Gottlieb Christian Kreutzberg
Gottlieb Christian Kreutzberg (* 1810 or 1814, probably in Borxleben ; † May 30, 1874 in Leipzig ) was an animal showman and ran the Kreutzberg menagerie , one of the most famous traveling menageries of the 19th century , for more than 30 years .
Live and act
The showman, whose exact date of birth is unknown , apparently left his parents' house in Borxleben , about 20 kilometers away from Kyffhäuser , early and - according to the reports - is said to have wandered the country first as a banter and organ grinder until he married the showman's daughter Franziska Philippine Lohrig from Osterburg (Altmark) got some money. In 1837 he acquired numerous animals from Wilhelm van Aken from his royal privileged menagerie ; In 1849 he also took over the menagerie of Anton van Akens, Wilhelm's older brother. These animal stocks formed the basis for the Kreutzberg menagerie , which successfully roamed Germany over the next three decades; The showman gave Reichenbach near Görlitz in what was then the Prussian part of Upper Lusatia as his home address . Around 1865 he sold his company to Carl Hagenbeck ; two of his sons were meanwhile traveling with their own animal shows. With a new menagerie acquired in the early 1870s, he went on a tour of Russia and made another guest appearance in Leipzig in 1872. After that his track is lost until his last stay in Leipzig in 1874, where he died on May 30th. A Gottlieb Kallenberg from Metten took over his menagerie .
According to the records, Gottlieb Kreutzberg was married three times; seven children are mentioned in the will, including some born out of wedlock. On June 2, 1874, two days after his death, a funeral was held in Leipzig; a year later, in 1875, a stone lion sculpture was placed on his grave, which is still preserved today in the old Johannisfriedhof . Gottlieb Christian Kreutzberg was the great-grandfather of the dancer Harald Kreutzberg .
Menagerie Kreutzberg
After acquiring the animal stocks from the Dutch menagerie van Aken, Kreutzberg continuously expanded its animal shows. Since the 1850s he has mainly bought his animals from the internationally active animal dealer Charles Jamrach in London , but was also one of the customers of the increasingly successful animal dealer Carl Hagenbeck in Hamburg . A brochure by the showman, which was constantly updated as an advertisement, shows over 50 species of animals in the 1850s, including big cats and pachyderms as well as antelopes, giraffes and armadillos. In 1865 Kreutzberg showed 14 lions, six leopards, two jaguars as well as a tiger and a panther. A 22-year-old Berber lion , a species now extinct, has been recorded as the oldest specimen in the menagerie.
Kreutzberg performed its animal shows mainly in the big German cities during the spring and autumn fairs . He was also on the road with his menagerie in Sweden and Russia. He not only used the possibilities of the announcement slips and brochures for advertising, but also staged himself in this regard. In Wroclaw he was walking two cheetahs on the street. After the performances, the audience could purchase booklets in which the performances could be read. For regular visitors he offered subscriptions, the single entry was between 3 and 15 new penny , a high price at the time. Due to epidemics and accidents, Kreutzberg's financial losses were not small. According to a newspaper report in the Gothaer Tageblatt of August 26, 1859, which referred to news from St. Petersburg , the Kreutzberg menagerie was severely damaged by a leak in the ship during a crossing to Vyborg on the Baltic Sea ; it was reported that "all the animals with their barred boxes overboard" had to be thrown overboard. How great the loss of animals actually was remained unknown. On his tour of Russia, Kreutzberg lost almost all of his large cats due to illness within a few days.
A special feature of Kreutzberg's menagerie was the appearance of female trainers in the lion cage. So he hired the daughter of a Danish magician and a singer from Stockholm for this part. The "seventeen-year-old Swede" became so successful that Kreutzberg let his daughter Emilie perform in this role until she was bitten by a hyena and ended her career as a tamer. From 1863 onwards, Kreutzberg changed his program, which he had previously done mainly with the demonstration and explanation of rare animal species, the tricks of trained wild animals and the obligatory feeding, by now having the whip used to drive the wild animals to the bars of the cages and thereby serving the audience's desire for thrills. A contemporary depiction by the animal painter Heinrich Leutemann , which shows Kreutzberg in the background and a young lady wielding a whip, illustrates the intention of these demonstrations.
literature
- Mustafa Haikal : The Lion Factory. CVs and legends . Pro Leipzig, Leipzig 2006, ISBN 3-936508-15-1 , pp. 7-28.
- Emil Pirchan: Harald Kreutzberg. His life and his dances. Wilhelm Frick Verlag, Vienna 1941, p. 7f.
- Frank-Manuel Peter (ed.): The dancer Harald Kreutzberg. Edition Hentrich, Berlin 1997, p. 17.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Frank-Manuel Peter (ed.): The dancer Harald Kreutzberg. Edition Hentrich, Berlin 1997, p. 17.
- ↑ Mustafa Haikal: The Lion Factory. CVs and legends . Leipzig 2006; Pp. 7-28, ISBN 3-936508-15-1 ; P. 9
- ↑ Annelore Rieke-Müller, Lothar Dittrich: On the way with wild animals. Wandering menageries between instruction and commerce 1750–1850 (1999), pp. 39–42
- ^ Carl Hagenbeck: Of animals and people . Berlin edition 1909, p. 137
- ↑ Haikal (2006), pp. 27f.
- ↑ Haikal (2006), pp. 9-10; Pp. 26-28
- ^ Emil Pirchan: Harald Kreutzberg. His life and his dances. Wilhelm Frick Verlag, Vienna 1941, p. 7f.
- ↑ Haikal (2006), p. 12
- ↑ Haikal (2006), p. 17
- ^ Menagerie Kreutzberg . In: Miss Baba. Adventure of an Indian elephant cow . Edited by Niederroßla Castle and Homeland Association 2007; P. 13ff.
- ^ Haikal (2006), p. 13
- ↑ Haikal (2006), pp. 22-23
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kreutzberg, Gottlieb Christian |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German showman |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1810 or 1814 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | unsure: Borxleben |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 30, 1874 |
| Place of death | Leipzig |