Cologne fools guild

Cologne fools guild from 1880 (KNZ)
purpose	Care and maintenance of the “Cologne Carnival” customs.
Chair:	Thomas Brauckmann (Bannerhär / President), Andreas Bulich (Senate President)
Establishment date:	1880
Seat :	Cologne
Website:	koelnernarrenzunft.de

The Cologne fools guild from 1880 e. V. (KNZ) is a carnival society in Cologne . The KG is a full member of the Cologne Carnival Festival Committee .

history

Origins and beginnings

In 1381 Adolf III founded von der Mark from the House of Kleve , former Archbishop of Cologne , together with 35 knights and noble lords the Geselschap van den Gecken , which can be regarded as the first carnival society. They elected a king and six councilors from among their number , who took over the foolish regiment during the carnival season. Court was held for seven days until Shrove Monday and the service was attended together on Carnival Tuesday. The members had to wear a badge that showed a fool all year round - the first order of the carnival . Those who forgot to do so had to pay a fine, which was donated to those in need.

The founding of the Cölner Narrenzunft went back to a large extent on the initiative of the Cologne retoucher and handcrafted speaker Maria Heinrich Hoster , who explicitly referred to the companionship of Count Adolf. It took place on December 6, 1880, the year Cologne Cathedral was completed , in the Fränkischer Hof in Komödienstraße; Hoster was chosen to be the banner hair , the place where it was founded was renamed the Gaffelsaal , and the founding lords were given medieval-looking robes. The name consciously referred to the earlier political influence of craft and trade in medieval Cologne. "Patron" Count Adolf was present as a statue, and the Carfuncle stone of the House of Kleve was included in the company's coat of arms. In later years, a Margaret Festival was held in memory of Count Adolf's wife, Margarete von Jülich .

The fools guild was the first Cologne carnival society (KG) that allowed women and girls to meet, which is why it is considered the first "family society". Their women's committees held their own meetings that were regularly sold out. Because of the presence of women, the banner hair forbade all slippery jokes, and the KNZ coined the motto, which is still known today, “Foolish free from Zoten”. In 1888, the then president of the Great Cologne tried in vain to have the KNZ banned by the Cologne mayor because of the admission of women to meetings.

1881 KNZ took first time on Rosenmontagszug part, with 23 swan knights and a car, which was a Schwanenburg, the hitherto largest and highest car in a train. (Swans because the Cleve house traced its origins back to the Swan Knight Lohengrin , which is why their castle was also called Schwanenburg .) Participation was financed by a “guild feast”; After deducting all costs, there remained 400 marks that were donated to the “boys' asylum”. The KG maintained this custom in the years to come: in 1913, for example, the KNZ donated 40,000 marks for charitable purposes. How well the KG was anchored in the upper class can be seen, among other things, from the fact that the Lord Mayor and later President of the Reichstag, Max Wallraf, was Ehrenbannerhär and regularly took part in KNZ celebrations. In 1886 members of the guild were represented in the Cologne triumvirate for the first time .

In 1913 the KNZ provided 10,000 marks with which a memorial for its founder Maria Heinrich Hoster was to be erected. The city council accepted the foundation and a competition was to be announced for “Antun Meis' monument as a fountain” ( Antun Meis was the hoster's name in the Bütt). But when World War I broke out the following year, plans for the memorial were dropped and the money was donated to the war welfare organization. During the war, the KNZ sent its members in the field a parcel every 14 days. Due to the large donations and the subscription of war bonds, the company lost almost all of its assets; a small remainder became worthless during the currency crisis in 1923 .

Between the wars

After the war, the KNZ planned a first masked ball for January 10, 1925 . Surprisingly, the city council issued a ban on the hall, against which the KNZ obtained an injunction so that the ball could take place as planned. The result was cheered by a large crowd in front of the company's office, and the large department stores hung posters in their shop windows that the ball would take place, contrary to the announcements.

Kölsch glass holder from the KNZ

The KG continued to support charitable causes in the city. When the von Poll fishermen had lost everything after the floods around the turn of the year 1925/1926 , the fools' guild donated 1,000 marks. It was not until 1928 that the company was no longer financially able to donate money for social purposes due to the global economic crisis . Also in 1928 - as a premiere - a carnival meeting of the KNZ was broadcast on the radio, which made the KG known throughout the Reich. In 1930 a street in Ehrenfeld was named after the founder of the KNZ Hosterstraße .

How society positioned itself in the political turmoil at the end of the 1920s and right up to the Nazi era is unknown, especially since, as noted in the 125th anniversary chronicle, pages were torn out of the protocol in a few years and - were cut: "You had decided to continue being happy." The logs for the period after 1934, however, fell victim to water damage. In 1938 Bannerhär and his Ambsmeister refused to take the car provided by the Festival Committee on the train, but went on foot. The writer of the society wrote in the yearbook of 1938: "Because (the KNZ) the execution of the car predetermined by the festival committee did not suit and which also did not do justice to the reputation and the intentions of the guild". To what extent this could have to do with resistance to a political statement made by the car is no longer comprehensible today. A year later, however, the KG drove in a car accepted by the authorities. From 1940 to 1947 the carnival activities largely ceased.

Since 1947

Car of the Cologne fools guild in the Rose Monday procession 2012

In 1949 the fools' guild took part in the "cap ride", which took place for the first time after the war, and in 1950 in the Rose Monday procession. An absolute novelty at the Cologne Carnival was that a woman was accepted into the board once. In 1948 a dance and equestrian corps had been founded, but it was dissolved twelve years later due to a lack of horses. In 1953 the KNZ was present at the founding assembly of the Bund Deutscher Karneval in Mainz , and the KG's “insignia” - council silver, golden book, bed, robes, hats and the silver desk set - were shown in a carnival exhibition there.

In 1969, in the course of a reorganization of the guild - the main reason was the lack of young talent - the proposal was made to elect four women to the board without success. Only 34 years later, a change in the statutes made it possible for women to be appointed honorary senators. Instead of the historical robes, there was a tailcoat. In 1980 and 1997, the society created the Cologne triumvirate , after having been a member of the Prinz society as early as 1957. In 2003, the KNZ's “Mädcher” session was broadcast on ZDF for the first time . Two years later, in 2005, the company celebrated its 125th anniversary.

Even today, the KNZ attaches great importance to its social commitment.

In the 2017 session, the Cologne Fools Guild presented the Cologne triumvirate consisting of Prince Stefan I (Stefan Jung), farmer Andreas (Andreas Bulich) and the virgin Stefanie (Stefan Knepper).

Society

The society consists of the board of directors, the Senate, the Grand Council and a group of children and young people. A non-profit GmbH was founded in 2009 .

The president is Bannerhär , the treasurer, the treasurer and the secretary of the Gaffelschriever called. The active members are senators , the supporting members are guild masters .

The company organized in every session , several events, including a grand costume session, a Mädchersitzung and K a- N eight- Z uhause party. The oldest Cologne carnival session is the Blue Monday session , which has been taking place since 1880. Their name refers to the Blue Monday , on which the craftsmen were late for work or only worked at half their strength.

literature

• Otto Küpper: Chronicle of the Cologne Fools Guild from 1880 - 2005 . Cologne 2004

Web links

Commons : Kölner Narren-Zunft  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ d´Order van´t Gecken-Geselschap - The Order of Fools in Cleve (Part 1). In: Local compass. January 9, 2014, accessed May 6, 2015 . 
2. ↑ Otto Küpper: Chronicle of the Cologne Fools Guild from 1880 - 2005 . Cologne 2004. p. 3f.
3. ^ Küpper, Chronicle of the Cologne Fools Guild , p. 19
4. ^ Küpper, Chronicle of the Cologne Fools Guild , p. 19
5. ^ Küpper, Chronicle of the Cologne Fools Guild , p. 25
6. ^ Küpper, Chronicle of the Cologne Narren Guild , p. 139
7. ^ Helene Klauser: Cologne carnival between uniform and way of life. Waxmann Verlag, ISBN 978-3-830-96778-1 , p. 145 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
8. ^ Küpper, Chronicle of the Cologne Fools Guild , p. 19
9. ^ Küpper, Chronicle of the Cologne Narren Guild , p. 7
10. ↑ ^{a b} Küpper, Chronicle of the Cologne Narren Guild , p. 79
11. ^ Küpper, Chronicle of the Cologne Fools Guild , p. 106
12. ^ Küpper, Chronicle of the Cologne Narren Guild , p. 85
13. ^ Küpper, Chronicle of the Cologne Fools Guild , p. 88
14. ^ Küpper, Chronicle of the Cologne Narren Guild , p. 93
15. ^ Küpper, Chronicle of the Cologne Narren Guild , p. 97
16. ^ Küpper, Chronicle of the Cologne Narren Guild , p. 99
17. ^ Küpper, Chronicle of the Cologne Narren Guild , p. 112
18. ^ Küpper, Chronicle of the Cologne Narren Guild , p. 115f.
19. ^ Küpper, Chronicle of the Cologne Narren Guild , p. 125
20. ^ Küpper, Chronicle of the Cologne Narren Guild , p. 127
21. ^ Küpper, Chronik der Kölner Narren-Zunft , p. 141f., P. 150
22. ^ Küpper, Chronicle of the Cologne Narren Guild , p. 155
23. ^ Küpper, Chronicle of the Cologne Narren Guild , p. 180
24. ↑ Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger: Jecke with commitment. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. November 7, 2007, accessed May 6, 2015 . 
25. ↑ Dreigestirne - Cologne Carnival . In: Cologne Carnival . ( koelnerkarneval.de [accessed December 7, 2017]).
26. ↑ Non-profit GmbH - Cologne fools guild. In: koelnernarrenzunft.de. January 18, 2015, accessed May 3, 2015 . 
27. ^ Members - Cologne fools guild. In: koelnernarrenzunft.de. January 18, 2015, accessed May 4, 2015 . 
28. ^ Stephan Küpper: Session 2014 - Cologne fools guild. In: koelnernarrenzunft.de. February 28, 2014, accessed May 4, 2015 .