Norwegian legation in Berlin

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The Norwegian Embassy in Berlin in the embassy district of the Berlin district of Tiergarten was established from 1940 to 1941 as the headquarters of the Norwegian diplomatic mission in Germany . The building at the western end of Rauchstrasse was designed in 1938 by the architects Estorff & Winkler in a neoclassical style and is now a listed building . The embassy building is now used as an office and residential building, the Norwegian embassy in Berlin has been located in the Nordic embassies complex at the eastern end of Rauchstrasse since 1999 .

Location, planning and architecture

Rauchstraße 11: seat of the Georgian embassy as well as office and residential building (since 2009)

The building of the Norwegian Embassy is located at Rauchstrasse 11 on the corner of Drakestrasse, opposite the Yugoslav Embassy , which was built almost at the same time . At the time the building was built, Rauchstrasse ran from Klingelhöferstrasse in the east (then Friedrich-Wilhelm-Strasse) via Stülerstrasse and Drakestrasse to the corner of Corneliusstrasse and Lichtensteinallee in the west. After the destruction of World War II, only two buildings remained in the entire block between Drakestrasse and Lichtensteinallee: the Spanish Embassy and the Danish Embassy . In the 1980s, the two buildings should also be demolished in order to add the whole area to the zoological garden . This did not happen after citizen protests, but the southern part of the building block was opened in 1987 as an extension of the zoological garden. Today the former crossing between Rauchstrasse and Drakestrasse is just a junction and the former Norwegian embassy borders the zoo.

New embassy buildings as part of the planning for the " World Capital Germania "

As part of the development plan of the National Socialist chief architect Albert Speer and his authority ( General Building Inspectorate , GBI) for the construction of the “ World Capital Germania ”, the area known today as the embassy quarter at the southern Tiergarten was declared a diplomatic quarter. Twelve embassy buildings were to be erected in order to create space for the execution of Speer's plans in the government district near the Brandenburg Gate as the embassies moved away, which should go beyond all previously known urban planning standards. In order to realize his plans, residential buildings in Berlin were demolished in 1938–39, and the tenants who were to be relocated received replacement apartments, which were vacated at Speer's instigation by the evacuation and deportation of Jews. Before the move to the embassy district, the embassy and passport office of Norway was in its own building at Alsenstrasse 2 (post district NW 40) in Moabit , a street that no longer exists today near the Lehrter train station . The Norwegian Embassy got in the way of the plan for the “ Great Hall ”.

The design for the Norwegian legation comes from the architectural community Otto von Estorff and Gerhard Winkler , who had already built a number of villas in Potsdam and the surrounding area. The building, which was built between 1940 and 1941, has an L-shaped floor plan, the wings of which are on Rauchstrasse and Drakestrasse. The eaves height and facade structure of the building were based on the design of the older Dutch embassy building directly adjacent at Rauchstrasse 10, with which the Norwegian embassy was connected by a double arcade , which also served as the right of way for cars. The Dutch embassy was destroyed in World War II and the double arcade was torn down. The Norwegian Legation has three main floors above a converted basement; today the top floor has also been expanded. The facade is lightly plastered and the base, the corners of the building, the window walls and the eaves are smoothly clad with limestone . The second floor is highlighted by a representative balcony facing Rauchstrasse.

From 1980 to 1984 Rob Krier designed an urban design with block-like apartment buildings along Rauchstrasse as part of the International Building Exhibition (IBA). The Norwegian Legation is located in IBA draft block 189 "Rauchstrasse", which is delimited by Rauchstrasse, Drakestrasse, Thomas-Dehler-Strasse and Stülerstrasse. 1983–1984 Aldo Rossi executed the neighboring building of the Norwegian Legation in Drakestrasse (address Thomas-Dehler-Strasse 47) as a mirror-image design for the legation building. The neighboring building in Rauchstrasse on the site of the former Dutch embassy was designed by Rob Krier himself. The Norwegian Embassy itself was restored as part of the IBA by the Free Planning Group Berlin under the direction of R. Weichmayr.

Usage history

The Norwegian ambassador to Berlin for many years was Arne Scheel , who had held this post since 1921. The Norwegian Foreign Minister Halvdan Koht tried in 1940 to dismiss Scheel from his post because of his proximity to Nazi Germany. After the Wehrmacht began the attack on Norway on April 9, 1940 , Hitler received Scheel on April 13, 1940 together with the Norwegian collaborator Albert Viljam Hagelin for a meeting. On April 19, 1940, Scheel left together with the embassy staff at the request of Ribbentrop . The embassy building on Rauchstrasse was completed in 1941. The diplomatic properties of the countries occupied, annexed or dismantled by Germany were commonly treated as "booty": the buildings of the Soviet and Yugoslav legations fell to the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories . The Foreign Office appropriated the Norwegian legation.

After the end of the war , the Allied Control Council accredited the Norwegian Military Mission as the diplomatic representation of Norway in Germany. The military mission was based in the Norwegian Legation building. The Norwegian diplomat C. J. Helgeby headed the military mission and held the rank of major general . In October 1946, the Norwegian Foreign Minister Halvard Lange asked his friend Willy Brandt to go to Berlin as a press attaché to the Norwegian Military Mission in order to report on German developments from there. Brandt consented and arrived in Berlin in January 1947 with the "civil-military" rank of Norwegian major . A few months later he was followed by his lover Rut Bergaust to Berlin, who now worked as his secretary with the rank of lieutenant in the military mission. At the end of 1947 Brandt resigned from the service of the Norwegian Military Mission and gave up his Norwegian citizenship in order to take over the Berlin representation of the SPD executive committee on January 1, 1948 . Rut Bergaust also gave up her position on the military mission. In 1948 Brandt and Bergaust, who was now called Rut Brandt, married in Berlin. The wedding was performed by a Norwegian military pastor who came to Berlin from his unit in the Harz Mountains .

After the Norwegian Military Mission in Berlin was closed, the building remained unused for years and became increasingly dilapidated. After reunification , the embassy building at Rauchstrasse 11 was renovated and a Norwegian consulate general was set up there. As a result of the capital city resolution, Norway also relocated its embassy, ​​which was previously in Bonn, to Berlin. Together with other Scandinavian countries, Norway built the Nordic Embassies complex , in the Norwegian part of which the consulate from Rauchstrasse 11 moved in in 1999 together with the embassy from Bonn. The former embassy building is now used as an office and residential building and is divided into condominiums . The Georgian Embassy has had its headquarters in parts of the building since 2010 .

literature

  • Matthias Donath : Architecture in Berlin 1933–1945 , published by the Landesdenkmalamt Berlin . Lukas Verlag, Berlin 2007, ISBN 3-936872-26-0 . (In particular, Chapter 24: Embassies in the Diplomatic Quarter, pp. 99-106.)
  • Erich Voss: New Legation Buildings in Berlin . In: Art in the German Empire , Part B: "The Art of Architecture". Vol. 4, 1940, ZDB -ID 578605-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans J. Reichhardt and Wolfgang Schächen: From Berlin to Germania: about the destruction of the Reich capital by Albert Speer's redesign plans . Catalog for an exhibition at the Landesarchiv Berlin, November 7, 1984 to April 30, 1985. Landesarchiv, Berlin 1985.
  2. ^ Wolfgang Schächen : Architecture and Urban Development in Berlin between 1933 and 1945 . 2nd Edition. Gebrüder Mann, Berlin 1992.
  3. ↑ Susanne Willems: The resettled Jew . Edition Hentrich, Berlin 2002.
  4. ↑ authorities . In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1938, part 3, p. 11.
  5. ↑ Alsenstrasse . In: Street name lexicon of the Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein
  6. ^ Matthias Donath: Architecture in Berlin 1933–1945 . Lukas Verlag, Berlin 2007, p. 102.
  7. ^ The IBA 1987, new building . In: architecture in berlin ; Retrieved January 3, 2015.
  8. ↑ Milan Hauner: Hitler, a chronology of his life and time . Macmillan, 1983, ISBN 0-333-30983-9 , p. 150.
  9. ↑ Norbert Conrads (Ed.): Kein Recht, nirgends , Volume 2. Böhlau, Cologne 2006, ISBN 3-412-32905-3 , p. 784.
  10. ↑ a b Key list of MG personnel . (PDF; 5.1 MB) In: Weekly Information Bulletin , No. 131 (1948) of March 23, 1948, published by the Office of Military Government for Germany, Druckhaus Tempelhof , Berlin, Allied Military Missions - Norway , p. 32.
  11. ↑ a b Willy Brandt : Left and free. My way 1930–1950 . Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 1982, ISBN 3-455-08743-4 , pp. 220-224. Excerpts as preprint: persevere and survive . In: Der Spiegel . No. 40 , 1982, pp. 210 ( online ).
  12. ↑ Helene Walterskirchen: On the side of power: Germany's first ladies . Ueberreuter, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-8000-3845-5 , p. 153.

Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 33 ″  N , 13 ° 20 ′ 47 ″  E