Free plaice (Bielefeld)
| Building cooperative Freie Scholle eG
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_logo.svg&filetimestamp=20130518073030&){kind=logo} |
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| legal form | registered cooperative |
| founding | 1911 |
| Seat | Bielefeld , Germany |
| Branch | Housing industry |
| Website | www.frei-scholle.de |
The Freie Scholle is a housing association in the East Westphalian city of Bielefeld . It was founded on January 21, 1911 and developed from a group for building gyms to the largest housing cooperative in the city and today manages around 5000 apartments and has 7600 members .
history
Foundation and departure for a new living culture 1911–1933
The building cooperative Freie Scholle was founded on June 21, 1911 by worker athletes who were forbidden by the city of Bielefeld to do gymnastics in municipal gyms . Tired of the tutelage of the authorities and unwilling to continue doing their sport in the back rooms of restaurants, the members of the “Free Gymnastics Association Bielefeld” decided to build their own gyms. The workers' athletes from Gera , Bremen and Hamburg served as models . In the early years, the primary goal of the members of the building cooperative Freie Scholle was to gain further members and to collect the money for the construction of the first gymnasium. In 1912, despite the poor economic situation, they managed to build their own gym for 80,000 marks.
After the SPD had approved the war loans in 1914 in the run-up to the First World War , the sanctions against the labor movement were lifted. The Bielefeld working-class gymnasts were able to use municipal gyms again, and there was no need to build further cooperative gyms. The Freie Scholle then used the economic strength it had gained to build small apartments and began building its first settlement with 138 apartments for working-class families at Niedermühlenhof in May 1914. Even back then, they set new standards in workers' housing with the equipment of a toilet, electrical lighting, gas connection and running water in the kitchen-cum-living-room and a shared bathroom in the basement. The settlement was only completed after the First World War.
Expressionist building culture in the Freie Scholle
During the inflation from 1914 to 1923, construction work in the Freie Scholle came to a complete standstill in view of the financially tight funds. Only with the onset of the economic upswing was it possible to continue building work for the members. Between 1924 and 1930, the Heeper Fichten and Im Siekerfelde settlements were two reform settlements that still attract attention today because of their infrastructure and the way they are built. At that time, building also had a political component. It is not without reason that the buildings planned by Gustav Vogt convey the character of a castle with their arches and brick walls. The architect, recognized beyond Bielefeld, wanted to express the ability of the workers to defend themselves against capitalism. Accordingly, the house entrances, clinked with red brick, should represent the emergence of the labor movement at this time. But the spacious inner courtyards were also something special in the apartment building at that time, as they offered the residents not only the usual bleaching of laundry but also spacious rooms for relaxation.
In addition to building apartments, Freie Scholle always endeavored to create community facilities to increase the quality of living. In 1928/29 she built a wash house with washing machines, drying scenes and hot ironers in her settlement Heeper Fichten . The establishment of a “day care center and youth home with library, reading room, lecture room, etc.” was set up in the same building. In the following years a meeting place for the organizations of the labor movement developed here . The completion of the construction project was the construction of the Friedrich-Ebert-Haus. In the years after its completion, a cultural center of the east of Bielefeld was created here, which was also the starting point of the resistance against the nascent National Socialism up to the leveling of the Free Scholle by the Nazis.
However, Freie Scholle also suffered from the global economic crisis . The situation of the Bielefeld workers deteriorated noticeably. More and more of them were drawn into the wake of the crisis and were no longer able to raise the rents for a new apartment. A large number of apartment applicants were then postponed. In order to meet the great demand for living space nonetheless, the cooperative started building smaller and simpler apartments again.
National Socialism and World War II 1933–1945
After the board of directors of the cooperative had been declared deposed in the general assembly on June 26, 1933, Freie Scholle was brought into line with all other organizations of the labor movement. The break with the cooperative idea was thus clearly completed and the end of the democratically elected structures was sealed for the time being. But the members of the Freie Scholle showed the new board that they had no confidence in its work. Among other things, they terminated their savings accounts, so that at the end of the 1930s the savings facility had to cease operations. At the same time, numerous members terminated their membership - on the one hand, undoubtedly obeying the economic need, but on the other hand also in protest against the "Nazi administration". Between 1933 and 1935 alone, 324 members left the cooperative. Membership had thus decreased by 18 percent in two years. For the cooperative this meant that they had to pay out another 40,000 Reichsmarks .
Political sentiment was a decisive criterion for awarding the apartments. So social democrats hardly had a chance to get a vacant apartment in the Freie Scholle. The neighborly solidarity among the workers was an incalculable risk for the administration. The National Socialist Board tried to counter this by only supplying members from within its own ranks.
But there were also significant setbacks in residential construction. The previous goal was to build high-quality apartments, but from now on only inferior “people's housing” without community facilities was carried out, in which, for example, bathrooms were not installed. Due to the war, construction work was completely stopped in 1939, as there were not enough construction workers and no building materials available.
Housing shortage and reconstruction 1945–1953
With the occupation of Bielefeld on April 4, 1945, the “Thousand Year Reich” also came to an end for the Freie Scholle. After the Allies lifted the ban on assembly, the cooperative bodies were democratically occupied as soon as possible. The war and the associated bombing raids did not stop at Bielefeld. The situation on the housing market was catastrophic. Nevertheless, many refugees were drawn to the city because they found work in the Bielefeld factories. While the population was 69,000 in May 1945, by the end of 1946 it had almost doubled to around 135,000. The authorities tried to cope with the housing shortage with confiscations and forced billeting. The apartments in the Freie Scholle settlements were also occupied twice at times. It was clear to everyone in charge that the construction of apartments had to be given top priority. However, the time for new construction and reconstruction was extremely difficult due to the lack of building materials.
The situation changed with the currency reform in June 1948. Until then, building material was very difficult to get, but since the introduction of the D-Mark there has been a lack of money to carry out the urgently needed building work. Thanks to the self-help of the “Metal Housing Emergency Community”, Freie Scholle was able to complete 76 residential units. However, these efforts were not enough to alleviate the housing shortage. It was not until the state subsidized housing construction with public funds that the Freie Scholle could also build on a larger scale. From 1950 to 1954 she built around 1000 new apartments on the Langen Kampe, on Spindelstrasse and Im Siekerfelde.
Economic miracle 1954–1982
With the onset of the economic miracle in the Federal Republic of Germany, the financial situation of Freie Scholle gradually improved. New apartments have now been built with balconies and bathrooms of better equipment. However, this could only be achieved with increased self-help performance on the part of the members. Since the building land within Bielefeld became increasingly scarce with increasing construction activity, the building cooperative relocated its new building projects to the edge of the city towards the end of the 1950s and built their settlements here, so to speak, on the green field. The press was positively impressed by the new settlements: "When everything is ready, the Flehmannshof, where you don't skimp on friendly colors, gardens and green spaces, should be a gem in Bielefeld's residential construction."
In March 1968 the Freie Scholle celebrated the completion of their 5,000th apartment. Due to the high land prices at this time, mostly high-rise buildings were built. The building cooperative did not join this trend. Rather, it relied on savings in construction costs by doing without a laundry room and instead building a laundry house in the center of the estate. Since household appliances were rather unaffordable for the broad mass of the population, the communal facility with washing machines, tumble dryers and hot ironers enjoyed great popularity and significantly increased living comfort.
At the beginning of the 80s, the Freie Scholle stopped building new ones. The reason for this was the unchanged high construction and land prices, but also the changed funding conditions for social housing. This made it more and more difficult for the Freie Scholle to maintain its cooperative identity. Uneconomical funding conditions, the submission of incorrect documents and the city of Bielefeld's right to occupy were reasons why the cooperative finally withdrew from social housing. This was the only way to ensure that the basic principles of the cooperative, such as self-management, personal responsibility and self-image, were preserved.
Portfolio modernization and promotion of the cooperative concept 1983–1995
Before the Bielefeld housing company felt the relaxation on the housing market, Freie Scholle counteracted an impending fluctuation well in advance. By modernizing its housing stock not only from the 20s and 30s, but also the buildings that it had built with inferior building materials in a very short time after the war, it ensured that its members were very satisfied with their homes. Even if the cooperative often had to do a lot of persuading, the residents appreciated the improvement in living comfort. At the request of the members, the ongoing modernization programs also began with the installation of floor heating. In the mid-1970s, the installation of central heating and double-glazed plastic windows was standard for modernization. In the oil crisis, energy prices rose explosively for the first time since October 1973. Saving energy became the focus of construction activity.
In 1988 Freie Scholle began to merge small apartments within one house and in this way to create larger family-friendly apartments. The previous structural analysis of the entire house ownership had shown that these types of apartments were in high demand. The elected representatives of the cooperative therefore decided that the size, layout and furnishings of the apartment would have to take into account the changing living conditions and living ideas. Post-war small apartments were no longer suitable for families.
The cooperative also reacted to the increased demand for apartments suitable for the elderly and converted them to be barrier-free where the technical requirements allowed. After the turning point in the 1990s, the demand for apartments in Bielefeld also increased significantly again. However, starting new construction - without taking up public funds - was only considered after the corresponding growth of the savings institution founded in 1989.
In order to revive its basic cooperative idea and to be able to consistently expand it further, Freie Scholle developed a seminar concept for its members. So-called caretaker seminars were offered at the beginning of the 1980s for communication between members, the supervisory board and the management board. Due to the very good response and to promote neighborly coexistence in the settlements, the seminars were opened in 1990 to all interested members and residents. By 2011, around 3,500 members used the communication offer that went beyond the statutory co-determination.
As an information medium, the cooperative published a house newspaper in 1985 especially for its residents. To this day, it reports three times a year on the work of the cooperative, makes the decisions made transparent and explains the business policy in a comprehensible manner. In addition, it promotes the cooperative concept and provides information on all questions relating to living in the Freie Scholle.
present
In 2002, the study by the Institute for Nursing Sciences commissioned by the Bielefeld Housing Industry attracted considerable attention. Demography researcher Professor Herwig Birg predicted not only a significant decline in the population, but also a drastic increase in the proportion of elderly people and an ever larger proportion of people with a migration background by 2050. At the same time he warned of dramatic consequences for the housing industry, urban infrastructure and urban development. The “Birg Study” also provided an impetus for urban development based on partnership. The Housing Master Plan and the “Bielefeld City Development Scenario 2050”, both of which were created with the participation of Freie Scholle, are examples of future-oriented cooperation in the city of Bielefeld. The cooperative has since incorporated the results of the study into its future planning. The urban redevelopment of the Albert-Schweitzer-Strasse and Allensteiner Strasse settlements is taking place accordingly.
Cooperative self-help
Cooperatives are self-help institutions. The founders of the Freie Scholle had proven this in 1911 when they built their own gymnasium. They raised the capital for this through their subscribed shares of 30 marks at the beginning and the purchase of symbolic "building blocks" worth 35 pfennigs per week. In order to collect further capital for the realization of the extended goals, the recruitment of new members had priority during this time. The number of members rose from 140 to 437 in the year it was founded.
Even in difficult economic times, Freie Scholle took on additional members, as the apartments offered by Freie Scholle were very popular with Bielefeld workers. As a further financing instrument, the cooperative took up an idea from 1913 in 1928 and opened its own savings facility. It should help to make Freie Scholle independent of the money market. After the National Socialists brought the Freie Scholle into line, the members lost their trust in the cooperative and withdrew their savings. The savings facility was therefore closed at the end of the 1930s.
As in the beginning, cooperative self-help played a central role in financing the modernization measures in the 1980s. The cooperative needed additional capital in order to meet the continuously increasing demand from members for larger and senior-friendly apartments with modern equipment. After the Freie Scholle withdrew from publicly funded housing, the Freie Scholle opened its own savings facility in 1989 - for the second time in its history. The members supported the newly created self-help instrument from the beginning, so that the savings institution was able to provide more funds for construction activities from year to year. Since then, the savings facility of Freie Scholle has offered a threefold advantage: The savings deposits guarantee the continuous improvement of the quality of living at reasonable prices, while at the same time granting savers attractive conditions, and finally it ensures the independence of Freie Scholle from the capital market, so that you can avoid the banking crisis yourself 2008 could not affect.
In addition to the savings facility, the Freie Scholle Neighborhood Help Association is another instrument of cooperative self-help. The association, which was founded in 1990, provides residential services.
Development of work for the elderly
A structural analysis carried out in 1987 on the property owned by the Freie Scholle showed that the cooperative had to adjust to the aging of its members. The structures demanded by the representatives for the longest possible independent living in one's own home were the prelude to the development of the concept “Getting old with the free floe”. In doing so, Freie Scholle was the first German housing company to lay the foundation for setting up a company's own work for the elderly. With the establishment of the Freie Scholle Neighborhood Aid eV in 1990, the Freie Scholle corresponded to the constantly increasing demand for the offers in this area. In the following years she was able to continuously expand the range of her residential-accompanying services.
At the same time, the cooperative developed the concept of the Meinolfstrasse neighborhood center for their largest settlement area, Auf dem Langen Kampe, in 1992 in the Meinolfstrasse working group together with Arbeiterwohlfahrt, Evangelical Community Service and the City of Bielefeld. According to the city of Bielefeld's elderly aid plan, this was an area with the greatest lack of facilities for the elderly. With the construction of the neighborhood center, the cooperative remedied this structural deficiency and at the same time met the constantly increasing demand for the services offered by residential and senior citizens' advice and the neighborhood aid association. For their concept of the neighborhood center on Meinolfstrasse, the Bertelsmann Foundation and the Kuratorium Deutsche Altenhilfe (KDA) awarded Freie Scholle first prize in the “Quartier workshop competition” in 2005. The joint press release of the competition organizers said: “The Freie Scholle in Bielefeld is one of the 'pioneers of the neighborhood concept' and, as a housing company, has set up its own care for the elderly for and with its residents.
Freie Scholle group of companies
An integral part of the concept of lifelike living in the Freie Scholle are the services that the Freie Scholle group of companies provides for the members of the cooperative.
Freie Scholle Neighborhood Aid Association
The association supports residential and elderly advice. In this way, the association creates the prerequisites for the members of the Freie Scholle and their relatives to be able to stay in their familiar apartment and living environment if illness and need for care arise in old age. In addition, it promotes the neighborhoods in the city districts.
Community foundation Freie Scholle
The foundation supports self-help projects within the Bielefeld city area.
Haus-Service-GmbH (HSG)
Since it was founded in 2002, the HSG has been a subsidiary of the Freie Scholle Bau- und service company and takes on external cleaning and winter service for the members of the cooperative and, on request, cleaning the common areas in the house. The service company also takes care of the maintenance of the green spaces.
House Media GmbH (HMG)
With HMG, which was founded in 2007, the building cooperative wants to ensure its independence in the area of television and radio supply and thus protect its members from unpredictable price developments. For the future, HMG is also planning the automatic recording of heating and water consumption and is creating the conditions for this in the course of its modernization and new construction activities.
Concept "Living in accordance with life in the Freie Scholle"
At the end of the 1990s, Freie Scholle developed its concept of living in a way that is appropriate to life in the Freie Scholle . The aim of this concept is to make apartments and living surroundings in a settlement so sustainable for the needs of all age groups that stable neighborhoods are promoted and maintained. The Freie Scholle implements its conception by optimizing the housing structures through living space adaptations, extensive modernization and new buildings that replace existing buildings so that the members can stay in their settlement even if their living situation changes - for example due to the start of a family or the death of their spouse.
Living-related services are an integral part of living in harmony with living conditions. Housing and elderly advice, the Freie Scholle Neighborhood Aid Association, the Freie Scholle Construction and Service Company, the Haus-Service-GmbH and the Haus-Media-GmbH together form the Freie Scholle group of companies. Its task is to ensure that the members are satisfied with their living space by fulfilling the cooperative funding mandate.
literature
- Building cooperative Freie Scholle eG (ed.); Frank Karthaus (arr.): 75 years of Freie Scholle 1911–1986. Bielefeld 1986, ISBN 3-88918-043-4 .
- Building cooperative Freie Scholle eG (ed.); Michael Seibt (arr.): 90 years of Freie Scholle 1911–2001. Bielefeld 2001, ISBN 3-00-008032-5 .
- Building cooperative Freie Scholle eG (Ed.): 100 years of Freie Scholle. Cooperative is neighborhood. Bielefeld 2011, ISBN 978-3-00-033788-8 .
- Georg Wagner: Local politics and housing construction in Bielefeld 1918-1960. In: Günther Schulz : Housing policy in the welfare state: German and European solutions, 1918–1960. Düsseldorf, Droste 1993, ISBN 3-7700-0974-6 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ freie-scholle.de ( Memento of the original from June 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ uni-bielefeld.de, Bielefeld 2000plus - research projects on the region
- ↑ bertelsmann-stiftung.de
Coordinates: 52 ° 2 '12.8 " N , 8 ° 31' 23.7" E