“Michel Michel” – the last Harxheim original
Michel Michel was a truly oddball representative of the genre of village originals. He and his bicycle were inseparable, garden tools were his great collecting passion – to the annoyance of their owners.
“Michel Michel”, October 1982
Image source: Siegfried Schäfer
Who didn’t know him, the small, somewhat stocky man on the older lady’s bicycle! Michael Michel was his name, known to everyone only as “Michel Michel”. Equipped with a batting cap and welding goggles, he cycled – following a daily ritual – through Harxheim’s alleys and then through the surrounding communities to pedal his kilometers. Some people from Harxheim even thought they saw him sometimes with diving goggles on his bike, but this was never quite confirmed. He lived – last alone – in a small property in the Obergasse 16. After his retirement as a railroad employee, his leisure interests concentrated on cycling and extended walks through the Harxheim district.
Always on the lookout for useful farming equipment that had accumulated in his barn over the years. During the one or other “pursuit and raid” of the rightful owners, the picks and spades also found their way back to the home shed again under protest and all sorts of excuses from the intermediate owner.
Especially in the time of the grape harvest Michel Michel was on the way in the vineyards as Wingertsschütz, whereby he was very happy to join the vespers of the harvest workers. A discussion about the contents of the Bild newspaper he was carrying very often led to participation in a meal, to which he invited himself as a matter of course.
“Bild”-ung in the Wingert, October 1982
Image source: Siegfried Schäfer
Legendary is an episode that once took place in the courtyard of his estate and is still gladly given to the best in the “Old Place” today. Michel Michel was cleaning his beloved bicycle one day and also removed the bottom bracket. The beads of the camp were neatly set aside in a jar, awaiting purification. Unfortunately, Michel knocked the small box off the wall and the balls rolled down the courtyard. The flock of chickens present – delighted with the arriving feed, but to the horror of the chicken boss – pecked up the feed pellets in no time at all. Michel Michel, seething with rage and lamenting, immediately set out for revenge and only shouted to his wife: “Anna, it knives e’raus, die Hinkel wer’n geschlacht!” What contributed to the amusement of neighborly observers may have been less to the liking of the members of the henfolk. Unfortunately, it has not been handed down whether the beating for the consumption of ball bearings was actually so draconian. In any case, Michel Michel was seen again a few days later on (his) bike.
Michael Michel was born on January 17, 1906 and died on July 5, 1997.
References:
Eyewitness reports
Own research
