People's friend house
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The Volksfreund-Haus at Schloßstraße 8 in Braunschweig served the Social Democratic Party of Germany in and around the city. The National Socialists expropriated the SPD and handed over the house to their own party. Since the end of the Second World War, the house has again been owned and used by the SPD.
History and architecture
The house got its name because the editorial rooms and the printing works of the daily newspaper Braunschweiger Volksfreund were housed in the outbuildings . Because of the red bricks of the facade and the proximity to the ducal castle, the Volksfreund-Haus was popularly referred to as the red castle .
The building was built from 1913 to 1914 according to plans by the architect Karl Munte in the late Art Nouveau style and then served as the party headquarters of the SPD of the Free State of Braunschweig and the city of Braunschweig, as well as the seat of the local committee of the General German Trade Union Federation . The Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold , various youth organizations and the public library used other rooms . From March 1933, the NSDAP used the building as a protective prison and torture site for the SS auxiliary police. Previously, members of the SA stormed the rooms, abused those present and burned flags, books and files of the trade unions and the SPD in front of the house; the fire burned for three days. This was one of the first public book burnings by the National Socialists. During this time, the building and all assets of the SPD were expropriated and handed over to the NSDAP.
The house was badly damaged in the Second World War , then rebuilt and returned to the SPD. During extensive renovation measures in 1993, the offices were given arched windows again, as they did before the war . A wall in the Volksfreundsaal was opened as a panorama window with a view of the Magniviertel . The rear building in which the print shop was located was torn down. Today the SPD district and the sub-district of the SPD use the offices on the third floor and the Volksfreundsaal (today Heinrich-Jasper -aal). Further offices, apartments and shops are rented.
Plaque
The Braunschweig Peace Center had a memorial plaque with the following text attached to the house wall facing the Ackerhof:
ON 9.3.1933 THE
"AUXILIARY POLICE" ARRIVED TWO DAYS BEFORE FROM SA AND SS STORMED THE PEOPLE'S FRIENDSHOUSE,
DETERMINED, TORTURE AND KILLED ENEMIES.
FOR SEVERAL DAYS, A FAILURE PILE BURNED ON THE ACKERHOF,
IN WHICH THE BOOKS OF THE PEOPLE'S BOOKS,
THE ENTIRE SPD PARTY ARCHIVE, THE FILES OF THE UNIONS
AND OTHER ASSOCIATIONS WERE DESTRUCTED.
literature
- Klaus Wettig: Places of Social Democracy. A travel book. Forward book, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-86602-921-7 .
Web links
- The Volksfreundhaus on vernetztes-gedaechtnis.de
- Volksfreundhaus Braunschweig on 150-jahre-spd.de
- A checkered history on Unser38.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ naming on vernetztes-gedaechtnis.de
- ↑ History - Das Volksfreundhaus ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on spd- Bezirk-braunschweig.de (PDF)
- ↑ Architect and architectural style on 150-jahre-spd.de
- ↑ Assault on the Volksfreundhaus 1933 on igm-bs.de (PDF)
- ↑ Book burnings on 150-jahre-spd.de
- ↑ History up to the expropriation on vernetztes-gedaechtnis.de
- ↑ Renovation in 1993 on 150-jahre-spd.de
- ↑ Current usage ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on zinnen-der-partei.de
- ↑ Commemorative plaque ( Memento of the original from October 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on friedenszentrum.info
Coordinates: 52 ° 15 ′ 42.4 " N , 10 ° 31 ′ 43.5" E