Willi Bartels (entrepreneur)

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Willi Bartels

Wilhelm Bartels (born December 13, 1914 in Harlingerode ; † November 5, 2007 in Hamburg ), also known under the name Willi Bartels , was a German entrepreneur . He has made a name for himself primarily as a property owner in Hamburg - especially in St. Pauli . Since Bartels owned numerous properties in Hamburg's Kiez , he was often referred to as the "King of St. Pauli".

Live and act

In 1953 Bartels brought camels from Africa for his hippodrome
Hotel Hafen Hamburg
Grave of Willi Bartels

Bartels first learned the butcher's trade and then did a hotel training. In 1929 bought Willi Bartels' father Hermann at the Grosse Freiheit first the "Ballhaus young mill", the "bikini" and the even then legendary " Hippodrome ". The guests in the hippodrome included many of the celebrities at the time, such as Curd Jürgens , Willy Birgel and Hans Albers . His later film " Große Freiheit Nr. 7 " (1943) made the hippodrome famous far beyond the city limits of Hamburg. In 1937 Bartels took over the entertainment venue “Tanzpalast” from his father.

In 1943 Bartels married his wife Gisela, a former dancer in the "Trichter", in St. Pauli. His daughter Barbara was born that same year, followed by son Michael in 1946.

In the years that followed, Bartels invested more and more in real estate. He mainly bought apartments, houses, shops and hotels all over St. Pauli. At that time his hotels included the hotels “Fürst Bismarck”, “Kronprinz”, “Eden”, “Senator” and “Interrast”. In 1967, Bartels made headlines when he opened the "Eros Center" on the Reeperbahn . For a long time it was considered the "largest house of bliss in the world". The Hamburg Senate even supported the opening of the “Eros Center”, because it was intended to curb the harassment of passers-by by the prostitutes .

The plan to establish a restaurant ship on the Elbe beach near Wittenbergen , however, failed.

In the 1980s, the face of St. Pauli slowly changed. Above all Albanians and other Eastern Europeans pushed more and more into the shops in the Kiez and tried to acquire land on St. Pauli. This also included Burim Osmani and his family.

Over the years, his real estate empire continued to grow. The better-known properties and buildings include the Schmidts Tivoli , the Dollhouse, the Hotel Hafen Hamburg and the most recent project, the Empire Riverside Hotel on the site of the former Bavaria brewery , which celebrated its inauguration just a few days before Bartels' death. Bartels was a member of the St. Pauli Interest Group (today the St. Pauli and Hafenmeile eV interest group ) and Honorary President of the St. Pauli Museum .

In 1971, Radio Bremen broadcast a 45-minute documentary by Monika Schlecht about Willi Bartels with the title Der König von St. Pauli in the series CVs . Camera: Peter Christian Koop, Editor: Barbara Hennings

In 1998, director Dieter Wedel shot the multi-part television series The King of St. Pauli, based on the life of Willi Bartels . Bartels initially wanted to take action against this film adaptation because, in his opinion, many things did not correspond to reality.

Bartels' wife Gisela died in 2000. Bartels passed his business on to his grandsons. Bartel's estate was estimated to be worth over 500 million euros.

Willi Bartels was buried next to his wife Gisela in the Nienstedten cemetery .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Laura Sophie Brauer, Simone Pauls: The King of the Kiez is dead. In: Hamburger Morgenpost. November 6, 2007, accessed November 8, 2007 .
  2. ^ "King of St. Pauli" Willi Bartels (92) dead. In: Hamburger Abendblatt. November 5, 2007, accessed November 8, 2007 .
  3. ^ Andreas Odenwald : TV review. King of St. Pauli in World No. 184 of August 11, 1971
  4. ↑ Ralf Wiegand: On the death of Willi Bartels: A man, a place. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. November 6, 2007, accessed November 8, 2007 .
  5. ↑ Gisela Reiners: The King of St. Pauli is dead. In: Die Welt. November 6, 2007, accessed November 8, 2007 .
  6. ^ The grave of Willi Bartels. In: knerger.de. Klaus Nerger, accessed on August 2, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Bartels, Willi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bartels, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur, "King of St. Pauli"
DATE OF BIRTH December 13, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Harlingerode , Harz
DATE OF DEATH November 5, 2007
Place of death Hamburg