What should become of the dilapidated area with an old villa belonging to Nazi propaganda minister Goebbels near Berlin? Berlin’s finance senator wants to give the site away if necessary. The commune fears the arrival of right-wing ideologues.
The Bogensee area with the former villa of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels near Berlin is falling into disrepair. The site belongs to the state of Berlin, whose finance senator Stefan Evers (CDU), wants to give it away if necessary, as he said on Thursday in the House of Representatives.
The mayor of Wandlitz Oliver Borchert (Freie Bürgergemeinschaft Wandlitz) considers the statements to be inappropriate and harmful. In an interview with the German Press Agency, he also expressed the fear that right-wing ideologues could try to get to the site.
Goebbels villa to give away
The Bogensee area with a former villa of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels has been languishing for decades. Berlin’s Finance Senator would rather get rid of the cost-consuming property today rather than tomorrow.more
“Kingdom of Germany” had tried to gain a foothold there
“I have no understanding for such statements,” said Borchert. The statements do not do justice to the historical significance and are harmful to the property. Years ago, the “Kingdom of Germany,” among others, tried to gain a foothold there. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution attributes the group to the “Reichsbürger” milieu.
“What I would not like to see is that the state of Berlin gives the area away to some private individual who then pursues ideological goals with the property. Against this background, Evers’ statement is extremely unfortunate,” criticized Borchert.
The Finance Senator had said that so far neither the municipality of Wandlitz nor the state of Brandenburg nor the federal government had been interested in such a “generous gift” as the Bogensee area. The capital will not turn away from useful conceptual considerations if they are in the city’s interest and do justice to the complex historical significance of the area.
“But if this should once again lead to nothing, as it has in the past decades, then the state of Berlin has no other option than to carry out the demolition in the way that has now been prepared and addressed by us,” said Evers.
The property is located in Brandenburg, 15 kilometers from the Berlin city limits, but belongs to the state of Berlin. The magistrate bought the entire area in 1936 as a birthday present for the Berlin NSDAP leader Joseph Goebbels. Today the area costs several million euros annually for security and maintenance.
Berlin is considering demolishing the Goebbels villa in Wandlitz
The site of the former FDJ university and former Goebbels villa on Bogensee looks a little enchanted. Now the idea of demolishing the historic buildings comes from Berlin. Because they cost a lot of money. By Dorit Kneelingmore
Drachenberg fears “scare story for monument preservation”
The Federal Ministry of Construction announced on Friday: “We are currently in discussions with the parties involved about a possible further development of the area. We do not comment on the current statements made by the Finance Senator.”
In the opinion of Brandenburg’s state monument conservator Thomas Drachenberg, the 30-room villa should be preserved. “You cannot renaturate the history of two dictatorships,” he said on Friday at the state press conference in Potsdam. According to him, a demolition and renaturation of the area where Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels lived would be a horror story for monument preservation.
“We should afford to think very long and very carefully about whether we can use this architectural history for our society,” said the top monument conservationist.
Goebbels had a country house built on the approximately 17 hectare area in a forest northeast of Berlin. Here he wrote his infamous diatribe in the Berlin Sportpalast, which culminated in the sentence “Do you want total war?” After the end of the Nazi dictatorship, the Allies briefly used the site as a military hospital. In 1946, the Soviets handed the site over to the Free German Youth (FDJ), which founded a youth college there. The area has been unused and falling into disrepair since 2000.
The Barnim district and the community want to prevent demolition and explore future uses. “The destruction of such historical evidence is not good for our society,” said Borchert. The municipality of Wandlitz, in whose territory the site at Bogensee is located, has now submitted an application for funding from the “National Urban Development Projects” program. This year it is about projects that are primarily intended to promote democracy education. The site is exactly the right place for this, said the 53-year-old mayor. According to a conservative estimate so far, he named a sum of 500,000 to 600,000 euros in funding required.
Politicians want to preserve the Goebbels Villa and the FDJ University
Joseph Goebbels’ villa and a former FDJ university stand in the middle of a forest near Wandlitz. The area belongs to the state of Berlin and is falling into disrepair. The district administrator and mayor fear demolition and have now called for a moratorium.more
The community wants to develop a concept for further use
The community now wants to develop a concept for continued use. “We have a broad focus that we can imagine.” Mayor Borchert names, among other things, a “center for resilience research for democracy” as well as a university campus, a rehabilitation clinic, a hotel or a federal agency as some of the considerations.
But it is still unclear in which direction the development of the site can really go in a few years. “There are a lot of questions to be clarified. We are at the beginning of the process,” said Borchert. A consultation appointment with the responsible Berlin real estate management company (BIM) is scheduled for mid-May. Temporary use is also initially planned. A training facility for the federal police was discussed, but the district and municipality rejected it. The area at Bogensee is not a “fighting city” with buildings for urban warfare, said Mayor Borchert.
Photo gallery
First used by the Nazi elite, now by school children
Broadcast: rbb24 Inforadio, May 4, 2024, 12:35 p.m