Bismarck house

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bismarck house on the wall
The Bismarck House, north side

The Bismarck house in Göttingen is the last remaining tower of the outer medieval fortification ring of the city. It got its name because the future Chancellor Otto von Bismarck lived here for about half a year while studying in Göttingen . One of the Göttingen memorial plaques commemorates this time. A small museum in his memory has now been set up in the tower.

Building history

The polygonal tower was built in 1447 as part of the fortifications. The purpose was to protect the Leine canal flowing through the city wall here . This was indispensable for the mills inside and thus for supplying the city. Because the tower protruded up to the wall, it was also possible to shoot from the side with guns in order to repel attacks on the city.

After the Seven Years' War , the fortification system of the city of Göttingen was razed or used for other purposes from 1762/63 . The drainage of the moat did not begin until 1792 on the initiative of the pastor of St. Mary's Church and founder of the Göttingen industrial school, Ludwig Gerhard Wagemann. In 1797 he received the moat garden west of the Leine Canal influence including the fortification tower on hereditary lease. Wagemann turned the tower into a gardener's apartment by clearing it of rubble, re-roofing it and breaking in windows and an exit to the garden. The current entrance from the wall promenade was only approved by the city council in 1815 on the condition that a gardening family would never be allowed to move in again.

In 1819 the legal scholar Karl Friedrich Eichhorn bought the hereditary interest garden at auction and sold it in 1828 to the university gardener Heinrich Justus Voss. He rented the garden house as an apartment to students. One of his tenants was Otto von Bismarck, who studied law in Göttingen from 1832 and lived here from spring to autumn 1833. Before he lived at Rote Strasse 27. A legend says that the then 17-year-old law student would not have chosen this romantic domicile on the outskirts of the city willingly. He would have been banned from the city center by the authorities for multiple gross mischief (drinking bouts, brawls, duels, tobacco smoking on the street).

In 1839, the businessman Alfred Heintze set up a finishing and dyeing facility in the Erbzinsgarten, which the tanner August Stöckicht converted into a leather factory in 1861. The garden shed served as a production facility, and subsequently also as an apartment for employees and as a tool shed. During this time Otto von Bismarck also gained reputation and with it the Bismarck House its importance. In 1874, Mayor Georg Merkel suggested that a plaque in honor of the now famous former resident be placed above the entrance door. This can still be seen today. It was donated by the Hanover Iron Foundry . Towards the end of the 19th century, the Bismarck House became part of tourist advertising and was also featured on postcards.

EDEKA acquired the tower in 1921 . In 1931/32 the city of Göttingen took over the tower from EDEKA in order to use the building as a memorial. The reason was the 100th anniversary of Bismarck's enrollment , but also the 200th anniversary of the Georg-August-Universität in 1937. The house was converted into a Bismarck memorial site and furnished with contemporary furniture from the Biedermeier period. However, the furnishings purchased in the antique trade did not correspond to the student living conditions, but rather to a middle-class living situation. In 1985/86 the building was redesigned and equipped with dormer windows. The furniture has now been removed and a documentation on the life of Otto von Bismarck has been set up in the rooms.

Mention in the literature

The Bismarckhäuschen is mentioned in the song Göttingen by the songwriter Franz Josef Degenhardt : "Go to the Bismarck Tower and let me lead, the blind pensioner pisses like a corps student, shows Bismarck's saber bat for lengths and a ribbon and cap for a blood-stained shirt." The old man mentioned was not a student of the corps , but was the son of the well-known Göttingen union official Wilhelm Großkopf and father-in-law of the long-time member of the DKP in the Göttingen city council. Degenhardt confused the concept of the Bismarck tower and the Bismarck house.

swell

  1. ^ Franz Josef Degenhardt: Lullaby between the wars (1983). CD. Polydor / Universal.
  2. ↑ C. Gottschalk: Stories in the Green: Wall. In: C. Gottschalk (Ed.): Göttingen on foot. VSA-Verlag, Hamburg 1992, ISBN 3-87975-593-0 .

See also

Web links

Commons : Bismarckhäuschen  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 31 '47.6 "  N , 9 ° 55' 53.6"  E