Gäßestrepper Fountain

The Gässestrepper fountain is considered a symbol for craftsmen and traders

The Gäßestrepper fountain illustrates a city legend that is said to have happened in Bitburg. During the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), Swedish mercenaries besieged the city to starve it. The Bitburgers' supplies soon ran out and the citizens were on the verge of surrendering. Suddenly one of them had an idea: They took the skins from the goats that had been slaughtered in need, put them on the children and sent them to the city wall. When the Swedes saw the “goats”, they believed that the Bitburgers still had food in abundance. But since the supplies of the Swedes themselves were slowly becoming scarce, they gave up the siege and withdrew. Since that day, the Bitburgers have been called Gäßestrepper, after the Bitburger words for goat (Gäße) and overburden (streppen).

It was the Thirty Years' War and a Swedish armed force marched through the Eifel and plundered. When they got to Bitburg (Beberig), the Bitburgers closed their gates and hid behind the thick city walls. Thereupon the Swedes besieged the small country town and soon hunger and misery prevailed among the population. When one was already thinking of handing over the city, a city council had the idea to save it. The Bitburg children were donned (straddled) the skins of slaughtered goats (Gäßen) and made to dance over the city wall in disguise. The Swedes, who ran out of food themselves, thought that the Bitburgers would have to eat for many weeks. So they gave up the siege and left. The rescued Bitburgers celebrated a big party and were soon only called the "Beberiger Gäßestrepper" in the whole area.