Citizens' initiative Rettet Lübeck

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The Citizens 'Initiative Rettet Lübeck (BIRL) eV is a citizens' initiative in Lübeck that is active in the field of monument protection . The aim of the politically independent organization of citizens mainly living on Lübeck's old town island was and is to preserve the inner city of Lübeck and to promote the idea of ​​monument protection. Through her successful work, she gained recognition that extends far beyond the borders of the old Hanseatic city .

history

Emergence of the protest movement in the 1970s

In the two decades after the Second World War , the decline of Lübeck's old town was an example of an urban development policy that, with actively pursued suburbanization, displaced the former residential function from the old towns and without taking into account the city layouts laid out centuries ago and their traditional architecture from the Middle Ages to the late modern era declared the historical centers to be core areas. The commuter traffic caused by this was met with an ever more generous range of infrastructure, to which the structures that had grown over the centuries and which were essentially still medieval had to submit.

Against this background, Lübeck's city center was increasingly divided into two extremely contrasting areas: a shopping, office and traffic center on the main streets and a slum area in the side streets. Business life was concentrated almost exclusively in the core of the old town. Scale-less large-scale buildings in department stores, banks and insurance companies and multi-storey car parks began to crush what sixty preservationists from ten European countries called “a total work of art in the rank of Florence, Prague, Bern, Amsterdam or Bruges” on the occasion of the annual conference of the state monument conservationists.

The concise face of Lübeck's old town threatened to be drowned out in an architecture that could be found in cities whose cityscape had to be almost completely rebuilt at the end of the Second World War. Year after year, people were pushed out of houses to make way for business and administrative buildings. This handling was the one major problem in the old town. The other, and at times even more serious, problem was increasing deterioration. The image of Lübeck's old town was characterized by crumbling, unsightly facades, boarded window hollows, walls and roofs that threatened to collapse.

Traditionally, the work of the preservation of monuments was limited to the preservation and restoration of the large sacred and secular buildings, in Lübeck the five large churches and the Lübeck town hall. The fact that the ravages of time inexorably gnawed at the substance of numerous bourgeois secular buildings had finally called on domestic and foreign preservationists to the scene. Rettet Lübeck was the subject of an international colloquium held in 1972 that brought about a change in awareness. In a resolution on the occasion of this symposium under the leadership of Mainz Professor Bornheim, chairman of the Association of State Monument Preservators (VdL) , in Bad Segeberg, the participants expressed their great concern about the threatening decline in age and demanded worldwide help for the continued existence of the "Northern European metropolis of the Middle Ages" .

But the Lübeckers themselves formed for the first time around 1970 in a protest movement against large-scale demolition measures in Lübeck's old town in the course of so-called area renovations. Lübeck's oldest citizens 'initiative from 1789, the Society for the Promotion of Charitable Activities , created a working group for the preservation of Lübeck's old town, which, as the citizens' initiative “Save Lübeck”, contributed to the conscience of everyone, the remedy for the old town -Misere were able to achieve something to shake up.

Institutionalization of the Lübeck monument protection movement from 1975

As a successor to the working group for the preservation of Lübeck's old town of the Society for the Promotion of Charitable Activities, the Citizens' Initiative Rettet Lübeck (BIRL) eV was founded as a non-profit registered association in the European Year of Monument Protection in 1975 . In addition to protests involving oversized department store buildings as well as the demolition of historic buildings or improper “renovation” by private individuals, the members of the initiative worked in municipal committees, founded the old house renovation community and carried out sustainable public relations work.

meaning

Today, the BIRL is considered to be one of the first citizens' initiatives to mobilize against failed urban planning. Due to the public protest and the establishment of the BIRL, the old town "just got away" and the discussed demolition of 40 percent of the existing building structure was prevented. Soon after it was founded, the initiative was reported in national media. In Lübeck, the public protest channeled with the establishment of the BIRL, the discussed demolition of 40 percent of the building stock in Lübeck's old town that had been preserved after the bombing in 1942, was prevented. This made the BIRL a “successful example” with a model character for similar initiatives, for example in Bamberg and Potsdam . The initiative was involved in making the old town the first area monument to be entered on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987 .

For their commitment to more and better monument protection, the old house renovation community associated with BIRL and in 2000 the long-time spokesman for BIRL Manfred Finke were awarded the Silver Hemisphere , the German Prize for Monument Protection of the German National Committee for Monument Protection . The BIRL is a member of a free network of monument preservation initiatives located in all larger or historically significant cities. As an association, the BIRL today has around 600 members - in addition to committed local Lübeck residents, there are also many historians, monument preservationists, urban planners and architects throughout Germany who are interested in the work of the BIRL and its publications.

aims

The statutes of BIRL formulated in 1975 specify three goals:

  • Preservation instead of demolition, thus promoting the preservation of monuments, priority for the historical building fabric during renovation,
  • Participation in the renovation process in the interest of the old town residents,
  • Participation and participation in all planning and construction projects affecting the city center.

BIRL achieved these goals in principle. The director of the archive of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck Antjekathrin Graßmann of the BIRL already in the 1989 published 2nd edition of her Lübeck history since the change of heart in dealing with the old town of Lübeck, the "change of consciousness and changes in dealing with the historical building fabric" decisively coined and shaped to have critically and constructively accompanied their renovation.

Since the last major demolition project on Lübeck's old town island for the construction of the so-called Königspassage at the beginning of the 1990s, which fell victim to 14 old town houses and their interior fittings in an intact medieval block, the renovation problem in Lübeck is no longer the main problem BIRL focuses on public relations. It is based on the conviction that an appropriate handling of the architectural heritage can only succeed if there is a broad knowledge base about what distinguishes the old town, what is distinctive, valuable and irreplaceable. As a result, the BIRL is helping to increase knowledge about the old town and a renovation process that preserves its historical significance and thus addresses those responsible in politics and administration as well as interested experts and laypeople. The currently around 600 members are united by the conviction that a renovated old town that is accessible on foot represents a locational advantage in the competition between cities. Its members work across parties to ensure that the opportunities that the old town area between Trave and Wakenitz offers as a unique selling point for the future are not wasted. She is not only concerned with issues relating to the preservation of monuments and the cityscape for the old town, but also with central points in the planning of the model, which also affect urban districts and early port and industrial areas.

Activities and Achievements

Saved and placed under monument protection through the work of BIRL: Holstentorhalle in Lübeck

In 1981, BIRL started a successful initiative against the planned demolition of the 700-year hall from 1926, which was planned at that time in terms of building history, in favor of a new department store by the Horten company . As a consequence, the brick hall designed by the former Lübeck chief building officer and architect Friedrich Wilhelm Virck was placed under monument protection in 1990 .

Since 1995, the BIRL tried to prevent a new building on the Lübeck market, it could not prevail despite many years of resistance, so that in 2002 construction began. Despite many years of resistance, the BIRL was not able to enforce against the will of the Lübeck Senate, even further initiatives founded specifically for this building project in Lübeck's old town, such as “Five to twelve - Save the market”. However, the interventions at UNESCO and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) commissioned by it succeeded in reducing the height of the building and its external appearance at their request, and adding another structure in the same form to the nearby historical one Townhouse lot has been discarded.

As a result of the intervention and accompanying reporting, the BIRL succeeded in ensuring that one of the last unrenovated large monuments in Lübeck, the Gertrudenherberge , was finally placed under monument protection and important parts such as the pilgrim hall that was already being divided into individual apartments in accordance with the condominium law were given could stay.

Since 1993, BIRL has been campaigning for the preservation of the historic city port in the area of ​​the Northern Wall Peninsula , the shape, technical equipment and development of which is considered the first European port station of the industrial age, in which the lift-on-lift-off principle (LoLo procedure ) was implemented in the handling of goods from ship to ship and from ship to wagon or railway using steam power. In 2012, BIRL succeeded in ensuring that the last two gantry cranes that were not yet protected were placed under monument protection as part of an inspection by the Department of Monument Preservation of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck. The last four of the former 19 crane systems form an ensemble of crane construction history from 1893 to 1967 and contribute to the preservation of the cityscape in its perception as a port city. Since 2012, the BIRL has been intensifying its efforts to save the previously unprotected structures, the historic quay sheds A to F, from a planned demolition in favor of the construction of luxury apartments. In May 2012, BIRL presented an alternative concept called WHIN-Konzept, developed in seven months, with which it provided evidence that a careful development of the area while retaining the historic quay sheds can be feasible and economical. Thanks to intensive public relations work in the run-up to the mayor elections in 2013, the preservation of the Northern Wall Peninsula in its functional connection with the harbor sheds became a central election issue. The reorganized majority structure that resulted in a halt to the marketing of the site, which had been pursued since the 1990s and most recently attempted under the name KaiLine, as building land for luxury apartments and additional businesses. The Hafenschuppen initiative , a working group of the BIRL, was given the opportunity to revise and refine its previous concept by the end of 2014 by the citizenship resolution of September 2013 and to win over project developers, users and investors in order to benefit the citizens of Lübeck Submit a tender based on this for a new resolution. The BIRL harbor shed initiative has since resumed its work on its original concept with the involvement of a broader public.

Working and networking

The BIRL is a member of a free network of monument preservation initiatives located in all larger or historically significant cities. BIRL is involved in the deliberations of the state authorities in state legislative procedures on monument protection. As a partner of the Lübeck Citizens' Academy, BIRL participates as an organizer of tours, visits and lectures.

In the context of exhibitions, lectures and tours, the BIRL provides information on questions about the building history of Lübeck and its relevance for the development of successor companies in the Baltic Sea region. It provides assistance on renovation practices in the private renovation of old buildings and critically monitors all renovation projects by the public sector.

The BIRL publishes the mostly quarterly magazine “ Bürgernachrichten” with a print run of currently around 5000 copies, which are archived at the German state monument authorities, the Lübeck City Library and the archive of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck .

Publications

  • Manfred Finke: 116 times Lübeck. Monument protection - renovation - new architecture. 25 years of dealing with a city monument. Schmidt-Römhild, Lübeck 2000, ISBN 3-7950-1239-2 .
  • Manfred Finke: Unesco world cultural heritage old town of Lübeck: city monument of the Hanseatic era. Wachholtz, Neumünster 2006, ISBN 3-529-01335-8 .
  • Citizens 'Initiative Rettet Lübeck (BIRL) eV: Citizens' news. Self-published magazine, Lübeck.

literature

  • Meike S. Baader: 68 - Committed youth and critical pedagogy: impulses and consequences of a cultural upheaval in the history of the Federal Republic. Juventa, 2010, p. 163 (digitized version)
  • Antjekathrin Graßmann: Lübeckische Geschichte , 2nd edition. Lübeck 1989, ISBN 3-7950-3203-2 .
  • Michael Westerberg: Cities as World Heritage - living in the World Heritage, a special urban planning challenge. GRIN Verlag, 2007, p. 13 (digitized version)
  • Jürgen-Wolfgang Goette: Comments on monument protection. Exhibition “Historic Houses in Lübeck's Old Town” in the Holy Spirit Hospital. In: Lübeckische Blätter . Journal of the Society for the Promotion of Charitable Activities . September 17, 2011, issue 14, volume 176, p. 237, online archive: September 17, 2011 issue (PDF; 1.6 MB)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Theo Trautig: Luebeck needs money donations from around the world. In: Hamburger Abendblatt, January 7, 1972.
  2. ^ Walter Hallerbach (Red.), Lübecker Nachrichten (Ed.): Save Lübeck! A documentation; Colloquium on the 4th and 4th February 5, 1972. Lübecker Nachrichten, Lübeck 1972; see also: Profit with architectural monuments In: Der Spiegel . September 18, 1972.
  3. ^ Rudolf Asmus: Lübeck - a work of art like Florence. The Hanseatic city warns: save our cultural monuments! In: Hamburger Abendblatt, February 5, 1972.
  4. ↑ Gustav Lindtke: Can Lübeck still be saved? Save Lübeck! 8-page brochure of the working group for the preservation of Lübeck's old town of the society for the promotion of non-profit activities , published in 1972.
  5. ↑ Viola Roggenkamp : Sleepy Holstein. Can Lübeck still be saved? In: The time . April 10, 1992, accessed October 25, 2011
  6. ^ Jürgen Tietz : Urban development in Germany: mixed in - Stuttgart 21 is a symptom of a new civic commitment. Goethe-Institut , online February 2011, accessed October 25, 2011
  7. ^ Antjekathrin Graßmann: The new Lübeck Lexicon. Lübeck 2011, ISBN 978-3-7950-7779-2 , p. 416.
  8. ↑ Klaus von Beyme , Hans Berger: New cities from ruins: German urban development of the post-war period. Prestel, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-7913-1164-6 , p. 116.
  9. ↑ Viola Roggenkamp: "Save Lübeck". Crime scene old town. Citizens' initiative fights against the “deforestation” in Lübeck. In: The time. July 18, 1980. Retrieved October 25, 2011
  10. ↑ Klaus von Beyme , Hans Berger: New cities from ruins: German urban development of the post-war period. Prestel, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-7913-1164-6 , p. 116.
  11. ↑ Michael Westerberg: Cities as World Heritage - living in the World Heritage, a special urban planning challenge. GRIN, Norderstedt 2007, ISBN 978-3-638-80665-7 , p. 13.
  12. ↑ Constanze Moneke: Participation in the preservation of monuments - When can and should citizens have a say? ( Memento of the original from March 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Monument Debates. , accessed November 16, 2012 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / denkmaldebatten.de
  13. ^ Awardees , accessed on October 30, 2011
  14. ↑ The hemisphere.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 4.8 MB) In: Citizens News. No. 83, p. 13, accessed on November 17, 2011@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.unser-luebeck.de  
  15. ^ Graßmann (1989), p. 792.
  16. ↑ Der Baumeister: Journal for Architecture, Planning, Environment. 78 (1981); also in Bund Schweizer Architekten (ed.): Werk, Bauen + Wohnen. 68 (1981), p. 563.
  17. ↑ Kaufhof, Platz and Public Opinion, Christoph Ingenhoven's design for the Lübeck market. In: Andrew Macneille: Between Tradition and Innovation - Historic Places in the Federal Republic of Germany since 1945. Dissertation from 2004, pp. 392–398. (published on the Cologne university publication server)
  18. ↑ Kaufhof, Platz and Public Opinion, Christoph Ingenhoven's design for the Lübeck market.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Andrew Macneille: Between Tradition and Innovation - Historic Places in the Federal Republic of Germany since 1945. Dissertation from 2004, pp. 392–398. (published on the Cologne university publication server)@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / absinthe.ub.uni-koeln.de  
  19. ^ Citizens' initiative Rettet Lübeck (BIRL) eV : Gertrudenherberge. In: Citizen News. No. 98, Volume 31, May - July 2007, p. 1 f.
  20. ^ Citizens' initiative Rettet Lübeck (BIRL) eV : Gertrudenherberge: Klartext. In: Citizen News. No. 100, Volume 31, March / April 2008, p. 15.
  21. ↑ Otto Kastorff: Northern Wall Peninsula: On the monument value of the port facilities: Plain text. In: Citizen News. No. 103, vol. 38, February / March / April 2014, pp. 10–12.
  22. ↑ Lübecker Nachrichten: Majority against KaiLine: Joy on the Wall Peninsula , August 30, 2013, p. 9
  23. ↑ Lübecker Nachrichten: KaiLine: Two years of time for alternatives , September 26, 2013, p. 13
  24. ↑ Lübecker Nachrichten: Hafencity: This is what the alternative concept for the Wall Peninsula looks like , September 7, 2013, p. 12
  25. ↑ Lübecker Nachrichten: Wallhalbinsel: Initiative presents new plans , November 15, 2013, p. 14
  26. ↑ Stadtzeitung: Ideas workshop for harbor sheds , May 20, 2014, p. 2
  27. ^ Amendment of the Monument Protection Act of the State of Schleswig-Holstein. Statement on the drafts of the state government and the Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen parliamentary group (PDF; 39 kB) by Manfred Finke of January 12, 2009, accessed on October 29, 2011
  28. ↑ Manfred Finke: Statement on the draft of a law for the revision of the Monument Protection Act, printed matter 17/1617 (new). (PDF; 96 kB) September 8, 2011, accessed October 29, 2011
  29. ↑ Citizens' Academy Lübeck: Organizers and partners ( Memento of the original from October 25, 2011 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. , accessed November 1, 2011 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / bildung.luebeck.de
  30. ^ Josephine von Zastrow: Quarrel about the crane convention.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on: LN-Online. August 20, 2010. Retrieved August 20, 2010@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.ln-online.de  
  31. ↑ Kai Dordowsky: opposition to construction of the port of Lübeck City.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on: LN-Online. Retrieved September 25, 2011@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.ln-online.de  
  32. ↑ Josephine von Zastrow: Northern Wall Peninsula: Citizens want to get old sheds. ( Memento of November 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) on: LN-Online.
  33. ^ Catalog of the Lübeck City Library. Retrieved on October 29, 2011 ( digitized version ( memento of the original from December 20, 2013 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 note. ) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / katalog.stadtbibliothek.luebeck.de