Allgäuhalle

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The Allgäuhalle in Kempten (Allgäu)

The Allgäuhalle , which was built in 1928 as an animal breeding hall, is a functional building designed by the architects Heydecker in Kempten (Allgäu) . It was the first facility of its kind in southern Germany . In addition to cattle breeding, it was also intended for sports and mass events. In November 2015, the registration as a monument (halls and bull) was announced.

history

Side view of the Allgäuhalle

The building was inaugurated on September 18, 1928 on the city's former cattle marketplace on the initiative of Mayor Otto Merkt . The purpose of this facility was mainly the trade in breeding cattle with independence from the Allgäu weather.

The bull novel as an animal breeding monument

An imposing and at the same time festive, well-lit hall with a wooden fence was built. In the past, the entrance area to the site was provided with a kiosk. From this entrance a flight of stairs leads down to the animal breeding hall. These stairs are surrounded by two streets. The animal breeding monument was placed on a base in the middle of the flight of steps.

The auditorium, which offers space for around 1000 people, was built amphitheatrically and originally decorated with wall paintings by the painter Franz Weiß . In the central area there is the demonstration area ("arena") and the auction platform. This large area is illuminated by skylights. All around, separated from the exhibition hall, there are individual stables, which are used for a precise assessment of the cattle.

Cattle show of the Allgäu Herdbook Society in 1896
Interior view of the Allgäuhalle

Shortly after the auction house, which was used by the Allgäuer Herdebuchgesellschaft, the Upper Bavarian Breeding Association, the Württemberger Braunvieh Breeding Association and the Breeding Association for Noric Horses, the animal breeding hall turned out to be a loss-making business and passed into the hands of the city after bankruptcy . For these reasons, critics called the artistically constructed building the “Mollahotel”, ie the bull hotel.

In 1931 a large stable building ( Hall 2 ) was built south of the animal breeding hall , both buildings are connected by a covered walkway. Hall 2 is covered with a Zollinger roof.

As part of his election campaign, Adolf Hitler made a total of 53 public appearances from July 3 to 30, 1932. According to police reports, around 15,000 to 18,000 people attended Hitler's 30-minute speech on July 30, 1932 on the spacious grounds of the animal breeding hall, the Völkischer Beobachter even spoke of 30,000 visitors, which is exaggerated due to the importance of this party news bulletin with its essential propaganda function. The speech was supported by large, modern loudspeakers and was secured by police forces. The visitors come from the Allgäu, Vorarlberg , the Lake Constance area and Swabia.

From September 15, 1943, there was a satellite camp of the Dachau concentration camp in Kempten , in which prisoners (mainly political prisoners) were forcibly employed. It was initially located in the Kempten spinning and weaving mill below the animal breeding hall on the Iller, but was housed there in April 1944. Today, a plaque on the outer facade reminds of the forced laborers housed there. According to inmates, 200 people were housed there, including Poles, Russians, Italians, Yugoslavs and Czechoslovaks. There was no additional fencing in the animal breeding hall, it was only secured by guards who looked out on the top tier of the hall in the hall. Except when there was an air raid , the light in the hall was on all day.

The backrests of the grandstand steps were removed and tables and chairs were added. Double bunk beds were lined up in the arena. Eyewitnesses recall that the French prisoners were separated from the rest. The French were housed in the elephant stable further south. It has been handed down that from March 1943 to April 1944 Circus Krone used the so-called Hall 2 to accommodate elephants and pedigree horses.

After the Second World War , the animal breeding hall was used as refugee accommodation. After that, the name "Allgäuhalle" established itself for the functional building from the 1950s. Until 1970 the building was officially designated as an animal breeding hall. In 1974 the name "Allgäuhalle" appeared in the official street directory. The renaming is related to an attempted change of image from the animal breeding hall to the event hall, and the term Allgäu is better suited for marketing the rooms.

Animal breeding monument

  • Head of the bull

  • Bull greeting rump

With the bull novel, one from limestone beaten sculpture of Ludwig Eberle , the first animal breeding monument in Germany is attested. The monument stands on a stone plinth facing the large hall, the rear part is oriented towards the main entrance area of ​​the area. The model for the monumental sculpture was called Roman and was owned by a landowner in Weitnau . Eberle carried out plastic and graphic studies on this bull in Weitnau and made his designs in stone in his studio at Park Biederstein in Munich .

After the installation in Kempten, Eberle worked on site for about two weeks on fine-tuning the 2.5-ton sculpture.

Until 1969, the old Kempten main train station was in the immediate vicinity of the Allgäuhalle. Passengers in the train wagons were therefore always greeted and said goodbye with the rear of the bull when they entered and exited the terminal station.

use

The Allgäuhalle is used for various auctions and licensing . Until the completion of the neighboring Bigbox Allgäu , music events took place regularly , so the Allgäuhalle also served as a town hall . Auctions, flea and hobby markets as well as railway exhibitions complete the calendar of events. On the spacious area, which is mainly used as a parking lot by students from the nearby vocational school center, there is also a temporary location for circuses.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Georg Wiedemann: The breeding of the gray-brown mountain cattle in the Oberallgäu. A. Rossteutscher, 1931, p. 70.
  2. ^ Fritz H. Hacker: Architects L. Heydecker u. Dipling Otto Heydecker. Kempten 1930.
  3. ^ Franz-Rasso Böck , Ralf Lienert , Joachim Weigel (eds.): Century views of Kempten 1900–2000 . Verlag Tobias Dannheimer - Allgäuer Zeitungsverlag, Kempten (Allgäu) 1999, ISBN 3-88881-035-3 , p. 112 f .
  4. ^ Max Förderreuther : Kemptner Heimatbuch. Kempten 1932, p. 99f. ( DNB 573103437 )
  5. ↑ Gerhard Hölzle: "Volksgenossen!" Hitler and other speakers in Kempten until 1932. In: Allgäuer Geschichtsfreund. No. 114, 2014, pp. 65–84.
  6. ^ Directory of concentration camps and satellite camps, No. 726
  7. ↑ Markus Naumann: In the land of the camps. The Kempten and Kottern / Weidach subcamps of the Dachau concentration camp. In: Allgäuer Geschichtsfreund, No. 109, Kempten 2009, pp. 121–129.
  8. ↑ Ralf Lienert : Stier Roman should return to its previous location. In: allin.de, January 4, 2008 (accessed March 1, 2014)
  9. ^ Bernard Kühling: Allgäuer Künstlerlexikon. Kempten 2012, p. 73.

Web links

Commons : Allgäuhalle  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 47 ° 43 '12.2 "  N , 10 ° 19' 4.3"  E