Lauenburg caller
The Lauenburger Rufer is a bronze figure that was created by the sculptor and sculptor Karl-Heinz Goedtke at the suggestion of the then mayor of Lauenburg / Elbe Richard Reuter in 1959. It stands in the old town of Lauenburg / Elbe on a forecourt on Elbstrasse next to the Rufers restaurant .
monument
The Rufer is a bronze sculpture, which is covered with a greenish patina and is 185 cm high. He assumes the posture of someone calling and is dressed in dungarees, boots with brims, a shirt turned up and an Elbe sailor's cap. The caller holds a skipper's knot in his right hand . Similar to the bronze sculpture by Möllner Till Eulenspiegel , his right thumb is polished to a shine from numerous touches, assuming it would bring good luck. The Rufer stands as a symbol for the 700-year tradition of shipping on the Elbe that has shaped Lauenburg.
A bronze plaque at the caller's feet reads:
“ A boatman whose boat is anchored here and waiting for cargo from the Stecknitz Canal calls over to a passing Elbe ship. A morning greeting? Some rough fun? An important note? "
prehistory
The story of the Lauenburger Rufer began in 1956. It was then that Mayor Richard Reuter contacted the sculptor Karlheinz Goedtke. Reuter was determined to ensure that Lauenburg, which at that time had almost no noteworthy monument, finally got a monument suitable for the city. Therefore, Reuter went for votes with the first draft of the sculpture. His efforts were rewarded because he was able to quickly win over the then magistrate and the city's beautification association for his project.
Strengthened by this support, Reuter wrote a public appeal for donations to the population in 1956, which very quickly brought in over DM 1,000. In addition to the support for his project, there was also resistance in the city. The Lauenburger Schiffer-Verein had unanimously rejected Goedtke's draft on the grounds that the figure of the Rufer had to represent a real Lauenburg boatman. Another argument of the Schiffer-Verein was that the designed figure was too skinny and would therefore give a bad image of the hospitality in Lauenburg, which could have negative consequences for tourism.
The skippers made a sketchy draft of what a “Lauenburg shipper” should look like in their opinion and sent it to the city's magistrate. Furthermore, the idea arose that the “caller across the stream” should wear the costume of the funny person, the Lauenburger Hanswurst . The costume consists only of colorful scraps of fabric, which would have been difficult to depict in a representation with a bronze sculpture. Goedtke complained that the caller then looked too similar to the Till Eulenspiegel sculpture. After an invitation to tender, there were other designs for a bronze sculpture called “Rufer über den Strom”, but Goedtke's design ultimately prevailed.
The location was fixed from the start. This was the steamer dock. There the "Steinkiste", a historical bank fortification, protruded into the Elbe. This place also had a further historical background, as there were five houses exactly at this point, which were so badly damaged during the attack by British troops in 1945 that they could not be rebuilt. The five houses were the Düwer residential and commercial building, basket trade; Milk frank; Law firm Bonier; Residential and commercial building Günsch, Zeug and Kleinwaren as well as at number 102, residential building.
Because of this, the free space towards the Elbe was created. The decision on the exact appearance of the monument was not made until the summer of 1958. In the vote at that time, the design was unanimously adopted, although there were no changes to the design despite the demands of the Schiffer-Verein. The 4000 DM that the city made available and the donation sum were not enough to complete the project. Thus further funds had to be requested from the district and the state. At the end of 1958 the required sum of 7500 DM was available, which made it possible to commission.
Source
- Project on the subject of monuments of the 13th grade basic history course at Otto Hahn Gymnasium Geesthacht
Web links
Coordinates: 53 ° 22 ′ 12.9 ″ N , 10 ° 33 ′ 23 ″ E