized as a non-profit organization.
founding
The history of the company goes back to the Wilhelmine era . Masked and costume balls were very popular at the time, and the organizers of carnival and masked balls were often gymnastics or men's choirs, including the Godesberg gymnastics club founded in 1888. Gymnastics and sports in summer and partying and dancing in winter were the two mainstays of the association at the beginning of the last century. The session carnival experienced its first high point in the twenties. In the mid-thirties, however, carnival events, organized by gymnastics clubs, increasingly met with the displeasure of the political rulers, and in 1937 the Nazi mayor of Bad Godesberg banned these events altogether.
As a consequence of this ban, the representatives of the carnival section within the gymnastics club founded the independent carnival society “Godesberger Stadtsoldatenkorps” and invited them to their first meeting just a few days later. The carnival activities of the gymnastics club were thus seamlessly transferred to the city soldier corps. As the official founding act of the corps, however, a cash entry for the gymnastics club for 50 marks was determined in 1893.
Surname
In the first half of the 19th century, carnival guard corps emerged in the Rhineland , whose members wore uniforms modeled on the military and assumed pseudo-military ranks. In many places the societies called themselves “city soldiers” in memory of the city militias and gate guards of the 17th and 18th centuries, who were popularly known in Cologne as “red sparks” because of their red skirts . For the Godesberg fools, who have been celebrating their costume balls under the umbrella of the gymnastics club since the end of the century before last, fool's hats, colorful costumes or black suits were initially sufficient. The problem of a club name and a uniform did not arise until 1937 with the establishment of an independent carnival society. The city soldier corps founded two years earlier in (Bonn-) Beuel was the godfather of the club's name . Red, green and white were chosen as the uniform colors, the colors of the then independent city of Bad Godesberg .
Structure and organization
The Godesberger Stadtsoldatenkorps has around 350 members, 150 of whom are active and 200 inactive in the club life. The association is a member of the Bund Deutscher Karneval and the Godesberg Carnival Festival Committee.
The active corps is divided into the armed forces and the Senate. The members of the armed forces have pseudo-military ranks. The team ranks begin with the recruit and end with the ensign, the officer ranks range from sub-lieutenant to marshal, and the duration of membership and active participation in club activities determine membership in the ranks. There is no authority of higher-ranking city soldiers over lower ones. Originally merited members of the armed forces who were no longer able to perform their “service” in the armed forces for reasons of age moved to the Senate. In the meantime, the Senate has developed into its own group within the Corps, but without any pseudo-military ranks.
The armed forces fan out into different groups ("Knubbel"), the infantry, the artillery, the cavalry and the children's and teenage corps. Mariechen and her dance officer have a central function . In 2001 a new group, the girls dance group, was formed. The armed forces are reinforced by most of the members of the Senate, who then take on the role of Landsturm. Another grouping is the Great Council, to which medium-sized entrepreneurs have come together and which support the company's goals in the function of patrons. Veterans stand at the transition from active to inactive membership. In some cases, teenagers in the children's corps also take on the role of sutlers. The corps is strengthened by a drum and music train, which appears in the uniforms of the company, but which is an independent association from Bengen in Rhineland-Palatinate.
The Godesberg City Soldier Corps adopted a modern statute in 1972 , which is valid in its 2010 version. The statutes stipulate that the executives of the board of directors are elected at the general meetings and that all groups determine their chairmen independently and send them to the board. The management committee consists of the first chairman, his deputy, the treasurer, the managing director, the organizational manager, the property manager, the secretary and the press officer as well as the council of elders. One representative each from the Senate and the armed forces are sent by the groups. The honorary chairman is also represented on the committee. The general assembly elects the meeting president.
Uniforms
In 1938 it was decided to introduce uniforms in the corps. The uniforms of the traditional corps "Altstädter Köln 1922 eV" were adopted - with slight changes. The uniforms of the Godesberg city soldier corps are reminiscent of the rural Cologne militia of the 18th century.
The long green uniform skirt, also known as the large uniform, is lined with red on the inside and folded out in the tails on the sides. Red attachments define the chest part, red lapels the sleeves. Gold braids and gold buttons complete the appearance. In addition, white trousers, a white vest and black hussar boots and a stabbing sword are worn. The tricorn with buffalo hair and pigtail is the typical headgear, which can be replaced by a green boat with golden pompons.
For the Senate, the green Litewka with red lapels was introduced in 1953 , with black trousers and a golden boat. If the Senate takes on land storm functions within the armed forces, it also wears a large uniform. The majority of the women in the Senate now only wear a large uniform with a green top and a red top, a small feather hat, a long red skirt and, underneath, white boots.
The costumes of the girls' series are tailored to the show dance and are determined by a green and red vest, a short red skirt, white lace panties and red boots.
The children's corps wears the typical city soldiers' uniform jackets, the girls wear short white skirts and white boots, the boys white trousers and black gaiters .
The members of the Grand Council can be recognized by their long, wide green jacket with red lapels and their special white, red and green boat.
Promotion of young talent
The children's corps includes children between the ages of three and 17. The children and teenagers complete weekly dance training throughout the year. During the session, the children's corps mainly presents its dances at carnival events organized by charitable institutions.
Events
To promote Rhenish customs , the Godesberg city soldiers organize various events during the carnival session, which are either aimed only at their own members or at the general public, for example:
- Uniform and Order Festival at the beginning of the session as an internal event
- Dialect fair “Mess op Kölsch” for members and the public
- Quadrille of the cavalry in the presence of the Bad Godesberg prince couples
- Great ceremony
- Gentlemen's meeting
- Girls meeting
- Children's costume festival
At the ceremonial meeting, the corps presents a stage program lasting about half an hour in which all groups are represented with dance performances. Carnival artists from the Rhineland perform in the rest of the program. Only stage performers are required for the program of the other two sessions.
The corps also performs its own stage program during the session at meetings of other companies. In many cases, the Godesberg city soldiers are also the accompanying corps of the Bad Godesberg prince couple to their appearances at carnival events, at which the corps then shows an excerpt from its dance program.
The street carnival begins in Bad Godesberg on Weiberfastnacht . On this day, the corps and its marching band move through the city center in the morning and present their soldier dances in front of many shops to the applause of passers-by. On Carnival Sunday the artillery of the corps is represented at the storming of the town hall with a salute cannon, then all groups of the corps march through Bad Godesberg as foot troops or on several floats in the carnival procession.
public relation
The Godesberger Stadtsoldatenkorps informs its members four times a year with the information sheet “Narrenklöppchen” in printed and digital versions. At the beginning of the session, the carnival magazine “Narrenklappe” appears for the members and the general public as a booklet for all events of the society during the session.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Statute of Godesberger Stadtsoldaten Corps idFvom November 4, 2010.
- ^ Chronicle of the Godesberg City Soldiers 1893-1993. Arranged: Albert Schulte. - Bonn 1992.
- ↑ Honor Guard of the City of Bonn eV, 75 years, ed. v. Karl-Heinz Erdmann. - Bonn 2008.
- ↑ The archive in the Society's armory fell victim to an arson attack in 1988, so that one can only refer to oral tradition.
- ↑ Uniform Rules of the Godesberger Stadtsoldatenkorps i. d. F. from 1998.
- ↑ Narrenklappe 2013, the carnival magazine of the Godesberger Stadtsoldatenkorps. - Bonn 2012.