Edelweisspiratenfestival

Today there was an "Edelweisspiratenfestival" taking place just across the street where I grew up. The park is called "Friedenspark" and at its outside stretches there is a huge memorial for the fallen soldiers of the World War I. The whole building used to be a fortress during the times of the German Empire back at the turn of the century (1900). Today it houses a center for children where they can play and build their own wooden fortress.


So today there was this festival to honour some resitance fighters from the Third Reich. Back then some young people from Cologne formed groups calling themselves "Edelweisspiraten" or "Navajos". They originally emerged from the "Bündische Jugend", some form of boy scouts during the Weimar Republic. Those kids roamed the country hiking and singing (to put it simple). When the Nazis took power the Hitler Jugend was the only youth organization allowed and all other groups were closed down. But those young people from Cologne didn't want to join the Hitler Jugend and decided to set up their own stuff which was pretty dangerous back then. They were harrassed by the police and the Gestapo and had to meet secretly in the parks of their hometown. Towards the end of World War II some of them even took part in sabotage acts to disrupt the military actions of the defending Wehrmacht. Because of that some of the "Edelweisspiraten" were assassinated just before the end of the war.


As said, to honour those people a festival was set up with lots of stands with food and drinks, a small exhibition from the local documentation centre which covers the history of Cologne during 1933-45 and there were bands playing on five different stages. Everything set up around the war memorial we used to call "Der Adler" (the eagle) because of the statue of a huge eagle that stands on top of the main building. The atmosphere was very lively and peaceful with all kinds of people walking around the place. I bumped into an old friend from school whom I haven't seen in ages as she was taking a walk with her boyfriend. Then there were other friends who were involved in setting the whole thing up. Lots of children running around, lots of older people. You could say it was a real family festivity.
I really enjoyed walking around there during a perfect sunny afternoon, but unfortunately I didn't have time to stay since I promised a friend I would meet her at the train station. But I will be back next year to take a closer and longer look.

Take a look at some pictures from last year: