Official and Unofficial Programme Guides
Official and Unofficial Programme Guides on the Munich Oktoberfest 1810-1936
Up to and far beyond the middle of the nineteenth century the horse races, the rifle contests and the prize giving ceremonies at the central agricultural festival formed the uncontested central focus of the Oktoberfests on the Theresienwiese. Accordingly, the programmes published in advance limited themselves to the announcement of the dates of contests and of the conditions of participation. Responsible for the dissemination in Munich and all of Bavaria up to at least 1845 was the Landwirtschaftliche Verein in Bayern (Agricultural Association in Bavaria) which from 1811 to 1818 organised the entire festival by itself, but even subsequently publicised next to their own tenders for the central agricultural feast also the conditions for the horse races and shooting competitions.
The magistrate of the city of Munich , which organised the festivities from 1819, ordered its festival programmes regularly to be published in the form of poster displays, of which none have been preserved in the holdings of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Bavarian State Library). Only from 1881, yearly programme guides were printed. Apart from an “official”, even though always privately published festival newspaper, which most of the time displayed a splendid title page, there always appeared unofficial issues as well of the most diverse kind, through the help of which other small publishing houses and book peddlers tried to profit from the business with the festival visitors. With their mixture of programmes, plans, articles and announcements by exhibitors, restaurant owners and shops on the Oktoberfest, as well as in the whole of Munich , they provide an important cultural historical type of sources.
The Reign of Maximilian I Joseph (1806 - 1825)
For the horse race that the National Guard third class held on 16 October 1810, the organiser
Andreas Edler von Dall'Armi (1765-1842) commissioned two programmes – one for the general sequence and one dedicated in particular for the horse race – to be published. The print run of these first programmes is unknown; possible they were printed only for the small circle consisting of bourgeoisie and royal court society. Apart from Dall'Armi’s detailed festival report of 1811, they constitute the most important sources on this first Oktoberfest.
The invitation to the 1811 Oktoberfest did not yet happen in the manner of tenders to bid as the Landwirtschaftliche Verein (Agricultural Association) would later issue them. Possibly, it can then still be localised in the ambience of the National Guard third class around Andreas von Dall'Armi.
In 1815 appeared a report after the Oktoberfest, which was composed by the philologist Johann Jakob Sendtner (1784-1833) and which already forecast in many details the final reports published later by the Landwirtschaftliche Verein in Bayern, even though it gives a much fuller account.
From c.1820 to 1845 the Landwirtschaftliche Verein in Bayern published for every Oktoberfest separate festival programmes as well as a final report. Next to general information about the weather or about the visits of the respective rulers, it also contained the names of prize winners at the Zentrallandwirtschaftsfest (Central Agricultural Feast) and particulars on the horse races and on the shooting competitions.
The 1824 festival programme is a unique copy at least as regards the holdings of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Bavarian State Library). Apart from the decorated contemporaneous binding, the programme distinguishes itself by means of an elaborate title page and by its detailed text from the programmes published at the same time by the Landwirtschaftliche Verein (Agricultural Association). It is unknown whether this (probably privately published) programme booklet is part of a series or whether it constitutes a singular attempt by the Munich publisher Franz Seraph Hübschmann (jun., active since 1822).
From the Reign of Ludwig I (1825 - 1848)
Next to the announcements of the city of Munich , the programmes of the Landwirtschaftliche Verein in Bayern (Agricultural Association in Bavaria) under King Ludwig I (1786-1868) formed the central publications on the events held on Theresienwiese (Theresia Meadow). A particularly detailed programme appeared, appropriately in such circumstances, for the jubilee of 1835, when the foundation of the Landwirtschaftliche Vereins (Agricultural Association), the wedding of Ludwig and the first Oktoberfest all had their 25th anniversaries.
Apart from the programmes of the Landwirtschaftliche Verein (Agricultural Association) only few programme guides have been preserved. Possibly these were, as in the case of the present exemplar dated to 1840, already commercial publications, created at the initiative of publishers and sold to the festival’s visitors.
Even in 1842, when the son of Ludwig , the Crown Prince and future King Maximilian II (1811-1864) got married, several festival programmes came out, including one published by the city of Munich.
From the Reign of Ludwig II (1864 - 1886)
The brochure presented here and dated to 1882 was produced and sold by the book peddler F. Gutmayer & Co. in Munich. It is a cheaply-fabricated product, which contains, next to a simple folding plan of the Oktoberfest and a short contribution on the history of the festival, mainly addresses and advertisements by shops and businesses of all kinds in Munich. Possibly, it was mainly directed at the numerous visitors from outside Munich who even then travelled from all over Bavaria (and beyond) to the Oktoberfest in Munich and wished to use the opportunity for a shopping spree.
From the Reign of Prince Regent Luitpold (1886 - 1912)
Even though the magistrate of the city of Munich commissioned the printing of official festival newspapers from 1881 onwards, in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Bavarian State Library) exemplars of these brochures were not preserved before 1894. Up to 1896, theses brochures were published by Ludwig Neumüller , whereas during the period between 1897 and after 1905 Hermann Roth (1865-1950), father of the journalist and poet Eugen Roth (1895-1976), took on this task. Additional programme guides presented here, of little quality as regards paper and content, were produced by several other publishing houses. Apart from the obligatory festival programme, all of these issues contain a large proportion of advertisements, smaller contributions and usually a mixture of caricatures, anecdotes and jokes. On offer was what appealed to the public: jokes making fun of country bumpkins and Northern Germans (the not yet always so-called "Preißn" [Prussians]), there were regularly misogynist, xenophobic and, more rarely, anti-Semitic attacks to be found; the latter generally contribute to the prejudice of Jewish people as profit-oriented and greedy. Many contributions and in particular the illustrations of this type of publication were adopted by other magazines, for example by the short-lived Auster (Oyster, 1903-1904) or by Simplicissimus.
Especially for the jubilee of 1910, and thus for the 100th anniversary of the first Oktoberfest, which was celebrated by the city of Munich with unprecedented splendour, numerous programme guides and brochures came out with highly diverse publishers. The official programme guide was produced by the journalist and author Josef Benno Sailer (1866-1913).
The small programme brochure of 1911, edited by the publishing house of Emil Stahl, concentrated on the late Wies'n (Theresia Meadow) character Michael August Schichtl, called “Papa Schichtl” (1851-1911). Among the texts re-used here without stating the source, may be found an excerpt of Carl Theodor Müller’s (1796-1873) Oktoberfest-Humoreske (Oktoberfest Humoresque), which had been first published in 1834.
The Free State of Bavaria and the Beginning of National Socialism (1918 - 1936)
Even though it was not produced for an Oktoberfest, the Offizielle Festzeitung des Heimkehr-Krieger-Schiessen (Official Festival Newspaper of the Veterans’ Shooting Contest) of 1919 represents the resumption of the festivities on Theresienwiese (Theresia Meadow) after WWI. Printed on the cheapest kind of wood pulp paper and illuminated by only a few and simple illustrations, the brochure set the tone for the festival newspapers of the 1920s, by perceptibly raising the proportion of jokes and jolly anecdotes in comparison to what had been the norm thus far.
During the 1920s, Rudolf Scheidler as well as Josef Benno Sailer claimed for themselves to publish the “official” Wies'n-paper (Festival Newspaper) by means of their Oktoberfest newspapers. As late as in 1929, Sailer, by producing his paper as the 20th anniversary’s issue, expressly referred back to the publication started by Ludwig Neumüller and Hermann Roth before WWI. From 1930, he brought out his newspapers with a new numbering.
The programme guides of the jubilee in 1935 quite clearly attempted not to underline NS ideology in too evident a fashion. Swastikas are visible but they are unobtrusively placed into the illustrations.
The last brochure dated to 1936 and presented here, appeared as a special issue of the Münchner Illustrierten Presse. By means of its mostly photographically illustrated journalistic content, it already exhibits the features of many Oktoberfest newspapers of the post-war period.