Introduction

Besides being a popular hot beverage that warms your body and soul in the chill of winter, Feuerzangenbowle, also known as Krambambuli, is featured at German Christmas markets, and has a long Germanic university student tradition that dates back to the 18th century. This hot winter drink has served as the inspiration for songs, literary works, several films, and even a musical play. Our hope is that after reading this post, when you next have the opportunity to enjoy this amazing hot beverage you also can better appreciate its history and traditions.

The Drink | das Getränk

Yes, the drink came first. Feuerzangenbowle (FOY-er-tsangen-BOH-luh) is a famous German drink that few non-German-speakers have ever heard of. Fire-tongs punch is a seasonal, hard-to-pronounce alcoholic hot beverage, but it’s based on a much better known winter drink called Glühwein (hot mulled wine). Anyone who has visited a German Christmas market has had the pleasure of a warm, delicious mug of Glühwein. (If not, they did it all wrong.) We have offered recipes for both drinks here at the German Way for years. (Although you can buy bottled, ready-made versions, it’s best when you prepare it yourself.) But now it’s time to tell the fascinating story behind Feuerzangenbowle, and how it gained fame and popularity in German-speaking Europe.

A Feuerzangenbowle set with a flaming rum-soaked sugar loaf (Raffinade). PHOTO: Amazon.de

A Brief History of Glühwein
First, a little Glühwein history. As with many things in Europe, the Romans did it first. The Roman version of mulled wine was known as conditum paradoxum (“surprise spiced wine”). The first-century AD Roman cookbook De re coquinaria (On the Subject of Cooking) contained a recipe that called for red wine, honey, pepper, mastic, laurel, saffron, date seeds, and dates soaked in wine. As the Romans spread across Europe, the tribes and nations they conquered made their own versions of spiced wine. The Forme of Cury, a 1390 medieval English book of recipes, included mulled wine, listing these ingredients among others: cinnamon, ginger, cloves, long pepper, nutmeg, marjoram, and cardamom. The first known German reference to Glühwein dates from about 1420 in the Rhine wine region. Later recipes added oranges and other citrus fruits, as they became more widely available.

Red wine is most commonly used for Glühwein, although white-wine versions are sometimes on offer. Glühwein mit Schuss simply adds a shot of hard liquor (usually rum) to a mug of mulled wine. And that in turn leads us to Feuerzangenbowle (fire-tongs punch), which I call “Glühwein on steroids.”

Fire Tongs and Krambambuli
Fire-tongs punch gets its name from the original practice of using a fireplace tong (eine Feuerzange). Instead of using it to grab hot coals from the fire to light a pipe in olden times, the tong became a device to hold the sugar loaf (Zuckerhut) used in preparing the punch. (In the old days, sugar loaves were larger and harder than they are today, requiring them to be broken up before use.)

This stainless steel Feuerzangenbowle set includes a metal rack to hold the flaming sugar loaf. PHOTO: Amazon.de

Today you can buy fancy metal or glass Feuerzangenbowle sets, complete with a large bowl/pot, a spirit/candle warmer, a metal sugar-loaf holder, a ladle (Schöpflöffel), a sugar loaf (Raffinade), spices, and a set of mugs or glasses. But you don’t really need a special set to make and enjoy Feuerzangenbowle. All you need are a pot and the required ingredients. (See our recipe for Feuerzangenbowle.) If you don’t want to make it yourself, you can go to a Christmas market in most of German-speaking Europe to buy a mug of Krambambuli.

The Song | das Studentenlied “Krambambuli”

“Krambambuli” or “Der Krambambulist” is a German student song that sings the praises of the eponymous Krambambuli beverage. The version you can listen to here was composed by Christoph Friedrich Wedekind in 1745. This audio version is performed by Erich Kunz and the Vienna State Orchestra. Below are the first two (of the original 102, 11-13 today) verses of “Krambambuli” in German and English.

WEB: Krambambuli/Crambambuli (with history, a detailed description of an Austrian student Crambambuli ceremony, in German)

The Novel | der Roman (1933)

The German author Heinrich Spoerl (Heinrich Christian Johann Spoerl, 1887-1955) published the novel entitled Die Feuerzangenbowle: Eine Lausbüberei in der Kleinstadt in 1933. The novel was popular and ultimately led to three movies (1934, 1944, 1970), the most famous of which was released in 1944 during the final days of a war the Nazis were on their way to losing. (More about the films below.)

This plaque at their former secondary school, the Oberrealschule am Fürstenwall in Düsseldorf-Bilk, honors native son writers Heinrich Spoerl and his son Alexander. The original building suffered heavy bomb damage in WWII, leading to various alterations and relocations. The high school is now the Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium (renamed in 1946) in a different location nearby. PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by his own school days and his son’s pranks at school in Düsseldorf, in his first novel Spoerl tells the story of a famous playwright named Johannes (Hans) Pfeiffer going undercover as a pupil at a small town Gymnasium (secondary school) after sitting around a bowl of fire-tongs punch with friends and hearing them tell him that he missed out on the best part of growing up by being privately tutored at home. Intrigued by the idea, Pfeiffer cuts his hair and shaves off his mustache to assume the identity of a high school student at an all-boys school in the sleepy town of Babenberg. The novel is set during the later years of the Weimar Republic (1918-1933) in Germany, and takes its title from the opening fire-tongs punch chapter.

Things get complicated when Pfeiffer’s girlfriend Marion learns of his stunt and travels from Berlin to Babenberg in an effort to persuade him to give up his crazy masquerade. Hans by chance meets the lovely young daughter of the school’s headmaster. And the story continues from there, with classic school prank scenes and more.

Both the novel and the 1944 film have held up well with the passage of many years.

Cover of a modern edition (2002) of Heinrich Spoerl’s 1933 novel. PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach’s Krambambuli
In 1884, Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916) published a novella entitled Krambambuli, another term for Feuerzangenbowle. The title refers to a dog in the story named for the drink. The dog got its name because it was bought from a destitute drunkard who was paid with 12 bottles of Krambambuli, a red-colored cherry liqueur that was once produced by a distillery in Danzig (Gdańsk).

In the jargon of German student fraternities, the word “Krambambuli” was used to identify various drinks such as Glühwein and Feuerzangenbowle. The popularity of the word was associated to a large degree with “Der Krambambulist,” a song with a prologue and 102 verses that was published in Halle in 1745. See more above.

The Movies | die Filme

Following the success of Heinrich Spoerl’s novel in 1933, the first of three cinematic versions to date was released in 1934. Directed by Robert A. Stemmle, So ein Flegel (“Such a Rascal” – international title: “Such a Boor”) starred Heinz Rühmann as the main character, Dr. Hans Pfeiffer. A decade later, Rühmann would play the same role (sans brother) in the 1944 remake.

A movie poster for the 1944 release of Die Feuerzangenbowle starring Heinz Rühmann. PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons

The film’s production in Berlin took a mere three weeks, partly because it was shot entirely inside a studio, with no exterior scenes at all. For some reason, this first motion picture altered the book’s plot by eliminating the fire-tongs punch episode entirely (and hence the different title), while giving Hans Pfeiffer a younger brother (Erich) that he didn’t have in the novel. In the film the two brothers (both played by Rühmann) switch roles, with Hans attending the school that his younger brother attended.

Although the 1934 film did not follow the book’s plot very closely, it still helped sell Spoerl’s novel, and led to more recognition for the author. By the time the second film version went into production in 1943, Spoerl himself would write the screenplay. By then he had become one of Germany’s most popular writers.

The 1944 Movie
Helmut Weiss (1907-1969) was the director of what was to become the best of the motion pictures based on Spoerl’s novel, due in part to excellent casting, but also because this Feuerzangenbowle film remains more faithful to the novel’s plot than the version made a decade earlier. The film’s success is also remarkable because it was the first film the actor-turned-director ever helmed. Weiss would go on to direct over 25 more pictures during his career into the 1960s. He also was a screenwriter for some of his films.

The 1944 Feuerzangenbowle film has attained cult status in Germany. Here at an open-air screening in Lindau on Lake Constance (Bodensee). PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons

Heinz Rühmann, reprising his role from the 1934 film, had become an even more famous film actor. He was also the producer of the picture. Although he was now 42 years of age, he somehow managed to pull off the trick of looking young enough to play a high school student.

The film was produced by the Ufa Studios (Terra Film division) in Potsdam-Babelsberg near Berlin. Filming began in March 1943, and was extended to take longer than normal by shooting and reshooting scenes to perfection in an attempt to save the younger actors from being drafted into the war. Filming ended in June 1943. By the time the film was released in 1944, the German Wehrmacht had suffered massive casualties and some of the actors had been killed in battle despite these efforts.

In the opening credits, just before the opening Feuerzangenbowle scene, a slightly adapted quotation from the book is displayed: “Dieser Film ist ein Loblied auf die Schule, aber es ist möglich, daß die Schule es nicht merkt.” (“This film is in praise of schools, but it is possible that schools may not recognize it as such.”) Indeed, the film’s release came into doubt after Bernhard Rust, the Nazi Reichserziehungsminister (secretary of education) and a former Gymnasium teacher, felt the movie threatened the authority of teachers and schools by ridiculing teachers. Trying to move things along and avoid a possible ban by the censorship board, Heinz Rühmann, as the film’s producer, personally took a copy of the film to a private screening for Hermann Göring. The tactic worked, and Die Feuerzangenbowle had its delayed premiere on January 28, 1944 at two Ufa cinemas in Berlin.

The film’s setting is a somewhat nebulous “old days” (early 1900s), evident in the old-fashioned school uniforms and caps that had already disappeared by the time the movie was in production. The clothing and styles in general also evoke an earlier time period. In part this was to avoid comparisons to the Nazi era and any potential political/cultural problems. Most critics praised the film and its cast.

Today the 1944 film enjoys cult status in Germany. Since the 1980s, the film has inspired party-like screenings in university auditoriums and open-air cinemas around Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Audience participation is similar to showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in the US. For example, the audience will ring alarm clocks whenever an alarm clock rings in the movie and use flashlights to mimic certain scenes. At various times in the past, more than 10,000 students have participated in the Feuerzangenbowle film tradition at the university in Göttingen.

VIDEO: Die Feuerzangenbowle (1944) – Sorry, no English subtitles
The first 11 minutes of the film, showing people gathered around an old-fashioned Feuerzangenbowle. Heinz Rühmann enters after a few minutes.

The 1970 Movie
Helmut Käutner directed the 1970 color film version shot in West Berlin. Käutner also wrote the screenplay, with Walter Giller and Uschi Glas in leading roles. Most cinema critics faulted the 1970 version for lacking the atmosphere, wit and charm of the 1944 release. Even though some reviewers praised Walter Giller’s performance as Hans Pfeiffer, the overall verdict was: “No comparison to the original.” Nevertheless, the picture was a modest box-office success, but it never became as popular as the iconic 1944 version with Heinz Rühmann. You can view the 1970 trailer below.

VIDEO: Die Feuerzangenbowle (1970) – Trailer

Die Feuerzangenbowle – Das Musical (2004)
The first (and so far only) musical play production based on Heinrich Spoerl’s novel debuted at the Mund Art Theater in Neu-Isenburg (Frankfurt am Main region) on June 18, 2004. The hr regional TV broadcaster later recorded the stage production and aired it on the first day of January 2005. Based on the 1944 film, the musical production featured music and words by Thorsten Wszolek, with song lyrics by Werner F. Krause and Mathias Münch. The musical ran periodically in 2004 and 2005.

Now go and enjoy a mug or two of Feuerzangenbowle!

– HF