Water tower on Steeler Berg

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Water tower on Steeler Berg, 2006
View in the 1920s

The water tower on Steeler Berg is located on Diether-Krebs-Platz (until 2011 Ostpark) in the southeast quarter of the city of Essen . In 1985 he was included in the list of monuments of the city of Essen. It still functions as a water tower today. Today it is also the seat of the Essen food bank .

history

The water tower was built from 1883 to 1884 according to plans by the Aachen engineer Otto Intze in the historicism style on Steeler Chaussee, today's Steeler Straße. The then larger, adjacent Ostpark was also the venue for concerts at the beginning of the 20th century. A restaurant was located in the substructure of the water tower until about the middle of World War II.

Ruhr uprising

During the Ruhr uprising on March 19, 1920 members of the Reichswehr and the Freikorps fought against troops of the Red Ruhr Army .

Memorial stone in the adjacent park

The Red Ruhr Army was formed in response to the Kapp-Lüttwitz Putsch , which wanted to eradicate the democracy of the Weimar Republic . It was formed from armed workers who wanted to defend the social and democratic gains after the First World War against the military coup. In Essen, the police chief of the security police (Sipo), Kurt Melcher , received the order from the military district commander Lieutenant General Freiherr von Watter on March 18, 1920 to defend the city from the advancing workers. The workers' units marched from Gelsenkirchen and Wattenscheid to Katernberg and Stoppenberg and had already occupied downtown Essen on March 19. Because of this superiority, the security police gave up their now pointless fight.

Only the crew of the water tower, consisting of 24 residents and 22 security police, held their position against the workers. Due to the mistrust of this tower crew, the telephone attempt by the Exner police council to persuade them to give up failed. At around 5 p.m., however, the occupiers on the ground floor showed the white flag, which those upstairs did not notice. The approaching workers interpreted the white flag as surrender and climbed the steps of the water tower. Thereupon they were shot at by the occupants of the upper floor and hand grenades were thrown at them. Nevertheless, the bitter workers managed to storm the tower after two attempts. Eleven defenders of the water tower died partly in these battles and partly afterwards. According to witness statements, the captured occupiers were said to have been protected from acts of violence by workers in individual cases.

In a trial before the jury court in Essen from February 10 to March 11, 1921, 15 defendants from former members of the Ruhr Army were acquitted. The then Mayor of Essen, Hans Luther, described the incidents at the water tower as a tragic misunderstanding .

A memorial stone was erected in the adjacent Ostpark during the Weimar Republic. He lists all 40 security policemen and supporters of the resident militia killed in Essen in March 1920, including the eleven dead from the water tower. On the other hand, the number and names of the workers who perished in the fighting remain unknown to this day. This memorial stone thus also had the political and moral goal of discrediting the workers and to highlight the achievements of the Reichswehr troops after the reconquest of the Ruhr area in April 1920.

Current condition

After extensive war damage, the water tower was rebuilt much more simply after the Second World War . The two corner towers and the stone edging of the water tank were not rebuilt, so that it is freely visible today. After being put back into operation in 1949, it is still used today as one of eight water tank systems for the Essen municipal utilities to supply drinking water. The wrought-iron high reservoir with a volume of 2000 cubic meters is located on a 20 meter high substructure and is used for peak consumption in the morning and at noon. At night, the container is filled again via an inlet. The water tank is a loft tank designed by Otto Intze together with FA Neumann from Eschweiler , which is specially protected against damage in the mountains and whose feed lines are spring-loaded.

In 2012 the water tower was renovated by Stadtwerke Essen , although it was temporarily taken out of service. Above all, the facade of the walls, which are up to three meters thick, was repaired.

The water tower is part of theme route 28 - Water: Works, Towers and Turbines on the Route of Industrial Culture .

Seat of the Essen food bank

Today the Essener Tafel association has its headquarters and a warehouse in the water tower . Founded in Essen on 4 January 1995. panel does not collect more salable, but still good and usable food and distributes it to the needy.

In March 2018, the Essen food bank became known nationwide after complaining about the behavior of young male refugees who pushed their way through, showed a lack of respect for women, insulted helpers and caused older women, single mothers and their children to stay away. Numerous reports were shot at the water tower .

See also

Web links

Commons : Wasserturm am Steeler Berg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Memorial plaque on site
  2. Eating yesterday and today. (No longer available online.) Homepage of the city of Essen, October 2005, archived from the original on January 18, 2010 ; Retrieved March 6, 2009 .
  3. berliner-zeitung.de: Anyone who calls helpers "racists" suffers from a loss of reality ( comment )
  4. www.tafel.de

Coordinates: 51 ° 27 '5 "  N , 7 ° 1' 49"  E