Great Christian fire

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The Great Christian Fire was the largest fire disaster that Frankfurt am Main had ever hit before the bombing of the Second World War . It broke out on June 26, 1719 and within three days destroyed the entire north-western old town with over 400 houses. 14 people lost their lives in the fire. The name Großer Christenbrand was coined by contemporaries because eight years earlier a similar fire disaster, the Große Judenbrand of January 14, 1711, had cremated almost 200 houses on Frankfurt's Judengasse .

history

Fire has been one of the greatest threats to the densely populated city since the Middle Ages, following the recurring epidemics. Therefore, personal assistance in fighting fires was one of the most important civic duties. Every citizen received a leather fire bucket when taking his citizenship oath , which he had to keep ready in his house at all times. The urban area had been divided into 14 quarters since 1614 - five in the Neustadt , seven in the old town and two in Sachsenhausen . Each quarter represented a militarily organized vigilantes under the command of Citizen Captain , the only democratically elected office in the otherwise corporative written imperial city . The fire fighting equipment as well as the artillery ( called pieces ) were provided by the city.

As early as 1439 the council had ordered two handheld fire syringes in Nuremberg . In the course of time, the equipment pool was repeatedly adapted to the state of the art. In the narrow streets, however, only small, two-wheeled hand pull syringes could be used. Effective fire fighting was hardly possible, so all residents of Frankfurt were urged to be extremely careful when dealing with fire.

The Great Christian Fire broke out on June 26, 1719 in the Zum Rehbock inn in the narrow Bockgasse . Bockgasse was east of Ziegelgasse, which still leads from Kleinmarkthalle to Berliner Strasse today . The quarter between Töngesgasse in the north, Schnurgasse in the south, Neue Kräme in the west and Fahrgasse in the east was the geographic center of Frankfurt for centuries. Mostly craftsmen lived in this quarter.

The fire was caused by a guest who had come to the Zum Rehbock inn that evening , a wig maker named Morgenstern from Dresden . He had probably left his night light on. The fire was discovered around midnight and the civil fire department was alerted. She soon put her syringes into position, but the wells gave little water because of the drought that had been prevalent for weeks. Until further extinguishing water could be brought in barrels from the Main , the fire, which was also fanned by a strong wind, spread rapidly in the narrow streets. Just two hours after the alarm, 200 houses were already burning in Bockgasse, Graubengasse, Ziegelgasse, Liebfrauenberg and Töngesgasse.

The fire was soon noticed in the vicinity of Frankfurt. Numerous helpers from the surrounding villages, even from Rödelheim , Hanau and Isenburg , rushed to reinforce them, but the fire spread further east despite the combined efforts. In the early morning there was also a fire in Hasengasse, in Trierischer Hof and on the western side of Fahrgasse.

Cannons and ammunition from the armory at the Konstablerwache had been brought to safety in good time when the fire had already spread to the Bornheimer Pforte , the city gate in the Staufen wall between the old town and the new town. In a great hurry, numerous houses that had not been destroyed by the fire began to be demolished in order to contain the fire. This made it possible to prevent the fire from spreading further in the direction of the Zeil , as well as jumping over the narrow Schnurgasse to the south. 13 hours after the fire alarm, the fire roller came to a standstill, even though the entire district between Töngesgasse, Schnurgasse, Neue Kräme and Fahrgasse with its 15 streets was on fire. It took more than three days for the fire to burn down. More than 400 houses were completely destroyed, including the Antoniterkloster , which gave Töngesgasse its name. 32 other houses were so badly damaged that they had to be demolished in the near future.

consequences

14 people were killed, including a syringe master from Hanau. 470 families had lost all their belongings in the fire. The property damage was estimated at almost a million guilders. Most of the victims were craftsmen, including 40 tailors, 30 shoemakers, 30 coopers, 25 carpenters, 10 beer brewers, 10 goldsmiths and five wig makers. But four school teachers, several lawyers and doctors of medicine had also lost their property.

The removal of the rubble alone took several weeks. Every carriage that left the city empty was obliged to carry a load of rubble to the gates of the city. In order to alleviate the plight of the injured, donations were collected all over Europe. The citizens of Frankfurt donated 38,000 guilders, citizens from other cities over 100,000. Most of the donations came from cities with trade connections with Frankfurt, including Zurich , Nuremberg , Hamburg , Augsburg , Geneva , Basel and Amsterdam .

In order to protect the city from such fires in the future, the council drastically tightened the city building regulations in 1720. Between 1740 and 1800 around 3,000 houses were converted or rebuilt to improve preventive fire protection . The most important measures included

  • the erection of effective firewalls: older houses were often still separated by a narrow wich , in which the toilets were also located.
  • the regulation that at least the basement of all houses should be made of stone: before that, simple houses were often completely half-timbered.
  • the limitation of the overhangs: each house was only allowed to have an overhang of a maximum of one and a half shoes deep, while older houses had two or even three overhangs, the largest of which could be up to three shoes deep.
  • The relocation of the eaves and gable sides: all newly built houses had to have the eaves side facing the street in future , whereas in the past the houses had been built with the gable side facing the street . In addition, the older houses often still had so-called dwarf houses , while after 1720 only small attics were allowed.

Some of the effects of the building regulations from 1720 can still be seen today. B. on the six houses of the 1983 reconstructed Römerberg-Ostzeile . The Wilder Mann house (third from the left) from the 18th century has the typical mansard roof of the houses built after the Great Christian Fire, while the five gabled houses are all older.

literature

  • Walter Gerteis: The unknown Frankfurt . Verlag Frankfurter Bücher, Frankfurt am Main 1961