Schröter (profession)
The Schröter (also beer shredder , wine shredder or wine puller ) was a transport profession . The task of the grinder was to "grind" beer or wine in a barrel from the cellar to the ship or car and from the car back into a cellar. This word comes from Middle High German and means “to move a heavy load with the help of a shotgun tree or a shot ladder ”.
The transport often took place over long distances. The Schröter team spent weeks and months with the heavy barrels - a barrel with 1000 liters weighs significantly more than a ton. They drove or towed barges loaded with barrels on carts or ships upstream to their destination.
Schröter has not existed since the beginning of the 20th century. Pumps and hoses that are used to pump wine from one barrel to another have made the Schröter profession superfluous.
The grinding
The Schröter first had to fetch the full barrels from the cellar of a beer brewery or a winery. To do this, he put a shot ladder over the cellar stairs, then rubbed it with grease and rolled the heavy barrel lengthways onto the ladder. In front of the cellar entrance was a reel with two thick hemp ropes with a claw attached to each end. Instead of the reel, the shotgun tree was also used. The two claws were hooked into the bottom of the barrel on the left and right. Now the Schröter began to move the reel up at the cellar entrance and the barrel was slowly pulled up. From there the barrel was rolled onto a trolley . From the trolley it went on to the ship. At the destination, the barrels were again crushed on a wagon and from there into the recipient's cellar. The Schröter transported the empty barrels back in the opposite direction.
The barrels that were used for transport were made of thicker staves than the storage barrels; they were called "transport barrels". These transport barrels were wrapped with birch hoops to protect the barrel staves when rolling.
The work of the grinder was dangerous, because the steep and narrow stairs did not allow evasion if a barrel should slip. Ropes that tear and then snap back, or parts of reels or shotguns that kick back, could lead to serious injuries.
Maintenance of tradition
In Germany there are still three clubs that maintain the Schröter tradition:
- in Winningen on the Moselle the "young winemakers and Schröter guild"
- in Traben-Trarbach on the Moselle the " Guild of Stadtschröter" and
- in Oberdiebach am Rhein the "Guild of the Weinschröter von Oberdiebach".
literature
- Georg Jakob Meyer: From Schrötern and Schrotmaul . In: New Trierisches Jahrbuch, 1965, p. 109.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Schröter . In: Adelung : Grammatical-Critical Dictionary of High German Dialect . 2nd edition (1793–1801), see under 3).
- ↑ Weinschröter . In: Universal Lexicon of the Present and Past . 4., reworked. and greatly increased edition, Volume 19: Weck – Zz and supplements , self-published, Altenburg 1865, p. 55 . Beer crushers . In: Universal Lexicon of the Present and Past . 4., reworked. and greatly increased edition, Volume 2: Aug… -Bodmer , Eigenverlag, Altenburg 1857, p. 767 .
- ↑ to grind. In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm (Hrsg.): German dictionary . tape 15 : Schiefeln – Soul - (IX). S. Hirzel, Leipzig 1899 ( woerterbuchnetz.de ).
- ↑ Winningen: Young winemakers end the Moselfest in their own way rhein-zeitung.de, September 5, 2016
- ^ Guild of Stadtschröter Traben-Trarbach e. V. , see there also history of the profession .
- ^ Guild of the Weinschröter von Oberdiebach e. V.