Grunewald Racecourse
The racetrack Grunewald was a Pferdesportanlage in today's Berlin district Westend the district Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf . The racetrack, which opened in 1909, existed until 1934 when it had to give way to the construction of the Berlin Olympic Stadium .
Location and architecture
The racetrack was located on the northern edge of the Grunewald on the sandy plateau of the Teltow and was bordered to the north by the Spree valley and to the west by the Murellenschlucht . It took up large parts of what is now the Olympic site . The facility had a triangular floor plan and offered an outer 2,400 meter long flat track for horse races , as well as obstacle courses of different lengths inside . The racetrack buildings lined up on the long home straight along what is now Jesse-Owens-Allee. The dominant building of the main Waldhaus restaurant rose from east to west, and the stadium terraces at the south gate of the Olympic Stadium are now on the basement of the building. In front of the restaurant there were terraces sloping towards the racetrack. This was followed by three grandstand buildings, behind which the totalizer systems were, as well as an administration building near the main entrance (today the entrance to the horse stables next to the equestrian stadium on Jesse-Owens-Allee). The buildings were kept in a country house style to match the surroundings . The facility was completed by the imperial pavilion reserved for the imperial family Wilhelm II just after the finish line.
history
In addition to the racetracks in Hoppegarten , Karlshorst and Strausberg to the east of Berlin, the traditional Union Club saw the need for another racetrack in the up-and-coming west of Berlin. In 1907, the Union-Klub and the Obstacle Races Association founded the Berliner Rennverein , which then commissioned the architect Otto March , who was experienced in racing track construction, to build a racecourse on the wooded area north of Heerstraße .
Even during the planning phase, the German Reich Committee for the Olympic Games (DRAfOS) was looking for a site for a stadium to host the Olympic Games . The area inside the racetrack offered enough space for this. Access to the stadium was laid out as a tunnel-like passage under the racetrack when it was built. This tunnel with a courtyard of honor known as the Großer Marchhof is one of the few structures on the racetrack that have survived to this day. The construction of the stadium was delayed for financial reasons. It was not until 1913 that it was sunk into the interior of the racetrack as the central venue for the 1916 Olympic Games so as not to disturb the view of the racing events . It was named German Stadium . Because of the First World War , the games did not take place. Victor von Podbielski , Prussian Minister of Agriculture until 1906 and a member of the Union Club, was an influential and committed supporter of both the racetrack and the German Stadium and the bid for the Olympic Games .
After the First World War, the German University for Physical Education and the German Sports Forum were established on the northern edge of the racetrack near the slope to Ruhleben .
As a result of the First World War, Germany was initially excluded from the Olympic Games. German athletes were not admitted again until the games of 1928 . This also gave rise to the desire to make up for the games that had been canceled in 1916. When applying for the Olympic Games in 1936 , Otto March's son, Werner March , was commissioned to plan a stadium to host the Games. Due to the tense economic situation, his plans envisaged an economical solution with the renovation of the German Stadium while preserving the surrounding racetrack. After 1930 Germany, the Olympic Games were awarded in 1936 and 1933, the Nazis , the assumed power had decided to Adolf Hitler in October 1933 for a great solution with a new stadium and a large parade ground, the Maifeld . This sealed the end of the racetrack. The last racing event on the Grunewaldbahn took place on October 18, 1933 and in March 1934 the demolition of the racing track began.
Operation of the racetrack
The opening took place on May 23, 1909 in the presence of the imperial couple in front of an impressive 40,000 spectators. Tradition and modernity met when Kaiser Wilhelm II drove in in an automobile and his wife Auguste Viktoria in a carriage. For the journey, the newly built Rennbahn station (now: S-Bahn station Olympiastadion) on the Spandau suburban railway was used for the first time . After that, horse races took place regularly on the modern, contemporary requirements, racing track.
During the First World War, racing fell sharply. The main restaurant was used as a hospital at times.
A highlight on the racetrack was the staging of the renowned German Derby in July 1919, which had to be relocated from the Hamburg-Horn racecourse to Grunewald at short notice because of the Hamburg boil riots . Gibraltar won , ridden by Richard Kaiser from the Graditz main stud .
literature
- Stephan Brandt: From the Grunewald racecourse to the Olympic Stadium. Sutton Verlag, Erfurt 2015, ISBN 978-3-95400-494-2 .
- Gerd vom Ende: Berlin horse racing. Sutton, Erfurt 2007, ISBN 978-3-86680-088-5 .
- Wolfgang Schächen , Norbert Szymanski: The realm sports field. be.bra, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-930863-67-7 .
- Hainer Weißpflug: The Podbielskieiche - a natural monument in the Olympic Stadium . In: Berlin monthly magazine ( Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein ) . Issue 9, 1997, ISSN 0944-5560 , p. 80-82 ( luise-berlin.de ).
- Hainer Weißpflug: Grunewald Racecourse . In: Hans-Jürgen Mende , Kurt Wernicke (Hrsg.): Berliner Bezirkslexikon, Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf . Luisenstadt educational association . Haude and Spener / Edition Luisenstadt, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-7759-0479-4 ( luise-berlin.de - as of October 7, 2009).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hainer Weißpflug: The Podbielskieiche - a natural monument in the Olympic Stadium . In: Berlin monthly magazine ( Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein ) . Issue 9, 1997, ISSN 0944-5560 , p. 80-82 ( luise-berlin.de ).
- ↑ Wolfgang Schächen, Norbert Szymanski: Das Reichssportfeld. Berlin 2001, p. 50 ff.
- ↑ Gerd vom Ende: Berlin horse racing. Erfurt 2007, p. 93.
- ↑ Olympiastadion station at stadtschnellbahn-berlin.de
Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 40 ″ N , 13 ° 14 ′ 9 ″ E