Josef Neumair's second home book "Scheuring - Community and Associations" 

Created: 01/12/2022, 3:00 PM

From: Andrea Schmelzle

25 postcards belong to the collection of Josef Neumair.

Most of them are shown in the new Heimatbuch.

Here one of the oldest postcards (approx. 1898).

© Neumair

Scheuring - local chronicles and homeland books are of great importance for every community and its inhabitants: They not only illuminate the history of their own homeland and highlight its value and uniqueness, but also strengthen the bond between the citizens and their community. Scheuring now has a new Heimatbuch: A good quarter of a century after his first book about the school history of “his” municipality, Scheuring's former Second Mayor Josef Neumair has published another one: “Scheuring - Municipality and Associations” is now available. 

This means that the small community with around 2,000 inhabitants already has three home books. In addition to the "Scheuringer Schulgeschichte" published in 1995, also by Josef Neumair, and the chronicle "Scheuringer Houses and Courts" (1997) by Franz Haas, Neumair's current work is now Neumair's work, which deals with the history of the community in 21 individual chapters and the history of the 20th century Scheuring clubs and organizations illuminated.

Neumair said of his motivation that he had the feeling that something very important was missing from the first two Heimatbuch books. And started. “At first it was a matter of collecting material,” says the 68-year-old, who was born in Scheuring and still lives here with his family to this day. Sometimes it was difficult. “To find out a name, I rode my bike through town for days and talked to all kinds of people,” says Neumair. In total, he asked more than 100 people - mostly older people - for information. In the second part he was dependent on the help of the clubs. It came - but sometimes not as quickly as desired. “Once, despite repeated requests, I waited 14 months for certain information,” reports Neumair. It was an advantagethat, as the long-time second mayor, he attended almost all the annual meetings of the Scheuring clubs. There was already a “certain prior knowledge”.

In part, however, the layout, which - with the exception of the book cover (by Michaele Filgertshofer) - was completely created by himself, bothered him more than the content. After all, his book contains a total of around 380 images that have to be arranged and provided with image sources, he says. With numerous pictures - especially the older ones - the photographer could no longer be identified. And so it finally took a full three years to complete.

The book shows once more that the community of Scheuring with the districts of Lichtenberg and Haltberg is steeped in history.

The name "Sciringen" was first mentioned in documents in 1085 and 1130, reports Neumair.

And offers a lot of historical information and details, such as the Lichtenberg Fortress, which was destroyed in the Thirty Years' War and rebuilt into a magnificent palace by Elector Max Emanuel (1679-1726).

Or to the Keepberg Castle, where the hunting staff had their domicile.

18 years second mayor, 30 years councilor, 38 years secretary of the traditional costume band Scheuring: Josef Neumair with his new homeland book.

© Kraus

On the subject of “Scheuring in the world wars”, Neumair came across interesting diary entries from long-time Scheuring pastor Anton Reiser (1912-1937) on events during the First World War. Another chapter deals with the expulsions after the Second World War: In May 1946 Scheuring, which at that time only had 703 inhabitants, had to take in 441 expellees, most of whom came from the Sudetenland. Neumar also lists 130 “special events after 1945” - from the construction of the water pipe in 1950-1952 to the construction of the club barn in 2019/20, as well as all the mayors and councilors of the past 140 years. And takes into account house inscriptions, stories from earlier times, places and buildings worth seeing, historical Scheuring postcards or old pictures,show people at festivities or work in agriculture.

Boring without clubs

In the “club section” of the book, illustrated genesis stories are primarily listed - from FC Scheuring to the village community - including groups that currently no longer exist, such as former brass bands and dance bands or the so-called 'Stopselclub'.

“A village without clubs would be completely boring.

With their activities and events, they make a significant contribution to enriching community life, ”says Neumair, who himself was and is extremely active in club life (such as secretary of the Scheuring costume band, head of the table tennis department or football coach at FC Scheuring).

Neumair, who has already been awarded the Gold Medal of Honor for all his services to the community of Scheuring, was a member of the local council for 30 years and presented his completed Heimatbuch to it - which immediately decided to have 800 copies printed.

These can now be purchased from the Scheuringer Rathaus or from Buch Hansa in Landsberg, among other places.

Neumair hopes for numerous interested readers: "I would like to contribute to strengthening the sense of value and responsibility for our homeland," he says.

His ties to his homeland and history have continued: he has been studying at LMU Munich for five years - mainly German and Bavarian history.