Johann Friedrich Joel

Johann Friedrich Joel

Johann Friedrich Joel (* 1792 in Gotha ; † October 15, 1852 in Oberhof ) was a legendary landlord of the Gasthof Schmücke am Rennsteig and a humorist . He was considered an original and a student friend, which is why the Schmücke became a preferred venue for student meetings for decades.

Life

Johann Friedrich Joel was born in 1792 as the son of the Gotha host, Zum Schützen . He spent his childhood and youth in his father's inn business and got to know this trade with all its ups and downs. After he had worked as a hunting assistant and travel companion for a court official for some time as a teenager, the chance arose by chance to take over the Gasthof Schmücke on the Rennsteig , which had been decried as a nasty dive bar . Joel succeeded in helping the place, located on a busy trade route across the Thuringian Forest , to flourish again.

Joel rendered special services to the students, who were always welcome guests and he was happy to take part in their extensive feasts. In this way, the Schmücke-Wirtschaft gained a high degree of awareness and the Schmückewirt became a flourishing inn. Over the years his body had gotten completely out of shape due to his good life and some vices - in the last years of his life the host was only called fat Joel , he endured it with indulgence.

A diverse knowledge of human weaknesses and numerous anecdotes that he had picked up from his guests made Joel a popular humorist.

Sculpture in Zellaer Strasse in Oberhof

Appreciation

• Highly revered by his contemporaries, Joel was once again a household name in Herbert Roth's Schunkelwalzer Der alten Schmückewirt .
• The local researcher and poet Friedrich Wilhelm Kober from Suhl collected numerous anecdotes from the life of Joel. On his initiative, the traditional and dialect association Joel-Gemeinde Suhl e. V. In 1991 this association was revived, which according to the statutes is dedicated to the maintenance and dissemination of dialectic pieces and the maintenance of customs.
• Joel was friends with Ludwig Bechstein . In 1858 he wrote about his deceased friend:

Like a Bacchus, he stood
happily in front of his house door in
his dressing gown , gray curls were his
jewelry, and he himself was jewelry and ornamentation.
Merriment flowed around
his full cheeks, like sunshine , his gaze -
the joke never departed from him and never
from the old fat friend.

literature

• Ruth Kelber: Johann Friedrich Joel - the legendary jewelry host. In: Hörselbergbote , volume 31. Wutha-Farnroda 1997, pp. 16-17
• Ruth Kelber: Joel-Gemeinde Suhl, a traditional association in Suhl. In: Hörselbergbote , volume 31. Wutha-Farnroda 1997, pp. 18-19
• The old man from the jewelry . In: The Gazebo . Issue 35, 1874, pp. 566-569 ( full text [ Wikisource ]).

Web links

Commons : Johann Friedrich Joel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files