Volkshaus (Weimar)

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Volkshaus Weimar

The Volkshaus in Weimar at Friedrich-Ebert-Straße 8 was built between 1906 and 1908. It came about on the initiative of the SPD politician August Baudert . The architect was Bruno Röhr . On April 26, 1908, the meeting house for the Social Democrats (and the trade unions) opened. The SPD initially held its meetings here after the collapse of the German Empire . On January 11, 1919, a Spartacus youth group wanted to prepare the establishment of a local group of the KPD . In order to counter possible excesses, a security unit was sent there by the soldiers' council.

In front of the two-storey building with two entrance gates on the gable end of the stairs there is a memorial plaque for the workers who fell against the Kapp Putsch . When they gathered for a rally in the Volkshaus on March 15, 1920 during the general strike, putsch soldiers of the Reichswehr shot them. The names on the plaque there are the same as on the grave slab that Walter Gropius placed on the memorial in the Weimar Historical Cemetery for those who died in March in 1922 . These are Anna Braun, Walter Hoffmann, Franz Pawelski, Paul Schander, Adolf Schelle, Karl Schorn, Karl Merkel, Ernst Müller and Kurt Krassan. Just like the memorial for those who fell in March, which was rebuilt in 1946, such a memorial would have been unthinkable under the National Socialists, so that the plaque was probably only placed on this spot after 1945. The most prominent speakers who spoke in this house were probably Klara Zetkin , Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg . The Reich President Friedrich Ebert also had an office here, in addition to his office in the Weimar City Palace .

After the seizure of power on April 8, 1933, the SPD city council members forcibly resigned from the city council. Shortly afterwards, the SA and SS occupied the Volkshaus and carried out house searches among over 100 SPD members in all parts of the city and in the suburbs. They confiscated printed matter, four people were arrested, the assets of the SPD and the establishment of their district office were confiscated and the bank accounts were blocked. On July 23, 1933, the SPD was banned.

Until 2009, the Volkshaus was an event location, for example for concerts. There were also band rehearsal rooms in the basement. At the moment the building is closed due to dilapidation after several changes of ownership.

This building has been included in the list of cultural monuments in Weimar (individual monuments) .

Web links

Commons : Volkshaus Weimar  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Holler, Gudrun Püschel and Gerda Wendermann (eds.): The war of the spirits: Weimar as a symbol of German culture before and after 1914 . Dresden 2014, cat.no.77, p. 92 f. ISBN 978-3-95498-072-7
  2. ^ Gitta Günther , Wolfram Huschke , Walter Steiner (eds.): Weimar. Lexicon on city history. Hermann Böhlaus successor, Weimar 1998, ISBN 978-3-7400-0807-9 , p. 473.
  3. ↑ Schedule of concerts since 2006 on Livegigs.de
  4. ↑ https://www.thueringen.de/mam/th9/tlbv/04-10_-_1112-18_-_denkmalliste_weimar.pdf

Coordinates: 50 ° 59 ′ 12.1 ″  N , 11 ° 19 ′ 49.1 ″  E