Horror House (Hamburg)
The former administration building of the German Salaried Health Insurance Fund (DAK) , known as the horror house , was part of an office complex on Steindamm in the central Hamburg district of St. Georg . After the building was sold, it was not let by the new owners for 14 years. Although the complex was no longer connected to the electricity and water supply and no longer had any sewage disposal , the filthy and increasingly decaying building served as illegal accommodation for the homeless , drug addicts and under poor hygienic conditionsProstitute . It was also a meeting place for female and male prostitutes and their suitors . After a suitor strangled a drug addicted prostitute, the horror house was reported nationwide and it gained "notoriety" because of its bad reputation. The house also gained political importance. In the Hamburg election campaign in 2001 , for example, the CDU demanded the demolition of the building in connection with the drug scene in St. Georg and the general conditions in the district.
location
The building was located directly on Steindamm 98-106, a street consisting largely of sex shops, amusement arcades, hour hotels and office buildings in the central St. Georg district, about 900 meters from Hamburg Central Station. The district is one of the two large pub and red light districts in the city, although St. Georg is prohibited due to its proximity to Hamburg's inner city and street prostitution is therefore prohibited. In particular from the 1990s to the early 2000s, St. Georg was an important drug district with a highly active dealer scene and the largest open drug scene in Europe.
history
Construction and use
The building ensemble consisted of five individual houses, which were built between 1958 and 1969. The main building, known as the horror house , had eight floors, 720 rooms and around 13,000 square meters of office space. After construction, the German salaried health insurance company used the complex as the main administration building until 1989. In 1989 the building was sold to the two investors Eduard Friedrich Kynder and Georg Kurt Lingenbrink. Since then, there have been various usage and new building concepts, none of which have been implemented. The reason for this were alleged disputes between the owners. After the DAK moved out, Deutsche Telekom briefly moved into the office building.
Vacancy
The building has been empty since 1993. It was initially secured by a property management company. The contract expired at the beginning of 2001 and was not extended. The owners only nailed up the entrances with wooden boards. By smashing the windows, homeless people, drug addicts and street prostitutes gained access to the building and used it as accommodation, a place to stay for the consumption of hard drugs and a meeting place for prostitutes and their clients . The house was now considered an “eerie address” and in a short time it had degenerated into a “drug den where addicts lived under the worst conditions.” Since the building had not been connected to the water supply or disposal for a long time, the toilets did not work either . The residents therefore relieved themselves in the former offices. The entire building smelled foul of urine, feces and mold. The living conditions in the house were poor: the carpet was filthy and covered with broken glass and moldy leftover food. The rooms were dark and littered; they were provided with used fixer syringes, used condoms, empty vodka bottles, filthy, blood-stained mattresses, and feces. Existing curtains were gray and torn. Wallpaper hung from the walls and cables hung from the ceilings in the hallways.
The police were aware of the conditions in the former office complex, but they were only partially able to act. Since the building was privately owned , she was only allowed to enter it if there was a specific danger or evidence of criminal offenses .
Homicide
On June 8, 2001, a homeless man set fire to a closet on the eighth floor of the house. This was due to anger that a can of beer had been stolen from him. When the fire brigade arrived around 8:30 p.m. and put out the fire, firefighters discovered the body of the 22-year-old drug addict prostitute Melanie R. She had gone into one of the vacant offices with a client about an hour earlier. Apparently there was an argument between the two, which resulted in the suitor strangling Melanie R. with her own sweater . Probably because of the fire brigade sirens, he fled the building.
The perpetrator had to give a saliva sample two years later because of a rape . The criminal police were able to prove his presence at the crime scene based on the DNA traces he had at the crime scene . However, the perpetrator denied the act and was released.
Only after forensic science had improved so much in 2005 that even small amounts could be examined for DNA, the perpetrator could be proven on the basis of the smallest traces on the victim that he had contact with Melanie R. In a circumstantial trial in December 2005, the perpetrator was sentenced to nine years ' imprisonment for manslaughter .
Demolition and new construction
Since the two owners were no longer solvent and could not convert or expand the complex, the two creditor banks Eurohypo and Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank sold the building complex including the 6,000 square meter area to Quantum Immobilien AG. The demolition began in October 2007. The new construction work for the new 150 million euro project - a construction project with 24,000 square meters of office space, a hotel with 464 rooms, 63 rental apartments and an underground car park with 500 parking spaces - began in April 2008. It opened exactly two years later, in April 2010 the Motel One Hotel .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Die Welt, article The horror house of St. Georg remains ownerless from May 20, 2005
- ↑ a b c d Uwe Buse, Andreas Ullrich: Das Geisterhaus . In: Der Spiegel . No. 29 , 2001 ( online - July 16, 2001 ).
- ↑ Die Welt, article Cocaine price dropped: Dealers in St. Georg “strike” from September 4, 1999
- ↑ Die Welt, article "Horror-Haus" on Steindamm comes under the hammer from April 2, 2005
- ^ Re: haunted house . In: Der Spiegel . No. 29 , 2001 ( online - July 21, 2001 ).
- ↑ Die Welt, Article An Eyesore Razed November 22, 2005
- ↑ Hamburger Morgenpost, article How do people live? dated June 11, 2001
- ↑ Hamburger Morgenpost, article A shame for the city of June 12, 2001
- ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt, article You are living in the horror house again from February 12, 2004
- ↑ Die Welt, article After more than four years of murder in a horror house solved on December 28, 2005
- ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt, article Mord im Horrorhaus cleared up from December 28, 2005
- ↑ Hamburger Morgenpost, article dead in the "Horrorhaus": Did he strangle her? dated August 9, 2006
- ↑ Die Welt, article Manslaughter in the Horror House from August 24, 2006
- ↑ Hamburger Morgenpost, article Nine Years Imprisonment for Manslaughter, August 24, 2006
- ↑ Die Welt, article The horror house in St. Georg is now history from June 24, 2008
- ↑ Hamburger Morgenpost, article Design Hotel instead of Horror House from April 10, 2010
Coordinates: 53 ° 33 '22.9 " N , 10 ° 1' 7.9" E