Norderzeile cemetery

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Wohlers Park, Lindenallee with a view of the Blücher grave, 2006

The Norderreihen cemetery , also known as the Norderfriedhof or because of its location on Wohlers Allee, Wohlers Park , is a former burial place in Altona's old town . It was inaugurated in 1831 and the last funeral took place in 1945. It has been a listed building since 1979 and was also designated as a public park of around 4.6 hectares.

history

The cemetery was created in 1831 to relieve the Heilig-Geist-Kirchhofs of the main parish of St. Trinitatis on what was then the northern edge of the city of Altona. The church council bought two parcels of meadow land on Lammerskamp between Pinneberger Landstraße (today Holstenstraße ), Großer Gärtnerstraße (today Thadenstraße) and Kleiner Gärtnerstraße (today Stresemannstraße ) from landowner Joachim Behn, totaling more than 4.4 hectares for 16,000 marks and an annual annuity in the amount of 1200 marks. The more or less square complex was structured according to a basic geometric principle and is dominated to this day by two five-meter-wide avenues of linden trees , which intersect in the middle in a circle around 50 meters in diameter, and a surrounding avenue. The overall plan provided for a total of 330 linden trees for these avenues. The access to the cemetery was in the south of the site on the newly created street Beim neue Kirchhofe (today Norderreihe). The portal comprised a main gate with two doors and two side entrances. In 1850 a chapel was built on this site.

Grave site for Conrad Daniel Graf von Blücher

The first funeral took place a few days after the inauguration on July 21, 1831, the burial of bank director Kiß, editor of the Altonaer Adreß-Comptoir-Nachrichten, who had died a few days earlier in his 83rd year . A total of 46,214 burials had taken place by 1945, 14,152 of them in crypts and grave vaults and 32,062 in row graves. But since within a few years 85% of the grave sites were occupied as hereditary burials , no new grave sites were sold as early as 1879. Nevertheless, in 1931 there were still around 400 authorized people to use family graves. The last funeral took place on October 11, 1945, 98-year-old Bertha Charlotte Reincke was buried.

Even before the Second World War , the cemetery grounds were interfered with and graves were cleared, so in 1933 the NSDAP party office had a barrack built in the north-east for a day-care center and access to Wohlers Allee. At the beginning of the war, an extinguishing water basin was dug in the southeast corner, the walling has been preserved to this day. On the night of July 24th to 25th, 1943, during the so-called Operation Gomorrah air raids , parts of the cemetery were also destroyed. The damage record lists, among other things, a bomb crater at the Norderreihe entrance, the destruction of 36 graves on the southwest side, mountains of rubble on the west side, since all the houses on the neighboring Georgstrasse (today Mumsenstrasse) had burned out and the masonry collapsed, destruction of around 90% of the iron fence and damage to the cemetery chapel. This was demolished after the war and replaced by an administrative building. In the last days of the war, many gravestones were cleared in the northeast part, which were to be used for an anti-tank barrier in the street near the Johanniskirche .

In the immediate post-war period, 35 allotment gardeners set up on the site, and 115 avenue trees were felled for firewood in the winter of 1945/1946. In the spring of 1946, the monument protection office demanded that the garden parcels be annulled, but users protested and were able to postpone the termination until December 31, 1948. From 1949, the cemetery was repaired, paths and enclosures were restored and the felled linden trees were replanted. In some cases, relatives had tombstones set again. In 1977 the cemetery was cleared and in 1979 it was designated a public park. After several redesigns, 232 tombs with 291 stones were still preserved in 2010, including 22 grave vaults.

In mid-2017, the city of Hamburg bought the park from the parish. As part of the Integrated District Development (RISE) program, the park has been renovated since December 2019.

Important tombs

Memorial stone for Matthäus Friedrich Chemnitz

The most important burial site in the cemetery is the brick-lined crypt for the long-time President of Altona, Conrad Daniel Graf von Blücher (1764–1845). The late classical monumental portal wall made of sandstone stands in an exposed position at the end of the central north-south avenue and has been restored several times. Blücher was first buried in the tower vault of the main church of St. Trinity and one year later he was ceremonially transferred to the crypt. Above the inscription is the bronze family coat of arms and a chain of the elephant order . Blücher was awarded this prize in 1939. The stepped sandstone blocks were added between 1845 and 1847. A former wrought iron fence no longer exists.

Another well-known grave is that of the poet Matthäus Friedrich Chemnitz (1815–1870), who was best known for the creation of the Schleswig-Holstein song . He spent his last years in the nearby Wilhelmstrasse (today Chemnitzstrasse) and died impoverished. A friend of his from Altona made a place available in his hereditary grave in the south-western part, near the outer avenue. The approximately two and a half meter high memorial column, which is still preserved today, was only erected in 1913.

In addition to the graves of important Altona families, such as the Stülckens or the Eggerstedts, some military memorial stones refer to the Danish and Prussian history of Altona in the 19th century. In the northwest part is the warrior grave for the fallen in the Schleswig-Holstein war from 1848 to 1851. At the end of the Ost-West-Allee there is an enclosed grave for the deceased of the Danish garrison in Altona. Until December 1863, shortly before the start of the German-Danish War , the soldiers were stationed in Altona, which was previously Danish. Nearby there is a tombstone for members of the German federal troops who marched against the Danes in this war from 1864 to 1866. The inscription reads: "Here rest 26 Austrians, 12 Hanoverians, 11 Prussians, 2 Saxons, plus 4 relatives".

  • War grave for those who fell in the Schleswig-Holstein War (1848–1851)

  • Military-Gravsted for the tidligere Danske Garrison i Altona

  • Grave site for the federal troops (1864–1866)

Park

In 1979 the cemetery was rededicated as a public green area and is used as Wohlers Park by residents and visitors for a variety of leisure activities. Open-air theater performances took place regularly from 2001 to 2011. In addition to the historic linden avenues, the other trees are also mentioned as noteworthy, some hornbeams with a strikingly bizarre growth, weeping beeches , multi-stemmed red oaks and maples , and also exotic species such as ginkgo , aralia , tulip tree and trumpet tree .

literature

  • Karl-Heinz Grimm: The former cemetery north row in Hamburg-Altona: supplements and additions. In: The home. Journal for natural and regional studies of Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg. Vol. 98, No. 8, 1991, ISSN  0017-9701 , pp. 188-199.
  • Barbara Leisner, Norbert Fischer : The cemetery guide. Walks to known and unknown graves in Hamburg and the surrounding area. Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-7672-1215-3 .
  • Christian Radtke (Hrsg.): The cemetery Norderreihe in Altona. Contributions to its past and present. Published on behalf of the Heimat, Association for the Care of Natural History and Regional Studies in Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg. Home, Schleswig 1979.

Web links

Commons : Friedhof Norderreihe Altona  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Former cemetery Norderreihe (Wohlerspark). Environment and Energy Agency, accessed November 26, 2016 .
  2. ^ Christian Radtke (ed.): The Norderreihen cemetery in Altona. Contributions to its past and present , Schleswig 1979, page 11
  3. ↑ a b Barbara Leisner, Norbert Fischer: Der Friedhofsführer , Hamburg 1994, p. 80
  4. ↑ Altonaer Stadtarchiv eV: Mien leeves Altona No. 17, Hamburg 2010, p. 68
  5. ↑ Complete renovation and development of Wohlers Park. Press release from the City of Hamburg, November 2019
  6. ^ Christian Radtke (ed.): The Norderreihen cemetery in Altona. Contributions to its past and present , Schleswig 1979, page 22
  7. ↑ Harald Vieh: Hamburg Sights: Trees , Hamburg 2011, p. 31 ff.

Coordinates: 53 ° 33 ′ 30 ″  N , 9 ° 57 ′ 12 ″  E