Top cellar
The Toppkeller was an entertainment venue in Berlin . It existed from 1924 to 1930 and was one of the most famous dance halls and cultural meeting point for the lesbian scene in Berlin at the time. It was best known for its open and permissive atmosphere.
history
The exact beginnings of the Toppkeller as a lesbian venue are difficult to determine. Already during the German Empire there was a restaurant called “Westend-Ressource” at the same location in Schöneberg, later renamed “Gründers Festsäle” after the owners Wilhelm and Wilhelmine Gründer. As with many ballrooms, the rooms were given to organizers, who ensured that the capacity was occupied.
In 1924, the women's club "Lotterieverein Die Pyramide", which took place every Monday from 9 p.m. and headed by some older women, established the reputation of the Toppkeller as a lesbian meeting place. From 1927 onwards, lesbian events took place every day. Two of the organizers are known by nicknames, the "Zigeunerlotte" and the "Rheinische Käthe". In 1929 the innkeeper Willy Dubrau took over the Toppkeller from the founders, but the change was otherwise without consequences. In 1930 the top cellar was closed.
profile
The top cellar was in the third back yard at Schwerinstrasse 13 in Schöneberg . To reach it, one had to go down a long, dark corridor and down a flight of stairs from the street and came through an anteroom to the actual hall. All contemporary reports from the Toppkeller mention that it was very shabby, obviously the landlords did not invest in the halls in any way. Ruth Margarete Roellig described him as "old, ugly, lavishly adorned with colorful, cheap paper garlands that are supposed to artificially cover up his poor threadiness". According to Roellig, the hall was of “tolerable size,” a painting by Rudolf Schlichter from 1925 entitled Ladies Bar , which depicts the Toppkeller, shows a room with uncovered tables, big enough for a few hundred people.
Like many other lesbian bars, the Toppkeller was also open to men, who often came for voyeuristic reasons and were tolerated as "carpenters" (i.e. guests who increased sales). In addition to these and the actual lesbian audience, according to some reports, there were also numerous prostitutes in the audience. The Toppkeller was also considered a “stock exchange”, i.e. a meeting place for lesbian women who wanted to live out sexually.
The Toppkeller quickly acquired a socially diverse audience due to the decidedly exuberant and permissive atmosphere combined with low prices and frequent events without admission. Gertrude Sandmann reported: "There really met everything: the academic and the saleswoman, the 'lady from the street' like the lady of society, prominent artists like the worker." Claire Waldoff described the audience as a colorful mix of painters, models, famous painters from Paris, beautiful elegant women and little employees in love. The regular guests also included Anita Berber , Celly de Rheidt , Hilde Radusch and Susi Wannowsky as well as Charlotte Wolff , who experienced the place ambivalently: “At a certain time the doors were locked. Then you felt more locked in than safe. "
In 1928 the photographer Umbo exhibited portraits in one of his first exhibitions in the Toppkeller. On April 13 of the same year, the cabaret "Die Impossible", founded by Dinah Nelken , Paul Marcus and Rolf Gero , made a guest appearance here for the first time .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Toppkeller - Lesbenschwoof in Schwerinstraße 13 In: Andreas Pretzel : Historical places and dazzling personalities in the Schöneberger Regenbogenkiez - From Dorian Gray to Eldorado , Maneo , undated (2012?), Pp. 68-77
- ^ A b c Ruth Margarete Roellig: Berlins lesbian women , Bruno Gebauer Verlag für Kulturprobleme, Leipzig 1928, pp. 40–43
- ^ Gertrude Sandmann : The beginning of the lesbian union: the clubs of the twenties. In: Gruppe L 74 eV (Ed.): UKZ - Our little newspaper by and for lesbians, Richter Verlag, Berlin 7/8/1976, pp. 4–8, quoted from: Christiane Leidinger: An “Illusion of Freedom” - Subculture and Organizing of Lesbians, Transvestites and Gays in the Twenties , 2008, online
- ^ Klaus Budzinski , Reinhard Hippen : Metzler Kabarett Lexikon , Metzler Verlag, Stuttgart 2016, p. 403