The youth hostel movement began in 1909 when Richard Schirrmann, a German schoolteacher, and Wilhelm Münker, a conservationist, saw a need for overnight accommodation for school groups wanting to experience the countryside. They started with schools being used during the holidays, and the first "" (youth hostel) was opened in Schirrmann's own school, in Altena, Westphalia. In 1912 a hostel in Altena Castle superseded the school-building, and a hostel still stands in the castle grounds. Schirrmann thus founded the nationwide German Youth Hostel Association in 1919.