Gesellschaft zur Erforschung des Lebens und Wirkens deutschsprachiger jüdischer Architekten e. V.
Events and Publications from 2007 to 1996
20 September 2007 Pentagram Design Berlin: exhibition and presentation of Pentagram Papers 37 – Forgotten Architects The publication is based on the book by Myra Warhaftig, Deutsche jüdische Architekten vor und nach 1933 – Das Lexikon [Encyclopedia of German Jewish Architects Before and After 1933] 15 September 2007 Dedication of a “stumbling block” for Dr. Curt Bejach, born 1890 “Deported to Theresienstadt 10 January 1944, murdered in Auschwitz 31 October 1944” The stumbling block is set into the sidewalk in front of Villa Dr. Bejach, Bernhard Beyer Straße 12, Berlin Steinstücken, built 1927/28 by Erich Mendelsohn. 8 September 2007 Tour by Dr. Myra Warhaftig and Dr. Günter Schlusche for Heritage Day of Open Monuments 2007 (part of European Heritage Days) Former Wolfenstein synagogue, Hermann Ehlers Platz, Berlin Steglitz In 1897, businessman Moses Wolfenstein commissioned Johann Sinnig to build a new synagogue for the Steglitz Jewish community on the site of a former stable on his property, using a design by C.Kuhligk dating from 1872‐73. The temple soon became known, in honor of its patron, as the Wolfenstein Synagogue. It is one of the few surviving synagogue buildings in Berlin. The Haus Wolfenstein initiative was able to avert its demolition. Now restored, the building is used as an office building and is not accessible to the public. 19 May 2007 Tour by Ulf Meyer: The new library by Norman Foster on the campus of the Free University and the renovated Henry Ford Building in Berlin Dahlem Meeting point: Main entrance on Thielallee / Habelschwerdter Allee Events and Publications from 2007 to 1996
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10 September 2006 Tour by Claudia Marcy and Dr. Günter Schlusche for the Heritage Day of Open Monuments 2006 (part of European Heritage Days) Former Herbert Lindner machine tool factory – factory in a green setting The Lindner machine tool factory, one of the few examples of a “factory in a green setting”, was built starting in 1932 by the Jewish architect Martin Albrecht Punitzer and, after his professional license was revoked 1935‐40, later expanded by Hoppe & Simon. Its parklike garden was designed by the Jewish landscape architect Ludwig Lesser and his son Richard. The planning was designed to create a connection between production facilities and refreshing natural beauty. In addition to the factory building and the partially preserved garden setting, other works by Punitzer and Lesser were also viewed and discussed on the tour. 19 January 2006 Book presentation at the Berlin Academy of Arts, Hanseatenweg 10: Myra Warhaftig Deutsche jüdische Architekten vor und nach 1933 – Das Lexikon, 2005 Dietrich Reimer Verlag Berlin [Encyclopedia of German Jewish Architects Before and After 1933] Speakers: Professor Dr. Vladimir Slapeta (Prague / Olomouc), vice director (architecture) Academy of Arts Klaus Meier‐Hartmann, vice president, Berlin Chamber of Architects Dr. Cram, publisher, Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin Beate Behrens, former director, Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin Dr. Günter Schlusche, Association for Research on the Lives and Works of Jewish Architects Dr. Andreas Nachama, director, Topography of Terror Foundation, Berlin Professor Dr. Christoph Stölzl, chairman, Society for the Promotion of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem and vice president, Berlin State Parliament 11 September 2005 Tour by Dr. Myra Warhaftig and Dr. Günter Schlusche for the Heritage Day of Open Monuments 2005 (part of European Heritage Days) Former Villa Eugen Bab, Konstanzer Strasse, Berlin Wilmersdorf In 1922, banker Eugen Bab addressed a letter to his friend, the Jewish architect Harry Rosenthal, asking him to build a house for his family on his Wilmersdorf property and enclosing a blank check. The expressionist villa was built in 1923/24; besides impressive living rooms, it included several bedrooms, a gym and bath, a swimming pool and a private synagogue. The expressionist roof was partially destroyed during World War II and today is preserved in only Events and Publications from 2007 to 1996
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rudimentary form. Though the villa built for the Babs and their daughter now is under landmark protection, much of it had previously been altered; it was divided into ten apartments and the former swimming pool and private synagogue were renovated for a ballet school. There are also several shops on the ground floor. Archival photos of exterior and interior views were shown during the tour and participants were allowed to view some of the rooms usually closed to the public. 12 September 2004 Tour by the architect Celina Cress for the Heritage Day of Open Monuments 2004 (part of European Heritage Days) “Sommerfelds Aue”, log cabin housing development, Im Kieferngrund, Berlin Zehlendorf In 1918/19, the Jewish architect and building contractor Adolf Sommerfeld had already begun to plan the log cabin housing development realized in 1922/23. He was especially interested in methods of rationalizing planning and technology. The modular construction system and ecologically ambitious style of the ensemble in a country‐like setting, designed as a social project, were revolutionary. Notable too was Sommerfeld’s ongoing collaboration with other architects, recognizable in the four homes across the street from Kieferngrund that Erich Mendelsohn and Richard Neutra erected in 1923. After 1945, Adolf Sommerfeld, who had changed his name to Andrew Sommerfield, returned from English exile to Germany and again became active building homes and housing developments. 21 August 2004 Tour by Dr. Myra Warhaftig: Three villas by the Jewish architect Fritz Crzellitzer on Stubenrauchstraße in Berlin Zehlendorf In 1907, architect Fritz Crzellitzer (born 1876 in Berlin; died 1942 in Tel Aviv) erected what were probably his first buildings, two adjacent residences on Stubenrauchstraße — one for his mother and siblings and the other for himself and his young family. Twenty years later, he lived and worked in a villa with atelier that he built on the same street, until forced to leave Germany with his family in 1934. This tour also commemorated the centennial of the birth of architectural historian Julius Posener, for whose father Fritz Crzellitzer had built a residence in Berlin Lichterfelde in 1909. Events and Publications from 2007 to 1996
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14 September 2003 Tour by Dr. Günter Schlusche for the Heritage Day of Open Monuments 2003 Theme: History and Art up close – Living in a Monument Villa Dr. Bejach, Bernhard Beyer Straße 12, Berlin Zehlendorf (Steinstücken) Architect Erich Mendelsohn designed the residence and garden for physician Dr. Bejach and his family in 1927. The villa in southern Zehlendorf (in divided Berlin, Steinstücken was an exclave) is a two‐story country house in cubic form. Alternating layers of plaster and brick enhance the façade, whose lively appearance is heightened by broad spans of pergolas. In the simplicity of its design and materials, the residence, still being used as such, is one of the most beautiful villas from the 1920s still standing in Berlin. The Jewish architect Erich Mendelsohn had to leave Germany in 1933 but, unlike most of his other Jewish colleagues, he was able to develop his career in England, Palestine and the USA. 23 August 2003 Summer festival in the former Jewish orphanage, Berliner Straße 120/121, Berlin Pankow On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the Jewish Orphanage in Pankow, supporters of the building, the Förderverein Jüdisches Waisenhaus e.V., extended an invitation to a public event. A documentation was presented about the life and works of the building’s Jewish architect Alexander Beer, compiled with the assistance of the Association for Research on the Lives and Works of Jewish Architects. Alexander Beer (born 1873 in Hammerstein, West Prussia; perished 1944 in Theresienstadt) realized his first major building, the Jewish Orphanage, in 1913. Among his later works were the Orthodox Synagogue in Kreuzberg (1913‐16), the field of honor for Jewish soldiers fallen in World War I in the Weissensee Jewish Cemetery, the large synagogue in Wilmersdorf (1928‐30), the Jewish Girls’ School on Auguststraße in Mitte (1930) [sold in 2010 to an investor to house a gallery and art studios], and the Jewish Old Age Home in Schmargendorf. Honored guest at the event was Alexander Beer’s daughter Beate Hammet, who lives in Sydney, Australia. 8 September 2002 Three guided tours on the Heritage Day of Open Monuments 2002 Buildings by Jewish architects Tour by Dr. Myra Warhaftig at 11 am: AOK‐Hauptverwaltung, Rungestr. 3‐6 The building at Rungestraße 3‐6 was built in 1930‐31 by Jewish architect Alfred Gottheiner as the main administration building for the Allgemeinen Ortskrankenkasse (AOK) health insurance provider. After use as the SED party’s secondary school, AOK Berlin resumed occupancy. The late‐expressionist façade is especially impressive. Gottheiner, a well‐known architect in the 1920s, had his professional license revoked by the National Socialists in 1933 and died in Berlin. Tour by Dr. Günter Schlusche at 1 pm: Federal Ministry for Families, Seniors, Women and Children, Taubenstr. 42‐43 Events and Publications from 2007 to 1996
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The building at Taubenstraße 42‐43 has been the seat of the Federal Ministry for Families, Seniors, Women and Children since the government moved to Berlin. Built in 1926 by the Jewish architect Moritz Ernst Lesser and his partner Leopold Stelten as the business office for the Deutscher Herold insurance company, the building sustained heavy damage in the war and was rebuilt in 1951. Moritz Ernst Lesser was banned from professional practice after 1933. In 1934 he fled to Lisbon; his subsequent fate remains unknown. Tour by Professor Manfred Sundermann at 3 pm: Mendelsohn and the Metalworkers, Metalworkers’ Association, Alte Jakob Str. 148‐155 Administration building of the German Metalworkers’ Association, dedicated in 1930, built chiefly according to plans by Erich Mendelsohn. He emigrated in 1933, first going to England and Palestine, later settling in the USA. The building’s progressive architecture — modern and almost unique for its time — distinguishes it from the neighboring patent office. The building, more of a communicative object, is similar in intent to the architecture of the Jewish Museum. On the opposite side of the square, an attempt was made to create a modern and artistic counterpart to Mendelsohn’s union building with the Willy Brandt House. 27 April 2002 Tour by Dr. Myra Warhaftig, Dr. Günter Schlusche, Prof. Manfred Sundermann: Buildings by Jewish architects in Berlin Reinickendorf First stop was the housing development (1929‐1931) by Erwin Gutkind at Emmentaler Str. 72‐
86 – Residenzstr. 21‐23 – Thurgauer Str. 12‐30. The post office next to Gutkind’s ensemble at Residenzstr. 24‐25 also was built in the modern “Neues Bauen” style by architect Robert Gaedicke in 1925‐26. Additional residential buildings and ensembles by Erwin Gutkind under landmark protection include the low buildings of the “New Jerusalem” ensemble in Spandau, the Sonnenhof housing development in Lichtenberg and the apartment houses in Pankow. In 1992, Erwin Gutkind. 1886‐1968. Architektur als Stadtraumkunst […Architecture as Urban Art] by Rudolf Hierl, with a foreword by Julius Posener, was published by Birkhäuser. Second stop was the “White City”. In 1914, the community of Reinickendorf announced an urban competition for the site on Aroser Allee. Prizewinners were Theodor Bulling and Max Israel. Architect Max Israel, born in Berlin in 1884, was banned from professional practice after the National Socialists came to power. His fate after 1933 is unknown. The housing development, also known as “Großsiedlung Schillerpromenade”, was designed 1929–31 by three reform architects: Bruno Ahrends, Otto Rudolf Salvisberg and Wilhelm Büning. Each of them designed some 400 living units. The garden architect for the entire development was Ludwig Lesser, who also was subjected to the professional ban after 1933. Events and Publications from 2007 to 1996
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27 November 2001 Presentation of the brochure “German Jewish Architects Before and After 1933” Academy of Arts, Berlin Tiergarten, Hanseatenweg 10 Speakers: Professor Manfred Sundermann, Hochschule Anhalt, Dessau Professor Jonas Geist, University of the Arts Berlin Franziska Eichstädt‐Bohlig, member of the Bundestag, Bündnis 90/Grüne Cornelius Hertling, president, Berlin Chamber of Architects Dr. Myra Warhaftig, architect, Berlin 23 June 2001 Tour by Dr. Myra Warhaftig, Dr. Günter Schlusche and Prof. Manfred Sundermann: First stop was Oskar Kaufmann’s Hebbel Theater, Stresemannstr. 29, a venue for guest performances for many years. The theater’s seats are steeply raked and its acoustics are outstanding, according to the architect Lindenmeyer, who was in charge of the renovation carried out some 10 years ago. An exhibition on Oskar Kaufmann, compiled 13 years ago by Myra Warhaftig, was on view in the foyer. A reprint of Oskar Kaufmann’s self‐published 1928 monograph on his theater architecture, with an afterword by Myra Warhaftig, was published in 1996. Also, a monograph by Antje Hansen was published by Gebrüder Mann Verlag, Berlin. Next stop was Erich Mendelsohn’s Haus des Deutschen Metallarbeiterverbands [German Metalworkers’ Association Building] Alte Jakob Str. 148‐155 at the corner of Lindenstraße, built 1929–1930 and today used by IG Metall. It was originally intended to be part of a larger ensemble that was to include a printer’s building west of Lindenstraße, which remained unrealized. Markus Plagmann, district secretary of IG Metall, made it possible for participants to get a detailed view of the interior and also showed us an exhibition about Erich Mendelsohn and the building’s history, which was installed on the ground floor in 1995 following the building’s renovation. Final stop was the building at Lindenstr. 32‐34 (corner of Feilnerstraße), erected as an office and administration building (clients: Salinger & Lippmann) 1911/12 according to plans by Curt Leschnitzer. The building soon was used in tandem with the neighboring building at Lindenstr. 35 and, after being heavily damaged in the war, the two were rebuilt in 1962 into an administration building which, however, was never completed. The ruins of the double building were provisionally – but very spectacularly – revamped in 1987 to house the central informative exhibit of the International Building Exhibition (IBA Berlin). The architects participating in the IBA designed ca. 45 individual windows for the empty window frames. Inside, the IBA projects and demonstration areas were displayed from May until early November, 1987 in an attractive, well‐attended exhibition. Thereafter the building was used as a group home (conversion Feddersen, by Herder); it is currently again under renovation. Very little remains of the original substance after the wartime destruction and renovations. Events and Publications from 2007 to 1996
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9 December 2000 Tour in Berlin Steglitz by Dr. Günter Schlusche and Wolfgang Holtz: First stop was the building at Kaulbachstr. 25 and Mozartstr. 10, built 1930/31 by architects Ernst Ludwig Freud and Alexander Kurz for perfume factory owner Ludwig Scherk (Haus Scherk). Ernst Ludwig Freud (born 1892, fourth son of Sigmund Freud) was also the architect for the renovation of Lindenallee 22 in Westend and Villa Frank near Geltow on Lake Schwielow (see articles: Andreas Austillat in the Tagesspiegel, 25 Jan. 1998; Gerwin Zohlen in DIE ZEIT, 1 April 1994). A monograph by Dietrich Worbs on Ernst Ludwig Freud, who was banned from practicing architecture after 1933 and immigrated to England, was published in Bauwelt (no date). Ludwig Scherk also commissioned the Scherk perfume factory on Kelchstr. 31 in Steglitz, built by Fritz Höger in 1926, and the Scherk perfumery at Kurfürstendamm 231, which was renovated by Otto Rudolf Salvisberg in 1927. The two‐story, L‐shaped, austerely horizontal building in Lankwitz is painted in brown tones, has an entrance clad in travertine, and finishes strikingly, with rounded balcony railings, bays and canopies, toward the west. Next stop was the one‐family house at Calandrellistr. 45, built by Martin Punitzer in 1928/29 for factory owner Robert Abrahamson. The structure consists of several interlocking cubic forms organized by roof and girder ledges. Martin Punitzer was born in 1889 in Berlin and was a renowned architect of industrial and residential buildings in Berlin before he immigrated to Chile in 1939, where he died in Santiago in 1949. Not far from the Abrahamson residence, at Nicolaistr. 7, stands the factory for electro‐technical measuring instruments (Robert Abrahamson GmbH) built by Martin Punitzer in 1928. Long years of deliberation preceded the present renovation, which is faithful to the original. With financial support from Stiftung Denkmalschutz, the reconstruction was able to preserve the original black window bands and olive green ceramic tiles. The interesting industrial district between Siemensstraße and the Teltowkanal also includes the property at Siemensstr. 27 corner Birkbuschstr. 6, on which an industrial building once stood. In 1932/33, this building was the last site of the Bauhaus, under the direction of Mies van der Rohe, who rented the building after the Bauhaus in Dessau was closed. But there was only one semester of study; after a raid in the summer of 1933, the National Socialists finally shuttered the Bauhaus for good. “Lesser’s Nursery” earlier stood on the north side of the Teltow canal (Birkbuschstr. 39). This premises was the residence of the family of Ludwig Lesser (1869–1957), the first freelance garden architect in Germany. He too was banned from professional practice by the National Socialists, stripped of his honorary posts and forced to emigrate; he went to Sweden, where he died in 1957. The next stop was the housing development by architect Rudolf Maté parallel to the Teltow canal at Albrechtstr. 59‐60B –Bostellstr. 51/55. The staggered, slightly curved major ensemble, with several buildings fronting on the Teltow canal, is in good condition. Little is known about the Jewish architect Rudolf Maté aside from the fact that he built other buildings in Wilmersdorf, Charlottenburg and Wedding. He died in a concentration camp. Last stop was the Kapp residence, Leonorenstr. 53, a one‐family house by the Luckhardt brothers and Alfons Anker. The buildings of these architects, the role of Alfons Anker and the behavior of the Luckhardt brothers toward their Jewish partner Anker had already been discussed during a tour on 30 October 1999. The Kapp residence was built in 1932 and is a very Events and Publications from 2007 to 1996
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rationalist, austere building whose current tiled façade has little to do with its original condition as a white plaster structure. 27 May 2000 Tour in Berlin Spandau by Dr. Myra Warhaftig, Dr. Günter Schlusche and Prof. Manfred Sundermann: First stop was Erwin Gutkind’s New Jerusalem housing development in Staaken, located on both sides of Heerstraße. The development’s 21 apartment buildings (ca. 40 apartments) are for the most part in poor condition now. But the original materials, windows and hardware can still be glimpsed on a few of the buildings. Others have been altered by additions and renovations. Erwin Gutkind (born 1886 in Berlin, died 1968 in Philadelphia, USA) built this project in 1923/24 for the Bohnsdorf Garden City Society. He wanted to create a new type of garden city with a new approach to creating space and an “accumulation of independent spatial structures”, while simultaneously realizing the garden city idea as an element in a decentralized way of life based on self‐reliance. Therefore each of the buildings originally had 800 m2 of garden space and a stall for livestock; these have been renovated and today are used for living space or garages. Gutkind published a book on the subject with Josef Brix, Otto Bartning and Leberecht Migge: Neues Bauen ‐ Grundlagen zur praktischen Siedlungstätigkeit [New Building – Fundamentals for Practical Housing Development]. There is a very good monograph on the work of Erwin Gutkind by Rudolf Hierl: Erwin Gutkind 1886‐1968 – Architektur als Stadtraumkunst [—Architecture as Urban Art], which documents the New Jerusalem settlement in detail. In 1933, Gutkind emigrated, going first to Paris and two years later to London, where he was active as a government official and scholar. He began to publish in 1950 and was appointed a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, USA, in 1956, where he died in 1968, shortly before a planned visit to Berlin to accept the Berlin Art Prize. Next stop was the garten city of Staaken by Paul Schmitthenner (1884–1972), built 1914–1917 for workers in the nearby armaments and munitions factory in Spandau. This housing estate, likewise indebted to the idea of the garden city, stands in illuminating contrast to the Erwin Gutkind development. Its traditional architecture and urban streets, designed after the pattern of the garden cities in England, are in good condition. Paul Schmitthenner sympathized with National Socialism in 1933 and was fired from a government position in 1945. Events and Publications from 2007 to 1996
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30 October 1999 Tour in Berlin Zehlendorf by Dr. Myra Warhaftig, Dr. Günter Schlusche and Peter Schmidt‐
Seifert: First viewed was the Semmel Residence in Pacelliallee 19‐21, which architect Adolf Wollenberg, born 1874 in Breslau, built for industrialist R. Semmel in 1925/26. The generously proportioned, well‐preserved villa, which Herr Schmidt‐Seifert spoke about at length, lies on property 20 000 m2. It was sold under duress in 1935 to Wilhelm Kühne (Essig‐Kühne) and rented to the Papal Nuncio in 1940 — the name Pacelliallee dates back to this period. After 1945, the Aquinata Sisterhood used the building as a nursing home; in the ‘70s it was used by the Spastikerhilfe. The villa has been owned by Bankhaus Partin in the Göttinger Gruppe (an insurance company) since the early 1990s. Herr Schmidt‐Seifert related that the garden is being restored, but freely interprets the original design, whereby he also pointed out the sensitive relationship between house and garden in the designs of Hermann Muthesius. The tour was based on Herr Schmidt‐Seifert’s documentation about the gardens. Next stop was Miquelstr. 66‐68, built by architect Bruno Ahrends (born 1878 in Berlin) for his family in 1911. Starting in 1999, it was used as a residence by Bundespräsident Johannes Rau and his family. Peter Schmidt‐Seifert commented and information was presented about the house’s depiction in Ulf Meyer’s book Bundeshauptstadt Berlin. A small outbuilding for guards in the form of a truncated pyramid, designed by Gesine Weinmiller, stands in the reconstructed garden. Tour participant Frau Ruth Pätsch recalled her childhood in the house across the street, Miquelstr. 6, which her family moved into in 1912, and which Bruno Ahrends also designed. The tour went on to Schorlemer Allee 7–23a (built 1925–30), Schorlemerallee 12‐12c (1929–
30) and Schorlemerallee 14 (1936–38), designed by Hans and Wassili Luckhardt & Alfons Anker. According to Myra Warhaftig’s descriptions of the row houses’ architecture and their architects, Hans Luckhardt joined the Nazi party in 1933 and the Jewish architect Alfons Anker fled in 1939 to Sweden, where he was unable to reestablish his career. The residence at Schorlemer Allee 14, whose gabled roof, hardly visible from the street, could be interpreted as a retrograde step, provided the occasion for an interesting polemic on the inevitability of the pressure to conform during that period and on the connection between politics and culture. Last stop was Schorlemer Allee 16, the so‐called Copper House, built by the Hirsch‐Messing Works of Eberswalde. Walter Gropius designed a prototype of this house in 1931, with prefabricated metal cladding for the façade that is recognizable on this building, here painted white. Myra Warhaftig mentioned a publication on the topic: “Warum Kupferhäuser für Palästina?“ [Why Copper Houses for Palestine?] Events and Publications from 2007 to 1996
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18 September 1999 Tour in Berlin Wilmersdorf by Dr. Myra Warhaftig, Dr. Günter Schlusche and Peter Schmidt‐
Seifert: The tour began at Villa Harteneck, Douglasstr. 7‐9, designed by architect Adolf Wollenberg, born 1874 in Breslau. While the house’s interior could not be viewed, there was access to the garden, which was restored with public funds (1981–85) and is now a public park under landmark protection. The building is in very good condition and currently houses a consulate and premium office space. The garden architect Peter Schmidt‐Seifert, who was contracted to reconstruct the exterior grounds, provided informative background on the garden’s layout and the interaction between architecture and landscape planning. Dr. Hedwig Wingler pointed out another building by Adolf Wollenberg, an addition to the clinic of Dr. Schlomer in Charlottenburg, Ulmenallee 35–37. Next stop was Douglasstr. 15/17 (Villa Epstein), a residence designed in expressive style by the renowned theater architect Oskar Kaufmann (born 1873 in New St. Anna, Hungary; died 1956 in Budapest). Dr. Myra Warhaftig showed photos of the original interior of the villa, whose exterior has also been quite satisfactorily restored, though the building seems to stand empty. Peter Schmidt‐Seifert indicated that hardly any classical Modern architecture is to be found in this district. Then the tour went to Douglasstr. 18, an early Modern villa by architects Breslauer and Salinger. The residence is also in very good condition. Alfred Breslauer was born in 1866 in Berlin and prior to 1900 worked in the office of Alfred Messel; he died an émigré in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1954. Paul Salinger was born in 1865 in Berlin and perished in Theresienstadt in 1942. Afterward we viewed the generously proportioned villa of manufacturer Dr. Moritz Konschewski at Gottfried von Cramm‐Weg 33/37, also built by Oskar Kaufmann (1922/23). The building and its extensive garden, a 9500 m2 property that falls off to the Hundekehlesee (a lake), are under landmark protection. There is also a depot built on the property that — like the entire villa — was thoroughly modernized and renovated for use as apartments and offices. In Gustav Freytag Str. 9 stands a well restored building, under landmark protection, that was built by architect Berthold Bleier in 1923. Dr. Myra Warhaftig reported that despite intensive research, little has come to light about this Jewish architect. Bleier was a member of the Bund Deutscher Architekten but was excluded in 1933 from the newly formed Reichskulturkammer. Further down the street, at Gustav Freytag Str. 15, is the home built for the A.L.Zissu family in 1928/29 by architect Michael Rachlis (born 1884 in Moscow), who was primarily active as an interior designer. He died in London in 1952. The exterior of this villa, one of the few classical Modern buildings in this district, is in perfect condition. There is impressive use of travertine for the window bands facing the street. Finally, three buildings in Hagenstraße were viewed, first Nr. 8 at the corner of Klindworthsteig, the villa of sculptor Alexander Oppler, built by Max Landsberg in 1910. Events and Publications from 2007 to 1996
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Max Landsberg, born in 1878 in Berlin, was a member of the AIV, Bund Deutscher Architekten, and Deutscher Werkbund, and died in Berlin in 1930. The house at Hagenstraße 30 (Schlesinger cottage) was built by architects Erich Rosenwald and Max Riesenfeld in 1910/11. Erich Rosenwald, born 1871 in Berlin, committed suicide with his non‐Jewish wife in 1942. Both are buried in the Weissensee cemetery. Little is known of the fate of Max Riesenfeld, who was born in 1880 in Rakwitz near Poznań. He was deported to Auschwitz on 12 January 1943. The architect of the house at Hagenstraße 30 (Henckell residence) was Paul Zucker; the client the businessman Moritz Stein. The architect and art historian Professor Paul Zucker was born 1888 in Berlin, fled Germany in 1934 and died in New York in 1971. 17 November 1998 Architecture in Palestine 1918 – 1948 Works of German‐speaking Jewish architects A documentary exhibition conceived and realized by Myra Warhaftig Presented by: Förderverein Deutsches Architekturzentrum e.V. , Jewish Community of Berlin, Goethe Institute Tel Aviv, Israel and the Schussheim Foundation Haifa, Israel Opening addresses: Sybille Fanelsa, curator Dr. Andreas Nachama, chairman of the Jewish Community of Berlin Prof. Dr. Christoph Stölzl, general director of the German Historical Museum Wolfgang Nagel, former senator for construction and housing, Federal State of Berlin Dr. Günter Schlusche, Association for Research on the Lives and Works of Jewish Architects, e.V. Dr. Myra Warhaftig, architect The exhibition Architecture in Palestine 1918 – 1948. Works of German‐speaking Jewish architects documents the architectural works of 114 German‐speaking architects who left Germany during the 1920s and after the National Socialists assumed power, and immigrated to Palestine to continue their work. Their buildings, erected in the style known as “Neues Bauen” [New Building], would embody and express a new existence in a new homeland. The German Architecture Center presented this exhibition from 18 November 1998 to 16 January 1999, Mondays through Saturdays from 10:00 am to 6 pm. A book on this subject by Myra Warhaftig, Sie legten den Grundstein [They Laid the Foundation], was published by Wasmuth Verlag and was available at the Center in lieu of a catalogue. Deutsches Architekturzentrum Köpenicker Straße 48/49 10179 Berlin 25 October 1998 Tour in Berlin Wilmersdorf by Dr. Myra Warhaftig and Dr. Günter Schlusche: Events and Publications from 2007 to 1996
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The tour began in front of the building at Konstanzer Str. 26‐27, corner Ruhrstr. 12a and Mansfelder Straße, built as a home for Eugen Bab and his family in 1923/24 by the architect Harry Rosenthal, born 1892 in Poznań. The villa in expressive style has elaborate brickwork, especially on the ground floor, at the corners and on the roof. Viewing archival photos, participants could get an impression of the original interior, designed by Harry Rosenthal himself. It included a private synagogue, a vestibule with a frieze, and a swimming pool. The building’s exterior is intact but in need of renovation. The roofline was simplified, the plaster surfaces of the façade painted a dark color. Other components, such as the storefronts in the broad foundation along Konstanzer Straße, were inserted later, and the window profile has been altered. During a brief tour inside, it was found that the vestibule now has a false ceiling, and the frieze no longer is there. The second stop, the “Frauboes Cottage” at Münstersche Str. 14, was built for a wealthy family by architect Wilhelm Zeev Haller (born 1884 in Gleiwitz, died 1956 in Tel Aviv) in 1926. This rather understated building is under landmark protection. Today the Senate uses it as a school system administration building. Third stop was the housing development at Albrecht Achilles Str. 9‐13, Cicerostr. 49‐49A, Paulsborner Str. 82‐85, Westfälische Str. 23‐26. This very large ensemble, taking up an entire city block, was built by architect Moritz Ernst Lesser (born 1882 in Berlin, died 1958 in Lisbon) in 1929/30 and also is under landmark protection. It has several stairwells and its homogenous design and rectangular recesses down the line of sight look quite remarkable. There is a contemporary monograph on Moritz Ernst Lesser in the series Neue Werkkunst. Another building of his, in Taubenstraße in Berlin Mitte, the former home of the Deutscher Herold insurance company, is currently being renovated for use by the Federal Ministry of the Family. 26 September 1998 Tour in Berlin Wilmersdorf by Dr. Myra Warhaftig: The tour began in Berkaer Str. 31‐35 in front of the former Jewish Home for the Aged, built in 1930 by architect Alexander Beer, today a geriatric clinic for the Max Bürger Center for Social Medicine and Geriatrics. To the right of the entrance is a bronze plaque commemorating the history of the building and its architect, who was born in Hammerstein in 1873 and perished in KZ Theresienstadt in 1944. The building is an elongated structure with expressionist klinker‐ brickwork on the lower stories and white plaster surfaces on the upper floors. It is in good condition and still meets the functional challenges of today. Second stop: the Grunewald Tennis Club building at Flinsberger Platz 8, built by Oskar Kaufmann as the “home of a young woman” in 1923. The woman in question was the daughter of general director Dr. Moritz Konschewski, for whom Oskar Kaufmann had built a house in Berlin Grunewald, Gottfried‐von‐Cramm‐Str. 33‐37, in 1922/24. Today the building is in very good, though much altered, condition and is used as a clubhouse. Very little of the original interior remains, though pictures of the original structure hang in the stairwell. Exterior changes involve the windows, balustrades, and especially the structure of the roof, which formerly was rounded and had a circular structure in the middle (thus the house’s nickname, the “inkwell”) that was removed for unknown reasons; the building had a flat roof for a long Events and Publications from 2007 to 1996
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time. The current roof, hipped with dormers, has no relation to the original. Except for a front garden, the gardens around the house were converted to tennis courts. Third stop was the apartment building at Salzbrunner Str. 27/29 (Simon residence), built in 1928 by the architect Harry Rosenthal. Harry Rosenthal was born in Poznań in 1892 and, after fleeing in 1933 to Palestine, died in London in 1966. The building has apparently been well maintained in original condition. It is an elongated three‐story apartment building with several stairwells and entrances that form an elegant façade with curving glass brick windows. The window bands and curved balcony railings also dominate the side facing the garden. 18 October 1997 Tour in Berlin Westend by Dr. Myra Warhaftig and Dr. Hedwig Wingler: First viewed was the large apartment house at Riehlstr. 4‐6, corner Dresselstr. 1, built by architect Curt Leschnitzer in 1925/26. The client was the Charlottenburger Baugenossenschaft GmbH (former address Eosanderstr. 4), which still owns the building and maintains an office at Dresselstr. 1. Curt Leschnitzer was born in Tarnowitz in 1877 and died in Berlin in 1959. Second stop was the apartment house with shops on the ground floor at Riehlstr. 10, corner Wundtstr. 58‐60, also built by architect Curt Leschnitzer in 1928. The owner in 1928 was Wilhelm Ahlmann, who lived at Droysenstr. 9. Third stop was the “bachelors’ building” with large garage at Fredericiastr. 2‐3, an apartment building in the Modern style, built by architect Rudolf Maté in 1930/31 and where he later lived. All three buildings were seen to be in good condition. Finally, the tour viewed the Villa Am Rupenhorn 6 — Erich Mendelsohn’s own residence, which he built in 1929‐30 — as well as two houses Am Rupenhorn 25 and 26, steel frame structures built by the Luckhardt Brothers and Alfons Anker in 1928. The tour ended at Villa Dr. Sternefeld, built in 1923/24 by Erich Mendelsohn. Events and Publications from 2007 to 1996
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16 August 1997 Tour in Berlin Westend by Dr. Myra Warhaftig and Dr. Hedwig Wingler: The first tour to buildings in Berlin Westend by Jewish architects took us to the building by Erich Mendelsohn (1887 Allenstein – 1953 San Francisco) at Karolingerplatz 5‐5A and to the apartment building by Georg Caro (?‐?), built 1931/32 at Karolingerplatz 4. Next stop was the building by Arthur Wolff in Alemannenallee 4 – 5 and two apartment buildings by Curt Leschnitzer (1877 Tarnowitz – 1959 Berlin) at Heerstr. 28 (built 1923/24) and at Platanenallee 36 / Reichsstr. 17. The building at Lindenallee 16, renovated by Max Landsberg (1878 Berlin – 1930 Berlin), as well Lindenallee 22, renovated by architect Ernst Ludwig Freud (1892 Vienna – 1970 London), son of the founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud, also were viewed. 10 November 1996 Book presentation during Jewish Cultural Days 1996 Sie legten den Grundstein. Leben und Wirken deutschsprachiger jüdischer Architekten in Palästina 1918 – 1948 by Myra Warhaftig, 1996 Ernst Wasmuth Verlag, Tübingen, Berlin. A second revised and enlarged English edition, They Laid the Foundation. Lives and Works of German‐Speaking Jewish Architects in Palestine 1918 – 1948, was published by Wasmuth in 2007. Events and Publications from 2007 to 1996
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