Wasserturmplatz

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Wasserturmplatz
Coat of arms of Berlin.svg
Place in Berlin
Wasserturmplatz
Basic data
place Berlin
District Prenzlauer Berg
Created 1915
Confluent streets
Rykestrasse ,
Straßburger Strasse
Buildings Water tower complex consisting of two buildings
use
User groups Pedestrians, private transport
Space design Water tower square building ensemble, green area, playgrounds and sports fields
Technical specifications
Square area 19,047 m²
(without sidewalk)

The Wasserturmplatz is a square with a historic water tower in the Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg , near Kollwitzplatz and the Rykestrasse synagogue . The water tower square is under monument protection as a garden monument . There is also the listed building ensemble Wasserturmplatz, consisting of a water tower , deep tank, riser tower , machine house and float house. The water tower is the oldest in Berlin today. In travel guides, the water tower is often referred to by the alternative name Dicker Hermann .

history

Building ensemble Wasserturmplatz

The listed building ensemble Wasserturmplatz consists of a riser tower and an associated underground tank, a machine house, a water tower and a float house. The building ensemble is partly located on the 54 m high Windmühlenberg, on which there were windmills until 1870.

Riser tower and water tank

Riser tower with open water tank with a capacity of 3000 m³. It was later heaped up and called the Windmühlenberg, as windmills stood on it until the 1870s.
Prehistory and first waterworks

The water supply in the middle of the 19th century via draw and hand wells was not in keeping with the urban development. Furthermore, the well water was often contaminated with cholera pathogens. In 1852 the Prussian state government commissioned the English company Fox & Crampton to set up a water supply. The company then founded the Berlin Waterworks Company .

In addition to the first waterworks built in 1856 by the engineer Henry Gill on the Spree in front of the Stralauer Tor , which distributed filtered Spree water to Berlin households through pipe systems, a 20-meter-high riser tower with an open water tank was built on the Windmühlenberg.

The water system served to display and equalize the water pressure and as a safety valve.

The riser tower, for example, was responsible for the required pressure in the water pipes, which, in combination with a floor in the deep city, provided a water flow based on the principle of communicating pipes . With this principle, around 400,000 residents were supplied with running water.

Instead of the open water tank , Henry Gill had it converted into an underground water tank with a capacity of 3300 m³ in 1877. The water in the reservoir was not taken from the surface of lakes and rivers, but came from a deep well so that the natural bank filtrate could be used. Over time, the city grew more and more towards the north, so that the riser tower could no longer generate the required pressure.

Water tower

Water tower on the water tower square

Between 1875 and 1877, a 30 meter high water tower with an integrated elevated tank and company apartments with two adjacent machine houses was built. The water tower was designed by the architect Wilhelm Vollhering. The water tower has been divided into six floors and the capacity of the elevated tank above was 7115 m³. The new water tower - together with the pump houses and the riser tower with the underground tank - had sufficient capacity to supply the entire northern urban area of ​​Berlin with water. This improvement in the water supply also contributed significantly to the development of the then adjacent workers' district.

Various changes in the area around the plant led to the shutdown of the machinery and the riser tower in 1914. As a result, the machines and the boiler were removed from the approximately 1000 m² machine house I. The elevated tank of the new 30 m high water tower remained in operation until 1952. Passages in the underground water reservoirs were broken so that the resulting cellar rooms could henceforth be used as warehouses.

In 1916 one was in the disused machine house I soup kitchen .

Use as an early concentration camp and SA home

In March 1933, SA-Standarte 4 (Wedding, Prenzlauer Berg, Reinickendorf, Pankow, Weißensee) took possession of the property of the water tower that had been given to it by the city of Berlin after the seizure of power to set up an SA home and used it as an early concentration camp . From March 1933, the SA probably brought its hated opponents from the labor movement there , especially the KPD and its subsidiary organizations, including Jews and at least one homosexual, to brutally abuse them. Some of the previously created basement rooms were included in the use. The concentration camp was specifically set up in the workers' district in order to consolidate the newly won position of power by spreading fear and terror. The windows of the engine house were now missing the glazing, which is why the night screams of the victims could be heard from afar.

The prisoners had to help convert the machine house into an SA home. They were supplied via a nearby SA storm station, from which two buckets of food had to be fetched every day. There were no sanitary facilities in the concentration camp. The length of stay was between one and 14 days, the camp manager was Ernst Pfordte, who had a criminal record and was described as extremely brutal storm leader of storm 13/4 (Prenzlauer Berg).

The completion of the SA-Heim Wasserturm in June 1933 was preceded by the closure of the concentration camp. The machine house I had been converted into a dining and recreation room for up to 1200 SA men and the machine house II into a dormitory for 100 homeless and destitute SA men. The "SA-Heim Wasserturm", inaugurated on June 20, 1933 by District Mayor Krüger and SA Oberführer Richard Fiedler, was closed after just over a year. As early as March 1934, the SA had removed Sturmführer Pfordte from his post, presumably on the basis of investigations by District Court VII of the NSDAP in Gau Berlin into the party court case “Water Tower”. Obviously, the compilation of numerous serious criminal offenses of Storm 13/4, which had an unclear connection with the concentration camp, served to prepare for the " suppression of the Röhm Putsch ", the purge of the SA leadership carried out by Hitler on June 30, 1934. The investigation, which was taken over by the Public Prosecutor's Office at the Berlin Regional Court from August 1934 onwards, led from March 1935 to an only fragmentary criminal case, which was carried out for Pfordte, his successor as leader of Storm 13/4 and camp commandant, Kurt Kain, and the leader of Standard 4, Willi Protsch, probably no imprisonment, but the expulsion from the SA and NSDAP and the closure of the home.

Park

The area has now been connected to the public green area, with Paul Mittelstädt redesigning the garden area, which rose from 5,000 to 20,000 square meters. This included the demolition of the machine house I. On May 1, 1937, the district mayor Karl Bombach inaugurated the water tower square as a new recreation area.

During the Second World War , an air raid shelter was set up in the small water reservoir in 1940 . After the end of the war, the area gradually degenerated into a garbage dump. In 1950 it was still used for street cleaning . In the same year, the site was restored to a green area. For example, a playground was built on the site of the blown machine house I. A memorial stone commemorated the victims of the concentration camp, which was renewed in 1953 and replaced in 1981 by a wall made of clinker bricks with inscriptions .

Up until German reunification , the cellars were used as storage facilities for a fish processing company.

Company apartments in the water tower

The company apartments in the water tower have been preserved to this day. During the GDR they were administered by the municipal housing administration (KWV) and after 1990 became part of the housing association in Prenzlauer Berg. In the same year the building ensemble was placed under monument protection. Ultimately, the apartments in the water tower became the property of Gewobag through the merger of Gewobag with the housing association in Prenzlauer Berg. As part of the monument protection requirements, bathrooms, lines, heating and windows were modernized in 2000.

Post-history of the water reservoir

The underground water reservoirs have been used for temporary art projects since 1992. A concept in the early 1990s of converting the underground water tank into a cultural center with a library was discarded due to the high cost.

Wasserturmplatz

Aerial view of the Windmühlenberg with the listed building ensemble Wasserturmplatz consisting of a water tower, deep tank, riser tower, machine house and float house, 2013

The water tower square was created in 1915, one year after the riser tower was shut down, according to the plans of the Berlin gardening director Albert Brodersen as a decorative square. Garden director Paul Mittelstädt continued to design the square from 1935 onwards. On behalf of the Prenzlauer Berg district gardening authority, the park was restored in 1976 by VEB Stadtgrün.

At the initiative of an author, an information board was erected to complement the memorial wall in 2005. A renovation of the water tower square was completed in 2007 after the renovation of the water tower and riser tower. In addition to the 15,000 rose bushes and 10,000 trees , a small vineyard was laid out on the Windmühlenberg with the support of Viennese wine growers. In August 2007, a landslide on the eastern slope of the Windmühlenberg broke off a three-meter-wide section.

description

The square is characterized by the windmill hill in the middle, under which the underground water tank was located, and the ensemble of buildings of the water tower - consisting of water tower, deep tank, riser tower, machine house and float house. On the Windmühlenberg there is a lawn with a small round pavilion. The edges of the windmill mountain are accentuated by a tree planting. The south-western side of the elevation stands out due to its stair-like design, which allows it to be used as a staircase and seat. A small sandy path leads south to the elevation. The water tower , which is clinkered with beige bricks, is located in a north-easterly direction from the pavilion as the crow flies . The remains of the above-ground water basin are located in the middle between the beeline of the pavilion and the water tower. The riser tower is located east-northeast as the crow flies from the pavilion. To the east of the water tower there is a playground on the site of the former machine house I. In symmetry to the site of the former machine house I is the machine house II to the west. A soccer field and half a basketball court are also integrated into the design on the north side the greening can be partially hidden.

Remembrance and art

On the water tower square, two memorial plaques commemorate the victims of the concentration camp in the boiler and machine house of the waterworks. There is also a street art picture by the artist JR .

Dating image Remarks
December 6, 2005
Memorial plaque Knaackstr 23 (Prenz) wild concentration camp.jpg
 The plaque was renewed in 2011 because it was probably badly damaged by fire.
December 6, 2005
Memorial plaque Knaackstr 23 (Prenz) NS victims.JPG
 The plaque is on a memorial wall made of red clinker bricks below the water tower
Berlin - Prenzlauer Berg water tower (adjoining building) .jpg The picture is on an outbuilding next to the remains of the former water basin.

The picture is designed by the French artist JR .

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Wasserturmplatz  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Wasserturm  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ List, map, database / Landesdenkmalamt Berlin Wasserturmplatz. Retrieved June 4, 2020 .
  2. ^ List, map, database / Landesdenkmalamt Berlin Ensemble Wasserturmplatz. Retrieved June 4, 2020 .
  3. ↑ The Lukoschat family lives in the water tower in Prenzlauer Berg. Strangers often ring the doorbell who cannot imagine life in the house: round outside and angular inside. In: Berliner Zeitung . Retrieved June 5, 2020 (German).
  4. ^ Park at the Wasserturmplatz (Berlin). In: offen-naturfuehrer.de. Retrieved on June 4, 2020 (German).
  5. ↑ a b Water tower information board. Accessed June 6, 2020 (German).
  6. ^ Topographical plan of the Prenzlauer Berg district, M 1: 5000, 1997 edition
  7. ↑ Between common good and profit interest - experiences with the partial privatization of water management in Berlin. Retrieved June 6, 2020 .
  8. ↑ a b c Information panel water tower. In: Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Foundation Inc., accessed on June 6, 2020 (German).
  9. ^ Ulrich Wengenroth: Technology and Economy: Volume 8: Economy . Springer-Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-3-642-95794-9 ( google.de [accessed on June 6, 2020]).
  10. ↑ a b c d e f g Dietmar Arnold, Ingmar Arnold, Frieder Salm: Dark worlds: bunkers, tunnels and vaults under Berlin . ISBN 978-3-86153-129-6 , pp. 23 - 25 ( google.de ).
  11. ↑ a b c d water tower | pankow-weissensee-prenzlauerberg.berlin. Retrieved June 5, 2020 .
  12. ↑ a b c d e f g h From waterworks to local recreation. Retrieved June 4, 2020 .
  13. ↑ a b c d e f Wolfgang Benz, Barbara Distel, Angelika Königseder: The Place of Terror: History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps . CH Beck, 2005, ISBN 978-3-406-52962-7 ( google.de [accessed June 6, 2020]).
  14. ↑ Water tower on Knaackstrasse: Living in a historic piece of cake. Retrieved June 5, 2020 .
  15. ↑ Irene von Götz: A city-wide terror network. The concentration camps and torture sites in Berlin, 1933 . In: Jörg Osterloh, Kim Wünschmann (ed.): "... at the mercy of the most unrestricted arbitrariness". Prisoners of the early concentration camps 1933-1936 / 37 . Campus, Frankfurt am Main 2017, ISBN 978-3-593-42759-1 , p. 63 f.
  16. ↑ Martin Schuster: The SA in the National Socialist "seizure of power" in Berlin and Brandenburg 1926–1934 . (Dissertation, PDF). Berlin 2005, p. 250.
  17. ↑ Wolfgang Benz, Barbara Distel, Angelika Königseder: The Place of Terror: History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps. CH Beck, 2005, ISBN 978-3-406-52962-7 , p. 53.
  18. ↑ Irene Mayer: The concentration camp at the Prenzlauer Berg water tower in Berlin . In: Wolfgang Benz , Barbara Distel (Hrsg.): Instrumentarium der Macht. Early concentration camps 1933–1937 . Metropol, Berlin 2003, ISBN 978-3-936411-36-2 , pp. 71-88, there also the following; neither the date of opening nor closing can be precisely determined, p. 75.
  19. ↑ Hans-Rainer Sandvoß : Resistance in Prenzlauer Berg and Weißensee (= Volume 12 of the series Resistance in Berlin from 1933 to 1945 ), German Resistance Memorial Center, Berlin 1983 ff., 14 volumes, ISSN  0175-3592 , Berlin 2000, p. 113 .
  20. ↑ Irene Mayer: The concentration camp at the Prenzlauer Berg water tower in Berlin . In: Wolfgang Benz , Barbara Distel (Hrsg.): Instrumentarium der Macht. Early concentration camps 1933–1937 . Metropol, Berlin 2003, ISBN 978-3-936411-36-2 , p. 84 f.
  21. ↑ Constanze Nauhaus: Water tower: Is it true that ...? In: Prenzlauer Berg News. January 12, 2017, accessed June 5, 2020 (German).
  22. ↑ Steffen Pletl: Prenzlauer Berg: In the park by the water tower there is a threat of a second landslide . In: THE WORLD . September 18, 2007 ( welt.de [accessed June 6, 2020]).
  23. ↑ Memorial plaques in Berlin - Memorial plaque advertisement. Retrieved June 4, 2020 .

Coordinates: 52 ° 32 ′ 1.6 ″  N , 13 ° 25 ′ 5.5 ″  E