Richard Schirrmann

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Richard Schirrmann (May 15, 1874 - December 14, 1961) was a German teacher and founder of the first youth hostel.

Born in Grunenfeld, district Heiligenbeil, East Prussia (now Mamonovo, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia) the son of a teacher, he studied to become a teacher himself. In 1895 he received his qualification, and was sent to Altena (Westphalia) in 1903. In 1907 he first published his idea of an inexpensive accommodation for young people, after he noticed the lack of such places on a school trip when he had to spend the night in barns or village school buildings.

Schirrmann received considerable support and donations, and in 1907 he opened the first youth hostel in the recently reconstructed Altena castle. In 1919 he founded a nationwide youth hostel association, and in 1922 he retired from teaching to focus entirely on the youth hostel movement. From 1933-1936 he also led Hostelling International, but was forced to resign by the Nazi government. After World War II, he worked on the rebuilding of the German association, for which he received the Bundesverdienstkreuz in 1952.

He died in Grävenwiesbach (Taunus) in 1961.