Water tower (Grafenwoehr)
here as a field post from a soldier of the Bavarian Army in World War I in 1917 sent postcard (no. 385 , published by PHB )
The water tower of Grafenwöhr since its establishment in the early 20th century, the symbol of both the municipality in the Upper Palatinate and the military training area Grafenwöhr and forms with the nearby forest house a building complex . The 43.5 meter high water tower , sometimes referred to as the “great old man of the practice area ”, adorns numerous postcards , beer mugs and other souvenirs with its cannon silhouette . But the history of the building has to be rewritten, at least in part.
History and description of the building
Planning for the military training area in Grafenwöhr began as early as 1907. Originally, the Bavarian Ministry of War commissioned the architect Jürgen Sievers , who at the time was living in Nuremberg , to plan and carry out the necessary construction projects. And after the Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria issued the order for the military training area in 1908 and approved the establishment of the Grafenwöhr Garrison , the final design of the area, later popularly referred to as a camp , lasted until 1915. Almost a century later, the planning of the local water tower was accepted as a work exclusively by the "Chief of Army Construction Management" Jürgen Sievers. But the supraregional reporting in the press on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the military training area finally led to a closer look at the details again: As Ida Kopp-Schwertner from Nuremberg, the granddaughter of the Royal Military Building Councilor Wilhelm Kemmler , who died in 1916 , at the invitation of the local Heimatverein in 2010 among other things visited the water tower, one could read on the copies of the original plans of the water tower exhibited in the tower: "[...] executed by the military building inspector Kemmler in the period from August 26th 1909 to June 30th 1911".
The construction work was the responsibility of the Peter Weiß company from Weiden in the Upper Palatinate . On the base, as well as the stairs and the entrance arch, made of regional sandstone , the approximately 43.5 meter high tower was partially built with so-called Reichsformat bricks. This resulted in two huge water tanks on the second and eighth floors - the upper one for around 450 cubic meters of drinking water - which, thanks to their height, ensured the water pressure for the pipeline network of the military training camp. In the so-called "valve chamber", the cast iron water pipes led to fittings , gate valves and valves . A 1910 in enamel attached instructions served operating the shut-off valves , for filling and emptying the tower tank and ultimately first, the supply of the team camp, the commandant and the stable bearing.
For the period of National Socialism and during the Second World War, the water tower was a camouflage painted and escaped so - as does the forester's house - in April 1945, probably by accident to by the air raids of the Allies declining explosive and incendiary bombs that around the tower building left destroyed and deep explosion craters .
After the war - Grafenwoehr was now in the American zone of occupation - the new landlady of the military training area, the US military government (OMGUS) , found "[...] the camp, the water tower and the [preserved] historical buildings": As early as 1946 the tower was scaffolded and whitewashed , the camp was now partially rebuilt or repaired for the US soldiers and then maintained for decades. After further renovation work on the water tower in 1974, the tower was again overhauled in 1994. In the former water tank on the second floor, the Americans set up a "[...] conference room with the most modern, technical equipment". In July 2008, the shutters were completed again according to the original patterns.
In 2010, the water tower was scaffolded again when Wilhelm Kemmler's granddaughter transferred parts of the architect's estate to the 1st Upper Palatinate Culture and Military Museum in Grafenwöhr and thus made forgotten but crucial details about the history of the water tower part of the general knowledge again. Meanwhile, the water tank on the upper floor of the tower still serves its original purpose.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e mor: Grafenwöhr / Landmarks of the city and the military training area / The water tower, the "great old master of the training area" is 100 years old
- ↑ a b c Gerald Morgenstern: Grafenwöhr / lucky fall for the museum / estate of building officer Wilhelm Kemmler documents the history of the training site ( memento of the original from October 13, 2015 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. , in the version of November 11, 2010 on the page owz-online.de , the online edition of the Oberpfälzer Wochenzeitung (weekly advertising magazine of the publishing house Der neue Tag )
- ↑ mor / mm: Grafenwöhr / 100 years of Grafenwöhr camp / anniversary will be celebrated with a week of festivities - look into history , in the version of June 18, 2010 on the owz-online.de page
- ↑ So it was said in the online edition of the same newspaper on June 23, 2010: "[...] According to the plans of the architect Jürgen Sievers, who was the head of the army construction management in Grafenwöhr and planner of the troop camp, on August 26, 1909 The water tower was built by June 30, 1911. The consistency of plan and execution of the building is confirmed on the still existing original from the plan chamber by the royal building officer Wilhelm Kemmler on February 24, 1912. “Compare mor: Grafenwöhr / Landmark of the city and the military training area / Also the water tower, the" big one. " old gentleman of the exercise area "is 100 years old from June 18, 2010 on the Oberpfalz.net page of the media house Der Neue Tag
Coordinates: 49 ° 42 ′ 43 ″ N , 11 ° 54 ′ 11 ″ E