Golden Lion Memorial
The Golden Lion memorial commemorates the founding congress of the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) in Eisenach in 1869 .
Since the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), which is still in existence today, emerged from the SDAP in the further historical development up to 1890 , the Golden Lion is considered to be one of the key sites in the early phase of the history of German social democracy .
location
The memorial is located in the former Golden Lion Inn at Eisenacher Marienstraße 57 in the southern part of the old town.
history
On the evening of August 7, 1869, the founding congress of the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) was opened under the leadership of August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht . Due to the tumult of a delegation from the competing General German Workers' Association (ADAV), the Eisenach Congress was postponed to the “Zum Mohren” hotel, which was supposed to be destroyed by fire before the First World War. At this point only a plaque reminds of the founding congress.
The opening of the memorial
In March 1967, the SED decided to build the "Eisenach Party Conference 1869 Memorial" at the historic location of the opening of the congress. The main task of the memorial was to educate young people in socialist patriotism and to convey the historical image of the SED. On the occasion of the 120th anniversary of the Eisenach Congress, an extensive renovation of the building and the revision of the exhibition in the building as well as a rededication to the "Eisenacher Congress 1869 Memorial" took place.
On the building history of the house
The previous building, mentioned in 1533 as “Gasthof zum Löwen”, was replaced in 1731 by the “Goldener Löwe” inn. In 1835 the two-storey building received a northern extension for stables and a passage on the ground floor. A dance hall was built on the upper floor. Another renovation in 1854 brought symmetrical entrances and upper floors approximating in window size and window arrangement. The facade structure with renaissance-like applications took place around 1870, when the building was extended again, at the same time hotel rooms were built in place of the dance hall. During the heyday of the Eisenach spa, the house was in the center of the Eisenach spa district and was one of the most important restaurants in town. With the rapid decline of the spa business after the First World War , the house became uneconomical and therefore converted into an administration building in the 1930s. In 1967, the "Eisenach Party Conference 1869" memorial was built in the southern wing of the building. Modernizations carried out 20 years later changed the southern face considerably.
Current situation
The non-profit August-Bebel-Gesellschaft eV took over the former memorial as cultural institution in spring 1991 and has owned the building since summer 2006. In autumn 1992 the reopening of the again renamed memorial took place. The permanent exhibition “August Bebel 1840–1913. One of the greats of the German labor movement ”,“ Eisenach at the time of the congress in 1869 ”and“ Eisenach congress in 1869 - at the cradle of German social democracy ”.
meaning
The “Golden Lion” memorial - as the founding site of one of the two predecessor organizations of today's SPD - is one of the central places of remembrance of German social democracy .
Others
Established in 1865, the garden restaurant opposite the pump room in 1983 was awarded a new version with the Erfurt by the sculptors Anke and Siegfried Better created monument to the history of the German workers' movement at the memorial Eisenacher Party Congress in 1869 as a center.
literature
- Rolf Herm, district commission for research into the local history of the workers 'movement at the district leadership of the SED (ed.): From the history of the workers' movement in the city and the district of Eisenach , Part I (1840-1918). In: Eisenacher Schriften zur Heimatkunde, issue 13. Eisenach 1981.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Flyer "Golden Lion - National Memorial", of the August-Bebel-Gesellschaft eV support association
- ^ Herlind Reiss: City of Eisenach. Villas and country houses at the foot of the Wartburg . In: Thuringian State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology (Ed.): Monument topography BRD. Cultural monuments in Thuringia . tape 2.1 . E. Reinhold-Verlag, Altenburg 2006, p. 220-221 . ISBN 978-3-937940-24-3
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 58 ′ 7.9 ″ N , 10 ° 19 ′ 20.9 ″ E