In 1887, Gottfried Binneweitz obtained a license to perform as “artist and musician” at outdoor circus performances in Denmark. It was in his blood: His father had been a German traveling musician who had moved to Denmark in the second half of the nineteenth century following the example of North-German traveling merchants and performers who’d crossed the border at that time.
Gottfried, however, was more ambitious than his father. To improve his family’s lot in life, he created a performing company that in the early days, included just the immediate family, a couple of horses, and a few farm animals. Binneweitz soon changed his name to Benneweis for easier pronunciation, and soon the family troupe began to grow in size and in popularity. When Gottfriend passed away, his son and daughter-in-law, Ferdinand and Irene respectively, took over the family circus in 1933.
Ferdinand and Irene adopted a son, Eli, and when Ferdinand died in 1945, his wife, Irene, inherited the business now called Cirkus Benneweis, and Eli managed it with his mother. Eli was good at what he did.
Really good.
Soon, he became the sole person in charge. Under his watch, Cirkus Benneweis went from being a mid-sized traveling circus into one of Europe’s largest and most respected circus, and until 2015, it was one of the oldest circuses in Europe that was still in the hands of the same family.
Following WW II, animal acts that had been so popular before the war were very scarce. One of Eli’s first moves was to reduce the large number of horses the show carried, and replace them with exotics. Among the other animals he added were dogs, and he went to a breed found all over “old” Denmark, from Scania to Schleswig Holstein, the Dansk-Svensk Gårdshund, aka the Danish Swedish Farmdogs. At least five dogs had acts in which they performed various tricks, an easy feat for a versatile breed known for its quickness at learning new tasks.
The Cirkus Benneweis celebrated its first one-hundred years in 1987, and was still going strong after more than 130 years of uninterrupted activity until its “temporary” closure in 2015 for a “revamping” of the organization that never happened. Around 2017, the circus’ winter quarters were put up for sale. The versatile Danish Swedish Farmdog, however, a very old breed dating back to the 1700s, continues to be discovered by people delighted with the breed’s active and the lively temperament.
Image courtesy of the AKC