Apollo Theater (Emden)

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Apollo Theater, May 2016

The Apollo Theater was a cinema in Emden / East Friesland , Zwischen den Bleichen 2. It was built from 1928 to 1930 as a functional building in the style of brick expressionism . The cinema hall with around 650 seats was connected to the rear of the three-storey front building with the cinema entrance on the ground floor. In its original state, the cinema probably also had a small theater stage for the supporting program for film performances that was still common at the time.

history

From 1908 there was a cinema of the same name with around 240 seats in Emden, not far away on Neutorstraße. Officially opened on December 10, 1908, it burned down completely on December 16, whereby none of the visitors who were able to quietly leave the cinema were harmed.

Towards the end of the Second World War , the city of Emden experienced the heaviest air raid on September 6, 1944, in which 78 percent of the buildings were destroyed or severely damaged. The Apollo Theater was also hit and could only be repaired and reopened a few years after the war. In the meantime, the population had to make do with the alternative cinemas created during the war.

From around 1948/1949 Otto Neubauer ran the Apollo Theater with 570 seats. Laminated widescreen films could be shown here from 1956, and cinemascope films from 1958 . The number of seats had meanwhile been increased to 650. In the mid-1960s, the Jentsch family took over the business and survived the wave of Emden closings. The film theater address book from 1966 describes the cinema as a "family cinema " .

In the 1970s the number of seats was reduced from 650 to 531. Around 1980 the cinema entrepreneur Friedo Buschmann from Leer acquired the building and had it converted into the Emden Cinema Center . For this, the large, long hall was divided into the three halls Stern (186 seats), Apollo (171 seats) and Rex (132 seats). As in other cities, the ordered drinks were delivered to the square, and smoking was also allowed during the performance.

From around 1990 Friedo Buschmann leased the cinema to the CinemaxX founder Hans-Joachim Flebbe and his United Filmtheater Betriebe GmbH in Hanover , which was operated from 1992 by the operator of the same name from Hamburg . Two years later the "Apollo" went to the Groteheide Ostfriesische Filmtheater GmbH in Leer and from January 1, 1999 to the Ostfriesische Filmtheater GmbH from Papenburg . The foyer was later redesigned. The program corresponded to that of other cities. The audience consisted of children, adolescents and adults.

The end

With the opening of a newly built multiplex cinema of the CineStar group from Lübeck with six halls and a total of 927 seats in 2002 right next to a new car park in the immediate vicinity of the train station, the number of visitors fell. The "Apollo" closed on July 31, 2009 after 80 years. In its last two years it was the oldest cinema in Oldenburg / East Friesland that was still in operation - albeit in a structurally modified form as a cinema center.

future

After the closure, the owners wanted to convert the house into a residential building. They received the building permit, but then shied away from investing.

Two initiators, Johannes “Urmel” Meyering and Manuel Rietmann, wanted to keep the historic cinema and turn it into a cultural center . In 2010 the "Apollo" was reopened for two months. With many volunteers and artist friends, they organized concerts here, among other things. Entry was free and donations were collected during the events. Around 10,000 visitors came to the Apollo in the two months. The cultural center should be operated with a sustainable utilization concept and a support association.

The city of Emden also supported this idea and bought the listed brick building at the end of 2012 , although at that time there was neither a coherent usage concept nor a support association.

In a thesis paper published by the city administration on cultural development at the end of March 2016, it was found that the Apollo Association was not stable enough as the sponsor of such a project and that the annual Emden Filmfest requires additional space, but because of the short season, no economically relevant contribution to the costs can afford. The establishment of a cultural center also failed because of the costs. The use of the building as a theater venue is also not financially feasible, and there are currently no external funding programs for expanding the hall.

View over 'Alter Graben', May 2016

Many objects were removed and integrated into a dance school in Leer, 30 kilometers away , but the city of Emden is still looking for a use that does justice to the historical and monumental value of this outstanding urban property. In mid-June 2016, the city administration was commissioned to work out the further use of the Apollo building, open-ended, because a sale is not worthwhile, as the running costs are covered by rental income.

At the council meeting on December 8, 2016, the sale of the property, which the CDU had repeatedly forced, was rejected by a large majority because a new usage concept was presented. In coordination with the city administration, three entrepreneurs from Emden developed a concept. You want to lease the building and run a gastronomic experience with a freely usable event hall, a multifunctional presentation and event room for an event agency and a studio including an exhibition room. According to the operators, the use of the revenue would be almost cost-neutral for the city. According to Johannes “Urmel” Meyering, Corny Littmann rated the concept as promising and promised to support the further planning. Due to the three potential tenants and the usage concept drawn up by the city administration, the council of the city of Emden decided at its meeting on May 11, 2017 with a large majority against the votes of the CDU and FDP to use the striking clinker brick building as a cultural site. The planning for the renovation should begin in 2017 so that the renovation measures, which were calculated at around 1.2 million euros, could have started at the beginning of 2018. The revitalization of the "Apollo" was hoped for an enormous benefit for the entire city center.

In a specially called press conference on March 1, 2019, the city administration announced the end of the planned project to transform it into an event location and the intention to sell the building. The decision was made together with Meyering, whose event concept provided for a meeting room for 300 visitors, which would have made the renovation around 400,000 euros more expensive, but the City Council of Emden had the renovation budget of 1.2 million euros on November 8, 2018 Euro capped. The budget funds that have already been planned are now to be used for the expansion of fiber optics by Stadtwerke Emden, for the renovation of the city center and the renovation of the schools. When it comes to the sale, the city relies on a private investor who will develop the building further and not just get the residual value out, as, unlike the municipality, a private owner can write off the additional costs arising from the preservation of historical monuments over twelve years for tax purposes. The price at which the building is to be offered depends on the decision of the city council, to which the sales proposal has yet to be submitted.

Sales invitation

The building has been publicly advertised for sale since March 7, 2020. The deadline for bidding ends on June 8, 2020. The tender text reads: “The city of Emden intends to sell the former Apollo Theater. The important listed building is in a location that shapes the cityscape and requires a sustainable re-use concept, taking into account its important historical significance. The Apollo Theater was an "institution" in Emden and still is structurally. It is therefore not only from the point of view of monument protection law that the "face" of the Apollo must be structurally preserved in the long term and the building put to a new use. "

Cinema operators

  • 1940: Sophie Hempel
  • 1944 - approx. 1948: out of order due to war damage
  • approx. 1948 - mid-1960s: Otto Neubauer
  • Mid 1960s - approx. 1980: the Jentsch family
  • approx. 1980 - approx. 1990: Friedo Buschmann
  • 1990 - 1994: United Filmtheater Betriebe GmbH
  • 1994 - 1998: Groteheide Ostfriesische Filmtheater GmbH
  • 1999 - 2009: Ostfriesische Filmtheater GmbH

Web links

Commons : Apollo Theater  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Print sources

  • Detailed interview with Johannes “Urmel” Meyering, in: Emder Zeitung, from May 17, 2017, p. 5
  • Condition description of the interiors (end of June 2017) by Jens Voitel: Walk through nothing , in: Emder Zeitung of June 24, 2017, p. 10

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Apollo Theater , on: allekinos.com, accessed April 17, 2016
  2. ^ Early cinema in Ostfriesland , on massenmedien.de, accessed April 17, 2016
  3. ↑ a b c Thomas Schumacher: Back to old gloss , on taz.de, January 18, 2013, accessed April 17, 2016
  4. ↑ a b c Cultural Development Planning - Thesis Paper ( Memento of the original from April 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , at emden.de, accessed April 17, 2016  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.emden.de
  5. ↑ Emder SPD cannot part with Apollo , on emderzeitung.de, April 12, 2016, 3:47 p.m., accessed April 17, 2016
  6. ↑ Ute Lipperheide: We want a new concept. Farewell to the plan of the cultural center. Only CDU insists on Apollo sales , in: Emder Zeitung of June 17, 2016, p. 4
  7. ↑ a b c Jens Voitel: New plan at the last minute. Three Emder companies surprisingly present a usage concept for Apollo , in: Emder Zeitung of December 9, 2016, p. 1
  8. ↑ a b Jens Voitel, Marten Klose: Apollo becomes a cultural site , in: Emder Zeitung, May 12, 2017, p. 1
  9. ↑ Consists of: 400,000 euros from the downtown redevelopment project; 100,000 euros grant from a reallocated funding pot; 50,000 euros through the administration's own planning; 100,000 euros through the tenants' own contribution; 550,000 euros from the city budget. see: Marten Klose: GfE rettet das Apollo-Projekt , in: Emder Zeitung of May 13, 2017, p. 4
  10. ↑ a b Stephanie Schuurman: The Apollo Project is dead , in: Emder Zeitung of March 2, 2019, p. 1
  11. ↑ a b c Jens Tammen: Apollo-Kino is to be sold , Emden, on: emderzeitung.de, from March 1, 2019, accessed March 3, 2019
  12. ↑ Announcement - 2020-023: Immobilienverkauf / Apollo-Theater , on: emden.de, from March 6, 2020, accessed April 21, 2020

Coordinates: 53 ° 22 ′ 9.9 ″  N , 7 ° 12 ′ 26 ″  E