As of: February 1, 2024, 11:15 a.m
By: Andreas Höger
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Remembrance of compulsory military service: The reservists' ball of the Otterfing-Baiernrain veterans' association offered the welcome chance to wear the dusty retirement sweater again.
Chairman Bernhard Grasberger (4th from right) was pleased with a successful start to the anniversary year.
© Sabine Hermsdorf-Hiss
An elimination sweater, what is that?
Compulsory military service has been suspended since 2011, and the younger generation hardly knows the rituals at the end of a period of service in the Bundeswehr.
A carnival ball organized by the Otterfing-Baiernrain Veterans and Warriors Association revived the joy of “retiring”.
The ball heralded the club's 150th anniversary, which will feature further highlights in the summer.
Otterfing
– For many years, discarded sweaters and hats slumbered in cellars or attics.
At the reservists' and carnival ball "Off iss, out warss!" in the Gasthaus Steinbacher in Steingau (municipality of Dietramszell) there was finally another opportunity to slip into the good piece and perform it.
In the sweaters in question, decorated with cheeky sayings and the emblem of the former unit, military servicemen once paraded through the cities on the “retirement day” of their service, celebrated together, blew their whistles and had young women sign their sweaters.
“Young people don’t even know this anymore,” says Bernhard Grasberger, chairman of the Otterfing-Baiernrain veterans and warriors association.
The club is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, and the Reservist Ball was the first exclamation mark in the anniversary year.
Former soldiers from as far away as Rosenheim, the south of Munich and Miesbach streamed into the Steinbacher restaurant.
“Most of them were conscripts,” emphasizes Grasberger.
All eras and branches of the armed forces were represented (army, navy, air force), and the oldest guest was 83 years old.
Old stories from barracks and maneuvers were exchanged.
“It was just a time you don’t forget,” says the chairman, “and everyone was happy to be able to get their sweater out again.” Younger students also stopped by, curious to know what the “eliminator” was “ritual has to do with it.
Many souvenir pictures of the elimination tours at the time were taken in photo booths at train stations.
The club therefore organized a photo box to revive this memory at the ball.
“We had a lot of fun,” says Grasberger.
His thanks went to the innkeepers and their staff “for allowing this to take place in this form.”
The reservists' ball, says Grasberger, once took place in various places.
In the Miesbach district it always took place in Neukirchen for almost three decades.
“The start to our anniversary year was a success,” says Grasberger happily.
The festivities were deliberately given the motto “modern-traditional” and the ball was a nice introduction to this.
The next highlight on the program is an open-air benefit concert with the Mountain Music Corps from Garmisch-Partenkirchen on July 2nd;
The Otterfinger brass band plays as the opening act.
Tickets (15 euros) are available in advance at Raiffeisenbank Otterfing and at the Schaal/Weiller kiosk.
The official anniversary celebration will follow in the summer and is embedded in the Otterfinger village festival on the first weekend in August.
After a commemoration on Saturday, August 3rd, at the War Memorial Chapel, celebrations will take place in the village festival tent.
The following day, on the festival Sunday, a field service in Bergham and a parade through the town are planned.
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