Hermann Götting

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Grave of Hermann Götting in the Melaten cemetery in Cologne (hallway 28)

Hermann Götting (born August 29, 1939 in Haiger ; † September 20, 2004 in Cologne ) was a German tram conductor , conférencier and collector of everyday culture . Some refer to him as a city ​​original , also because of its striking appearance, but he himself distanced himself from this ascription.

Life

Götting was born as the child of an unmarried young mother into a traditional Haiger shoemaker family. Initially rejected by the family, the grandparents wanted the mother and son to be placed in a home for single mothers as “slip-ups”. Immediately after the birth, however, they brought the two back into the family. Hermann was raised by his grandparents and saw his mother as "a kind of aunt". The extravagant, unusual taste of his mother, her forms of expression and musicality fascinated and still influenced him lastingly.

After elementary school, Götting first worked in a Haiger gas station, then in an ironworks. Finally, he fulfilled his childhood dream and found a job as a tram conductor at the Siegener Kreisbahn . In the exercise of his profession, to the chagrin of his superiors, he added fashionable accessories to his uniform and gained local fame through small “appearances” during the journey, during which he entertained the passengers with all sorts of anecdotes. After the tram operation at the Siegener Kreisbahn ceased, Götting continued to drive the company's trolleybuses as a conductor for some time , which, however, compared to the old trams, did not appeal to him. During this time he made his first homosexual experiences, which he could only live out secretly at the end of the 1950s.

In 1962 he returned from his military service in Koblenz to Siegen, but soon moved to Cologne , where he got to know a differentiated homosexual scene . Götting especially enjoyed staying in night clubs with high demands on the clothing of the guests and a plush atmosphere that was "characterized by sensitive, culturally interested aesthetes ". He made his living again as a tram conductor for the Cologne transport company . In 1968, the Cologne transport company introduced the conductors-less operation in their railways, so that Götting could no longer pursue this profession.

From then on, Götting worked as a waiter, bartender and later as a conférencier in night clubs , variety shows and travesty shows . He and his partner moved into an apartment in an old building on Richard-Wagner-Straße, where he housed parts of his everyday culture and furniture collection. On Sundays he also regularly invited actors, journalists, fashion designers, dancers, musicians and other artists for conversation and performances in his “salon”.

Götting was a striking figure with sweeping robes, huge hats, the omnipresent fan and always accompanied by large dogs. In 1992 he celebrated his 50th birthday in the black box of the recently opened Cinedome .

On September 20, 2004, Hermann Götting died in his Cologne apartment of the consequences of a pneumonia that was delayed . His coffin was brought to the Melatenfriedhof in a horse-drawn carriage , where he was buried after a funeral service with around 800 guests.

collection

Götting described himself as a meticulous collector of everyday objects and utensils from the 1920s to 1970s. However, the focus of his collection is on the 1950s. With a handcart he rattled off junk shops and flea markets and organized house liquidations. But he also maintained relationships with the monument protection authorities and with companies in order to dismantle larger objects such as neon signs or artistically designed etched glass windows that were threatened with demolition. Hermann Götting was also known for dismantling the old 4711 neon system from the Cologne exhibition tower , which he unscrewed in 1993. Götting made contact with manufacturers of furniture, porcelain and earthenware and researched the history of the companies whose products he collected. A first major exhibition at the Kölnischer Kunstverein in 1985 was followed by more than 40 exhibitions in numerous cities, in which he arranged his collected objects. When his storage facilities were overstretched, city curator Hiltrud Kier and museum general director Hugo Borger helped him to use two city storage rooms.

After his death, the city of Cologne showed no interest in the complete Götting collection and also did not have sufficient storage space, and so the Museum of Applied Arts in Gera acquired around 1,000 of the more than 100,000 exhibits. The House of History took over individual objects , while the Cologne City Museum secured several of Cologne's historic neon signs. The rest of the collection, including 20 complete shop fittings, equipment for handicraft businesses, other neon signs as well as vases and furniture, is now considered to be scattered.

literature

  • Hermann Götting: I have the figure for it. One life . Edition diá, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-86034-143-X
  • The designed century. Fashion and product design over the past 100 years . Landesmuseum Koblenz 2000, ISBN 3-925915-65-6

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Original Götting died. September 21, 2004, accessed on September 14, 2019 (German). ;
    Ulrich S. Soénius: Götting, Hermann . In: Ulrich S. Soénius, Jürgen Wilhelm (Ed.): Kölner Personenlexikon . 1st edition. Greven, Cologne 2008, ISBN 978-3-7743-0400-0 , pp. 187 . According to a different statement in Hermann Götting:     The figure for this I have , 1995, p. 12 is the place of birth Neukirchen (district of Moers)
  2. ↑ a b Cornelia Auschra: Hermann Götting, Collector Cologne Past, 1939–2004 , at: www.koeln-magazin.info, online ( Memento from April 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on March 26, 2011
  3. ↑ Götting, pp. 32–34
  4. ↑ Götting, p. 41
  5. ↑ Götting, p. 56
  6. ↑ Article He is a piece of Cologne in: Kölnische Rundschau , September 30, 2004, p. 34
  7. ↑ Cologne City Museum. Retrieved February 5, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Götting, Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German tram conductor, conférencier and collector of everyday culture
DATE OF BIRTH August 29, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Haiger
DATE OF DEATH September 20, 2004
Place of death Cologne