Parks Range

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Typical landscape on the site, autumn 2018

The Parks Range is a former military training area in the Berlin district of Lichterfelde in the Steglitz-Zehlendorf district . The area in the town of Lichterfelde Süd is located between the thermometer settlement built in the 1970s and the border with the Brandenburg districts of Potsdam-Mittelmark and Teltow-Fläming .

History until 1945

The site once belonged to the Giesensdorfer Feldmark. The merchants Max Sabersky and his brother Albert acquired larger areas of land in 1872 from the Berlin merchant Herrmann Jacobson (1801-1892), including this area east of the Anhalter Bahn in Lichterfelde Süd.

The German Reichsbahn acquired in 1938 by the resident in Teltow-Seehof Jewish merchant family Sabersky a 110  hectare plot of land. The intention at that time to build a large Reichsbahn repair shop (RAW) there in connection with the huge Berlin Südgüterbahnhof planned at the time on Priesterweg was not pursued. In 1938, the Reichsbahndirektion built a warehouse for 1,400 Sudeten German workers on Osdorfer Strasse at the corner of Landweg .

Stalag III D

The Wehrmacht leased part of the site in 1939 and placed 2,600 prisoners of war there , initially Poles for short , then mainly French . From 14 August 1940 the camp was the main camp with ten large barracks and was designated Stalag III D . From here, prisoners of war were distributed to work units for the construction of air raid shelters and for use in the armaments industry, but also in smaller companies in the area. A second barrack camp in Falkensee also belonged to the main camp . Some of the sub-camps of Stalag III A were incorporated. It was the unusual case of a prisoner-of-war camp in a major German city. In January 1941, of the 18,172 inmates, 18,160 were from France . British , Serbs , Soviets and Italians were also interned later, and in October 1944 there were almost 29,000 prisoners.

The initiative for a historical learning site in Lichterfelde Süd  achieved that a historical memorial and learning site in authentic buildings of the prisoner-of-war camp (Stalag) III D, to be preserved, was included in the development plan for the Lichterfelde Süd development area. It has been agreed with the State Monuments Office that two of the old barracks should be preserved.

US Army training ground

history

In autumn 1953, the confiscated United States Army much of the track area between the route of the Anhalt line and Osdorfer road to there after the uprising of 17 June 1953 in the GDR a military training area for the Berlin Brigade set up. This was named after Major General Floyd Lavinius Parks (1896-1959), who was the first in command of the American sector in Berlin from July to early September 1945 .

On the site on Osdorfer Strasse, there was, among other things, a house-to-house fighting facility that became known as Doughboy City . In 1975 the site was expanded and covered around 70 hectares. The entire military area was also known colloquially as the US ghost town and was marked as a white area on Berlin city maps at the time. It is different in a city map of Berlin used by the National People's Army of the GDR. Details of the site were drawn in here.

After years of protests by the citizens of Lichterfeld against the noise from training in Parks Range, the Americans made concessions in mid-1989. Between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., the target practice was limited to small-caliber weapons with “blind” ammunition. It was also promised that during these times no more convoys would roll up, no low-level helicopter flights would take place and the combat training in the “ghost town” would be relieved of noisy actions. Quiet on Sundays and public holidays was also agreed and the dirt track rally route was closed. The US Major General Raymond E. Haddock also made it clear at the time that the reluctance had its limits: The three one-week maneuvers per year to “check the units for combat readiness” remained inevitable, and a relocation to the former American zone was out of the question .

Before the American occupation troops withdrew in 1994 due to the two-plus-four contract , Doughboy City was demolished.

Parks Range underground station

Noteworthy was a replica of the underground station in the form of an elevated railway station on an embankment , which was used for street fighting exercises. The metro station, designed true to detail and realistically, was equipped with benches, train dispatchers' houses and staircases. On a piece of track that was not connected to the BVG subway network, there was even a discarded Berlin subway car that served as a command post.

nature

Since the end of the exercise, nature has taken possession of this area, and a diverse fauna and flora with numerous species that are also protected under the Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive emerged .

Horse on the pasture of the site

Part of the area has been used by the Holderhof riding community since the 1990s. Their project has made a significant contribution to the creation of an open pasture landscape on the site, which is sustainably maintained and developed by the "horses as landscape maintenance".

In a statement from 2012 by the State Commissioner for Nature Conservation and Landscape Management, Ingo Kowarik, details of the “high nature conservation significance” of the “pasture landscape of Lichterfelde-Süd” emerged. The associated nature conservation evaluation card makes the qualities clear.

To the southeast of the area, on the Brandenburg side, the Diedersdorfer Heide and Großbeerener Graben protected landscape areas are directly adjacent .

Planning

history

The zoning plan of 1994 provides for residential, mixed and commercial use for the site. After the US Army gave up the site, it was taken over by the railway real estate company Vivico . Its successor, CA Immo , sold the 96-hectare site (consisting of Parks Range and adjacent areas) in October 2012 to the Groth Group , which is aiming for residential development. In autumn 2019, the Groth Group presented its plans for a new residential area in the south of Berlin, called Neulichterfelde . Around 2500 residential units with space for around 6000 people are to be built.

Action alliance

As early as 2011, the action alliance for the Landschaftspark Lichterfelde Süd had presented a concept for the sustainable expansion of social space while preserving nature worthy of protection inside and outside the former Parks Range as the Landschaftspark Lichterfelde Süd. For their environmental commitment, the project GroßstadtWildnis Lichterfelder Weidelandschaft and the action alliance Landschaftspark Lichterfelde Süd were awarded the Berlin Environment Prize 2012 by the BUND -Landesverband Berlin. The planned residential development was criticized by commercial enterprises on the outskirts of Parks Range, who in a petition to the Berlin House of Representatives spoke out in favor of a "commercial island" in the planning process. This petition was rejected by the House of Representatives because the action alliance and the public were sufficiently involved in the urban planning workshop process and the formal planning process.

Study for a protected area

A nature conservation and landscape development study for a future protected area Lichterfelde Süd - December 2012 was presented by the landscape architecture firm Fugmann & Janotta . In a summary preceding the report, it was recommended to designate a total of 84 hectares of the approximately 111 hectare area as a landscape protection area. The occurrence of species protected under European law was extensively documented by an expert report.

Planning process and citizen participation

A process of citizen participation in the development project and the urban restructuring has been promised by the Steglitz-Zehlendorf district . At the beginning of April 2013, a letter of intent was published by the Groth Group and the Steglitz-Zehlendorf district office, in which ideas of “residential areas in Lichterfelde Süd” of 39 hectares with up to 2700 apartments (average size: 78 m²) are specified. The action alliance criticized that u. a. Trade as well as nature and species protection were not taken into account.

The further steps taken by the district to plan for Lichterfelde Süd provided for a decision to set up a development plan after further expert assessments . After a resolution by the Berlin House of Representatives , the amended zoning plan for Lichterfelde Süd has become legally binding.

An urban planning workshop was advertised by the investor in early 2014 and at the end of September 2014 led to the presentation of a master plan, designed by Casanova + Hernandez Architects , Rotterdam . At the time, this provided for an area of ​​39 hectares to be built with 2500 residential units, the remaining area was to receive the status of a landscape protection area . More than 500 apartments were to be built by municipal housing associations. For these, the rental price should be 6.50 euros per square meter, for the other apartments between 8.50 and 10.50 euros. A school with sports facilities is planned near the Lichterfelde Süd S-Bahn station , and a town square with shops and cultural and social facilities in the central area. The Groth Group intends to invest around 800 million euros in the construction project. The groundbreaking ceremony was planned for 2016, the construction time was estimated at five to seven years.

The action alliance Landschaftspark Lichterfelde Süd (ALL) criticized the workshop procedure and its result. Also the environmental association BUND . Agree on a referendum with the motto nature and landscape protection in Lichterfelde with living and working , which u. a. the limitation of the construction project to 16 hectares and 1500 apartments, failed. The required number of valid signatures was missed.

Five years after the Groth Group had announced a letter of intent with the Zehlendorf district office , an urban development contract was signed on July 31, 2018 . It should u. a. It must be regulated which costs the investor assumes in the area of ​​social and technical public infrastructure and which proportion of the apartment buildings are built as "affordable" apartments. An overview of the main content was made known to committees of the district assembly. Contents of the contract are not published.

The development plan 6-30 Lichterfelde Süd has been created. After the participation of the authorities and other public bodies (Section 4 (2) BauGB) (as of May 2019) has been completed, the information provided will be incorporated and the requested reports will be prepared; the result is expected to be presented in autumn 2019. The final participation of the public with a public display of the development plan can then take place.

See also

literature

  • Thomas Irmer: On the history of the Lichterfelde-Süd prisoner-of-war camp of Berlin's Stalag III D during the Nazi era , report for the Berlin State Monuments Office, Berlin 2018.

Web links

Commons : Parks Range  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Action alliance for the landscape park Lichterfelde Süd
  2. ↑ Steffen Winter: Die Schande von Teltow , DER SPIEGEL, December 16, 2013
  3. ^ Chronicle of Lichterfelde Süd
  4. ↑ The future in the way - Germany's largest warehouse was in Lichterfelde. Three buildings are still preserved. But a school is to be built there. , Der Tagesspiegel , number 29889 from July 20, 2019, page More Berlin 3 (MB3)
  5. ^ Camp in Lichterfelde south
  6. ^ Initiative for a historical place of learning in Lichterfelde Süd
  7. ↑ Boris Buchholz: Only real is real: A remarkable speech on the former prisoner of war camp in Lichterfelde Süd. In: Der Tagesspiegel , February 21, 2019
  8. ↑ Plans presented for a huge new building area in the south of Berlin. On: rbb24 , November 19, 2019
  9. ↑ Boris Buchholz: Lichterfelde Süd: Landesdenkmalamt wishes the preservation of three barracks in Berlin's largest prisoner-of-war camp. In: Der Tagesspiegel , September 13, 2018
  10. ↑ FL Parks on Arlington National Cemetery website
  11. ^ Gerhard Niebergall: The Parks Range and its surroundings from the construction of the wall to the fall of the wall . Website of the SPD Lichterfelde Ost und Süd, accessed on July 10, 2018.
  12. ^ Karl-Heinz Dittberner: Chronicle of the district of Lichterfelde-Süd in the district of Berlin-Steglitz . Action alliance Lichterfelde Süd, accessed on July 10, 2018 (PDF).
  13. ^ Photo collection of the Allied Museum
  14. ↑ Topographical city map Berlin / 1: 25,000 / Confidential classified information
  15. ^ Biography Haddock
  16. ↑ Urban planning (Nature & Recreation 1)
  17. ↑ Holderhof riding community
  18. ↑ On horse grazing from 2013
  19. ↑ State Commissioner for Nature Conservation and Landscape Management, opinion of July 27, 2012
  20. ↑ Construction plans for the former military area. Big city wilderness in danger. In: Der Tagesspiegel , November 10, 2012
  21. ↑ Nicolas Šustr: Groth field at pasture . In: Neues Deutschland , November 19, 2019
  22. ↑ Ulrich Paul: New residential area in Lichterfelde eludes the rent cover. In: Berliner Zeitung , November 19, 2019
  23. ↑ The quarter. In: Neulichterfelde. Retrieved January 20, 2020 (German).
  24. ^ Action alliance for the landscape park Lichterfelde Süd
  25. ↑ BUND-Landesverband Berlin: Winner of the Berlin Environmental Prize 2012, November 8, 2012 ( Memento of the original from January 3, 2015 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bund-berlin.de
  26. ^ Touchstone Lichterfelde Süd: Petition of the commercial enterprises from March 11, 2014
  27. ↑ Touchstone Lichterfelde Süd: Reply from the Petitions Committee of September 25, 2014
  28. ↑ District Office Steglitz-Zehlendorf: Büro Fugmann & Janotta: Nature conservation and landscape development study for a future protected area of ​​Lichterfelde Süd - December 2012
  29. ^ Test stone Lichterfelde Süd: Species protection contribution Berlin Lichterfelde Süd, Planwerkstadt Dipl.Ing. Dieter Meermeier
  30. ↑ Planned protected area in Lichterfelde-Süd
  31. ^ Workshop for Lichterfelde Süd
  32. ↑ Masterplan for Parks Range
  33. ↑ Berlin's largest housing project is being built in Lichterfelde. In: Berliner Morgenpost . September 24, 2014, accessed February 2, 2015 .
  34. ↑ Criticism of the urban planning concept
  35. ^ BUND criticism.
  36. ↑ Final text (7th draft) of the referendum
  37. ↑ Parks Range - Citizens' initiative fails despite approval. In: Berliner Morgenpost , October 24, 2015
  38. ↑ It continues with the master plan from Groth Gruppe, September 3, 2018
  39. ↑ New city quarter in Lichterfelde Süd is taking shape. In: Berliner Morgenpost , July 6, 2018
  40. ^ State of the art action group Lichterfelde Süd, February 11, 2018
  41. ^ Open letter Action Group Lichterfelde Süd, September 29, 2019

Coordinates: 52 ° 24 ′ 18 ″  N , 13 ° 18 ′ 52 ″  E