Kohte

The kohte is assembled on-site from four identical panels of heavy canvas, almost always black, each formed by sewing two triangles together and cutting off the apex.

[2] The assembled tent sleeps four to eight and has a smoke hole, so a fire can be lit inside; in rainy weather, this is covered with a tarpaulin.

[1] The prototype, made in Stuttgart, was presented in summer 1928 at a camp at the Kollenburg near Dorfprozelten, but resembled a teepee: it was supported by many poles that crossed at the top, transported to the site as rail luggage, and the panels were sewn together and were white with coloured upper and lower sections.

[1][5][6] After his move to Berlin in 1930, Koebel and a friend who was then an engineering student, Ernst Voos, refined the design to consist only of four panels, which would be light enough for four boys to each carry one to the campsite in their packs.

[1] At some point in the early 1930s, this form of the kohte began to be mass manufactured and was sold as single panels and as a kit together with pre-cut bamboo poles, tent pegs, and the sticks for suspension, through Tadep, the group's official outfitter.