Westheim (Regensburg)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
View of the Westheimsiedlung from the Messerschmitt-Werksbad and the village of Winzer with Winzerer Höhen in the background (approx. 1938–1942)

The Westheim , also called Westheimsiedlung , is a workers' settlement from the 1930s and namesake of the subdistrict of the same name in the western part of Regensburg .

geography

The Westheimsiedlung is located in the Danube arch at the northernmost point of the Danube about two kilometers west of the old town of Regensburg in the west quarter at an altitude of 336  m above sea level. NN . The Westheim sub-district of the same name is located immediately south of the Danube at Westpark with the so-called excavator pond and the Danube bank area. Up until the Second World War, the Messerschmitt GmbH works were located in the immediate vicinity . The settlement itself was in the middle of fields and meadows far from the old town of Regensburg, today the settlement is embedded in urban development and the Westheim district is a modern and popular residential area.

Westheimsiedlung Regensburg (approx. 1960)
Street view for the 30th anniversary in 1963

history

The Westheimsiedlung was built between 1933 and 1934 as an originally suburban housing estate in the west of Regensburg, immediately south of the Danube.

After the "takeover" of the NSDAP regime, Otto Schottenheim (Mayor from 1933 to 1945) had the construction of a "National Socialist model estate" (today: Konradsiedlung-Wutzlhofen ) begin in the north of the city . In this way, new living space could be created, as the living situation in the old town was very poor at the time. After building activity was already brisk in the years of the great economic crisis on the Brandlberg and in Steinweg (Palatinate settlement), a settlement should also be built in the outer west of the city.

Construction sites were planned from Lohgrabenstrasse to Hochweg. Only when the land negotiations with the owner at the time failed, a site on Weinweg, east of the airfield at that time, could be acquired for the establishment of 40 settler sites . Thus, at the same time as the Schottenheimsiedlung, the "Siedlung am Weinweg" (settlement on Weinweg) was built west of the city center, later called Westheimsiedlung after its completion. In the spring of 1933, family fathers who were mostly unemployed and had many children at that time began construction in order to later obtain a settler position by drawing lots. The 20 semi-detached houses were built in-house and are identical to the houses in the Schottenheimsiedlung. In March 1934 all the houses were finished. The gardens of the settler houses were used for self-sufficiency, the surrounding fields were also leased by the "original settlers" for their own arable farming.

From 1937 the Messerschmitt factories were built in the immediate vicinity of the Westheimsiedlung. During the Second World War, the works were repeatedly targeted by American air raids, including on August 17, 1943 during Operation Double Strike . Two settler houses were also affected. Despite the heaviest bombing of the nearby Messerschmitt works, the settlement survived the war years with relatively little damage.

As in the founding years, the Westheimsiedlung is part of the “Siedlergruppe Westheim” (Settler Group) of the Regensburg eV settlement association of the Konradsiedlung. Today the once remote settlement is nestled in the western quarter of the city of Regensburg and gives its name to one of the five subdistricts of the western quarter.

gallery

  • Settler house shortly after completion in the 1930s

  • Street view of the Westheimsiedlung in the 1950s

  • Aerial photo of the Westheimsiedlung surrounded by fields in the early 1960s

  • Settlers' festival with a brass band for the 30th anniversary in 1963

  • Original state of construction of a settler's house in Westheim

  • Street view with Vintner Höhen in the background

  • Westheimsiedlung before the road renovation by the civil engineering department in 1981

literature

  • City of Regensburg (Ed.): Street directory - city districts . December 7, 2015 ( digitized version [PDF]).
  • Stefan Maier: Schottenheim, "The new city near Regensburg" as a ethnic community settlement (= Regensburg writings on folklore, volume 8), Bamberg 1992, ISBN 3-927392-30-8
  • Peter Schmoll : The Messerschmitt Works in World War II. The aircraft production of Messerschmitt GmbH Regensburg from 1938 to 1945 , MZ-Verlag Regensburg, 2004, ISBN 3-931904-38-5

Web links

Commons : Westheim (Regensburg)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The subdistricts of the city of Regensburg. City of Regensburg, accessed on September 14, 2016 .
  2. ^ Daniel Steffen: Newspaper clipping Mittelbayerische Zeitung - northernmost point of the Danube . In: Mittelbayerische.de . September 9, 2016. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
  3. ^ Stefan Maier: Schottenheim. "The new city near Regensburg" , 1992
  4. ↑ Newspaper clipping "How Regensburg settles - 40 men create a home" . Bavarian Ostwacht, August 27, 1933
  5. ↑ Newspaper clipping "Umschau am Weinweg" . Bavarian Ostwacht, November 11, 1933
  6. ↑ Newspaper clipping "The topping-out ceremony on the Weinweg" . Bavarian Ostwacht, November 20, 1933
  7. ↑ 50 Years Westheimsiedlung 1933-1983 , (1983), p. 11
  8. ^ Robert Werner: Inventory - Messerschmitt and Regensburg . In: regensburg-digital.de . August 28, 2015. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
  9. ↑ 75 years Westheimsiedlung - Festival of the West (2009)
  10. ↑ Settlers and Homeowners Association Regensburg eV .

Coordinates: 49 ° 1 '  N , 12 ° 4'  E