Ernst Thälmann Park
| Ernst Thälmann Park | |
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| Monument to the namesake, in the background residential high-rises in the district | |
| Basic data | |
| place | Berlin |
| District | Prenzlauer Berg |
| Created | 1983–1986 (residential area) |
| Newly designed | from 1992 |
| Surrounding streets |
Prenzlauer Allee (West), Greifswalder Straße (East), Danziger Straße (South) Route of the Ringbahn (North) |
| Buildings | Residential houses, memorials , swimming pools, cultural buildings |
| use | |
| User groups | Foot traffic ; Leisure time , restricted traffic |
| Park design | Helmut Stingl, Erhardt Gißke |
| Technical specifications | |
| Parking area | 25 ha |
The Ernst-Thälmann-Park is an inner-city park in the Prenzlauer Berg district ( Pankow district of Berlin ). It has a total area of 25 hectares , 16 hectares of which are purely park and green areas. There was previously a municipal gas system on the site .
location
The park is bounded in the west by Prenzlauer Allee and in the east by Greifswalder Straße and the north-south extension extends from the S-Bahn route ( ring line ) to Danziger Straße . Neighboring residential areas are the Ostseeplatz / Grellstraße in the north, the Green City around Anton-Saefkow-Park in the east, the Winsviertel in the south and the Helmholtzkiez in the west.
Public connection
The park can be reached by S-Bahn ( Ringbahn ) via the Prenzlauer Allee or Greifswalder Straße stations or by tram via the M2 , M4 and M10 routes .
History, buildings and sculptures
IV. Berlin gas works
From 1873 to 1981, the IV. Berlin Gas Works was located on the site of today's Ernst-Thälmann-Park; one of 33 Berlin gasworks. With a technical service life of 108 years, it had the longest operating life of a gas works in Berlin. The luminous gas produced here by hard coal distillation served to supply the Berlin gas lanterns . With the growing demand for gas for commercial and residential units, the plant also produced water gas (a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen) from 1908 , generator gas from 1913 (produced by incomplete combustion of coke) and from 1915 benzene . From 1889, gas tanks with a diameter of 65 meters were built on the site. The water depth in the tanks was 11.2 meters and the three-part bells had a capacity of 81,000 and 91,000 cubic meters, respectively . The by-products such as cyanides , phenols , hydrogen sulphide , tar , naphthalene and ammonia generated during the gas production process posed a considerable environmental problem for the park and its residents in connection with the residential development.
As early as 1933, considerations were being given to shut down the gasworks and create a park on the site. These plans were integrated into the overall planning of the “structural design of the Reich capital” in 1937. Initially, a small park on Danziger Strasse was realized within two years with the involvement of the Reich Labor Service , which was inaugurated in 1939. Furthermore, a land and water sports field, festival and sports halls, restaurants and a concert hall were already planned. A conversion of the three gasometers as a water basin was also considered. With the beginning of the war all work was stopped. After the war damage had been repaired, the gasworks resumed production in March 1946.
In order to reduce the environmental impact somewhat, workers resealed the ceiling of the horizontal chamber furnace in 1978.
After the final cessation of gas production in 1981, the gas works was demolished and the last gasometer was blown up on July 28, 1984. The 22nd pioneer construction battalion of the NVA was involved in the demolition work and the development .
New plans for the park
The redesign to an "inhabited park" with living and shopping facilities was unique up to now and was intended to represent a prestige object of the GDR for the 750th anniversary of Berlin in 1987. The construction of the park was proposed in September 1976 in the Central Committee of the SED and decided in April 1981 at the Tenth Party Congress of the SED . “The erection of the monument to Ernst Thälmann in the planned Volkspark Prenzlauer Berg in the GDR capital will be dedicated to the unshakable struggle of the German proletariat against the fascist dictatorship and for the liberation of our people from the Hitler regime in order to build a new Germany. This monument will announce that the Thälmannsche Guard, true to its legacy, is leading our people into the socialist present and into the communist future ”( Erich Honecker at the 10th Party Congress, 1981). Honecker himself visited the construction site several times.
The construction of the park, buildings
In just three years from 1983 to 1986, under the direction of the architect Erhardt Gißke and the work of over 1300 construction workers, 1332 apartments for 4000 residents and the planetarium were built. A tree was planted for each resident, parking areas, a monument and an artificial pond were created. The facility was inaugurated on the 100th birthday of Ernst Thälmann on April 16, 1986.
General designer and lead architect for the entire complex with apartments, daycare center, shops, swimming pool and park was Helmut Stingl. “Stingl, born in 1928 and a generation after Henselmann, wanted to do it differently than the icing on the cake architect. The socialist society should, before boasting about unaffordable pomp, first of all alleviate the housing shortage. He wanted to build in an economically calculated way; he wasn't interested in the Bauhaus style, but in the inner wisdom of this school, ”as the architectural historian Simone Hain says. But it was precisely this argument of being able to pay for new apartments for the workers and farmers in the first place that later turned against him and his ideas.
The Ernst-Thälmann-Park residential area in Prenzlauer Berg, which he built as general project developer from 1983 to 1986, was proof of this and is not only considered a respectable urban development achievement because, for the first time in the GDR, a large housing estate has not been relegated to the outskirts , but had been brought into the city center. The houses were no longer strictly lined up. They formed groups and swung loosely around squares and parks. Stingl convinced the auditors that the residential density there was still as high as in Wilhelminian-style districts. Stingl's flexible panel fit into narrow inner cities and was the prerequisite for the transition from large housing developments to small-scale construction.
Right from the start, the park was planned and laid out as a connection between living, cultural facilities and nature. In addition to the prefabricated buildings on Greifswalder Straße , the park also houses a school, social facilities, a swimming pool , several restaurants and the Zeiss large planetarium, which was inaugurated in 1987 on Prenzlauer Allee . The residential buildings are eight-storey prefabricated buildings from the WBS 70 series , with twelve, fifteen and eighteen- storey high-rise buildings specially developed for Ernst-Thälmann-Park . The colorful mosaic figures on the star playground behind the planetarium were developed by the artist Steffi Bluhm together with children as part of a competition organized by the children's magazine FRÖSI . The administration of the gas works had its seat in the building of the theater unterm Dach on Danziger Straße . Besides the theater it now houses the cultural office and a gallery. Concerts and other cultural events take place in the attached WABE event building. In front of the entrance to the honeycomb is the figure Boy from Marienburger Strasse by the sculptor Sabina Grzimek .
1990s
In the early 1990s, residents complained about unpleasant smells. Although the floor had been replaced after the gasworks was demolished, contaminated sites remained. A measurement of the groundwater showed pollution by cyanides and phenols . In addition, tar containers were left in the ground when the facilities were demolished. These were disposed of immediately and soil renovations were carried out several times. In 2004 a biological cleaning plant was put into operation, which is located in the eastern part of the park. The system pumps 15 cubic meters of groundwater per hour from a depth of 30 meters into a container, in which solid substances are first separated. In a second stage, the oxygen- enriched water runs over two gravel filters and is then pumped into four bioreactors . The microorganisms contained therein break down organic pollutants, carbon dioxide and water remain as end products . The water cleaned in this way is pumped back into the earth through the system.
In 1992 the first neo-Nazi march after the fall of the Berlin Wall took place on May 1st directly in front of the Thälmann Monument. The FAP had called . 100 neo-Nazis came and were protected by BGS units. Counter-demonstrators attacked the neo-Nazis with projectiles and drove them away. Accompanied by the BGS, they fled to the S-Bahn.
The sculpture Sportsman by the sculptor Margret Middell was placed in front of the planetarium in 1996 . Not far from there is the sundial by the sculptor Joachim Liebscher . In the garden of the restaurant "To the old gas lantern" stands the group of figures from Berlin types by the artist Johannes Harbort .
In 1997, in a survey by the Prenzlauer Berg district office , a majority of residents voted in favor of keeping the name Ernst-Thälmann-Park.
Development since 2000
After the turn of the millennium, the interest of investors in the Thälmann Park area increased. Despite the bad image of prefabricated buildings, a residential complex with condominiums and rental apartments was built on an area previously used by the city cleaning service . In the same year, the property was bought by DB AG in a tender . The buyer was a private investor. In 2013, additional condominiums were built on a nearby property owned by the Berliner Gaswerke . There are also letters of intent from developers for the former Greifswalder Straße freight yard . Critics fear that the new buildings will displace the traditional resident population. Therefore, on behalf of the Pankow district, an overall concept for the redensification of the Thälmann Park was to be developed.
In February 2014, the Senate Department for Urban Development placed Ernst-Thälmann-Park under a preservation order because of its “outstanding importance” in the history of urban construction in Berlin . The ensemble brings the urban, architectural and political dimensions of the housing construction of the 1980s in line to a high degree and "thanks to its state of preservation during the construction period, it now has a unique meaningfulness about the living conditions in a socialist model settlement of the late GDR."
In 2014 and 2015 it was agreed with the City Planning Office and the Senate that the area should be built with a further 400 new apartments (of which only around 150 inexpensive rental apartments). The Thälmannpark citizens' initiative prevented this and demanded a new start in urban and building planning, which is mainly due to the insufficient space to implement the social infrastructure such as sports and play areas, a youth center, daycare center or schools. If there is still construction activity on the site, a development plan must be drawn up and approved as soon as possible (status at the end of 2017).
Ernst Thalmann Monument
The work of the Soviet sculptor Lew Kerbel , created from 1981 to 1986, is a 50-tonne monumental monument that shows the bust and raised Faust of Thälmann in front of a workers flag. After the political change, there were repeated discussions about a possible demolition, but a decision on the direction for the preservation of the monument was made in 2014 when the monument protection was awarded .
The park in the media
On the occasion of the 750th anniversary of Berlin in 1987, the GDR paid tribute to the newly built residential and park complex by issuing a stamp pad.
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A documentary from 1986 commissioned by the GDR television station shows the development of the park during its three-year construction period. This film document accompanies the construction brigades as well as individual new residents of the residential buildings, the blowing up of the gasometer, however, only occurs marginally. The film is entitled 1055 - Ernst-Thälmann-Park . It will be shown repeatedly during the exhibition Now it's getting serious in Ernst-Thälmann-Park in the Museum Pankow (July 4, 2014 to January 19, 2015).
Another documentary film Wild West in Thälmannpark. Fight for the Kiez from 2014, broadcasted the rbb radio for the first time on April 29, 2014. The 44-minute film was based on the script and directed by Katrin Rothe. and shows the battle for the Kiez 2014, the architect Manfred Zumpe with his original designs for the park as well as historical photos.
The writer Maxim Biller confessed that he always went to the swimming pool in Ernst-Thälmann-Park “when he was in a particularly bad mood”.
literature
- Eberhard Klöppel. From the gasworks to Ernst-Thälmann-Park. Exhibition from January 15th until 28.2.1988. Photo gallery Berlin (ed.), Berlin 1988, 47 p., Cart.
- G. Funeck, W. Schönholz, F. Steinwasser: Park and green areas in Berlin . Berlin-Information, 1987, ISBN 3-7442-0028-0 .
- Suddenly you live in a prime location. In: Berliner Zeitung , June 3, 2013
Web links
- Side of the Zeiss large planetarium
- Ernst-Thälmann-Park In: berlin.de
- Residents' initiative Thälmannpark
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c d Building Directorate Capital Berlin of the Ministry of Building of the GDR: Ernst-Thälmann-Park . Building Academy of the GDR, 1986.
- ↑ Hans Soost: Gas and Coke, Soot and Dust . In: Berlin monthly magazine ( Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein ) . Issue 4, 2001, ISSN 0944-5560 , p. 51-59 ( luise-berlin.de ).
- ↑ Flyer for the exhibition Now it's getting serious - The Thälmman-Park vision . District Office Pankow (ed.), 2014.
- ↑ You don't blow up a gasometer. In: Berliner Zeitung of October 29, 2011
- ^ Page of the elementary school at the planetarium
- ↑ Torsten Hampel: Helmut Stingl: The plate settlements brought into the center . In: Der Tagesspiegel , January 11, 2001.
- ↑ page of the "WABE"
- ↑ Restructuring outside of the exemption procedure . In: berlin.de , accessed on May 3, 2014.
- ↑ Effective protest against neo-Nazi demonstrations . Anti-fascist information sheet 18, July 24, 1992
- ↑ Video
- ↑ Thomas Trappe: Investor is building on Thälmann Park . In: Prenzlauerberg Nachrichten , November 9, 2012.
- ↑ Thomas Trappe: Townhouses and high-rise planned on the Greifswalder . In: Prenzlauerberg Nachrichten , April 27, 2012.
- ↑ Mike Wilms, Sabine Gudath: Plans for the Thälmannpark . In: Berliner Kurier , October 22, 2012.
- ↑ ODK: Monument Thälmannpark . In: Prenzlberg Voice , February 15, 2014.
- ↑ Ex-freight yard Greifswalder Straße: New beginning possible at www.prenzlberger-stimme.net from 2017, accessed on March 1, 2018.
- ↑ table of contents. Series: The RBB Reporter
- ^ Die Zeit , August 9, 2018, p. 42.
Coordinates: 52 ° 32 '23 " N , 13 ° 25' 54" E