Historical pictures of the carnival balls in the Deutsche Eiche
Fassbinder, Moshammer, Mercury – they all partied at the Deutsche Eiche!
Some dancers convinced innkeepers Ella and Toni in 1958 to organize a Carnival Ball. The ladies did not feel much like it, however, so it was just held as a “Hat Fest”. Seeing that the fest turned out to be quite a hit and a lot of fun, an “Inverted Ball” followed in the year after. Given that the Eiche was a regular haunt for several artists, the idea came up to stage a play during the Carnival celebrations – under the condition that the innkeepers would always play the main roles.
The first such Eiche production came to be in 1960 under the auspices of Ernst Craemer as a parody of Swan Lake. The motto at the Deutsche Eiche always read: "It is not shameful to die, but it is a sin to miss out on life”. The last Eiche production was "Dallas" from Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who lived on the opposite side of the street. The legendary gay establishment was taken over from Sonja Reichenbach in 1995 by Dietmar Holzapfel and the new owner established a new Carnival tradition: the Carnival Street Fest.
Enjoy viewing the pictures.
