Fasching, Fasnacht or Karneval?

Today’s Fasnacht in the three-country region of Lake Constance is a colourful mix: a bit of Habsburg Fasching, defiant “Bühnenfasnacht” on stage, and a hefty portion of Rhenish Karneval. Influenced by the resurgent Cologne Karneval, ‘Prince Carnival’ even became the leading figure in the Southwest after 1860: Magnificent parades with floats were organised in German and Swiss cities and lavish balls were celebrated. The colonialism of the European states was also reflected in Fasnacht: The jesters caricatured the subjugated peoples of Africa and Asia.

During National Socialism, the Swiss neighbours kept their distance, whilst the German humourists quickly adapted to the new era. As long as terror prevailed, the jesters unwaveringly continued to produce good humour. Unsurprisingly, the Nazi era was kept quiet after 1945. People, scarred by their own war losses, just wanted a distraction from the post-war hardship and stars like Karl Steuer offer nostalgic revues and wistful songs.

The exhibition, our documentary film and accompanying book tell a different history of the regions Fasnacht based on spectacular source finds: Vividly and with a critical distance to the usual self-praise of organised carnival.

The documentary can be watched for free with your admission ticket in the cinema of the Rosgartenmuseum, Rosgartenstraße 3-5 in Constance. Here our cosy museum’s café also awaits you.

The Empress regulates “Fasching”

During the reign of the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa, the so-called Habsburg ‘Vorlanden’ between Bregenz and Freiburg saw a new regulation of “Fasching”. The Empress and even more so her strict successor, Emperor Joseph II, issued bans on street carnival and strict ‘ball regulations’ for their territory. Hereby, the wild carnival parties organised by the old craft guilds were banned. The street carnival “Straßenfasnacht” which was still characterised by the late Middle Ages was suppressed as a relic of superstitious times.

In Constance too, “Fasching”, as it is now called, moves from the street to the ballroom: In the former Jesuit theatre (now the municipal theatre), which was converted into a ‘comedy house’ in 1787, elegant balls are held – just like at the Viennese court, which people tried to imitate.

Admission is very expensive and only high society is allowed in. The aristocrats of the time were delighted by the costumes of the Venetian Carnival: Domino, Harlequin, Pulcinella, dwarves and giants also enlivened the castles and ballrooms on Lake Constance.

 

The Middle Classes conquer Fasching

The up-and-coming middle classes, who dominated trade and commerce in the cities around 1830, did not want to leave carnival to the nobility alone. New bourgeois associations called “Bürgermuseum” or “Casino” organised masked balls and costume balls. Since 1806, the German shore of Lake Constance belonged to Baden, Bavaria or Württemberg. Because censorship reigned here after the fall of Napoleon, those in favour of more freedom often celebrated in the public houses of the republican canton of Thurgau. There freedom of speech prevails.

In Cologne in 1823, a committee, “Festordnendes Comité”, took on the worn-out traditions and organised the first Rosenmontags-Parade with a “Prince Carnival” – in the spirit of the prevailing Romanticism. The Cologne model was imitated: For example in February 1830, a “masquerade” with a public parade was announced for the first time in Constance. Carnival plays on open-air stages were not only organised in Stockach; such performances also took place in Hegau and in communities in eastern Switzerland around 1840.

Freedom-loving associations such as the “Narrenrunde Bodan” in Constance first appeared around 1835 with a satirical jester’s play. Local events and contemporary phenomena are commented upon. The composer Ferdinand Schmalholz wrote the accompanying music. This is the birth of the “Bühnenfasnacht”, the stage carnival, as we know it until today.

 

„Hecker hat“ banned: Revolution and Reaction

In Cologne and Mainz, in the turbulent times before the European revolutions of 1848/49, political carnival speeches are cultivated and satirical jester newspapers are published. Friedrich Hecker, who later became a revolutionary in Baden, appeared at the Mannheim carnival. A number of democrats and later revolutionaries were also active in associations on Lake Constance, organising mocking ‘masquerades’, among other things. Members of the Radolfzell “Narrizella Ratoldi” carnival guild founded in 1842 and the “Bürgermuseum” in Constance were prosecuted after the failure of the revolution.

After the end of the dream of freedom in 1849, the Prussian occupiers regarded all ‘carnival festivities’ as suspicious. Bans were issued throughout the South-West. The Prussians also endeavoured to erase the memory of the popular heroes of the freedom movement: The wide-brimmed “Hecker hat” was banned. Anyone wearing the hat or other insignia of the revolution is severely punished.

After years of oppression, democratically minded men and women are once again drawn to free Switzerland. The Thurgau village carnival with its balls “Schneckenbällen” offers “Schübling” sausages, sweet “Punschkrapfen” and mulled wine “Glühwein”. This makes the time of political bans more bearable.

 „Karnevalisten“ on Lake Constance

When people were allowed to celebrate carnival unhindered again around 1860, everyone looked to Cologne: “Prince Carnival” became the leading figure in the South too. Everywhere “committees” organised magnificent “carnival parades”. Soon a veritable founding boom broke out all over Lake Constance: In Constance a confectioner and two friends founded the “Elefanten Actien- und Faschingsgesellschaft” in 1880. The gentlemen form a ‘council of eleven’, wear red tailcoats and velvet trousers and obtain jester’s caps from a Cologne outfitter.

In the industrial town of Singen, a new jesters‘ society calls itself the “Poppele-Zunft” after the legendary bailiff of the Hohenkrähen. The traditional „Stockacher Narrengericht“ experienced a new heyday. The “Groppenfasnacht” is founded in the Thurgau fishing village of Ermatingen. In the Niederburg district of Constance, craftsmen found the carnival society of the same name, while farmers in the Paradies district found the “Kamelia”. In the village of Wollmatingen, the later “Giraffen” carnival society is founded. Emmishofen also gets its own jesters‘ society. The people of Lake Constance become enthusiastic carnival revellers.

The economy flourishes, employees receive higher wages with shorter working hours. They get involved in the new “carnival societies”. The romantic zeitgeist loves history: Everything should be as traditional and “historical” as possible.

 

The latest Carnival in the World

In 1894 an old legend was revived in the Thurgau village of Ermatingen, giving rise to the “Groppenfasnacht”, a carnival celebrated in March: The figure of “King Gropp” – modelled on a small fish from the Untersee – leads a procession of fishermen and carnival-style satirical floats. The Groppenfasnacht is an original mixture of the old spring festival of the fishing families, elements of the Swiss farmers‘ carnival and carnivalistic influences.

Three versions of the legend exist: Two versions claim that one of the popes of the Council of Constance (1414-1418) allowed the people of Ermatingen to break Lent because of a favour they had shown. The third version says that the Bishop of Constance, Hugo von Hohenlandenberg, granted the late carnival day after he was rescued from distress at sea and treated to baked Gropp fish.

The romantic story is ideally suited to create a “historical carnival tradition” from it. In 1904, the Groppenfasnacht was given a “committee”. Since the 1920s, its members have worn an oriental fez, which Walter Koch, a miller from Ermatingen, had brought back from his years of travelling in Turkey. To this day, the “latest carnival in the world” is a popular opportunity to celebrate carnival again long after Ash Wednesday.

 

Foolish Humour: Misogynistic Jokes from Books

Shortly after their foundation, many carnival and jester societies organise so-called “colourful evenings”. Initially, the programme is rarely local in character, usually consisting of common humour: In Mainz and Cologne printed sample carnival speeches and short one-act plays can be ordered and acted out. Officers, cuckolded husbands and silly chambermaids form the standard personnel.

Such sample books also offer suggestions as to the theme of a concert or ball: “Circus” or “Hamburg Harbour”, a “Viennese Evening”, the “Nymph Dance” or “On the Riviera” are popular.

If a carnival society has authors with a talent for writing – very rarely female authors are also admitted – the numbers are enriched with local references. Technical innovations are often mocked: The new electric light, the first telephone connections and automobiles or the first “cinematograph” stirred the emotions.

Until the First World War (1914-1918), the humour remained loyal to the authorities, mostly apolitical and almost always misogynistic. Even then, minorities, foreigners and reform-minded opposition movements were often criticised. The vegetarian movement, girls at grammar school and the demand for women’s suffrage are subjected to caustic male ridicule.

Indigenous Peoples as “Cannibals”

Towards the end of the 19th century, the German Empire, like other European states, secured its own colonies in Africa, the South Sea and Asia. Magazine articles, “colonial goods” and advertising anchored colonial consciousness in everyday culture. The “Völkerschauen” (human zoos) organised by Hamburg’s Carl Hagenbeck present indigenous people from the colonies like zoo animals. Such human shows were also held on the German-Swiss shores of Lake Constance.

New “racial doctrines” justify the domination of the supposedly more developed white race over other cultures. “People with dark skin colour, are considered particularly inferior. European researchers travel through Africa and carry out practical “racial research” there. Along the way, they steal and rob the cultural artefacts of indigenous peoples, which remain in German museums en masse.

Under these influences the carnival societies also adopt a racist tone. Almost without exception Africans appear as uncivilised “savages”, as “man-eaters” with nose rings and bones in their hair. During carnival time bizarrely exaggerated “delegations” from the colonies are received in the Lake Constance region as well as elsewhere. Even the Boer War in South Africa and the massacres of the African Nama and Herero by German colonial troops are enthusiastically re-enacted. The fools have become funny racists.

 

Are carnival “Indians” or “Chinese” racist?

Today, there is widespread agreement that racist patterns from the period of colonial oppression and exploitation continue to have an impact in many Western societies. The “post-colonial discourse” makes such patterns visible. For example, representatives of indigenous peoples reject imitative costumes as unacceptable “cultural appropriation”.

However, imitating the fascinating costumes and customs of other cultures does not necessarily have to be interpreted as racist and exploitative. It can also be understood as part of global cultural exchange and the artistic development of one’s own culture. However, even this interpretation is often rejected with reference to the oppression experienced by many indigenous cultures at the hands of European colonial powers.

Carnival Bans after the First World War

In the summer of 1914, many Germans think that a short war is necessary to rid the European world of everything rotten. The last carnival and Fasnacht season before mass death is exuberantly celebrated. In 1914, 22 masked balls and costume parties were held in hotels and inns in Constance alone. Around five months later, the young jesters become cannon fodder. Then Fasnacht fell silent across the whole of Lake Constance for over five years.

In the difficult years of crisis following the German defeat in 1918 and during the transition from the German Empire to the Weimar democracy, the carnival remained banned. Only “old customs” may be cultivated and performed: Many carnival associations adopt supposedly old and traditional customs, masks and costumes. However, the churches demanded the abolition of carnival for moral reasons and agitated against the “dancing mania” and “pleasure-seeking”.

But then, for a few years, a new heyday dawned: Jazz music from the US, satirical cabarets in the capital cities, the political equality of women, advances in technology and in everyday life also gave new impetus to street and stage carnival: Fasnacht became more feminine, more fashionable, erotic and musical.

 

The Brief Heyday of the “Golden Twenties”

In the few years leading up to the beginning of the Nazi dictatorship in 1933, everyday life changes fundamentally. The cinema becomes a mass entertainment. The radio and the gramophone, modern household appliances, photography, sports and illustrated magazines find their way into the everyday. Film stars such as Lilian Harvey, Willy Forst, Charlie Chaplin and the young Marlene Dietrich (‘The Blue Angel’, 1930) are idols whose clothing and role types are enthusiastically imitated.

This spirit of optimism also affected the carnival scene: Inspired by fashion and social magazines as well as the new image of women created by the reformers, hair and skirts became shorter. Women appeared “tomboyish”, began smoking, going out alone and breaking away from male-dominated conventions. Young men also break with the pre-war Prussian military ideal of masculinity. Costumes are more colourful, people enjoy their new freedom.

In Constance, a young comedian becomes the star of the stage at the jesters‘ concerts: Karl Steuer, a master orthopaedic mechanic, has become acquainted with the great Berlin cabarets. The “Elefanten AG” and the “Bürgerverein Bodan” stage elaborate revues with modern music and political satire. Audiences from Switzerland also flock to the “Konzilsgebäude” in Constance, where carnivalistic entertainment is staged.

 

“Cute little things”: Women at Fasnacht

Around 1890 women could not even become paying members of carnival societies. They were only allowed to attend balls as male accessories. In stage speeches “Bühnenreden”, they appeared as “cute little things” or – if they were wives – as “quarrelsome house dragons”. Such discrimination was in line with the prevailing legal situation: At the time, women were excluded from public life in European constitutions. Their goal in life should be marriage and family.

Until 1918, women in Germany did not have the right to vote, nor could they easily attend secondary school or university. To this day, generations of carnival speakers never tire of ridiculing women.

For a long time, the male leadership of Fasnacht reacted to the softening of male self-images with resolute defence. Men in women’s costumes were seen as sissies. Jokes about homosexuality were widespread, especially as homosexual acts between men were a criminal offence in the Federal Republic of Germany from 1871 to 1994.

The equal participation of women in leading positions in organised Fasnacht is an achievement of the late 20th century. Today, it goes without saying that women also lead or share the responsibility for organised carnival clubs.

 

‘Aryan Heritage“: Fasnacht adapts

When democracy was abolished in 1933, the jesters‘ associations and societies did not make use of their “Narrenrecht” to contradict and dissent. The middle classes had already moved far to the right in the years of crisis since 1929. After the Reichstag elections of 1930, the NSDAP became the third strongest party in many places. Members of the “Niederburg”, “Elefanten”, “Schneckenburg” and the later “Seehasen” were already close to the party. Adolf Hitler is also seen as a beacon of hope in other carnival societies.

In 1933, only one jester president on Lake Constance loses his office: The Radolfzell dentist Hermann Fendrich has to leave because he does not favour the National Socialists. In Mainz and Cologne, on the other hand, courageous carnival speakers were banned from performing. In Meßkirch, Fritz Heidegger, brother of the famous philosopher, defies all dangers and continues to give outspoken carnival speeches.

The National Socialists use the carnival to anchor their regime in the population. Alemannic folklore declares Fasnacht as “Aryan original heritage”. Therefore, they demand more “Volksfasnacht”, more folk carnival, masquerades and guild rules: In 1934, “Fasnacht as it used to be” is celebrated for the first time. Nobody knows exactly what that is. The new Fasnacht was supposed to be “Germanic” somehow, and not carnival-like at all.

 

Nazi Humour and the End of Good Neighbourliness

At the beginning of the Nazi dictatorship, the societies “Narrengesellschaften” made a radical break with the innovations of the 1920s: Jazz, foxtrot, the allegedly “Jewish-corrosive humour” of cabarets and greater freedom of movement for women were banned. The jester societies adapted at lightning speed, not wanting to risk being banned from performing.

In many cities, organised jesters cultivated amicable contacts with the Nazi ruling elite: Town hall leaders and party bosses attend the “Colourful Evenings” as guests of honour. Only rarely do they exert pressure on the organisers, the self-adjustment is complete. They mocked the Weimar democracy, the “Aryanisation” of Jewish businesses and persecuted political opponents. Only rarely do the “Bühnennaren” allow themselves a joke at the expense of the town hall. The Reich Chancellor and “Führer” Adolf Hitler remains completely taboo.

As the harassment against Swiss guests at the border became increasingly severe, mutual visits and joint parades ceased. In Schaffhausen and Thurgau, however, the local jesters caricature the brown dictatorship next door. But the Swiss government, dependent on German supplies of raw materials, demands the utmost restraint.

 

Purim, the Jewish Carnival

Numerous Jewish citizens became involved in the Alemannic-Catholic carnival associations. From 1933 onwards, they were forced to leave. Until then, Jewish communities in the Lake Constance region also celebrated Purim, their very own “Jewish carnival”. The festival is based on a biblical tradition: The Book of Esther tells of the salvation of the Jewish people in the Persian diaspora. On the day on which the Jews should have died due to the treachery of the Persian royal counsellor Haman (the day is always in February or March), the Jews have celebrated the victory over Haman and the salvation of their people.

There is noise in the synagogue, children use rattles and ratchets. For the Purim meal, kreplach, a type of dumpling with beef, and „hamantash“ filled patries with poppy seeds or plum jam are enjoyed.

The most prominent Purim takes place in Gailingen on the Upper Rhine. Hundreds of Jews from the region and from Zurich to Basel come together to experience the big parade, cabaret evenings and masked balls. The Swiss Federal Railway runs special trains. Under increasing persecution, the Jewish jester’s chant is heard for the last time in 1937:

„Narro narro Gigeboge

De Rebbe (Rabbiner) kann uns nix mehr froge

Er waß nix – und ich waß nix,

de Purim isch bald doo.“

 

Foolish Mockery of Persecuted Jews

Since 1934, anti-Jewish parade groups have repeatedly appeared in the carnival metropolises of Cologne and Munich and even in smaller towns in the Reich. The schadenfreude underlying such stagings cannot be overlooked.

The first anti-Semitic floats rolled through the working-class town of Singen am Hohentwiel. The villages surrounding the industrial town have been characterised by Alemannic rural Jewry for centuries. For the 1934 carnival, the small-calibre rifle club and the Singen innkeepers‘ association put several floats designed as railway carriages on the streets. Inside are crooked-nosed figures in dark clothing with small suitcases: Jewish emigration begins. Signs are emblazoned on the carriages: “From Berlin to Palestine” or “Gailingen – Nazareth”. The group is well received and wins 1st prize.

In 1938, the traditional carnival play in the Black Forest town of Bonndorf is organised under the motto “Jewish Congress in Bonndorf”. According to a Nazi party newspaper, the “congress” would present the “unique solution to the Jewish question in the world”.

In November 1938, synagogues were set on fire across the country. Two days after the pogrom, the carnival season begins. Houses of worship have burned, but the jesters celebrate their “colourful evenings” as if nothing had happened.

Distraction from Everyday Life and the Great Forgetting

The French military government in Constance gathers together members of the Wehrmacht’s front-line theatres: They now sing and play for French soldiers. Ex-front theatre boss Werner Knuth hires the carnival star Karl Steuer. Together they put on successful musical revues. Guest performances are even given in Hegau and Linzgau. Many people mourn the loss of fallen and missing soldiers and now crave some kind of distraction.

After denazification, the “Narrenvereine” are re-established everywhere. In “jester concerts” and parades, people only mock the denazification of the Allies. Their own involvement in the Nazi era is not an issue. The carnval societies also become actors in the great forgetting. Karl Steuer sings the “‘Münsterturm” song and conjures up an intact past – World War II and the Holocaust never seem to have happened.

As the Cold War begins, the Germans become allies. The jesters‘ societies are already storming the offices of the military government: Franco-German friendship can begin. Contacts with Switzerland are not revitalised until the early 1950s. Then, however, joint parades and conventions take place again.

 

Willi Hermann: Ex-propaganda Speaker composes Carnival Songs

In the blossoming period of the “economic miracle”, a Nazi perpetrator starts a new career unchallenged at the “Niederburg” society in Constance: The former NSDAP propaganda speaker Willi Hermann becomes known throughout the country with his Fasnachts songs. During the Nazi years, the self-proclaimed anti-Semite had been in charge of ideological training for the party’s new generation.

The timeless success of his lively Fasnachts hits only came to an end in 2018, when Constance city archivist Jürgen Klöckler uncovered Hermann’s oppressive Nazi past. Constance is divided: The non-political songs should still be sung, say the defenders. Critical voices say that songs by a Nazi perpetrator can no longer be sung with a clear conscience – moreover, the lyrics are chauvinistic and outdated. The SWR (Southwest Public-Law Broadcasting) insists that no more Hermann songs will be played on the TV Fasnachts programme.

 

Artists‘ Fasnacht from Otto Dix to Sepp Biehler

Artists also develop their own Fasnachts culture. After the Second World War, the studio parties organised by Otto Dix and his daughter Nelly in Hemmenhofen on the Höri and the house balls of artists from Constance were very popular. For the 1951 Fasnacht, Dix and other painters invite guests to the “The Drunken Ship” ball at the Hotel “Frieden” in Wangen. Max Ackermann, Curth Georg Becker, Jean Paul Schmitz, Eugen Segewitz, Ferdinand Macketanz, Walter Herzger and the young Rudolf Stuckert, among others, signed the invitation card as “captains”.

In Constance, the painter Sepp Biehler perceived the post-war period as a liberating awakening to new artistic fulfilment. Together with their architect friends Werner Blomeier, son of a Bauhaus architect, and Berthold Schwan, Sepp and Isolde Biehler already organised the first house ball as early as 1946.

A highlight of this artists‘ carnival is the “Zirkus Rossbolli” ball initiated by Sepp Biehler in 1950. In the sawdust-filled ring in the large hall of the Kunstverein, the artists perform as weightlifters, fire-eaters, animal tamers and bullfighters. The artistically designed invitations and programmes breathe the spirit of new beginnings and modernity – in contrast to the re-established, traditional society Fasnacht “Vereinsnarretei”.

TV Concerts: Fasnacht for Millions

The Social Democrat Willy Brandt becomes Chancellor of a social-liberal coalition in 1969. This marks the beginning of an era of reform in the Federal Republic of Germany. Younger stage actors such as Helmut Faßnacht take up the formula of “Daring more democracy” and create cheekier, more political performances. The audience is enthusiastic, the jester concerts of the societies, the “Vereinigte Konstanzer Narrengesellschaften”, are sold out.

The Südwestfunk radio station records for its radio programmes. 1955 sees the launch of the programme “Mainz bleibt Mainz, wie es singt und lacht” (Mainz stays Mainz, how it sings and laughs) and is from then on regarded as the standard measure of the “television suitability” of the Bühnenfasnacht, the stage carnival. Kurt Felix, who later became a talk show host, was a guest at the Emmishofer Fasnacht for Swiss television in 1968. In 1977, the “Konstanzer Narrenkonzert” made it onto television. Since 1998, the programme has been broadcast live from Constance every year under the direction of Heinz Maser.

New stars emerge in the 1980s: The Swabians Alfred Heizmann and Karle Maurer, then Norbert Heizmann with Claudia Zähringer. In Stockach, the traditional “Narrengericht”, the jester’s court, has been focussing on charges against political celebrities since 1965. The “Langensteiner Cumpaney” awards the highly respected “Alefanz-Orden”, and in Constance the “Jakobinertribunal” is created as an open-air jester’s play with space to improvise.

 

Fasnacht in Crisis?

Fasching, Fasnacht and carnival are traditional cultural assets that are constantly changing: New costumes, groups and trends emerge, and some of them disappear again. The old remains, but changes. Today, women hold key positions in many societies, and youth work is often exemplary. The lack of space due to the decline of catering establishments is problematic, especially in smaller towns. Security requirements and ancillary costs are also a problem for the societies.

The old chauvinism often still prevails on stage and jokes are made at the expense of women and minorities. At the same time, there is a lack of young talent that could help the “Bühnenfasnacht” to have a secure future. Opportunities to offer young people their own stage formats are only hesitantly accepted. Apparently, in addition to deficits in the talent for text production, there is less desire for the “stage business” than in the past: The pressure of production, fixed rehearsal times and fixed performance dates demand a level of commitment that tends to deter many young people – at least at present.

Over the past 200 years, Fasnacht has always shown itself to be versatile. The need for role-playing, masks and mockery will remain and will continue to create its own forms of expression in the future.

With your current ticket, you can watch the documentary film “Maskeraden. 200 years of Fasching, Fasnacht and Carnival on Lake Constance” in the museum’s cinema of the Rosgarten Museum (7 minutes‘ walk from here).

You will also be served in our cosy museum’s café that includes a courtyard garden.