Prince Guard Cologne 1906

Prinzen-Garde Cologne 1906 eV ; (Prinzen-Garde)
purpose	Maintenance of traditions and customs of the Cologne Carnival
Chair:	Dino Massi (President) ; Marcus Gottschalk (Secretary) ; Thomas Haubner (Treasurer) ; Marcel Kappestein (Commandant)
Establishment date:	1906
Seat :	Cologne old town
Website:	www.prinzen-garde.de

A wind orchestra in the “flour sack” uniform of the Prinzengarde

The Prinzen-Garde Köln 1906 eV is one of the nine traditional corps in the Cologne Carnival and accompanies the Prince Carnival in the Rose Monday procession. Because of their white uniforms set off with red, they are affectionately called "Mählsäck" (flour sacks) by the people of Cologne.

history

The founding members of the Prince's Guard

In 1906 the Prinzen-Garde Cologne was founded as an accompanying corps to the Prince Carnival.

Four years earlier, the City of Cologne's Honorary Guard was founded in 1902 to accompany Bauer and Jungfrau on the Rose Monday procession . In order to provide a worthy escort troop for the Prince Carnival, a group of gentlemen, some of whom already held high positions in the Cologne Carnival Festival Committee or in other Cologne carnival associations , gathered in the Yellow Hall of the Cologne Civil Society on December 16, 1905 and founded them the Prince Guard as the body regiment of the Prince Carnival. In the carnival session in 1906 , the Prinzen-Guard appeared in public for the first time under its President Carl Bormkessel and also represented the Cologne triumvirate of the 1906 session.

Until 1931, various presidents of the Prinzen-Guard of Cologne headed the Prinzen-Garde in frequent turns. One of the most famous is the former president of the Cologne Carnival Festival Committee Fritz Maaß. In 1931, Thomas Liessem , who later became the President of the Cologne Carnival Festival Committee, took over the company as President and later also as Commanding Officer and led it with a brief interruption until 1968.

In 1969 he was succeeded by Hans Becker, who was best known for the television session of the Prince Guard, which has been broadcast on RTL since 1992 .

Heinz-Jürgen Palm headed the company from 2002 to 2007. From 2007 to 2013 Kurt Stumpf was President of the Prinzen-Guard. At the annual general meeting of the Prinzen-Garde in Cologne on September 4, 2013, Dino Massi was elected 11th President of the Guard by a large majority.

structure

The Prinzen-Garde Köln 1906 eV has about 450 members from all ages and professions. Dino Massi has been president since 2013. Each member belongs to one of four so-called body parts . The foot corps and the cavalry corps form the active corps.

Foot corps

The members of the foot corps are on foot in the Rose Monday procession. The teams and NCOs can be recognized by their gold-colored grenadier caps. The officers wear a silver-colored helmet that is modeled on a Prussian officer's hood. The foot corps has been headed by Dr. Stefan Ollig .

Equestrian Corps

The riding corps consists of the members who have enjoyed riding training and who take part in the Rose Monday procession as a mounted unit. The riding corps has been headed by Hermann Sauer since 2007 .

Reserve corps

Long-term members who have been active in foot or riding corps have the opportunity to switch to the reserve corps. In the reserve corps, unlike in the active body parts of the foot corps and equestrian corps, there is no obligation to participate in events of the Prince Guard. Jürgen Wichartz has been the leader of the reserve corps since 2017 .

Corps à la suite

Members who primarily want to support the Prince Guard financially have the opportunity to join the Corps à la suite. The members of the Corps à la suite can take part in all events of the Prince Guard, but are not obliged to do so. Thorsten "Totti" Schmidt has been the leader of the Corps à la suite since June 2016 .

Honorary officers

Due to special merits, people who do not belong to the association can be promoted to honorary officers. Prominent honorary officers of the Prince Guard are the Formula 1 racing driver Michael Schumacher and the Berlin Archbishop Heiner Koch as "regimental bishop ".

Prince's Guard Tower

The Sachsenturm is part of the medieval city wall.

Since 1981 the Prinzen-Garde Köln 1906 eV has found its domicile in one of the defensive towers of the historic Cologne city wall , which is located on the only remaining piece on the Sachsenring . The tower was previously used as a residential building by the Cologne architect Peter Neufert from the 1950s .

With great effort, the tower was prepared based on historical models and adds, among other things inside with paneling that the Cologne City Museum as a permanent loan were provided. In 1999 the tower was extended by an extension on the inner part of the city wall.

The Prinzen-Garde is one of the four of nine traditional corps, the seat of which is one of the historic towers of Cologne's city wall, alongside the Rote Funken , the Blauen Funken and the EhrenGarde.

The tower can be viewed by the public once a year on the Open Monument Day in Cologne as part of a guided tour.

literature

Michael Euler-Schmidt, Marcus Leifeld : The Prince Guard Cologne. A story of high standing and name. JP Bachem Verlag, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-7616-1957-X .
Hildegard Brog: From the defense tower to the Prince Guard tower. A look back at 825 years of Cologne city walls. JP Bachem Verlag, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-7616-1984-7 .
Günther Ortmann: Dreimol vun Hätze: Kölle Alaaf . 1st edition. JP Bachem, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-7616-1780-1 , p. 653 .

Web links

Commons : Prinzen-Garde Cologne 1906 - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Website of the Prinzen-Garde Cologne