Langemarckhalle

The Langemarckhalle on the Olympic grounds in Berlin is part of the Berlin district of Westend the district Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf . It is located in the grandstand buildings below the bell tower on the edge of the Maifeld .

history

The Reichssportfeld for the 1936 Olympic Games . The bell tower is referred to in the map legend as the "Führer Tower", referring to Adolf Hitler .

Location of the Langemarckhalle on the Berlin Olympic site

Aerial photo of the Reichssportfeld: above Olympic Stadium , right Langemarckhalle with bell tower, in between Maifeld, below Dietrich-Eckart open-air stage

The hall was built for the 1936 Summer Olympics by the architect of the Olympic Stadium, Werner March , in memory of those who fell in the Battle of Langemarck in Flanders , where tens of thousands of poorly trained young German reservists were sent to their deaths at the beginning of the First World War in 1914. A mystification of Langemarck took place during the war . The myth of Langemarck , which idealized the death of a hero , arose after the war. From 1928 the German student body took on the myth in a special way, which was finally willingly taken up by the National Socialists . Together, the hall and tower linked the imperial sports field with honors and sacrifices.

Towards the end of the Second World War , the Langemarckhalle was destroyed by blowing up the tower; From 1960 to 1962, like the bell tower, it was reconstructed by the original architect March . Devotional objects that were originally on display in the hall - flags and blood soaked earth - were lost in the destruction and no longer preserved. The "driver's cab" for Hitler in front of the hall, facing the Maifeld, is also no longer there.

When looking at the building ensemble on the Reichssportfeld in east-west direction, the following results: the Olympic Square as a prelude, then the sports stadium as the venue, followed by the Maifeld as a parade and rally area, and finally the “Führer Tower” with the Langemarckhalle and its Nazi sacrificial cult.

For the 2006 soccer World Cup , the hall was extensively renovated and an exhibition on the history of the Olympic site was initiated with the German Historical Museum , which opened on May 4, 2006.

Pictures from the Langemarckhalle
HER HOLY
GRAY ROWS WALK
UNDER CLOUDS
OF GLORY
AND WEAR
THE BLOODY CHRONICLES
OF THE SECRET
KINGDOM
Walter Flex
LIVE upstairs
O HOMELAND
AND COUNT
NOT THE DEAD
YOU IS
LOVE
NOT TOO MUCH OF A
FALLEN
Friedrich Hölderlin
Bell tower and Langemarckhalle from the west
Memorial plaque to the bell tower and Langemarckhalle
Burial of the urn Hans von Tschammer und Osten , Langemarckhalle, May 2, 1943.