House of Silesia

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House of Silesia (2008)
Memorial stone for Joseph von Eichendorff in front of House Silesia
Natural monument group of plane trees in front of House Silesia

The House of Silesia is a center for the culture and history of the Silesians who were expelled from their homeland after the Second World War in Heisterbacherrott , a district of the city of Königswinter in the Rhein-Sieg district in North Rhine-Westphalia . It consists of a culture and education center with a conference and meeting place, the documentation and information center for Silesian regional studies , a reference library with around 30,000 book units, restaurants and guest rooms.

The facility is supported by the Association Haus Schlesien German Culture and Education Center e. V. , which has set itself the goal of preserving the national cultural property. It is headed by the three committees of the Board of Directors, the Advisory Board and the General Assembly.

Documentation and information center

In addition to a permanent exhibition on Silesian art, culture and history, HAUS SCHLESIEN also regularly shows various special exhibitions. The history of Silesia comes to life in the small exhibition room. In addition, coins, medals, maps and paintings with regional views are shown, as well as costumes and textiles that stand in a special way for the Silesian way of life. In the large exhibition room there is space for art treasures from five centuries, which represent the abundance of Silesian handicrafts. Silesian history becomes clear with the help of silversmiths and wood carvings, valuable glasses and porcelain as well as Bunzlau ceramics. Changing special exhibitions are shown in the front area of ​​the large exhibition space. Outstanding topics in recent years have been: Käthe Kruse dolls, the literary figure Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff , the master builder Carl Gotthard Langhans , the master builder Ernst Friedrich Zwirner , porcelain from Silesian manufacturers and the Nobel Prize winner Gerhart Hauptmann . Many of these exhibitions have also been shown in German and Polish institutions in recent years. Significant partners in Poland are the Wroclaw City Museum, Wroclaw University Library and State Archives, and regional museums in several cities. Another important cooperation partner since 2000 has been the former Cistercian monastery of Leubus on the Oder . Haus Schlesien has set up a number of permanent exhibitions on regional topics here. The presentations about the history of the monastery, the importance of the Oder, the development of tourism, the beet sugar production, which was cradled in Silesia, as well as grave monuments and epitaphs in Lower Silesian churches testify to the close cooperation with the Polish neighbors.

Library and archive

The House of Silesia has a reference library that is open to all users. The collection area includes the historical region of Silesia and the adjacent areas. The focus is on regional and local studies, history, arts and crafts, folklore, literature and biographies. Reference works and address directories complete the collection. The holdings of the scientific special library include almost 30,000 book units, around 500 different magazines and periodicals, and over 2,000 maps. You can find historical rarities as well as standard works on Silesian regional studies and current publications. The holdings are all electronically recorded and can be researched online using the Union Catalog Eastern Europe or the journal database . Use is free of charge, with the exception of copying and other services. In addition to written records on history, culture and everyday life in Silesia, the archive of HAUS SCHLESIEN also houses an extensive image archive containing photographs, slides and graphics as well as approx. 25,000 postcards. There are also various audiovisual media.

Buildings

The main building of the Silesian House Center is named House Wroclaw after the historic capital of the Silesian Region. Among other things, it houses the reception, the reference library, the museum management and several guest rooms. Haus Riesengebirge is adjacent to Haus Wroclaw and offers space for several event rooms and additional guest rooms. The entire complex is completed on the right-hand side by Haus Oder , the seat of the federal office of the Landsmannschaft Silesia and, in turn, the location of guest rooms. The so-called Haus Schlesische Lausitz with an event room is also integrated into this part of the building . Other buildings integrated into the House of Silesia are the museum with permanent and temporary exhibitions as well as the Upper Silesia House in the rear transverse building with the Eichendorff Hall as a representative location for events and gatherings. An extensive park was laid out behind the House of Silesia. In front of the main building, a bust created by Arno Breker in 1988 commemorates the Silesian poet Gerhart Hauptmann .

Aerial view of House of Silesia

The house Silesia stands as monument under monument protection . The entry in the monuments list of the city of Königswinter took place on April 6, 1987.

history

The former Fronhof , in which House Silesia is located, was first mentioned in a document in 1173 as curtis in roda (yard on the clearing), which belonged to the women's monastery in Schwarzrheindorf . Agriculture was practiced here for 800 years. After the secularization of monastery property in 1803, the court passed through different hands. In 1822 it was completed in its current form as a four-wing complex. The year can still be seen in the keystone above the left entrance gate . From 1922 the Cologne steel wholesaler Ottmar Edwin Strauss was the owner of the Fronhof. He had to emigrate to Switzerland in 1934 and sell the farm under duress. In 1972 the Fronhof came to the city of Königswinter through other owners. After the Second World War, the Fronhof also housed people who had been expelled from their homeland. In 1978 the Haus Schlesien association acquired the dilapidated courtyard complex from the city of Königswinter with 12,000 m² of land. The property was taken over on St. Hedwig's Day , October 15th. Over the years, the Silesians themselves and their friends have raised several million euros in donations for the repair of the buildings and their transformation into their current condition. From 1983 to 1993 Klaus Ullmann was president of the association. The state of Lower Saxony, sponsoring the Silesians, and the city of Königswinter also got involved. The Federal Republic of Germany is supporting the documentation and information center for Silesian regional studies with basic funding.

literature

  • Horst von Chmielewski (arr.): The historical imperial areas and the settlement areas of the Germans in east-central, east and south-east Europe in libraries of the Federal Republic of Germany. Ed .: Federal Ministry of the Interior, Cologne 1994, No. 20, p. 46.
  • Angelika Schyma : City of Königswinter. ( Monument topography of the Federal Republic of Germany , Monuments in the Rhineland , Volume 23.5.) Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne 1992, ISBN 3-7927-1200-8 , p. 85.
  • MGM Antoni: East German museums and collections in the Federal Republic of Germany and Austria. Ed .: Federal Ministry of the Interior, Bonn 1989, pp. 68–69.
  • Heinz Klein: Heisterbacherrott. Back in the day , Königswinter-Heisterbacherrott 2000, pp. 141–146.
  • Haus Schlesien (Ed.): 25 years of the Haus Schlesien association. Anniversary and Foundation Festival August 14-16 , 1998 , Königswinter-Heisterbacherrott 1998, pp. 2–5, 12.

Web links

Commons : House of Silesia  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ List of monuments of the city of Königswinter , number A 62
  2. ^ Haus Schlesien (Ed.): 25 years of the Haus Schlesien association. Anniversary and Foundation Festival 14. – 16. August 1998 , Königswinter-Heisterbacherrott 1998, pp. 2–5, 12.
  3. ↑ Silesian cuisine in the Rhenish Fronhof , General-Anzeiger , August 9, 2008

Coordinates: 50 ° 41 ′ 47 ″  N , 7 ° 13 ′ 51 ″  E