Weissenberg, City of Peace
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Weissenberg City of
Peace City of Peace |
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| Height : | 42 (32-43) m | |
| Residents : | 413 (2013) | |
| Incorporation : | 1998 | |
| Incorporated into: | Trebbin | |
| Postal code : | 14959 | |
| Area code : | 033731 | |
Location of Friedensstadt Weißenberg in Brandenburg |
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 Heilinstitut der Friedensstadt
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The Peace City (officially: Friedensstadt Weißenberg ) in the Trebbin district of Glau ( Teltow-Fläming district ), 35 kilometers south of Berlin , is a religious settlement with various social, medical-therapeutic and educational institutions. It was founded in 1920 by the religious and social reformer Joseph Weißenberg (August 24, 1855 to March 6, 1941). Today the Johannische Kirche is the owner of the settlement, in which at the beginning of 2014 almost 400 people lived in 260 apartments or their own homes.
The City of Peace is a prominent place in the state of Brandenburg not far from Lake Blankensee with great cultural and historical importance, in which the breaks in German history are particularly clearly visible and tangible. This was confirmed by the Brandenburg Ministry for Science, Research and Culture as well as by the European Union and expressed through the promotion of a visitor guidance system. Some of the historic buildings in the settlement are listed.
founding
The City of Peace is part of the social and religious settlement movement that created many facilities in Germany after the First World War . Nevertheless, it has special features in this context. From a structural point of view, an alternative to the Berlin tenement barracks was built through the use of small-scale construction and the creation of affordable living space for everyone. In addition, after the painful experiences of the war, the settlers strove for a social community on a religious basis under the programmatic name of Peace City. This was implemented through the creation of living space, workplaces and social facilities (retirement home, school, community facilities). In addition, the residents shared a religious community experience.
The City of Peace was built with donations, which prompted a newspaper in the Weimar Republic to use the headline: “A city built from wedding rings”. After the First World War, Joseph Weißenberg asked the supporters of his religious collection movement to make donations for this settlement project, which could be started before the inflation. Organized as a cooperative, the City of Peace could count on a large number of sponsors and supporters.
The city of peace developed into the largest private settlement in Germany in the 1920s, which was recognized accordingly in the national and international specialist press. In just 15 years, around 40 buildings for 400 residents were built on 80 hectares: houses, schools, retirement homes, farms, workshops, the church on the Waldfrieden area in neighboring Blankensee and others. A total of 400 hectares belonged to the Peace City. After a few years, despite inflation and the global economic crisis, the settlement was economically largely self-sufficient thanks to its operations (agriculture, laundry, catering). In 1925, Weißenberg built a church's own cemetery in the Glauer Mountains. The last building before the church was banned was the Bauhaus- style school in 1934 .
expropriation
This settlement work came to an abrupt end in the Nazi regime. The clubs of the 1926 religious from White Mountain Rally emerged Evangelical johannische church (since 1975: johannische church ) were during the DC circuit forcibly incorporated into Nazi organizations. In 1931 the Goldene Sonne restaurant opened on the site in a former residential building, with a hall that could seat up to 600 people. From 1934 onwards, Joseph Weißenberg, the Evangelical-Johannische Kirche and the Siedlungswerk were slandered in the Nazi press, on January 17, 1935 the church was banned, their property confiscated, Weißenberg arrested and - like other opponents of the system - convicted as a moral criminal in an injustice trial.
The residents of the Peace City were driven out by the Waffen SS by 1938 , which occupied the premises and buildings. From 1941 to 1945, burials were banned in the cemetery. A kitchen was set up in the school. From 1942 to January 1945 there was a branch of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp on part of the site .
The Nazi regime left no stone unturned in making this expropriation legal. After the representatives of the cooperative resisted the sale of the settlement despite considerable pressure from the Secret State Police , the forced sale was enforced in the spring of 1945. This obvious violation of the law was the starting point for the subsequent return of the City of Peace to the Johannische Kirche.
Soviet garrison
After the Second World War , the area of the Peace City was considered a military property and fell into the hands of the occupying power. The Red Army of the Soviet Union built the Glau garrison there as a strongly secured military facility. As a result, efforts by the Johannische Kirche to get the settlement back failed. However, immediately after the end of the war, the Red Army returned the Waldfrieden area with its characteristic double arch church in Blankensee to the Johannische Kirche. The commandant at the time asked the old new owners: “Pray for Russia too!” During this time, the school was inhabited by soldiers. Nevertheless, new buildings were also built, for example a chapel , which was built from stones from the Waldfrieden inn, which was destroyed in 1945. The restaurant was remodeled and converted into a cinema. There was an exhibition about the pioneers of the Soviet army.
Return and rebuild
From this incident, good contacts with the Soviet garrison developed in the following decades, which among other things facilitated the return of the settlement in 1994. Members of the Johannische Kirche - it is the legal successor to the settlement cooperative - were able to carry out initial building security and repair measures before the settlement was returned, which enabled a smooth transition. On March 29, 1994, the soldiers' official farewell took place on the roll call square built in 1970 to the southwest. On June 14, 1994, the city of peace was officially handed over by the now Russian army, after the application for the return of the city of peace, submitted to the Federal Office for the settlement of open property issues after the fall of the Wall, was successful.
Almost 60 years of military foreign use have left their mark on the city of peace. Many buildings were in very poor condition when they were returned. The first tasks therefore included building security and setting up the technical infrastructure. In addition, the modernization of the living space is an important goal. This work is far from finished and, as in the past, is mainly financed by donations and sponsorships. Today there is a photo-voltaic system on the former technology area west of the Glau garrison. The heating plant and the boundary wall on the technology area east, however, were cleared in 2014 and the two 40 m high chimneys blown up. The school was gutted; Craftsmen set up a caretaker's apartment, a workshop and a multi-purpose room in the premises, where community work and cultural activities take place.
Individual evidence
- ↑ List of monuments of the state of Brandenburg: Teltow-Fläming district (PDF) Brandenburg State Office for Monument Preservation and State Archaeological Museum
- ↑ a b c d e Cf. Johannische Kirche, Flyer "Friedensstadt Weissenberg", Trebbin 2009
- ^ Information board at the cemetery, April 2018.
- ^ Information board at the school, April 2018.
- ↑ Information board at the former restaurant, April 2018.
- ↑ Johannische Kirche: Friedensstadt Weissenberg , Flyer, without date, p. 4.
- ↑ Information board on roll call square, April 2018.
literature
- Primary literature
- Joseph Weißenberg: Life after death. Berlin 1912; New edition 2005 by Verlag Weg und Ziel, ISBN 3-00-017531-8
- Joseph Weißenberg: My arrest and internment. no year
- Joseph Weißenberg: A picture of my thorn path. 1931.
- Gunnar Pommerening: City of Peace - Joseph Weißenberg's settlement from 1920 to the present. Illustrated book, Verlag Weg und Ziel, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-00-015085-4 .
- Secondary literature
- Andreas Schmetzstorff: Joseph Weißenberg (1855–1941). Life and work. 3. Edition. Schneider Verlag, Hohengehren 2006, ISBN 978-3-8340-0054-5 .
- Ulrich Linse: Spirit seer and miracle worker. Search for salvation in the industrial age. Fischer TB 60164, 1996, ISBN 3-596-60164-9 , study on J. Weißenberg pp. 89-211.
- Annett Gröschner, Olaf Lippke, Prenzlauer Berg Museum (eds.): Grenzgänger. Faith healer. Cobblestones. - The history of Gleimstrasse in Berlin. Basisdruck-Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-86163-091-5 . The book contains a longer article about the miracle healer Joseph Weißenberg with details about his practice on Gleimstrasse in Berlin's Prenzlauer Berg district .
