Bock beer festival (Berlin)

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Bock beer festivals have a tradition in Berlin that goes back to the 19th century when the brewing of bock beer began.

Bock brewery Kreuzberg

The bock beer found its way into Berlin in 1839 when the brewer Georg Leonhard Hopf built a brewery with a garden bar and two halls on what was then Tempelhofer Berg (today: Fidicinstrasse ) . Until then, only top-fermented beers had been produced in Berlin . With the novelty, Hopf advertised for the first time in 1840 for a buck season that was to begin after Good Friday. In combination with concerts, most of which were played by military bands, the brewery's serving of beer turned out to be a complete success. In 1861 there was a production of 20,000 hectoliters per year. In 1871, the owners converted the brewery and restaurant into a joint stock company . When the socialist law was repealed in 1890 , meetings of the workers' movement took place in halls on the brewery premises, which further increased the popularity of the drink. In the next few years, the bucking season shifted to the beginning of the year.

For the 75th anniversary of the brewery on May 8, 1913, it was possible to celebrate an annual output of over 200,000 hectoliters. In 1917 the Bock brewery merged with the Patzenhofer brewery , which in turn merged with the Schultheiss brewery three years later . This merger led to the closure of the brewery when barley became scarce in 1921/1922 . Schultheiß-Patzenhofer used the available raw material for beer production at other locations. The garden and halls of the Bock brewery were not affected by the closure. The entertainment offer was expanded. There were more and more dance events, club parties, sports competitions and also theatrical performances.

From 1933 the political climate changed: In addition to leisure and entertainment for the population, the site also became a meeting point for the labor service . Because of the Allied air raids , the joint armaments staff from the Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production and the Reich Aviation Ministry relocated “war-important industrial production” underground. In this context, among other things, part of the Berliner Röhrenwerkes (wire drawing shop) of the Telefunken mbh (industrial council of the RLM, Apparatewerk, Rohrwerk, parts of the development together with other outfitters of the industrial council of the RLM, among others in the Goerzallee ) was relocated to various underground cellars. Part of the plant was relocated to the Schultheiss AG brewery cellar in Prenzlauer Berg . Another one in the tunnel near the Reichstag building and under the Bock brewery. Production took a maximum of 4–6 weeks, as the wire drawing shop was not handed over to the Todt organization until December 1944 . From January and February 1945, the bombing of the city increased so that the routes to work became too dangerous for the intended workforce. The largest part was relocated to Ulm (Kastanie) to Erfurt and to subcamps of the Groß-Rosen concentration camp .

After 1945, the Schultheiss AG presumably had the halls demolished during the construction of the air raid shelter that was not finally completed during the Second World War . In 1959, the Kreuzberg district office built a district senior citizens' home in its place, which is now privately owned. The former brewery buildings, which are not listed, are now used for office and commercial purposes and a dance school. The preserved basement, which according to the air protection office of the Reich Aviation Ministry had to be reinforced and provided with an air raid shelter, was cleared out after 1945 and served, among other things, as a Senate reserve .

The clearance was initially carried out in part by the Red Army , and Telefunken completely removed the remaining facilities itself at the insistence of Schultheiss AG, which wanted to use the cellar itself again. In addition, Schultheiss AG even led a legal dispute with Telefunken, which did not want to pay for the costs of restoring the property and the cellar.

New World Neukölln

At the turn of the century in 1900, another festival organizer, advertised as the Munich Bockbier Festival , appeared on the scene: The New World in the Hasenheide . The restaurateur Arnold Scholz took advantage of the increasing popularity of the bock beer. During the carnival season , the new location attracted thousands of visitors. It was advertised in the 1920s with the appearance of several bands and Bavarian girls as waitresses. Until the beginning of the 1970s, the Bock beer festival remained an integral part of the New World program . After the Löwen-Böhmische Brauerei, meanwhile the owner of the property, ceased beer production in 1974, the traditional beer festival was over.

literature

  • Lothar Uebel: Have fun - Kreuzberger Hefte VIII . The history of the entertainment venues around the Kreuzberg and Hasenheide. With the collaboration of Hans-Werner Klünner. Dirk Nishen Publishing House, Berlin 1985.
  • Gray literature : Lecture by Beate Winzer 2016 Bockbrauerei, rationalization of production using the example of the U-relocation of the wire drawing shop of the Berlin pipe works of Telefunken mbH; unpublished manuscript.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Own writing from 1920–1938