Karlslust dance hall fire

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The Karlslust dance hall fire (also known as the Loebels restaurant fire ) happened on February 8, 1947 in Hakenfelde , a district of Spandau in what was then the British sector of Berlin . With the deaths of 80 to 88 people, it was one of the worst fire accidents in Germany after the Second World War . The total death toll is confirmed today at 81: 80 diners and the restaurant's owner, Julius Loebel, who died trying to save a box of his money.

the fire

The Karlslust was the largest restaurant and dance hall in Spandau during the first half of the 20th century, a two-story building with a ballroom and bowling alleys , famous for its legendary parties. On Saturday, February 8, 1947, the first post-war costume ball took place (it was carnival time in Germany, Switzerland and Austria)

The landowner, Julius Loebel, was certain that the curfew would be lifted that night. There were an estimated 750-800 (possibly up to 1000) guests, mostly young, including some members of the British Armed Forces .

Because of the very low outside temperatures of around −20 °C to −25 °C in the very cold winter of 1946/47 , three cannon furnaces were set up in Karlslust to support the heating. Around 10:45 p.m., when the celebration was at its height, some of the roof beams caught fire, probably from the overheating of the ovens. Since the Karlslust had been used as a prison during the last months of the war, the windows were barred and the doors bricked up, one side door was frozen. In the scramble to get to the only door, some guests were trampled to death. After three minutes, the entire roof was on fire.

When those who escaped realized the extent of the fire, some of them returned to get their winter clothes from the cloakroom. This behavior later filled British authorities with disbelief, but is due to the tight supply situation in post-war Germany, where people lived with food stamps . Eventually the roof of the Karlslust collapsed and buried those who were still trapped.

firefighting

The first (British Army) firefighters arrived on the scene about 15 minutes after the fire broke out. Notifying the fire brigades was difficult at the time because there were no uniform emergency numbers. Each fire station had to be called individually. The area's low temperatures and snow cover hampered firefighters' efforts. Three British soldiers died trying to rescue those trapped in the building. Some guests of the Karlslust survived the collapse of the roof and could be rescued from the rubble. They had found refuge in the basement.

German firefighters arrived at Karlslust considerably later than their British counterparts, most of them only 40 minutes after being called. This was due to the poor quality of their vehicles (the engines needed time to warm up) and because of the speed limit (40 km/h) for civilians in Berlin (to give priority to military vehicles). In addition, all bridges over the Havel had been destroyed during the war; therefore detours were necessary to get from Spandau and Berlin to Hakenfelde.

victim

Inscription: "In memory of those who died in the fire accident in the Karlslust restaurant on February 8, 1947."

Shortly after the disaster, Der Spiegel reported that 88 dead were found, some of them burned beyond recognition, and that 108 people were missing. There were 150 injured, 40 of whom required hospital treatment.

Later sources gave the number of dead as 80, 77 victims were buried on February 25, 1947 in the In den Kisseln cemetery. Up until this day, all celebrations and dance events throughout Berlin had been cancelled.

aftermath

The magistrate of Berlin , from 1945 to 1948 the civil government for all of Berlin, ordered the distribution of 800 winter coats, lost food stamps were replaced. Political parties collected donations for the victims. To solve the problems causing the delay in fighting the fire, the speed limit for civilian vehicles was lifted on March 13, 1947, and so was the general Allied traffic priority. A general emergency telephone number was reintroduced on October 20, 1947. That number was "02".

Today there is a high- rise apartment building (Hakenfelder Straße 8 to 8c) on the spot where Karlslust once stood.

literature

  • Time : Costly Clothing February 17, 1947.

web links

itemizations

  1. ↑ a b Andreas Gerlof: 50 years ago, 80 people died in a fire in Hakenfelde / contemporary witness Erwin Rostek remembers "Then the roof collapsed - it was horrible" . In: Berliner Zeitung . 7 February 1997. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
  2. ↑ Spandau Dance of Death . In: The Mirror . No. 7 , 1947 ( online ).
  3. ↑ rm: Flaming inferno in the Karlslust pub. In: Berliner Abendblatt , February 4, 2012, gedenktafeln-in-berlin.de (PDF; 639 kB).
  4. ↑ Christian van Lessen: Costume party ended in disaster . In: The daily mirror . February 8, 2007. Retrieved December 4, 2013.
  5. ↑ Burning beams killed ball guests . In: Berliner Zeitung . February 8, 2007. Retrieved December 4, 2013.

Coordinates: 52° 34′ 1″  N , 13° 11′ 50″  E