Deutschlandhaus (Berlin-Kreuzberg)
The Deutschlandhaus in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg is a listed building on the corner of Stresemannstrasse 90 and Anhalter Strasse 20 at Askanischer Platz . The flat-roof building with four upper floors is part of the Europahaus building complex , which was built from 1926 on what was then Königgrätzer Strasse in the New Objectivity style and which was completed in 1931. Only the eleven-story northern section at Stresemannstrasse 92/94 still bears this name today. The building was from the Foundation Flight, Expulsion, Reconciliation converted into a documentation center on the subject of flight and expulsion , which opened on June 21, 2021.
history
.jpg)
Between Potsdamer Platz and Belle-Alliance-Platz (today: Mehringplatz ), the urban area around the lively Anhalter Bahnhof on Askanischer Platz was a coveted Berlin address, and in the 1920s Königgrätzer Straße (today: Stresemannstraße) was a focal point of metropolitan life. It was renamed in 1930 in honor of the Foreign Minister of the Weimar Republic Gustav Stresemann , who died the previous year , and was named Saarlandstrasse from 1935 to 1947 .
Opposite the Anhalter Bahnhof, which was later destroyed in the Second World War , the Europahaus complex was built according to designs by Bielenberg & Moser. With facade elements in the expressionist style made of red natural stone ( porphyry ), the Deutschlandhaus was completed in April 1927, initially with three upper floors. Richard Bielenberg died in 1929 and Josef Moser (1872–1963) and Otto Firle were responsible for the execution of the more modest eleven- and five-story Europahaus (completion: 1931) . In the 1930s in the building complex were Europe dance pavilion , banquet halls, cafes, the Hofbräuhaus Augustiner Keller and the movie theater Europa Palace housed with 2,000 seats. A special feature was the nightly illuminated advertising of Allianz on the facade, later supplemented by a light tower on the roof with the lettering Odol . The roof garden restaurant Palmengarten , set up in 1935, was another attraction.
The damage caused by the Allied air raids and the Battle of Berlin was not repaired until the early 1960s; the five-storey northern part of the Europahaus with the dance pavilion was omitted. The federally owned house was designated by the Adenauer cabinet for the "national maintenance of East German culture" and handed over to an organization for displaced persons as a domicile. After the Wall was built, the building was one of the first port of call for refugees from the GDR . In 1974 it was named Deutschlandhaus , which is still on the facade today.
The Landsmannschaften of the Federation of Expellees had their offices in the Deutschlandhaus until the end of 1999 when the federal government stopped funding. It was set as the location for the Foundation for Flight, Expulsion, Reconciliation decided by the federal government .
From 2009 the Deutschlandhaus was rebuilt and expanded according to the design by architects Bernhard and Stefan Marte from Austria , Vorarlberg for the exhibition, documentation and information center of the Escape, Expulsion, Reconciliation Foundation. The wings of the building on Stresemannstrasse and along Anhalter Strasse with the listed facades will be preserved. The rest of the building gives way to a contemporary museum building.
The cost of the federally funded project is estimated at 30 million euros. In addition to a permanent exhibition on 1200 square meters, another smaller area is planned for temporary exhibitions. This is where the Berlin regional association of the Federation of Expellees has its seat. Until 1999, other country teams were represented in the Deutschlandhaus. From 2000 new institutions were added, such as the office of the Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe .
At the beginning of 2013, the restaurants on the ground floor were closed. On June 11, 2013, among others, Chancellor Angela Merkel came to mark the start of construction. The inauguration of the documentation center was planned for 2018.
Three years were estimated for the renovation. The listed expressionist facade of the building, decorated with red sandstone , was preserved, but the historical windows were not reconstructed. Inside, a light-flooded, modern museum building with a foyer , exhibition halls and gallery halls was created . The current inner courtyard was also built over for this purpose. The exhibition aims to present “the causes, the process and the consequences of ethnic cleansing” in Europe in the 20th century. After quarrels about the content of the center and several changes in the board of trustees, which led to delays, the documentation center was opened in summer 2021.
literature
- Michael Bienert, Elke Linda Buchholz: The twenties in Berlin. A guide through the city. Berlin-Story-Verlag, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-929829-28-2 .
- Sven Felix Kellerhoff: Construction of the center for displaced persons begins at Anhalter Bahnhof . In: Berliner Morgenpost , June 12, 2013 (online) .
Web links
- Deutschlandhaus - Foundation for Flight, Expulsion, Reconciliation . Website of the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning .
- Future documentation center (Deutschlandhaus). Website of the Foundation for Flight, Displacement, Reconciliation .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c tagesspiegel.de , The Deutschlandhaus is being rearranged
- ↑ exhibitions. In: www.sfvv.de. Foundation Flight, Expulsion, Reconciliation, archived from the original on October 20, 2013 ; Retrieved August 22, 2013 .
- ↑ bbr.bund.de , Deutschlandhaus - Foundation Flight, Expulsion, Reconciliation
- ↑ spiegel.de, Severin Weiland: expellees exhibition: Flight and expulsion move into the "Deutschlandhaus"
- ↑ Stephanie Rohde: The long way of the Foundation Flight, Expulsion, Reconciliation. From: dradio.de , June 11, 2013, accessed on June 12, 2013
- ↑ Displaced persons exhibition in the Deutschlandhaus only in 2018. Berlin.de, June 8, 2015, accessed on May 17, 2017 .
- ↑ Flight - expulsion - reconciliation
Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 18.2 ″ N , 13 ° 22 ′ 55.2 ″ E