Recently, a forum buddy asked me for pictures of old German schützen houses and range buildings. So I decided to start a thread here, where each forum member can see the pics from the archive and share the historical information.

Introduction

The range buildings and schützen houses in the old German Reich are very interesting, because they were so different - they vary greatly depending on the region.

In North Germany, Prussia, Salisia, and Pommerania, the buildings often looked like huge railway stations, with a park and the range in the backyard. Inside the building was a huge ballroom, mainly used for all events of the town, theater, urban activities. Because the shooters and their club were eminently respectable and often they owned the biggest hall in the town.

In the middle ages, when the bigger towns still had defense wall round town, the shooting house was inside the wall. Because the shooters had to defend the town in case of an attack. Sometimes the range was outside the wall, shooters shot from the range building inside the town out of the windows to the targets. 

Towns were growing and growing, there was not anymore enough room for a range in the town or close to the town. The shooters were not anymore responsible for the safety and guaranty of the town, they kept their regular schützen house inside town walls for amenities and club meetings, but they erected another small building far outside, for practice, shooting, and schützen fest events. 

Most of the time the schützen house had a very good restaurant inside, and a coffee house, even hotels were integrated. Those were the places were the better situated families went on Sunday, kids could play in the yard, even a "Kegelbahn" (kind of German bowling alleys) was there.   

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This is an example for a mid size rural range. 
It was located near Au-Hallertau, a region approx. 70 miles north of Munich, Bavaria, south Germany.

I think this postcard picture was taken approx. 1910.

Same building in Beuthen.
View to the inside of the fence/wall, which they had around the property.

Here we can see the restaurant and beergarden outside.

Postcard of 1914, before WWI started.

The question is: "Was there one schützenhaus in Germany without beergarden?"

               

Thank you Biggi, I think it's a national priority that every city have a Schützenhouse with a 200 yard range as well as a heated and air-conditioned 50 ft. indoor gallery range. From what I've heard....the Schützenhouses here in America each had a bar which financed much of the club's activities, but these were victims of the Volstead Act. 

Vielen Dank Biggi!  Thank you very much for posting these.

I hope that from time to time more will be added to these- maybe even some more of the activities that were included- shooting, dining, even that bowling. It's neat stuff. Thank you young lady

Interesting photos. Would be something to see in person.

calledflyer wrote on Jan 28^th, 2017 at 9:45pm:


For sure I will post more and more pics from the archive.
Will look for pics which show amusement and amenities round the ranges and buiildings.

                  Biggi. 

Here is an old brick building in Bad Arendsee (nowadays "Bad Kühlungsborn") at the coast of the Baltic Sea, near Rostock in the north east of Germany.

The pic of 1899 shows the better situated people, well dressed, showing proudly a bicycle, probably on a Sunday afternoon.

Color photography was not available back then, its a colored lithography.

Its always interesting what happened to the old range buildings or the schützen houses in the towns.

With this example I tried to figure out, what happened to the old building in Arnstadt, Thuringia. A town north of Suhl (where all the famous gun factories were located back then).

Well, after WWI this town was in the zone of the Russians and afterwards it belonged to the GDR. And in this occupied eastern part of the former German Reich, private shooting clubs and historical shooting associations were forbidden. No guns in the hands of the people!

In my web-research today I figured out they used the old building for a GDR-Sovjet friends club. And it was a restaurant with beergarden. No shooting since 1945, but also no shooting nowadays since the GDR broke down in 1989. Seems to be a run down music pub.

Wonderful!  Absolutely wonderful!  Thank you!

On this postcard of 1909 is printed "Neue Schießhalle", translated "New Shooting Hall".

It looks like the club got a property outside the town to erect a shooting place for practice and matches, while there might be an old place in the town.

Looks pretty fresh around the new building, no bushes yet.

Yeah, that one is like my pal's shootin' shack. He's sort of a cheapskate, though- you have to bring your own beer. But, the maid (schuetenliesel??) will serve it. He gets a little uppity, too,when somebody forgets to open the window before firing.
Biggi, this is superb stuff, thank you.

Great Thread. Thanks Biggi!

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marlinguy wrote on Jan 29^th, 2017 at 3:33pm:


Well, the downtown schützenhaus with restaurant and leisure events often had a hotel too. When the range was outside town the schützen-hotel/restaurant had a kind of "shuttle-service" with horse drawn carriage to bring shooters to the range. Later round the turn of the century with bus or maybe some tramway tracks were installed.

The main transportation means back then was the railway to travel from town to town. In the town, people walked by foot or - if available - they took the tramway.  But I bet the real rich guys had their own carriage with coachman.

This postcard must be from the mid/late 1920s, I think.
The title is "Neues Schützenhaus" = translated "New Shooting House".
So it seems this range went from town to the urban hinterland.
Ots located in the south west of Germany, near Stuttgart.

I tried to find more about it, found their website.
But they do not write much about their history, and just one pic of the building.
So I figured out on satellite maps that the range still exists ind the range is wellcared on duty.

Biggi
Thank you for taking the time to assemble and post those great shooting house images. I have been a member of this forum for over 10 years and yours is one of the very best threads on Schuetzen history ever to appear on this site. 
Randy Wright

Hi guys!

Thanks for all the plaudits for my thread! *smile*

If I would have known earlier that you are interested in the topic, I would have wrote it years ago...

...so I will go on digging in the archive to delight you with historical stuff!

[Even when my English is not that great...]

         Biggi.      

"[Even when my English is not that great...]

         Biggi."

It is better than most Americans   

In 1927 they erected a "Kegelbahn" building with four alleys (German bowling alley) on the property of the Schützenhof. Looks like shooters were also kegler (bowling players) in this region, not just in Bavaria.

During the 1930s in the 3rd Reich, it seems it was there like everywhere in Germany. Traditional shooting turned into pre-military shooting, smallbore-matches, Nazi parades instead of the former social life. But the annual schützenfest in spring was held till 1943 with a kings match.
All the years the halls and rooms in the Schützenhof were used by the Nazis and their activities and festivities. Still in 1944 the SA organized a military match for German men, more than 1000 shooters showed up. The oldes was 82 years old, the youngest just 14 years old.

In April, the US troops entered the town from the west, but they didnt destroy much. The town was handed over peaceful to the US troops. After two days the US troops went further to the east to meet the Sovjet troops in Torgau at Elbe river. The remaining US staff installed a new anti-faschist town council after war was over May 9 in 1945. US forces stayed till end of June. But then the Sovjets came from east and occupied the town. Russians took over the administrative buildings for their own headquarter, the German governing mayor and his staff had to leave. 

The years after WWII were real terrible all over Germany. Most of the towns destroyed, refugees from everyhwere. They stuck also in this town, not enough buildings and houses to live in. Bad years.

But what happened to the Schützenhof? I bet they never shot again there. Already in 1946 it was re-named in "Karl-Marx-Haus". The communist party had their reunion with the socialists in the former Schützenhof. After the GDR was installed in 1949 in October, they used it as local hall for events. Till 1990 they had dance events and ballroom dancing and the restaurant was on duty till 1992. In 1993 they demolished the building and erected a new "citizen house".

So the glorius history of the "Schützengilde Delitzsch" ended with WWII in 1945 and the Schützenhof disappeared in 1993. Nothing left over, just some old postcards and a bit forgotten history. 

That's the story I could figure out.

calledflyer wrote on Feb 1^st, 2017 at 9:44pm:



You have a German or Bavarian restaurant in town? Really? Great! 
What did you eat there?

Well, it seems it's a "stimulation thread" to have German atmosphere...

          Biggi.

Not really in my town, but there are three within an hour. They each have their charms. Last nite we went to the one with the very best bakery, and that was a mistake because I really did want a piece of gingerbread with the best whipped cream in the world or a piece of black forest cake. Couldn't do it, though, because the soup, Schnitzel and potato pancake and spaetzle and veggies and hard rolls did me in. Wife had saurbraten and all the trimmings. Good stuff. Next time I'll get something different and love it too. Couple times a year for us.
If I ever come to Germany I won't do any shooting because I'll be too busy eating.... Mustard, hot potato salad, wurst, bread, that fried saurkraut, ten kinds of schnitzel. What else ya got?

calledflyer wrote on Feb 2^nd, 2017 at 12:54pm:


Wow, this sounds very good, I think I have to go to my kitchen, inspect the fridge and need to have something good German food!

Well, all my trips along the west of US, I never saw a German restaurant. Could never try how they prepare German meals over there. Maybe they do not have so much German tradition in the western states?

The postcard above shows the „Schützenhof Delmenhorst“ in the year 1904. The town is located in north Germany, south of Bremen. The building was erected in the 1850s and the associated range was enlarged 1894. They tore down the front part of the main building in 1895 and built the facade in the modern historian style back then, it is shown on the post card. 

The clubs has an old history, founded in the middle ages, abandoned in the 1770s, re-established in 1847.
Like usual, the Schützenhof had a big hall inside which was used for all the festivities of all clubs in town, like singers, sporting clubs, etc. Shooters had always the biggest buildings!

Each year, the famous Schützenfest with kings match “Vogelschießen” took place at the Schützenhof. Annual biggest event in town, some days of amusment park and a lot of beer.

After WWI the club sold the building to the town and kept the ranges. The responsible town managers integrated a theater stage. So we can learn that an etablissement can still have the name “Schützenhof”, even when the club is not anymore the owner. 

They held their annual festivities and schützenfests for years in the building, the last event was in 1941. In 1942 June, an allied forces bomb destroyed the main building and parts of the range. So the schützenfest in 1943 and 1944 were held on a smaller scale. Because of war and bad supply situation (thin beer, not much grub) it was just a small event. After WWII, shooting was forbidden, the kings chains and goblets were lost somewhere in a depot, glorious times were over.

No chance to celebrate the 100 years jubilee in 1947. The club was re-established in 1949, the first Vogelschiessen in 1951 was held with crossbows, rifles were still forbidden. Times were changing and the shooters got back the license for rifles and guns. So they decided to build a new range which they still own today. It’s a famous Schützenclub and they had a lot of members. In 1991 they decided to buy more property to enlarge the range and the variety of fire points. 

In 1997 they could celebrate their 150 years anniversary event, with parade and a big range. What a lucky club, they could keep tradition and property!

marlinguy wrote on Feb 2^nd, 2017 at 10:51pm:


Well, I don't think that I will be ever again in Portland. 
But I will keep my eyes open for a good German restaurant... in Germany!

interesting and very informative.   here where I live in SW Michigan and NW Indiana we had very large European Ethnic communities with their neighborhoods and "old country" restaurants and some amusements.  here in MI our German immigrant population were mostly "early wave" conservative farmers rather than the later wave of middle/upper class business folk who seemed to bring the Schuetzen traditions.  their social activity was centered around the churches----some of which were still conducting services in German when I was a kid. 

 In nearby South Bend Indiana there was a large business/industrial population of German and Polish/Hungarian/Czech/Belgians/Southern Europeans)  The Germans had a large downtown "Turners Hall" that was a hub of exercise and entertainment with many musical groups and social activity. fifteen or so years ago that property became to valuable--and probably too expensive to maintain so it was sold and a large office building replaced it.  They then built a large athletic and social center out of the urban center. 
I have never found evidence of a schuetzen club however on the fringes of the urban area there were a number of "Rod and Gun Clubs" that seemed to be oriented to the sportsman of the different ethnic communities. they too seem to have been swallowed up in recent years by urban and suburban sprawl. 

There are two oddities though.  The local newspapers reported on the local sports activity---Notre Dame football and high school basketball being dominant.   However industrial league competition was also important and in its heighday shotgun sports leagues got a lot of coverage and of course bowling------The oddity is that until recently the SouthBend Tribune often used the term "kegler/keglers" in describing bowlers or the bowling events.  A presumed preserved fragment of the germanic  sports traditions.
 
The other is that in the region there was a lot of archery activity when archery became popular in the 1950s there were a lot of of indoor and outdoor ranges and competition. 
  IN the Belgian community they had indoor target leagues sponsored by neighborhood bars/clubs.   I remember from my childhood reading or their various matches and championships and seeing reports on "king matches" high and low bird scores and even some matches where bird shaped targets were shot to pieces in some form of competition----mysterious, fun stuff for a preteen kid fascinated with bows, and now I know, a LOT very old historic traditions.

This just gets better. A sticky is a super idea, with another for the history of the American version, starting with the earliest times. I'd be interested to see how rapidly they evolved from their homeland ways to ones developing in this land. Cool stuff.

frnkeore wrote on Feb 3^rd, 2017 at 11:24am:




Hi Frank.

You have thos table-kegel-game too? Still nowadays? Or it was in the old days when you were a kid?

Reminds me to a story, more than 35 years ago, when I lived in Black Forest. In a village there was a very old tavern, called "Restauration zur Krone".  They had a very old table-kegel-game too. We called the tavern just “cob web hotel”, but it was a clean place, for sure. Just a very old place.

The ceilings were very low and also the door frames. Was original old from the 1880s or older. Usually the tavern should be closed, because they were not anymore along the current law when it comes to safety in public restaurants. No emergency exits, the low ceilings, no modern restrooms, and so on.
But the owner family got a special permit to run the tavern as long as their grandma (who was the owner) is still alive. I think the old lady must have been at least 100 years! Well, she looked like this. 

The grandma didn’t work anymore in the tavern, her daughter and grandkids served the customers. They had the best beer all over the whole region, but just some snacks for a meal. Didn’t matter, we were there for the beer!

And they placed grandma on the bench at the tile-stove in the guest room. She was just sitting there, sleeping. We always thought she passed away some weeks ago, and the family placed her on the bench to keep the tavern open!!! 
   

Just looked on the web, found a pic, stole it. Seems the building still exists, probably under monument protection. Don’t know, if it is still a tavern.

You will like this one here! 

Its located in Stuttgart. It’s a big town down in a basin valley, and the building is up on the hills which are around the big town.

It was built in 1889, for an older military shooting range (400 meters). Those was the era when Germany was still a “Kaiser Reich” and the military was very important. 

The building is called “Royal Garnison-Schützenhaus” and the soldier’s canteen was located in the two story building on the first floor. The second floor provided a small apartment for the range caretaker. In the low building attached behind was a shop for tools and target repair.
The building is in wooden framework, raw red brick-lined. With a lot of nice little towers and oriels.

The first postcard shows it in 1897 when it was still a military range. Typical German/Prussian soldiers with spiked helmet.

The second postcard is a picture taken round 1910, classy soldiers with aiming on targets. The canteen was rented to an inn keeper.

The third postcard was shipped in 1934, it was a restaurant with a beergarden. The military range was still on duty for soldier practice.

The fourth picture shows it nowadays, in a green park, close to the still growing cemetery.

After WWII, the US allied forces occupied the whole property. They used the range till the 1960s, but probably not the buildings. The canteen was rented again to an inn keeper, but not for a long time. The town council decided to enlarge the nearby cemetery on the property, so the shooting range was closed forever. Afterwards the family of the cemetery gardener moved into the house. They left the place in 2009, after more than 40 years. 

The owner of the building and surrounding property is the German state. But they couldn’t decide yet what will happen to the real estate. It’s a protected monument, meanwhile very close to the nearby grave yard. So it’s not possible to re-open it as a restaurant or rent it as a family home. A local citizen group tries to keep the building in shape and they are looking for a reasonable future use.

Might be a little OT here, Some of you New Yorkers may remember Karl Emers which was a German delicatessen featuring all sorts of meats, sausages,labercase, breads. Easy to drop some good money in there. Always came home with a big bag of goodies. After I got married still went there but the girls wouldn't eat any of the cold cuts, labercase, or the sausages. And I know for a fact they didn't get that from me. No Karl Emers down south like where I live now. Some of the stores would ship your favorits to you when you placed an order. Did that a few times but outside of me or the wife the kids wouldn't touch any of it. Hand them some cheese and macaronie and it's feeding time at the zoo. I rear where the Carnegie Deli in NYC was supposed to be going out of business. They made a corned beef sandwhich which was to die for. Katz's also had some great food. Problem the land is so valuable for apartments that it is cheaper to bulldoze the site and build whatever the land will be used. Frank

Would like to see more of these old photos. Thanks for posting them. What a grand time to be alive and involved in the shooting sports.

                          Sendaro

Four hundred years! That sort of thing won't start happening around these parts for, well, over 200 years. Amazing. 
Thanks for these great tidbits.

There ya go Sendaro, I earlier mused that the stuff Biggi is presenting could be made into a sticky with the additions, as recieved, added.
Now, you have made me think that those who belong to a long-time American club could have one, or a part of the original thread. It'd make for a better understanding of the sport. 
I don't live where there are any longstanding shooting clubs (unless shooting the s--t is included), but I find it quite interesting. I know all three of the names you mentioned.

I think this post card shows a regular summer Sunday at the range in Liebenau (Bohemia) approx. 1900-1910. While the husbands are at the fire points, the wives and kids are around, listening to the classical music in the pavilion and having small talk. 

Before WWI, Bohemia belonged to the K.u.K Austria-Hungary monarchy. Nowadays the village is at the border Austria and Czech Republic. 

For sure, this range back then was just for the high society of the town. Regular workers were not shooters at all. Shooting was the society event for the highest social class. 

Encouragement, Biggi, Encouragement!!
Please, keep em' coming!!    

Here is a nice rural range in the woods north of Augsburg, west Bavaria. The club was founded in 1610, but went “hibernating” in the mid 1800s. In 1903 they re-founded the club and built the range. They got a permit from the authorities to sell beer there, but just for shooters and club members. No regular tavern. 

When they wanted to celebrate the 300 years jubilee with club members and shooters by special invitation in June 1910, the Lech river had high tide and the whole site was flooded. So they had to postpone the celebration.

In 1927 they had a dedication celebration for their new banner flag, then the track disappears. In the 1930 during nazi era, they stopped shooting and restarted in the 1950s with air rifle. They merged with two zimmerstutzen-clubs of the same town. The feuerstutzen range was lost, couldn’t find any information what happened to the place.

On the post card (right bottom corner) one can see the installation to shoot on a "running wildbore". The wooden bore was installed on a rail track and moved from right to left. So they practiced hunter shooting.

westerner wrote on Feb 17^th, 2017 at 2:02pm:

Did the old German Schützenhouses ever have any special Bavarian Schützen cuisine?

Really enjoyed your last post Biggi.  I have a rifle that I believe is a Keilerbuchse for that running boar target.  Yours is the first reference I've seen that showed the target/game.  Thanks!  Do you know the distance at which it was shot?

Regards, Joe

The small-bore shooting with rifles started very late in Germany, especially in Bavaria. (But they shot with small-bore pistols since the mid 1890s.) Before WWI, there were efforts in some regions in Saxony and round Berlin who practiced with small-bore rifles. And an association in the region of Frankfurt shot with .22 rifles with double-set trigger which looked like feuerstutzens.

After WWI and the inflation years, the small-bore shooting took place all over Germany, a lot of new clubs were founded and the big old shooting societies installed 50 meter fire points at their ranges. It was easy to build a range, the safety rules were not soooo strict like for big bore shooting. And the main fact: it was a kind of shooting for young men, and the rifles and ammo was real cheap – compared to schützen-rifles. Member fee in the clubs was cheap, no knickknacks all around, no tradition, no honorable establishment. Just shooting in three positions, pre-military training. 

Here is an example for a small-bore range, probably built in the 1930s, in a smaller town 50 miles north of Munich near Ingolstadt. With five fire points, just placed in a kind of quarry close to town.  

Biggi, I like the nice balloon-sized blowups of the target areas in the last pair of sites. I'm sure glad that I don't live in the little place on the upward side of the range in Lenting. Somebody must have sent a bullet up there (too much beer?). The open space there in Untermedlingen is much more secure. However, neither one of the places seems to have a stove pipe, so winter shooting might be for the tough competitors, huh?

Here is a real interesting post card of an old range for small bore shooting. It was located in rural Lower-Bavaria near the border to Czechoslovakia. But I couldn’t find any track of this location on the web. Would be real interesting what happened to the building. I bet it didn’t survive the post WWII years.

The picture of the post card was taken from the fire points in direction to the range. Interesting view, because one can see the shooters on the second floor. Yes, it’s a two story range. I know this style of ranges from Austria, they still have this design.
On the lower floor the club room and maybe a meeting room for the BoD, on the upper floor the fire points.

I think the post card must be round 1928, but it was shipped in 1932, the stamp on the back tells it.

Biggi, My ancestors came from Amberg,was there a Schuetzen house in that town. Thanks for the great thread.  Ledball

ledball wrote on Feb 22^nd, 2017 at 8:46pm:



Hi ledball.

Yes, there was a lot of shooting in Amberg, a lot of clubs. 
The royal privileged target rifle club (feuerstutzens) and zimmerstutzen clubs.
Lot of shooting history in Amberg.

Will see when I will have time and I can make a research about Amberg to figure out clubs and details.

              Biggi. 

feuerbixler wrote on Jan 28^th, 2017 at 6:40pm:

Biggi - Do you know if this building is still in use? On a business trip to Germany a few years ago, the Manager in Germany that my twin brother was there to meet, found out he was a hunter and shooter. He took my bro to a 'Jaeger Lodge' where they sigjed in rifles and went boar hunting, if I recall the game species correctly. (Maybe it was stag? I forget ...)

Point is, he showed me pictures and the place looked EXACTLY like that as shown!

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Lefty38-55 wrote on Feb 23^rd, 2017 at 8:47pm:



Hi Lefty.

Sorry, but your bro didn’t visit this place. The place is gone since 70 years. 
(Refer to the very first post card in the thread.)

The range was built in 1886, Baron Eugen Freiherr von Beck-Peccoz donated the place and the range. It was known as one of the most beautiful ranges all over Bavaria till WWII. In 1945 the allied forces collected all feuerstutzens and zimmerstutzens and destroyed them, the stocks were burned down. The range was destroyed by US-troops in 1948, the allied forces didn’t want any German shooter armed. And no ranges anymore. 

Some history facts about the club: the club was established in 1865 as a zimmerstutzen club and they switched to a feuerstutzen club in 1885. Another zimmerstutzen club was founded in the mid 1880s.

I added some more postcards and two very old metal badges (silver plated) out of my collection. 

In the mid 1950s they re-established shooting in the small town. They erected a new range in the 1960s/70s and they shoot with smallbore and air-rifles nowadays.

calledflyer wrote on Feb 23^rd, 2017 at 9:07pm:


I agree there is an opportunity here for a very great reference piece  
Scott