Weißgerber
The job title Weißgerber , also called Ircher , is derived from the craft of white tanning , a specialized form of tannery .
The craft of white tanning
White tanning is a tanning process in which the tanning is carried out using minerals such as alum or table salt ; this is also called mineral tanning . The bleaching effect of the minerals results in a particularly light - just white tanned - leather. The white tannery was preferred for finer and thinner leathers from calves, sheep and goats. The leather qualities Chevreau leather (goatskin), Glacé (calfskin) or Kid (goatskin) were preferably processed into gloves , bags, book covers and case covers .
Closely related to white tannery - as it was also used for thinner types of leather - is the chamois tannery , which is particularly widespread in Scandinavia and the Baltic States and uses animal fats (especially whale, seal, fish and cod liver oil) as tanning agents came. Chamois leather - also known as wash leather - is very soft and resistant to water, so that it was preferred to make gloves , riding breeches or work aprons . The so-called plaster or chamois leather was originally chamois tanned.
History of the white tannery
In contrast to many other handicrafts, the tannery developed a specialization in the Middle Ages on the basis of processes and materials to be processed. So the trades of developed tanner or Rotgerber, Sämischgerber, Corduaner and just tawer. In the artisan hierarchy of the Middle Ages and the early modern period , the tanner stood with regard to prestige, reputation and revenue under the red or Lohgerbern. In the southern German- speaking area , the white tanner was also referred to as Ircher or Irher .
With the beginning of mechanization in the tannery and the introduction of tanning with metal salts ( chrome tanning ) in the 19th century, the specialized tanning trades and thus also the white tanning disappeared first in the cities, then also in rural areas.
Relics of the ancient craft
Like all tanners, the white tanners had a high demand for water, so that they mostly had their workshops on watercourses. Since the water was heavily polluted by washing the leather, many medieval town ordinances ordered their settlement on the lower reaches of the rivers. Street names in the old city centers like
- Weißgerbergasse (Nuremberg) ,
- Weißgerbergraben ( Regensburg ),
- Weißgerbersteig ( Bad Abbach ),
- Weißgerberstraße ( Greifswald , Lupburg , Mühldorf am Inn , Rostock ) or
- Weißgerberweg ( Beratzhausen , Erkheim , Markt Schwaben , Prien am Chiemsee , Wangen im Allgäu )
- Weißgerberlände , Weißgerberstraße ( Vienna )
still bear witness to these locations today.
One district in Vienna is called Weißgerber ; Family names such as Weißgerber and Weisgerber are also derived from this craft.
A literary monument in the form of an impressive milieu study from the 19th century was given to the Weißgerberohle in Breslau in the novel Soll und haben by Gustav Freytag .
In Doberlug-Kirchhain there is a separate museum dedicated to this handicraft, which belongs to the past, in the open-air museum in Hagen there is a white tanner and furrier house, in which this handicraft is also clearly documented.
literature
- Freytag, Gustav: Debit and credit. Edition in two volumes. Berlin, publishing house of the Schiller bookstore o. J.
- Kühnel, Harry (ed.): Everyday life in the late Middle Ages. Graz, Vienna, Cologne Styria 1986 (3); ISBN 3-222-11528-1
- Palla, Rudi : Disappeared work. A thesaurus of the lost professions. Frankfurt am Main, Vienna Book Guild 1995, ISBN 3-7632-4412-3
