Who became the new shooting festival king of the Neuss Citizens’ Shooting Festival?
Three candidates stood before the target, and the winner made the decisive shot on the evening of his birthday.
The roles and events reported after the election result did not all refer to facts from the same point in time.
3-Line Summary
1. Engels is Neuss’s new shooting festival king
2. The 24th shot brought down the target
3. The queen’s role and subsequent events were planned at the time
The 24th Shot at the Rennbahnpark Festival Grounds
At the Citizens’ Shooting Festival in Neuss, Germany, Klaus Engels was elected the new shooting festival king. According to reports by RP Online and Volksfreund, Engels secured the king’s position by bringing down a bird-shaped target with his 24th shot. The conclusion of who became king among the three candidates had already been determined.
The shooting took place at the Rennbahnpark festival grounds in Neuss. Volksfreund reported that the shooting began at 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday and was decided at 6:34 p.m. RP Online, meanwhile, reported that Engels won the crown at 6:36 p.m. with his 24th shot. The times in the two reports do not match, but their central result is the same: Engels won with the 24th shot.
The event was reported as one in which the person who brought down the target gained the king’s position. Thus, the number 24 refers to a moment that determined the outcome, rather than merely a shot count. After hitting the target, Engels became the new king, defeating fellow candidates Thomas Kaupels and Cornel Hüsch. Volksfreund also reported that former shooting festival king Franz Josef Odendahl congratulated his successor.
The Election of the King on His Birthday Evening
That day was also Engels’s 64th birthday. RP Online reported that after he became king, his colleagues honored him with cheers, battle songs, the “Superclausi-Olé” chant, and a birthday song. The fact that the election and his birthday fell on the same evening directly shaped the reaction at the festival grounds.
RP Online also carried memories from his family. Engels’s mother, Malenle, said that he was born on the evening when the king’s election ceremony was held and that she, too, had wanted to watch the target shooting at the festival grounds. His mother added that he was born at 8:10 p.m. This was not a condition or result of the election, but an anecdote that provides specific background about his birthday.
Volksfreund reported that Engels’s candidacy became known on Sunday evening. The actual election therefore took place only a few days after the candidates were announced. The sequence in which he brought down the target and became king on his birthday is a reported fact, but the election itself was finalized by the shooting result at the festival grounds.
All Three Candidates Came from Schützenlust
Before the election, NE-WS 89.4 introduced three candidates, all of whom belonged to Schützenlust. Schützenlust was mentioned in the reports as the shooting organization to which the candidates belonged. The candidates were Engels, Hüsch, and Kaupels. The advance reports covered the three men’s backgrounds and challenges, while subsequent reports confirmed that Engels had secured the king’s position.
Engels was introduced as a senior adjutant of the shooting corps Schwemmböxges. He had been active on the Schützenlust committee since 2014 and had recently served as secretary. NE-WS 89.4 also introduced him as a managing partner at a consulting firm. In the reports on this election, his confirmed festival roles were senior adjutant of Schwemmböxges and a member of the Schützenlust committee.
NE-WS 89.4 reported that Hüsch had challenged for the position 11 years earlier but did not win at the time. His father, Heinz Günter Hüsch, was introduced as Neuss’s shooting festival king 55 years ago. Kaupels was reported to have worked in Kronberg in the Taunus for more than 25 years and to be the director of Opel Zoo. The candidates had different careers, but the confirmed result of this election was Engels’s victory.
The Sequence Planned to Follow the King’s Election
The election of the new king is a completed fact. However, the statement that Engels’s companion, Sabine Schmachtenberg, would take on the role of queen at his side was reported by Volksfreund in the future tense. Therefore, the result that Engels was elected king and the role Schmachtenberg was to assume cannot be treated as having the same level of final confirmation.
Volksfreund also reported that a large military band ceremony would be held in the festival tent after the target shooting, followed by the traditional Wackelzug procession through central Neuss. This was the sequence of events stated in the article. At the time of reporting, unlike the shooting, which had already ended, these were events announced as still to come.
The clearest scene in this Neuss news was that Engels, celebrating his birthday, brought down the target with his 24th shot. The advance information that there were three candidates and the subsequent festival schedule provide the context before and after that moment. The king’s election should be read as a result, while the queen’s role and subsequent events were plans reported at the time.
References
Tags #Neuss #Neuss #KlausEngels #ShootingFestival #CitizensShootingFestival #ShootingFestivalKing #Schützenkönig #Schützenlust #Schwemmböxges #Rennbahnpark #GermanFestival #TraditionalProcession