Hannes Schneider

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Tailors in Japan in 1930

Hannes Schneider , actually Johann Schneider , (born June 24, 1890 in Stuben am Arlberg , † April 26, 1955 in North Conway , New Hampshire ) was an Austrian ski pioneer and actor.

Life

Adolescent years

Hannes Schneider was the oldest of five children of the married couple Josef Anton and Filomena Schneider. His father came from the town of Marul in the Großer Walsertal , his mother was born Matdies from St. Jakob am Arlberg. Johann's father had come to Stuben while working on the Arlberg Tunnel and settled there. The Schneiders initially lived in house no. 14 in Stuben, later the family moved into the larger house no. 22 in the same place. The young tailor was always called "Johann" by his family. He received his nickname "Hannes" in the early 1920s when he was almost 30 years old; at a time when he was already a successful ski instructor in St. Anton am Arlberg . The name Hannes Schneider appears for the first time in connection with the film The White Rush - New Wonders of the Snowshoe .

At the time of his birth there was great poverty on the Arlberg. The construction of the Arlberg tunnel meant that the money-making Arlberg crossings by horse-drawn carriage and motor vehicle were reduced, so that the villages along the pass got into economic hardship. The first skiers came to Stuben around 1900 and aroused the young tailor's interest. In the winter of 1903 he received his first skis as a gift and in the winter of 1905/06 he took part in the first ski course. Because of his excellent skiing skills, which quickly became apparent, he was invited to a ski race in Switzerland in autumn 1907 .

On December 7, 1907, Schneider got a job as a ski instructor at the Hotel Post in the winter sports resort of St. Anton am Arlberg, which was already well known at the time, from the hoteliers Carl Schuler and Rudolf Gomperz . In the winter of 1920/21 he founded Austria's first ski school there. He was the first to organize his ski school in such a way that all his teachers taught the students to ski in the same logical steps. While the telemark style was still being taught elsewhere , he taught the so-called stem bow , which was then replaced in the 1930s by Anton Seelos' parallel swing , which is still current today .

Military service and family life

1911 had cutter for kk however Artillery Regiment "Emperor" no. Indent 14, was allowed to return at the end of the year back to the Arlberg. During the First World War he was assigned, among other things, to a mountain guide company where he held ski courses as an instruction officer. He survived the war without serious injuries, so that after his return to civilian life on November 8, 1918, he was immediately able to work as a ski instructor again.

On April 28, 1919, he married Ludwina Seeberger (born December 19, 1890) from St. Anton in Stams . Both had the two children Herbert Schneider (* May 20, 1920, † June 10, 2012) and Herta (* July 9, 1921). In 1922 the Schneider family, who had previously rented, built their new residential and commercial building, the “Sporthaus Schneider”, on the Dorfstrasse and today's pedestrian zone in St. Anton.

Ski race and trip to Japan

Schneider's right thigh was about two centimeters shorter after a skiing accident in 1925, so he always had to wear orthopedic ski boots. In 1928 he and the English ski pioneer Sir Arnold Lunn organized the first Arlberg-Kandahar race in St. Anton - a combination of downhill skiing and slalom .

Schneider's reputation had now spread to Japan , not least because his book “The Miracle of the Snowshoe” was published in Japanese. In January 1930 he received an invitation to Japan from the Japanese Prince Chichibu . On February 24, 1930, he started the long journey by train, across the former Soviet Union .

During his stay he visited Kobe , Kyōto , Osaka , Tokyo , Takata , Nagano and Nozawa Onsen, among others . At almost every stop on his trip to Japan, he gave lectures and seminars and explained his Arlberg skiing technique , and he also gave ski courses, especially in the Nozawa Onsen ski resort. On May 31, 1930, after more than three months, Schneider returned to his home on the Arlberg.

Film career

Schneider starred in fifteen of the ski films that were very popular at the time. These included The White Rush by Dr. Arnold Fanck , who was shot in St. Anton in the winter of 1930/31, as well as the documentary films The Wonder of the Snowshoe and The White Art . Due to the great success of these films, skiing experienced a rapidly increasing popularity in the German-speaking countries in the 1930s. While filming the 1926 film The Holy Mountain , he barely survived a fall into a crevasse .

Hannes Schneider and Rudolf Gomperz

Hannes Schneider created the theoretical basis for ski lessons together with others. Rudolf Gomperz was a friend and companion . Together with the hotelier Carl Schuler , he was an early sponsor of Hannes Schneider. As a publicist and organizer, he supported Hannes Schneider's rise for over 30 years, with whom he developed the Arlberg technology together and in 1926 brought the German Arlberg Courses Tailors to life (Kur DAKS courses). For the growing number of tourists, the first ski guide for the Arlberg area and the Ferwall group was published in 1927 . Gompertz was the author of Hannes Scheider's book Auf Schi in Japan as well as many other publications.

Arrested and emigrated to the United States

On March 13, 1938, Schneider was arrested by the National Socialists for political reasons and taken to Landeck prison. After the annexation of Austria he had spoken out publicly against the Nazi regime and its methods several times and stood by his Jewish friends such as Rudolf Gomperz . In his ski school he protested against any Nazi slogans and ideologies, and he also dismissed a ski instructor who was doing Nazi propaganda . He also refused to teach only Aryans in his ski school .

Due to international pressure and not least because of the efforts of Arnold Lunn, he was released on April 10, 1938. However, his ski instructor license was withdrawn; so he was practically banned from working. He sold his sports shop in St. Anton and emigrated with his family to the United States in January 1939, where he took over a ski school in the state of New Hampshire and created a considerable ski area on Mount Cranmore according to his ideas.

During World War II he worked as a trainer for the 10th US Mountain Division , in which his son Herbert served as a soldier.

Schneider expanded the ski resort on Mount Cranmore. Despite several trips to his old home on the Arlberg, his residence remained in the United States, where he died of a heart attack at the age of 65 .

Filmography (1920–1933)

Honors

Honorary citizen

Monuments

Memorial stones and monuments are in the following communities:

Street names

  • The "Hannes-Schneider-Weg" is named after him in the municipality of St. Anton am Arlberg.
  • In the community of Stuben am Arlberg, the "Hannes Schneider Promenade" is named after him.
  • In the community of North Conway, NH (USA) the "Schneider-Road" and the "Hannes-Schneider-Square" are named after him.

Others

  • 1936 Schneider was the Officer's Cross of the Austrian Order of Merit awarded
  • "The Hannes Schneider Master Cup Race" is held annually in the North Conway ski area.
  • There has been a ski museum near North Conway since 1992, which focuses on the life and work of Hannes Schneider in the USA. (see web link)
  • Hannes Schneider was an honorary member of the Ski Club Arlberg .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hanno Lowey: Wonder of the snowshoe? Hannes Schneider, Rudolf Gomperz and the birth of modern skiing on the Arlberg. In: http://cdn3.vol.at/2009/04/Wunder_des_Schneeschuhs1.pdf . Hanno Loewy, accessed on March 23, 2019 (German).
  2. ↑ In memory of our honorary member Herbert Schneider Ski Club Arlberg , no author, no date
  3. ^ Rudolf Gomperz: Hannes Schneider on skis to Japan . In: Hannes Schneider (Ed.): 1 . 1-10 thousand circulation. tape 1 , no. 1 . Tyrolia Verlag, Innsbruck-Vienna-Munich 1935.
  4. ^ Hans Thöni: Hannes Schneider on the 100th birthday . Ed .: Hans Thöni. Ludesch, Vorarlberg 1990, ISBN 3-7022-1779-7 , p. 93 .
  5. ↑ Jutta Berger: Late memory of ski pioneer Schneider. In: https://derstandard.at . Der Standard, 2012, accessed on March 25, 2019 (German).
  6. ↑ Hans Thöni: Hannes Schneider, a ski pioneer. In: in Walserheimat in Vorarlberg. Walser-alps.de, accessed on March 25, 2019 (German).
  7. ↑ Hanno Loewy: The silver locomotive. In: Hanno Loewy in conversation with Hans Thöni. 2016, accessed on March 25, 2019 (German).
  8. ↑ Hanno Loewy: The wonder of the snowshoe? Hannes Schneider, Rudolf Gomperz and the birth of modern skiing on the Arlberg. In: http://cdn3.vol.at/2009/04/Wunder_des_Schneeschuhs1.pdf . Hanno Loewy, 2016, accessed on March 25, 2019 (German).
  9. ↑ HANS THÖNI: HANNES SCHNEIDER ON THE 100TH BIRTHDAY . Ed .: HANS THÖNI. 1st edition. tape 1 , no. 1 . HANS THÖNI, LUDESCH 1990, ISBN 3-7022-1779-7 , p. 158 .
  10. ^ Gerard Fairlie: The Biography of Hannes Schneider . Ed .: Gerard Fairlie. 1st edition. tape 1 , no. 1 . Hodder and Stroughton, London 1957, pp. 192-222 .
  11. ^ Hans Thöni: Hannes Schneider on the 100th birthday . Ed .: Hans Thöni. 1st edition. tape 1 , no. 1 . Hans Thöni, Ludesch, Bludent / Ludesch 1990, ISBN 3-7022-1779-7 .
  12. ↑ Nicolas Howe: The Quest of Hannes Schneider, pages 20 ff. In: https://books.google.de . Skiing Heritage Journal Sept. 2004, 2004, accessed March 23, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Hannes Schneider's distinction. In:  Sport-Tagblatt. Sports edition of the Neue Wiener Tagblatt , December 29, 1936, p. 5 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / wst
personal data
SURNAME Schneider, Hannes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schneider, Johann (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian ski pioneer and actor
DATE OF BIRTH June 24, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Stuben am Arlberg , Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH April 26, 1955
Place of death North Conway , New Hampshire , United States