They were awake when others were asleep and overtired when others were awake. No wonder that the night watchmen were generally considered sleepy-eyed and somewhat dorky. In Marburg in particular, they were ridiculed for their supposedly simple spirit and had to suffer many a coarse teasing from the academic youth. It is all the more astonishing to see the way in which the old "Nachträte", who had almost fallen into oblivion, have turned into a symbol of the "good old days" and have become a nostalgically transfigured Marburg landmark. This book tells of the rather rough life of the night watchmen, of their strenuous service, their shouting and singing, and of the anecdotes that have grown up around them. One learns a lot of previously unknown facts about a security institution that always led a shadowy existence and yet played a not unimportant role in the far-reaching history of Marburg.