Urban shelter "palm tree"

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Dormitory in the Palm , 1930
Report from 1925
Commemorative stele (1): An example of urban welfare
Memorial stele (2): Crisis and end of an alleged model institution

The urban shelter "Palme" (officially urban shelter ) was the largest homeless shelter in the city of Berlin , which existed from 1886 to 1940 at Fröbelstrasse 15 in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg . It is considered one of the first aid organizations for the homeless in Europe. In 1940 the building, which is now a listed building, was converted into a hospital, see Prenzlauer Berg Clinic .

The name "Palm" urban shelter received by tradition in the vernacular as a result of the early years in the anteroom next to the entrance established potted palm. The urban shelter was at times considered a prime example of urban welfare. Regular overcrowding and sometimes catastrophic conditions in the shelter made the palm a symbol of oppressive poverty around 1900 and especially in the 1920s. In times of greatest need, more than 5000 people were admitted each night.

history

On the outskirts of Berlin at that time, in addition to the hospital and infirmary (which was under construction), the municipal shelter at Fröbelstrasse 15 was built from 1886 onwards .

Between 1892/93 and 1895, the urban shelter was expanded significantly as a result of the steadily increasing occupancy: In addition to the enlarged main building, which contained the administration rooms, the apartments of the officials and the accommodation for homeless families, the building ensemble was expanded to include 40 dormitories for single night homeless people , a laundry house, Desinfektionsanstalt expanded and a house for the Desinfekteur. After the expansion, which was completed in 1895, the urban shelter was for a long time considered an exemplary example of urban welfare due to its hygienic facilities and technical equipment.

The urban shelter was divided into two sections: one for "homeless families" and one for "nocturnal homeless". According to the regulations in force in 1908, there was room for 2,800 or, in an emergency, up to 3,400 single homeless people who were allowed to stay for a maximum of five nights and only five times within a three-month period. In the department for homeless families, which had separate rooms with beds for 144 men and 240 women and which was also accessible to pregnant women from the fourth month onwards, board and lodging were granted for up to four weeks.

From December 27, 1911, seventy homeless people died in rapid succession from poisoning. The dying of the homeless initially attracted particular public attention, as it was initially assumed that a contagious epidemic would break out. It is unclear whether adulterated alcohol or spoiled fish was the cause of the mass poisoning.

In the 1920s, inflation, economic crisis and mass unemployment led to overcrowding and sometimes catastrophic conditions in the urban shelter, which, designed for a maximum of 4,600 needy people, sometimes over 5,000 people, offered overnight accommodation.

After the seizure of power in 1933, the occupancy in the Palme quickly declined due to the systematic persecution of homeless people during the National Socialist era. In 1940 the city shelter was closed and converted into a hospital.

For the further history of the building see the Prenzlauer Berg Clinic .

architecture

The building was built in the years 1886–1887 on behalf of the city council of Berlin according to the design and under the direction of the city building councilor Hermann Blankenstein by the city building inspector Fritz Haack and the government builder Weber. It was expanded from 1893–1895, city building inspector Vincent Dylewski and city builder Knopff.

As the Prenzlauer Berg municipal hospital , the entire urban shelter was protected as a monument .

  • Building at Fröbelstrasse 15 in 2009

  • Urban shelter floor plan (before 1897)

  • Cross-section through the dormitories of the urban shelter (before 1897)

Commemoration

In order to remember the history of the shelter, the left-wing parliamentary group in the district assembly (BVV) of the Pankow district introduced an application to the BVV in 2011. In 2012, the district's memorial plaque commission dealt with the issue and decided that two memorial steles should be erected at the former homeless asylum. The municipal hospital operator Vivantes agreed to this project and took over the costs of erecting the two steles. The two taller memorial steles were finally inaugurated on August 27, 2013.

Reception in art

  • Krain: Before the homeless asylum [...]

  • Kollwitz: Urban shelter

literature

Web links

Commons : The Palm  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bernd Wähner: Siechenheim and district office: The walls on Fröbelstrasse have served many gentlemen . In: Berliner Woche , February 6, 2018, accessed on December 12, 2018.
  2. ↑ Klaus Grosinski: Prenzlauer Berg. A chronicle . Ed. from the Prenzlauer Berg Cultural Office and the Prenzlauer Berg Museum for Local History and Urban Culture. Dietz-Verlag, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-320-01938-4 , p. 65.
  3. ↑ a b c d Urban homeless asylum »Palme« . In: German Resistance Memorial Center (ed.): Memorial plaques in Berlin , accessed on December 12, 2018.
  4. ↑ a b Urban shelter . In: Central for private welfare (ed.): The welfare institutions of Greater Berlin . 4th edition. Springer-Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg 1910, pp. 49-50.
  5. ↑ Karsten Krampitz : Death in Asylum . In: Berliner Zeitung , December 21, 2011, accessed on December 12, 2018 (also in FR.de ).
  6. ^ The urban shelter . In: Berlin and its buildings . II. And III .: The building construction . Edited and published by the Architects' Association in Berlin and the Association of Berlin Architects, Berlin 1896, pp. 481–484, here p. 481 ( digitized version ).
  7. ↑ Entry in the Berlin State Monument List
  8. ↑ Bernd Wähner: Remembering the homeless asylum on Fröbelstrasse . In: Berliner Woche , September 5, 2013, accessed on December 12, 2018.

Coordinates: 52 ° 32 '22.6 "  N , 13 ° 25' 45.7"  E