Prinzengarde Düsseldorf
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The Prinzengarde of the city of Düsseldorf, life guard of the Prince Carnival , was founded in 1928 and accompanies the "Prince" during the session in the Düsseldorf Carnival .
history
Club history in general
The association was registered on April 24, 1928 under the name Prinzengarde der Stadt Düsseldorf . With the entry of May 4, 1928, it received the addition of Prince Carnival's bodyguard . It was decided to make the princes honorary members of the Guard in the future. Prince Heinz I followed Toni I (Toni Bors), Willi I (Willi Peters), who all emerged from the ranks of the Prinzengarde. The ancestral castles of the carnival were the Rheinterrasse and the Kristallpalast on Friedrichstrasse. On September 11th, the Lord Mayor of Düsseldorf, Robert Lehr , took over the patronage of the company and officially allowed the Prinzengarde to be the only company in Düsseldorf to wear the city coat of arms on its chest.
The festivals that followed in the years after it was founded were all great events. Even the newspapers were full of praise when the Prince's Guard marched:
- "We are proud Prince Guards,
- full of humor and a thousand lists,
- our battle cry is Helau! "
moved in. The decision to raise two uniformed troops was carried out in 1934 when the Artillery Corps of the Prince's Guard was set up. The "Rheinische Metallwaren- und Maschinenfabrik AG" made the "red and white Berta", which now shoots heavy volleys of candy every year in the Rose Monday procession.
In the years 1931 to 1933, when dark clouds appeared on the political horizon of Germany, there were no Rose Monday parades in Düsseldorf and carnival club life also largely came to a standstill. This also threatened and paralyzed the young Prince's Guard. The number of guardsmen dropped from almost 50 to a full seven, but their cohesion became particularly tight at the time of the difficulties. They founded the Agger Association . The name came from the village of Clef in the Aggertal, where they went camping on the weekends with their families. A conspiratorial society of like-minded people emerged here, whose close ties continued even when the Prinzengarde celebrated glamorous parties again in the mid-1930s. Such festivals were out of the question in those days, and the carnival hustle and bustle took on strange forms. The small group of Prince Guards met on Carnival days in Cafe Tabaris, each with a suitcase in hand, in which the uniform was hidden. At that time it was simply impossible to take to the streets in uniform without being bullied or threatened in life and limb by thugs of the SA or the Communists. So they changed clothes in the Cafe Tabaris, chose an “unofficial carnival prince” from among like-minded people and cheered him on. Of course you celebrated yourself a little and stayed with the other guests until the early morning.
1st chairperson
- 1928 Eugen Billig
- 1929–1935 Peter Mehl
- 1936–1937 Leo Statz
- 1938–1939 Mathias Peters
- 1940–1948 not occupied
- 1949 Mathias Peters
- 1950–1956 Peter Mehl
- 1957–1959 Hans Heiling
- 1960–1972 Fritz Hildemann
- 1973–1980 Heino Plönes
- 1981 Rudolf Witzel
- 1982–1991 Dieter Koelzer
- 1992–1996 Hans-Joachim Schneewind
- 1997 Harald Müller
- 1998–2000 Horst Moebius
- 2001–2001 Willy Comp (died after a short time)
- 2001–2009 Peter König
- 2009-2014 Michael Kux
- since 2014 Dirk Kemmer
President
- 1928–1935 Peter Mehl
- 1936–1937 Leo Statz
- 1938–1939 Heinrich Daniel
- 1940–1948 not occupied
- 1949–1957 Hans Heiling
- 1958–1972 Fritz Hildemann
- 1973–1980 Heino Plönes
- 1981 Franz Ketzer
- 1982–1994 Klaus Kölzer
- 1994–1995 Karl-Heinz Hermanns
- 1996–1997 Harald Müller
- 1998–2000 Horst Moebius
- 2001–2009 Peter König
- 2010–2013 Michael Kux
- since 2013 Dirk Kemmer
Commanders
- 1928–1930 Hans Kock
- 1931–1933 Peter Esser
- 1934–1937 Mathias Peters
- 1938–1939 Willy Pieper
- 1940–1948 not occupied
- 1949–1956 Willy Pieper
- 1957–1960 K. Schmidt-Duisberg
- 1961–1964 Jo Feuser
- 1964–1966 Kurt Koelzer
- 1967–1972 Karl-Heinz Hermanns
- 1973–1981 Dieter Koelzer
- 1982–1986 Gottfried Rohrbach
- 1987–1989 Karl Eitel-Emil Müller-Schoenfeld
- 1990–1994 Günther Pagalies
- 1995–1998 Dieter Chalupecky
- 1998–2008 Klaus-Jürgen Christen
- 2008–2011 Klaus Eyckeler
- 2012–2017 Peter Sökefeld
- since 2017 Marco Bätzel
The corps
The uniformed corps, the "active" as they were called earlier, is divided into the parts artillery, baggage, cavalry and reserve corps. The entire corps is led by the commandant. He is supported in this by the corps commanders of the individual formations and the general staff. The total number of the corps is around 120 active members.
The individual body parts are of different ages. The cavalry is the nucleus of the Prinzengarde, created in 1928, it already had over 30 riders in 1930.
The former commandant Klaus-Jürgen Christen , who was in office from 1998 to 2008, initiated a considerable expansion and, as a result, rejuvenation of the corps during his tenure. The current lift capacity is around 120 to 140 people (including music, flag group and dancers).
artillery
The artillery corps joined the cavalry in 1934, and the first “fat Berta” came from Rheinmetall . Gunpowder was used for shooting, so only an officially licensed shooting master was allowed to operate the cannon. One can easily imagine what the gunners looked like after the Rose Monday procession, the black instead of the white trousers in the artillery were not without reason. The gun was shipped to Great Britain as spoils of war by the English after the Second World War, which is why the Prinzengarde has had a new gun since 1948, which has been rebuilt and restored several times in the more than 50 years of its existence.
The latest regulation of the Weapons Act no longer allows full use in the Rose Monday procession, it is only allowed to drive with it, but no longer shoot. This part of the corps is currently led by the artillery corps leader Christoph Ily .
Baggage
The cavalry has been supplied with its own baggage car since the late 1950s on Shrove Monday, but the actual hour of birth for the baggage corps was during the corps excursion of the Prince Guards to Gevelinghausen Castle in 1975. A covered wagon trip was made there as part of this weekend trip. The corps leadership led by Commandant Dieter Kölzer liked the vehicle so much that the Prinzengarde had such a covered wagon made for the Rose Monday procession in Düsseldorf. In 1976 it rolled with it for the first time and the Prince Guards riding on it laid the foundation for this new body part. At the beginning of the 1990s, the requirement that every Prince Guard must learn to ride was relaxed and since then the baggage corps has been a steadily growing formation of the corps under the current baggage corps leader Andreas Schletter .
cavalry
In the years after the Second World War, the Prinzengarde cavalry developed into a troop that cared about equestrian sport not only on Rose Monday. In addition to small, internal association competitions on horseback, there was the “Four Cities Tournament” in the mid-1970s, an equestrian competition between the Prinzengarden from Aachen , Düsseldorf and Cologne , as well as the Bonn City Soldiers Corps. Even almost thirty years since it was first held, it is still an event full of sporting ambitions and social significance for all participating teams. These four cavalry formations were also able to experience a high point in their equestrian life when they took part in the opening of the show jumping world championships in July 1986 in the Aachen Soers. Those involved were allowed to ride a quadrille in front of 30,000 spectators on the Soers' "sacred lawn" for riders and were greeted with applause. Regular work with the horse is mandatory for all guardsmen. It does not matter whether riding with your own horse is a second, time-consuming hobby in addition to the carnival, or whether the aim of the school horse riders is just to safely participate on Rose Monday. Safe handling of the horse is achieved through regular handling of the horse, which is the task of the current cavalry corps leader Stefan Karras .
Reserve corps
The reserve corps is made up of the Prince Guards of the three body parts artillery, baggage and cavalry. They are guardsmen who cannot or do not want to participate there for reasons of age or work. This body part is intended to give veteran Prince Guards a home, so that they can provide the boys with advice and financial help on the one hand, but also continue to enjoy their Prince Guard on the other. Dieter Chalupecky is currently the corps commander .
Honor badge bearer
The corps of honor bearers supports the Prinzengarde annually with a substantial amount. These are committed Prince Guards, some of whom have felt particularly connected to the Prinzengarde for years and express this bond in this special form. As an outward sign of dignity, they wear the club's cap with an embroidered sword and receive an engraved sword of honor upon their appointment.
Active members currently:
- since 1992 Horst Moebius
- since 2003 Ulrich Schürhoff
- since 2004 Markus Hendricks
- since 2005 Harald Stöckl
- since 2006 Joachim Regenbogen
- since 2007 Lutz Meyer
- since 2007 Oliver Kinne
- since 2009 Jens Falkenburg
- since 2010 Friedrich Birgels
- since 2010 Axel Both (spokesman for the honorary bearers)
- since 2010 Burkhard Walter
- since 2011 Achim W. Paskuda
- since 2013 Holger Feldmann
- since 2017 Peter Dietlmaier
- since 2018 Oliver A. Münks
Senators
Similar to the corps of honor bearers, the senators support the Prinzenguard in a special way. This assigned body part, founded in 2006, thus forms another pillar of the Prinzengarde. As an outward sign, they wear the club cap with red and white stones:
- since 2006 Peter Kampes
- since 2006 Manfred Weise
- since 2012 Hans-Josef Hautzer (Senate Spokesman)
- since 2014 Bernd Zaum
- since 2015 Peter-Michael Halcour
- since 2015 Jürgen Heuser
- since 2015 Alfred Lilienthal
- since 2016 Ulrich Brandes
- since 2016 Dirk Hartl
- since 2017 Sebastian Per Bonenkamp
- since 2017 Thomas Elberg
- since 2018 Johannes Ringel
- since 2018 Timo Zohm
- since 2018 Martin Vomfelde
- since 2018 Hellfried Scholtz
- since 2019 Thomas Weinsberg
- since 2019 Ulrich Horn
- since 2019 Gerhard Fiss
Honorary senators
The Prinzengarde appoints persons of public life and business who feel particularly connected to the Prinzengarde as honorary senators. In addition, board members who have resigned and who have served on the board for at least 11 years are included in this status. Another tradition is to appoint the Lord Mayor as an honorary senator.
Honorary Senators:
- Ralf Peter Bräuer (board member)
- Dieter Chalupecky (board member)
- Dirk Elbers (Ex-Lord Mayor)
- Josef Esser (board member)
- Paul-Otto Fassbender
- Thomas Geisel (Lord Mayor)
- Michael Gérard
- Peter Kapfer
- Michael Josef Kux (board member)
- Dieter Linssen
- Marlies Smeets (Honorary Mayor)
- Friedrich Steinhausen (board member)
- Bernd Zschornack (board member)
Members
The Prinzengarde currently has around 400 voting members. Of these, about 120 people belong to the uniformed corps. Membership can only be acquired with at least 2 guarantors from among the members.
Honorary members
Honorary membership is awarded for special services to the Prince's Guard. In addition, artists are occasionally given this dignity. In addition, honorary membership is offered to every incumbent prince of the city of Düsseldorf and (as a rule) accepted by him. The dignity of the senator and honorary representative is also associated with honorary membership. Well-known honorary members are:
- Heino
- Jörg Knör
- René Heinersdorff
- Gunther Philipp
- Al Bano
- Roberto Blanco
- Thomas Anders
- Jan Hofer
- Klaus-Peter Müller
- Philippe Carouge
- Axel Bellinghausen
Board
The board consists of ten people. Besides the commander, who is elected exclusively by the uniformed corps for a period of three years, the remaining nine board members are also elected by the general assembly for a period of three years. The president is not elected by the assembly, but appointed by the board, so this can be a different person than the chairman.
The current board
- President and Chairman Dirk Kemmer
- deputy Chairman: Thomas Stelzmann
- Commander: Marco Bätzel
- Editing and ticket sales: Sebastian Per Bonenkamp
- Equipment master: Markus Quasdorf
- Head of equipment: Christian Messing
- Treasurer: Martin Wenzel
- Writer: Stefan Kleinehr
- Head of the office: Frank Ebest
- Press: Ralf Bieder
activities
In addition to accompanying the prince and their own elevators, the guard has been involved in various carnival and social activities since the beginning. In addition to the motto-related costume meeting and other carnival events, special mention is made of the International Ball , an event that has been taking place for more than 50 years and has a special social character in Düsseldorf. The FedeFe costume festival on Carnival Saturday , which has been taking place in the Steigenberger Parkhotel for over 55 years, is also very traditional .
The largest Rhenish Guard meeting has also been taking place in front of the town hall for over 40 years as part of the Prinzengarde bivouac.
On Rose Monday, the Prinzengarde is represented with a large team. In addition to the two party cars, there is a car for the Prince's Guard and for baggage. In addition, the artillery with the cannon, the goulash cannon, the cavalry corps, the flag throwers and the regimental music train.
Child guard
Just in time for the 75th anniversary of the Prinzengarde of the city of Düsseldorf, the life guard of the Prince Carnival, the child prince couple, who have been enthroned since 1953, received their own guardians in 2003.
The idea of introducing many children to the Düsseldorf Carnival and the Rhenish way of life in a playful way was immediately well received. An interesting game program and the own clown group "Rosso-Bianco" were able to inspire the children and the Prinzengarde children's carnival was a successful event. The children's carnival always took place under a motto, which was then the namesake for the game ideas, e.g. B. “Foolish space trip”, “Asterix and Obelix”, “Villa Kunterbunt”, “Harry Potter” or “Western Parade”.
In 2001, the Prinzengarde of the City of Düsseldorf received a DM 10,000 prize from the German Children's Fund in Berlin for their commitment to the children's carnival, which has been going on for more than four decades. The generous cash gift was invested in youth development, so uniforms for ten children between the ages of four and twelve could be purchased. As the “Guard of the Child Prince and Princes of the City of Düsseldorf”, they accompany the reigning Child Prince Couple through the session at various appearances and also present a small program typical of the Guard. In the meantime this guard has grown to over 55 children.
Rudi
Since the 2007/2008 session, the Prinzengarde has awarded the “Rudi” as the highest award for special services in tradition, sport or society, named after Rudi Witzel, who was also the first winner during his lifetime.
Bearer of Rudi:
- since 2007 Rudi Witzel
- since 2008 Hille Erwin
- since 2011 Paul-Otto Faßbender
- since 2014 Heribert Klein
- since 2017 Oscar Bruch
Domicile
The address of the Prinzengarde is:
Prinzengarde of the City of Düsseldorf, Life Guard of the Prince Carnival, Königsallee 100, 40215 Düsseldorf
The casino is located in the basement of the building . The veteran of the Prinzengarde, Rudolf Witzel, bequeathed his home to the Prinzengarde while he was still alive. Every Friday evening there is a meeting point for all interested members and guests.