Orjels Palm with barrel-organ

Musicians characterized urban life until the years after the Second World War. The weekdays on which playing music to earn money was allowed were laid down by the Ordnungsamt (town clerk's office). The best known Rhinelander in this field was Orjels Palm, father-in-law of the legendary Cologne singer Willi Ostermann. Palm, a former soldier with the Black Hussars, received a licence as organ-grinder from the Prussian state instead of a pension. Day after day from the 1830's Palm walked the streets of Cologne with his barrel-organ. He won the affection of children and adults alike and came to be regarded as a "cultural asset".

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