The name Beuel is derived from the Middle High German Buhil, which means Büchel = hill. This was located between several silted-up branches of the Rhine. In the left-hand bend of the Rhine there was a flat bank area with extensive meadows, which was ideal for drying large pieces of laundry from one of the two 18th century fulling mills. However, the untamed Rhine also caused regular flooding. Beuel was first mentioned in documents as Buiela in 1139. A small settlement formed at the intersection of ancient trade routes (Rhine-Sieg), whose inhabitants lived mainly from fishing.

From its origins, Beuel belonged to the "Lordship of Vilich", a sub-sovereignty in the Churköln office of Bonn. From the 15th century onwards, Beuel was politically divided between Churköln and the Duchy of Berg, with the border running along today's Kennedy Bridge. Vilich Abbey was built as early as the 10th century as a pillar of Churköln rule. The first abbess of the Benedictine convent in Vilich was Adelheid, who was later canonized.

I am now reporting from the traditions that my great-aunt Anna passed on to me.

Until the middle of the 19th century, the working conditions of the washerwomen were extremely hard, as they only washed in flowing water, i.e. in the Rhine. They often stood in water up to their knees in all weathers. The Rhine water, which was supposed to completely soak the fibers to soak the laundry, was soft, so it was well suited. After soaking, the laundry was washed, usually on flat stones. Soapwort, the root of which was used, grows along the Rhine. This also contributed to the legendary "Beuel scent".

Afterwards, the laundry had to be rinsed and wrung out. All this was hard work, because wet laundry weighed a lot. (This procedure is said to still exist in Slovenia today.) The laundry was then spread out on the Rhine meadows to bleach (from blanc = white). The chlorophyll of the meadow green forms pure oxygen when exposed to sunlight (UV radiation = peroxide + ozone). For further drying, the clothes were hung on stretched hemp ropes after they had been stretched, a job that had to be done together.

We can assume that the washerwomen first formed a group at the beginning of the 19th century to stand up against the harsh working conditions. The fact that this resistance was linked to the carnival can be explained by its origins.

It was customary for the men of the launderers' families to take out the clean laundry on Carnival Thursday, but then stay with the carnivalists and celebrate. This resulted in an interruption to the work processes, so that the women also had a few hours of idle time, as dirty laundry was delayed. In any case, they were angry with their husbands, who spent their hard-earned money at the carnival. They initially used this time secretly to sit together for a barley coffee (Muckefuck). Later, their meetings also became established. There was a fixed set of rules: the women had a duty to report on their husbands' gross breaches of the peace, marital fidelity and their alcoholic excesses.

They therefore exchanged information about their marriages, were able to share their anger and agreed to demand better working conditions from their employers, the latter without success. As they were in the majority in the laundry district on this Thursday, they decided to claim this district for themselves on "Fat Thursday" (because of the traditionally fat-baked Mutzemandeln, etc.). To emphasize this and to avoid being recognized because of possible later reprisals, they put on jute sacks and smeared their faces with soot from the washing fires. Curious men drove them into the Rhine with their pants pulled down, hence the cry "Botz erav", which is still occasionally heard today at Weiberfastnacht. Over time, this gave rise to the practice of cutting off the tie (the tie as a sign of masculinity).

The community of Beuel developed from the laundry district. For the first time - 125 years after the founding of the first ladies' committee (1824) - the town hall was stormed and the keys handed over on February 24, 1949. In 1958, there was a Wäscherprinzessin for the first time, who pro forma still has to wash men's trousers to prove herself worthy of the honor. Today, this part of the carnival has also been commercialized and hardly anyone remembers its revolutionary origins.

When Rhine tourism took off in the middle of the 19th century (the first book for Rhine travelers was published in 1828), more and more laundries gradually settled on the banks of the Rhine south of the current Kennedy Bridge in Beuel. They were already using wash huts standing on tripods. As the location with the extensive meadows on the banks was ideal, numerous hotels that had been established in Königswinter now also sent their laundry to Beuel. Cologne accommodation establishments had also discovered the particularly good-smelling Beuel laundry. The clean laundry was delivered to them on so-called laundry boats. The "Beuel scent" became a trademark and Beuel was sometimes called the "white city on the Rhine".

From 1907, the first drum washing machine - still operated by hand - and the invention of Persil (perborate + silicate) made washing easier step by step. Around 1880, my great-grandfather founded the Johann Richarz laundry as a "bleacher" at Rheinstr. 101, today Rheinaustr. 193 to 195 near the ferry landing stage between Steinerstrasse and Johannesstrasse. Over time, four buildings were built on the extensive site, which extended down to the unpaved Rhine: a residential building, wash house, drying house and ironing house. As a boy, my grandfather used to drive a horse and cart to Königswinter and Cologne to deliver laundry. Apart from the drying house, which is now used by a joinery, all the buildings were destroyed in the big bombing raid on Bonn on October 18, 1944.