In August 1909, German professor Richard Schirrmann was caught in a violent storm during an eight-day migration with his students and found lodging in a barn with a farmer.
While the students slept, Schirrmann stayed up all night.
The thought suddenly came to him: “One would have to create places where cheerful young people and students move around and receive a safe and cheap overnight stay.”
He first published this idea in 1910 in an essay on “Voksschuelerherbergen” (“accommodation for elementary school pupils”),
“…also the boys and girls of the common man must practice cheerful and fresh movements as a counterweight to the room stool time of their school years…how do I now imagine appropriate and sufficient accommodations for the enormous army of the pupils of primary school? ?… every city and almost every town has a primary school, which almost waits on vacation with empty spaces for her, in a dream and a dining room for the joyful children of the movement to transform, one for the girls.. partly on top of each other.. That gives free space for the list of 15 beds….each camping place consists of a bag and a cushion stretched with straw plugs, 2 sheets and a blanket… each child stops to bring his camp site back to finely arranged order…”
After the publication of this essay in the “Koelnische Zeitung” (Cologne Newspaper) numerous contributions of money and gifts in kind and offers of support arrived from all over Germany.
In 1912 the first youth hostel was opened in Altenia Castle, Germany.
The first youth hostel was laid out according to Schirrmann’s plans: 2 bedrooms with 3-story solid wood beds, living room, kitchen, toilets and showers. The first director of the hostel was Richard Schirrmann. He lived directly above the hostel rooms. In the same year, Schirrmann also published the first list of hostels with approximately 140 addresses.
However, in many of these accommodations there was not even basic accommodation, for example, for the girls there was nothing at all.
In 1913 there were already 301 youth hostels in cities and towns. A year later there were already 535.
In 1920 the first magazine expense “youth hostels” appeared, and with about 700 addresses the first manual with addresses by youth hostels was published.
From 1924 to 1929, the first raffle for youth hostels won 1.5 million real marks. In 1932 there were already 2,123 youth hostels in Germany. There were more than 4.5 million overnight stays. But by the end of the 1920s in other countries, such as Poland, Holland, France, England and Switzerland, more than 600 youth hostels had already been opened.
On October 20, 1932 in Amsterdam, in the presence of land agencies from Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Poland, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Great Britain, Ireland, France and Belgium, the International Youth Hostel Federation (IYHF) was created.
The federation is based today in Welwyn Garden City, near London. Richard Schirrmann was selected as president. The language of the conference was German.
Elizabeth and Monroe Smith from the United States also participated in the next conference in 1933. Within a year they could open thirty youth hostels in the United States. Also in 1933 the National Socialists came to power in Germany.
All political and religious combinations of young people were dissolved and replaced by a system of compulsory youth organization formed by universities, under the line of “kingdom youth orientation”. Richard Schirrmann must retire as president of the German youth hostel factory.
He was impressed by the idealistic elements of the new movement and became honorary president of the federation of German youth hostels. A decision he should bitterly regret later.
In 1936, for political reasons, he had broken with the international federation of youth hostels. In 1947, after the end of the world war, there were again 247 youth hostels in Germany with 1,158,500 overnight stays.
From 1949 to 1990, an extensive network of youth hostels also developed in the GDR. Initially still run as federations, they later became state-run youth institutions. Existing federations were dissolved. In 1960 they were the youngest hostels in the Federal Republic. More than 720 homes made 11,300,312 overnight stays.
In 1990, after the end of the GDR, youth hostel federations were also created in the new Lands of the Federal Republic. In November, these federations joined the German Youth Hostel Association.
Youth hostels today
Worldwide there are more than 4,000 youth hostels in 65 countries, while more than 600 in Germany alone.
Youth hostels in Germany offer their guests much more than just a cheap overnight stay. In addition to small and cozy old buildings or the experience of castles and residences, you will also find many houses in charming picturesque settings, as well as in large cities. For more details visit www.smart-travel-germany.com/hostels-germany.html.
This true story was published in German by the German Youth Hostel Association and translated by Marcus Hochstadt.