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Nobel Prize winners and artists in Seelow
Episode 16 of the journey through the cultural heritage sites
The journey through the cultural heritage sites always holds surprises. Who would have thought that there was a place on the edge of the Oderbruch where the who's who of the Weimar Republic came and went. Guests of the Schweizerhaus included Nobel Prize winners, artists and politicians from nearby Berlin. The circle of friends of the owner Hugo Simon included Albert Einstein, Rudolf Breitscheid, Otto Braun, Gerhard Hauptmann, Aristide Maillol, Erich Maria Remarque, Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Tucholsky, Max Liebermann, the publisher S. Fischer and Walter Rathenau. Max Reinhardt, Max Slevogt, Else Lasker-Schüler and Tilla Dyrieux also stayed there as guests of the Berlin banker. The guest book of the Schweizerhaus also contains the names of Heinrich and Thomas Mann, Alfred Döblin, Franz Ullstein and Max Pechstein. So let's visit this special cultural heritage site: the Schweizerhaus with the Simon Gardens in Seelow.
Near the Seelow Heights memorial, an inconspicuous path leads to the Schweizerhaus. The unspectacular approach gives no indication of the history that lies hidden here. Uwe Trzewik from the "Heimatverein Schweizerhaus Seelow eV", founded in 2007, is already waiting for us. He will guide us through the complex. A tour with him is highly recommended.
Before the Berlin banker Hugo Simon bought the Schweizerhaus in 1919, the building housed a tourist restaurant with an ice cellar, beer garden and concert stage. Simon also acquired other outbuildings and bought surrounding land to build a model agricultural estate. "Hugo Simon came from a Jewish family, was a social democrat and pacifist, briefly finance minister and the founder of a Berlin private bank. He was also considered a committed patron of the arts and, as a member of the purchasing committee, influenced the acquisition policy of the Berlin National Gallery. He bought the Schweizerhaus as a weekend and summer residence and converted it according to his ideas," says Uwe Trzewik. However, Simon only enjoyed the property for around 14 years. In March 1933, after the Nazis came to power, Simon emigrated to Paris via Switzerland. In October 1933 his property was confiscated and five years later he was stripped of all civil rights. Equipped with a Czech identity, he emigrated to Brazil via Portugal in 1941. Hugo Simon died in Sao Paulo in 1950. He never saw his property near Seelow again.
Simon combined his interest in agriculture with his love of art and culture. He had works of art by up-and-coming artists put up in the park, for example Renée Sinteni's "Donkey of Seelow" or Arthur Storch's porcelain sculpture "Hareboar". Both figures are now in the Schweizerhaus, although the hareboar only exists in fragments. However, another original was placed next to it. "It is thanks to fortunate circumstances that this example was able to be purchased at an art auction," says local historian Trzewik. The owner of the house, together with the director of gardening Alfred Kutta, developed the so-called Simon grounds around the Schweizerhaus into a model farm. It was intended to be used for growing fine fruit and vegetables. Terraces were created for this purpose, among other things. "The Simon farm included a poultry farm as well as rabbit, pig and raccoon breeding.
His breeding successes with pedigree rabbits even led to awards at the Berlin Green Week," reports Uwe Trzewik. In the park, an enlarged replica of Goethe's Weimar garden house was built as a manager's house for Kutta. "The ground floor housed utility rooms, Kutta lived on the first floor, and above that were modest guest rooms that even his high-ranking visitors had to make do with." The Simon estate also had an orangery modeled on Sanssouci Palace, residential buildings, and a bee house for over 50 bee colonies. A transformer house with an arcade-like walkway was built to supply electricity. The foundations of the orangery have been uncovered again, and only remnants of the bee house remain, while the transformer house has already been restored.
It was only about twelve years ago that the members of the local history society rescued the estate from a 20-year slumber. They cleared the overgrown vegetation, uncovered retaining walls, pergolas and stairs made of natural stone and opened up the old sight lines in the park. Uwe Trzewik has old photos from this time that show the effort the local history society has put in so far. Visitors can now take a tour of the complex and see what the estate once looked like. You should bring your time.
Schweizerhaus Seelow, Am Schweizerhaus 1-5, 15306 Seelow, Tel. 03346 4291910
www.heimatverein-seelow.de. Limited opening hours!
You can find more information about the Oderbruch Museum and the cultural heritage in the Oderbruch here.