Martje Thalmann

Martje Thalmann is a German Türmerin (loosely "Tower keeper"). She was appointed to the post at St. Lambert's Church, Münster in January 2014, becoming the first woman since 1383 to have held the position. and are not officially designated job titles in Germany and it has indeed been known for tour guides to adopt the title for themselves. Thalmann is believed to be one of at least three genuine or in Germany who are also women. The nature of the duties has changed in recent decades; Thalmann's appointment to the St. Lambert's post was nevertheless intended to preserve an authentic tradition.

Traditionally the job involved regular ascents to the top of a high tower in order to look out and warn fellow citizens (by means of a warning horn, bell, flags and/or, after dark, flashing lights) of approaching armies in time of war, and of outbreaks of house fires at any time. At times of intensified fire risk - for instance on windy days in periods of sustained hot dry weather, or in the event of possible firebomb attacks - it became necessary for a permanent watch to be kept from the top of the tower. In many middle European towns, medieval street patterns with their narrow streets endured well into or beyond the twentieth century, and where there is no readily accessible supply of building stone, the principal building material incorporated into most surviving residential and municipal buildings is timber. Many homes were heated with peat which could often nurture simmering internal hotspots for hours after the fire was believed to have finished burning, and then burst into flames after the householders had gone to bed. This translated into intensified levels of fire risk in many towns and cities. Münster's present Türmerin told an interviewer in 2015 that from her "office" at the top of the tall church tower she is still sometimes able to spot house fires and report them to the fire department, although "it does not happen so often" (es "kommt aber nicht allzu oft vor"). and also lived for a time in Canada. As a small child she had an appetite for performing, mastering a range of instruments including piano, guitar, double bass, flute, renaissance lute, accordion and cello. Every half hour between 21.00 and midnight she sounds the "tower horn" three times, facing in succession south, west and north. She does not sound the horn towards the east, because in that direction there used to be a large cemetery and, by tradition, it is not part of her responsibility to disturb the souls of the dead. Interviewed in May 2015, after just fifteen months in the job, Thalmann reported that she had already spotted several fires while on watch. Under these circumstances her first duty is to telephone the fire station to alert them to as many details as she can determine from her vantage point. After that she takes up her "tower horn". Instead of the steady long blasts she uses to communicate the time, she communicates the emergency with an urgent succession of staccato notes.