Neulandhalle
The Neulandhalle is located in Dieksanderkoog (municipality Friedrichskoog , district Dithmarschen / Schleswig-Holstein ) and is a community house built in 1935 - after the dyke closure of the Dieksanderkoog - according to plans by Richard Brodersen for the newly settled farmers and their National Socialist training. After it was temporarily used as a restaurant in the post-war years, the two Protestant church districts Norder- and Süderdithmarschen acquired this house in 1971 and used it until 2011 as the "Evangelical youth and leisure center Neulandhalle". On April 7, 2017, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany, the Dithmarschen parish and the State of Schleswig-Holstein agreed to build the historic Neulandhalle learning site. The building is to be preserved as an important monument. In the outdoor area, a permanent exhibition was set up on the topic of the effect of the Neulandhalle as a means of Nazi propaganda and a national community ideology. This is intended to enable political and historical educational work about National Socialism in Germany. The exhibition was created by a team led by the Schleswig-Holstein regional historian and director of the research center for regional contemporary history and public history (frzph) , Uwe Danker . After completion of the outdoor exhibition and the renovation of the building, the Neulandhalle learning location was handed over to its destination on May 8, 2019 in the presence of the President of the Schleswig-Holstein State Parliament Klaus Schlie by the representatives of the participating institutions. The historian Danker presented the exhibition in a lecture.
Construction and original purpose
The building was a National Socialist model project. In 1935, Adolf Hitler laid the foundation stone for the building after the Dieksanderkoog dyke was closed (then "Adolf-Hitler-Koog"). A good year later, the hall was inaugurated. In Dieksanderkoog, 93 farms were given to selected NSDAP members. Behind this was the idea of an “ Aryan national community ”. The Neulandhalle was a National Socialist meeting and training place for the settled farmers.
The house was explicitly intended as an “anti-church” and is reminiscent of a Haubarg . A free-standing bell tower was built next to the hall. Two monumental guardian figures were enthroned on the side of the building: a soldier and a dike builder. The building rose on a bare foreland hill. There weren't any trees yet. The monumental style of the National Socialist architecture is still recognizable today.
One entered the hall through a low, dark entrance area, the ceiling of which, rising in steps, was supposed to give an uplifting impression. On the walls there were sayings in Low German like: De nie wull dieken, courage wieken (“If you don't want to dike, you have to give way”).
At the front of the hall, a large open fireplace drew the eye, above which sword and ears of corn still refer to a past kingdom as symbols. To the right and left of them there were heroic frescos by Otto Thämer , the monumental depicting vigorous people in the style of the time in activities typical for this area, e.g. B. building houses and dykes as well as sower and reaper for sowing and harvesting. An oak bust of Adolf Hitler by Carl Schümann was also in the hall.
Use after 1945
At the end of the Second World War , the hall was also a military hospital and the district of Süderdithmarschen and the Deich and Hauptsiel Associations took over the sponsorship of the house in 1945.
In 1971, the two Dithmarscher Propsteien (today: Kirchenkreise ) Süderdithmarschen and Norderdithmarschen acquired the Neulandhalle as a location for their youth work. The provosts Walter Pareigis, Meldorf, and Uwe Steffen , Heide, supported the then Süderdithmarsch youth pastor Klaus Jürgen Horn, Nordhastedt, in this project. On the Day of Repentance and Prayer in 1973, the Neulandhalle was inaugurated according to this new provision. Since then, the main building has offered space for 36 guests in one to four-bed rooms on three floors; it also contained the kitchen that supplied all the houses. In 1974 a staff house was built for the employees.
From 1978 there was then the leisure center with 28 places, built with the help of a program to stimulate the economy. Tents were also set up on the large site during the summer, which - due to the inconsistent weather - was given up in favor of five permanent tent roof houses and one group house.
A total of around 100 guests in three different groups could be accommodated and entertained in parallel during the main season. The old stable was converted into a leisure barn, later made heated and expanded. The paths were paved and a fully biological sewage treatment plant was set up. The plan to be the first facility to build a windmill in Koog failed for environmental and financial reasons.
In the course of the first ten years the church invested over two million DM in this area of its youth work, which was not only enjoyed by church groups (youth groups, confirmation groups, choirs, trombone players, etc.), but also kindergarten groups and school classes, youth groups from the south and east Federal states as well as theater and other music groups.
After more than 25 years of operation, another major renovation of the main building and the leisure center was necessary in 2000. The sanitary facilities were modernized for around 450,000 DM, a large part of which was raised through the proceeds from the sale of welfare stamps from the German Youth Welfare Service.
Management
An eight-person board of trustees was entrusted with the administration of the Neulandhalle, including the respective youth watchdogs, representatives from the church district councils and fellow Christians interested in youth work.
Up to 2011, around 9,000 overnight stays were recorded per year. At the beginning of the nineties, the church districts founded an association that has since operated the Neulandhalle as a non-profit association. Only the income from accommodation and meals were available for the expenses, donations had to be collected for building maintenance. In January 2011, the owner declared that he could no longer operate the Neulandhalle economically. The operator closed the facility on June 30, 2011. The Neulandhalle was threatened with demolition.
Historical place of learning
Since 2011 the conversion of the building as a place for dealing with National Socialism has been planned. “There is hardly a place in Germany that is so well suited to introducing young people to the fatal seductive power of National Socialism in a preventive manner,” said Dithmarschen's provost Andreas Crystall, justifying this idea.
Historic learning location Neulandhalle: LIVING SPACE AND PEOPLE S COMMUNITY
The concept for this was drawn up by the historian Uwe Danker (University of Flensburg) and paid for by the Dithmarschen church district. The Neulandhalle learning location was classified as an outstanding project in the memorial work. Therefore, from the end of 2012, the North Church and the State of Schleswig-Holstein u. a. the Neulandhalle project is planned. It was planned that the state would add 2.1 million euros and so would the federal government with its culture funding budget. But the federal government refused to support the project. The project was rescheduled and scaled down. In April 2017, the state government, the Dithmarschen parish and the northern church signed an agreement to set up a "Neulandhalle historical learning location". The place of learning was set up under the professional supervision of Uwe Danker from the Institute for Schleswig-Holstein Contemporary and Regional History . After completion, the educational work will be conceptually developed and implemented by the Volkshochschulen in Dithmarschen eV (VHS) association. The association organizes guided tours through the outdoor exhibition. The church district is to remain the owner of the facility for the next five years. Then, as part of a project evaluation, the future owner constellation should be considered. On May 8, 2019, the place of learning was opened.
literature
- Uwe Danker: The exhibition of the historical learning site Neulandhalle in Dieksanderkoog. Conceived in terms of history, no exhibits, outdoor without building access . In: Democratic History , Vol. 30 (2019), pp. 305–383.
- Harald Schmid : "Problem case behind the dike". The "historical learning place Neulandhalle" - a Schleswig-Holstein remembrance project on the 'Volksgemeinschaft' ideology . In: Detlef Schmiechen-Ackermann u. a. (Ed.): The place of the 'Volksgemeinschaft' in German social history , Ferdinand Schönigh, Paderborn 2018, ISBN 978-3-506-78648-7 , pp. 459–485
- Uwe Danker: People's community and living space: the Neulandhalle as a historical place of learning. Wachholtz, Neumünster / Hamburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-529-02253-1 .
- Frank Trende: New territory! was the magic word. New levees in Hitler's name. Boyens Buchverlag, Heide 2011, ISBN 978-3-8042-1340-1 .
Web links
- Homepage Neulandhalle historical learning location. Retrieved August 4, 2019 .
- Possible new perspectives for the Nazi building. shz.de
- Curd Tönnermann: State government stops plans for Nazi memorial . In: "Lnonline", March 20, 2015.
- Model project of the Nazis: previously unknown recordings of the construction of the Neulandhalle. www.welt.de (video)
- Once a National Socialist meeting place, there is room for uncomfortable truths
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lars Amenda: The inauguration of the "Adolf-Hitler-Koog" on August 29, 1935 - Land reclamation and propaganda during National Socialism. In: Dithmarscher Landeszeitung. August 29, 2005, accessed March 7, 2010 .
- ↑ https://kirche-dithmarschen.de/neulandhalle-wird-historischer-lernort/ Neulandhalle becomes a historical place of learning . Homepage of the church district Ditmarschen April 7, 2018
- ↑ Press release of the North Church, May 8, 2019: Ditmarschen church district opens Neulandhalle historical learning site.
- ↑ Memory of history in letters. The Neulandhalle built by the Nazis in Schleswig-Holstein is now a place of learning , Neues Deutschland , May 9, 2019
- ↑ Nordelbingen (Snipped View), Volumes 12-13, Boyens and Company, 1936, p. 28
- ↑ A difficult legacy. (No longer available online.) Kirche-dithmarschen.de, January 26, 2011, archived from the original on March 3, 2011 ; accessed on September 13, 2014 .
- ↑ Ralf Pöschus: Neulandhalle is threatened with demolition. shz.de, January 5, 2011, accessed on September 13, 2014 .
- ↑ Where the seductive power of the Nazis becomes visible . In: "Kieler Nachrichten", November 5, 2011.
- ↑ New perspectives for the Nazi building . In: "Schleswig-Holsteinische Tageszeitung", June 21, 2012.
- ↑ Museum plans for the Nazi building Neulandhalle burst . In: "Hamburger Abendblatt", February 22, 2014.
- ↑ Neulandhalle becomes a historical place of learning. Ev.-Luth. Church district Dithmarschen, April 17, 2017, accessed on December 28, 2017 .
Coordinates: 53 ° 58 ′ 4 " N , 8 ° 54 ′ 23" E