White City (Oranienburg)
The White City in Oranienburg is a factory settlement built in 1937/38 for the employees of the then Heinkel-Werke Oranienburg (HWO). The colloquial name of the settlement arose from the white facade of the houses and is still in use today. After the end of the Second World War , a large part of the settlement became part of a Red Army barracks and was not open to the public. From 1994, after the army had withdrawn, the settlement was extensively renovated and the apartments rented out.
history
Between 1936 and 1937, Ernst Heinkel Flugzeugwerke GmbH set up Heinkel-Werke GmbH Oranienburg (HWO) in Oranienburg and Germendorf . Between 8,000 and 10,000 employees were supposed to build combat aircraft for the Air Force at the plant. Since not all workers could be obtained from the region, skilled workers were sought throughout the German Empire . In order to be able to accommodate these as close to the plant as possible, the White City plant settlements were built in Oranienburg and Leegebruch .
In the years 1937 to 1938 the estate was built under the direction of the architect Herbert Rimpl , who was responsible for the overall plan for the plant and the settlements, and Walter Tralau, who was particularly responsible for the White City. In total, Rimpl planned to build 18 apartment blocks with 662 apartments on an area of 32,654 square meters. The new streets were named after aviators from the First World War. Thus arose Boelcke street (today Friedrich-Engels -Straße) that Hünefeld road ( Melnik Road), which Udet -Straße ( Bagnolet street), and the Immelmann road ( Hammer Straße) and the Rudolf-Small Road ( Theodor Neubauer -Straße) and Hans-Schemm -Straße ( Artur-Becker -Straße). Richthofenstrasse ( Walther-Bothe- Strasse ) served as a direct connection to the plant . A total of between 2200 and 2500 people lived here.
In order to be able to rent the two-room apartment with 45.3 m² or the two-and-a-half-room apartment with 53.4 m², employment in the factory was required, with a few exceptions. The rents varied between 42 and 50 RM .
From 1941 to 1942, the Reich Aviation Ministry had another five apartment blocks built, which were architecturally adapted to the existing shapes. In these houses, which the architect Klaus Heese had designed, lived employees of the local test center for high altitude flights , a special unit of the Air Force.
In 1943 the white facade was darkened due to the increasing danger of air raids.
After the end of the Second World War, the Red Army took over the settlement and incorporated it into barracks. Until 1994, a large part of the area was walled and not accessible to the public. Then the settlement was extensively renovated and the apartments rented out.
literature
- Norbert Rohde : Historical military objects of the Oberhavel region, Volume 1: The Heinkel aircraft factory Oranienburg. Velten Verlag GmbH, Leegebruch 2006, ISBN 3-9811401-0-9 .
Web links
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 52 ° 44 '33.9 " N , 13 ° 14' 3.6" E