History of Europe

Goile Paadie in Hartenholm

by Daniel Hoffman

Comic artist "Brösel" alias Rötger Feldmann, born in Lübeck-Travemünde, became famous above all with his "Werner" comics - and they didn't just write history on paper. The first "Werner" race, which was to become a legend, started in 1988 in Hartenholm with the souped-up Horex from "Brösel" and the Porsche 911 of his counterpart "Holgi".

It was September 4, 1988, when the tranquil town of Hartenholm in Schleswig-Holstein became a place of pilgrimage for motorcycle fans. The balance sheet of the "goile paadie" at the airfield in the Segeberg district at that time:lots of music, stunts, tons of "Bölkstoff" (beer), dirty and devastated front gardens and an estimated 1,500 cubic meters of garbage. 200,000 visitors celebrated a crazy "Werner" party with the legendary race between the souped-up Horex motorcycle of comic artist and "Werner" inventor Rötger "Brösel" Feldmann and the red 911 Porsche of buddy Holger "Holgi" Henze.

"Werner" spectacle leaves its mark

The spectacle also left traces and memories in the municipality of Hasenmoor, which is adjacent to the airfield, and these can still be read on the municipality's homepage. However, the enthusiasm is significantly lower than it was then. "It was a crowd attack on our village," says the website.

Hartenholm overrun by the rush

The race attracted the crowds - to the surprise of the organizers. Despite weeks of preparation, they were simply overwhelmed. Almost 100,000 tickets at a price of 55 marks went over the counter in advance. But nobody expected that so many party-mad fans would want to come to the festival grounds again. The masses caused traffic chaos - not only around Hartenholm, but also on the Autobahn 7 and the federal highway 206. "There has never been such chaos on the roads in the Segeberg district," says the editor of the "Norderstedter Zeitung" (NZ ), Frank Knittermeier, the spectacle on site.

Chaos and workaround

The flow of visitors did not stop. The organizers capitulated, opened the gates and let everyone on the racetrack - regardless of whether they had a ticket or not. Tents were set up wherever there was space. The airfield and the hastily rented areas around it resembled a huge campsite. According to "NZ" editor Knittermeier, most of the fans first spread out around the airfield. Only when the top acts like "BAP" and Roger Chapman took to the stage did the festival area fill up.

"Werner":From comic to racing

His 14 comic books and five "Werner" films make Feldmann Germany's most popular comic artist.

The impetus for the party was "Brösel's" fourth volume in the "Werner" comic series, which appeared in 1985. In it, the titular character bets that he can beat "Holgis" Porsche 911 in the race with a modified Horex motorcycle equipped with four engines. The comic inventor and his real-life buddy "Holgi" decided at some point to put the whole thing into practice.

On the first weekend of September 1988, the time had come:the Horex brand Eigenbau brought "crumbs" out of the shed, the so-called Red Porsche Killer. "Holgi" brought his red Porsche 911 to the start of the 600 meter long track. The tension was short-lived:the "Red Porsche Killer" was ahead for the first few meters, but the 911 finished well ahead of it. "Brösel" had simply switched. "I had a blackout," he later reported in the news magazine "Der Spiegel".

Trash - as far as the eye can see

When the festival ended with the race, many residents breathed a sigh of relief. But the chaos remained:the fans consumed 600,000 sausages and 450,000 liters of "Bölkstoff" within three days, the "Spiegel" reported. And then left all their junk behind. The legacy of the party-goers is described as "a dense carpet of plastic cups, car tyres, tin cans and blue garbage bags". The clean-up work took two weeks. Hartenholm's then mayor Kurt Böge (CDU) found clear words in an interview with the "NZ":"The organizers are pulling out - and our village is left behind like shit." Which was to be understood literally, because the 600 mobile toilets that had been set up quickly overflowed because the disposal services could no longer reach them. The result:Everyone relieved themselves where they wanted.

In addition to the mountains of rubbish, a path of devastation also ran through the small town. There were burned cars and dismantled wooden fences. The slats were burned at night because the festival-goers were cold. After all:"Brösel" and his organizer team largely paid for it.