Delegation of the twinning association from Rheine visits Bernburg on the occasion of the Day of German Unity
In wonderful autumn weather, the Rheinenser reached Bernburg, where they were warmly welcomed by the twinning committee. During dinner at Karlsplatz the first news were exchanged. Surprisingly, they met acquaintances from Rheine.
On Sunday a tight program was waiting for the partners. First it went to the settlement Zickzackhausen, also Anton Saefkow settlement or settlement Friedrichshöhe, is a protected settlement in Bernburg, which is estimated as architecturally historically important.
The Anhalt Settlers Association, founded by Heinrich Peus, built most of the settlements in Dessau in the 1920s. The most significant is Dessau-Ziebigk (Knarrbergsiedlung 183 houses), where the implementation of the ideas of the great garden architect Leberecht Migge, namely the ecological orientation of house and garden, was realized for the first time by the young architect Leopold Fischer. Zickzackhausen was also built according to this concept in 1928. The settlement is considered part of Neues Bauen, although it was built in parallel with the work of the Bauhaus in Dessau, but went its own way through a more holistic approach (especially emphasizing gardens for self-sufficiency, conventional building materials, material cycle).
In the afternoon, we headed to Dessau to visit the Bauhaus. The Bauhaus Dessau is a complex of buildings in Dessau-Roßlau. It was built from 1925 to 1926 according to plans by Walter Gropius as a school building for the art, design and architecture school. The guiding principle of the Bauhaus was to combine architecture with the other arts as a total work of art.
The building itself and the master houses built in the immediate vicinity established the Bauhaus’s reputation as an “icon of modernism.” War-damaged and structurally altered parts were largely rebuilt in the spirit of the original starting in 1965. The building was restored and partially modernized in 1976. Between 1996 and 2006, a renewed restoration and repair took place according to the principles of monument preservation. Since 1996, the building complex has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. During the tour, the visitors were able to discover historical rooms in the Bauhaus building that are normally not accessible. These included the assembly hall, the former director’s room and a historic student room. The master houses were also visited under expert guidance.
The educational day ended at the “Saalecamper,” Bernburgs well-attended campground. The mayor of Bernburg Dr. Silvia Ristow welcomed the city partners. She herself was many years ago during an internship in the city administration Rheine, which has remained in her good memory.
In the Schifferklause, the group was served a wonderful autumn menu. On the sidelines, the participants* learned that only a few days ago a closely guarded secret was revealed. A remake of the GDR cult series “Spuk unterm Riesenrad” is being filmed at the campsite. On October 11, the film crew will arrive. It will then be difficult to get a hotel room in Bernburg.
The members of the committee and the board used the evening to discuss the future of the town twinning. It was agreed to continue to visit each other regularly and in the future to involve young people through various activities.
To conclude the trip, the Rheinenser*innen visited the bridge festival in Gröna, a district of Bernburg. Here, the Day of German Unity has been celebrated annually since 2004 with the opening of the Saale Bridge. Also here the mayoress Dr. Ristow together with the local mayor Manfred Bartel welcomed the guests on the reopened passenger ship MS Gröna. After these experiences of the “Brückenfest” the group went back home with great impressions in the early afternoon.
