Alsberg department store (Dresden)

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The Alsberg department store was one of the largest and most modern department stores in Dresden until it was destroyed in February 1945 . Its main facade was on the north side of Wilsdruffer Straße , the building complex extended to Schloßstraße and Große Brüdergasse. It was run as a formally independent retail company, but it belonged to the Alsberg group , which was mainly active in the Rhineland and Westphalia .

History until 1922

In 1907, the Alsberg brothers opened business premises in Wilsdruffer Strasse 6 and in König-Albert-Passage, which stretched through the entire block from Wilsdruffer Strasse 8 to Große Brüdergasse 7 and was built by Rudolf Sendig in 1896 .

In 1912, the Alsberg brothers acquired the house at Wilsdruffer Strasse 10, and on April 1, 1913, they opened additional business premises here. Since 1916 she was also the owner of the house at Große Brüdergasse 9, without setting up her own business here, but as the beginning of a far-reaching expansion concept. Around 1920 the former König-Albert-Passage and the house at Wilsdruffer Strasse 6 became the property of the company. This laid the basis for a comprehensive modernization of the business premises and the creation of a modern department store.

The fundamental renovations in 1922/23 and 1929/30

The first major construction work took place in 1922/23. The old houses at Wilsdruffer Strasse 6, 8 and 10 were rebuilt and provided with a continuous facade of 22 window axes. The architect Max Hans Kühne designed the facade using tall windows, which were held together on the third floor by round arches. Above that there was an attic, and on the ground floor generous shop windows invited visitors to look at and buy. In the wider spaces in between on the facade, six figures by Johannes Knubel standing on plinths adorned the building and - like the ornamental frieze above the ground floor - loosened the facade.

In the course of the 1920s, the Alsberg brothers gradually acquired more houses on Große Brüdergasse. This affected house 11 in 1920 (until 1927, Dresdner professional laundry factory), in 1926 house 5 and finally in 1928 houses 1 (corner of Schloßstraße) and 3. This meant that all buildings on the Große Brüdergasse between Schloßstraße and Quergasse were owned by the company. With the buildings Schloßstraße 3, 5 and 5b also acquired in 1928, the prerequisites for the new construction of an impressive and, above all, modern, well-arranged department store in Dresden were in place.

To do this, however, nine old houses on Schloßstrasse and Grosse Brüdergasse had to be demolished. This was highly controversial. Serious concerns were raised at a meeting of the Monument Council on February 23, 1928. Also Cornelius Gurlitt moved into a clear position against the project. The State Office for the Preservation of Monuments raised an objection, but only managed to have the plans revised. In July 1928, the council approved this plan, only with the condition that good photographic images of the art-historical buildings for the city ​​museum were made.

The new building was carried out in 1929/30. The sensitive situation on Schloßstraße in particular demanded a great deal of empathy from the architect Kühne. The building regulations required compliance with the eaves height , but the building authorities, architect and client agreed that three more upper floors could be built over the four floors, which, however, were set far back and hardly visible from the street. An arcade , which was initially required , was dispensed with in favor of large shop window glass surfaces.

After the construction work was completed, the department store comprised 20,000 m² of retail space through clever use of the property, making it the largest new department store building in the city center before 1945. Three portals provided good access. The buyers distributed three stairwells and a modern escalator system extending over three floors to the top sixth floor. A light-flooded restaurant with an open-air terrace and a view over the roofs of the old town beckons there. The facade was adorned with sculptural jewelry by Georg Wrba in the Art Deco style.

Valuable materials should spread an upscale buying mood: consistently real parquet, sales tables and shelves made of oak, some with walnut inlays. The atrium shone in bright stucco and white metal. Only the ground floor pillars were clad with wood. The kitchen, a pastry shop and a few studios were on the fourth floor. The fifth floor contained administrative rooms, offices, clothing workshops, workshops and the staff canteen. The last, sixth floor was covered with a flat roof.

The department store from 1933 to 1945

When the National Socialists came to power, difficult times began for the Jewish retail group Alsberg, which ultimately ended with the complete expropriation and death of several family members in the Litzmannstadt and Theresienstadt ghettos . The history of the group, which was one of the most successful department store companies in the Weimar Republic, ended on June 27, 1933.

In September 1933 the newly founded fashion house Möbius GmbH took over the Alsberg department store in Dresden. The articles of association for the "continuation of the fashion houses previously operated by the limited partnership Gebrüder Alsberg in Dresden" was signed on September 14, 1933. The merchants Rudolf Ackermann (member of the NSDAP since 1930) and Karl Rudolf Holtsch were appointed as managing directors.

The Alsberg Brothers KG Dresden was heavily indebted in early 1933. This was due on the one hand to the global economic crisis , the heavy loss of profits and the melted equity, on the other hand to the boycott calls by the National Socialists against Jewish businesses. During a meeting on May 29, 1933, the company Gebr. Alsberg KG and the Dresden branch of Deutsche Bank , Dr. Alsberg stated that “the company's conditions have deteriorated significantly as a result of the boycott movement, sales have declined by 40%”.

The new fashion house Möbius GmbH received all inventory in the Dresden department store Alsberg such as B. Inventory, furniture, trucks, etc., but also took over all debts. However, these were considerably reduced with pressure on the creditor banks by forcing the banks to convert their debt claims into shares in the GmbH. In the contract it was still stated: “The main share of the Alsberg brothers in Dresden in 816,000 Reichsmarks will be transferred to Aryan hands in the amount of 786,000 Reichsmarks.” In October 1945, Rudolf Ackermann asserted before the Dresden City Council that “these shares then the company Gebrüder Alsberg assigned to other creditors in payment instead of to settle their debts ”, thus almost“ voluntarily ”waived.

Modehaus Möbius GmbH also bought the Alsberg property, which had only been leased until then, for 4 million Reichsmarks in 1939. In a memo from Commerzbank dated April 13, 1944, it says about the former Alsberg department store in Dresden: “As a result of the political change and the resulting severe financial strain, the Alsberg company was taken over by the GmbH. The commercial buildings did not become the property of the GmbH at that time, but they were bought in the foreclosure auction at the end of 1939 for around 4 million Reichsmarks. ”In 1941 the name Alsberg no longer appeared in the address books of the city of Dresden.

Like the rest of the area, the Alsberg department store burned down in February 1945 . The stable reinforced concrete construction ensured that the ruin could still be rebuilt.

The department store from 1945 to 1955

The ruins were left standing for ten years with the option of restoration. What was possible on the south side of Wilsdruffer Strasse with the Knoop department store - this was included in the new development - failed on the north side. Large parts of the Alsberg department store were in the way of plans to expand Wilsdruffer Strasse, known as Ernst-Thälmann-Strasse from May 1, 1954, into a much wider demonstration thoroughfare. So in 1955 the ruins were torn down and the buildings that still exist today were rebuilt .

swell

  • The entire research and evaluation of the events from 1933–1945 comes from Thomas Kantschew.
  • Matthias Lerm : Farewell to old Dresden. Loss of historical building stock after 1945 . Hinstorff Verlag GmbH, Rostock 2001, ISBN 3-356-00876-5 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Address book for Dresden and its suburbs, different years.
  2. ↑ a b c d article “Kaufhaus Alsberg” by Thomas Kantschew at www.das-neue-dresden.de , accessed on August 7, 2013.
  3. ^ Matthias Lerm: Farewell to old Dresden. Loss of historical building stock after 1945. Hinstorff, Rostock 2001, pp. 14-16.
  4. ↑ Sächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Dresden, 13131 - Deutsche Bank, Dresden branch, file: 184 (correspondence on the “transfer of the Jewish fashion house Gebr. Alsberg KG Dresden to the fashion house Möbius GmbH Dresden”).
  5. ^ Sächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Dresden, 11 500 - Chamber of Industry and Commerce Saxony, file: 603 (Modehaus Möbius Nachf., Ackermann & Holtsch KG, Dresden).
  6. ↑ Sächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Dresden, 13130 ​​- Commerzbank, Dresden branch, file: 290 (correspondence with Commerzbank Düsseldorf about the fashion house Möbius GmbH Dresden 1937–1944).

Coordinates: 51 ° 3 ′ 3 ″  N , 13 ° 44 ′ 10 ″  E