![Wohnheim Meldemannstrasse 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Wohnheim_Meldemannstrasse_2.jpg)
The men's dormitory on Meldemannstraße 27 in
Brigittenau
Brigittenau () is the 20th district of Vienna (german: 20. Bezirk, Brigittenau). It is located north of the central districts, north of Leopoldstadt on the same island area between the Danube and the Danube Canal. Brigittenau is a heavily popula ...
district,
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, Austria was a public
dormitory
A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...
for men (''Männerwohnheim'') from 1905 to 2003. It is a subject of public interest primarily because it was the residence of
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
, the later dictator of
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, from 1910 to 1913.
The dormitory in the 1900s
![Wohnheim Meldemannstrasse 5](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Wohnheim_Meldemannstrasse_5.jpg)
The construction of the dormitory in 1905 was financed by a private charitable foundation which aimed at reducing the number of ''Bettgeher'' ("bed-goers") in Vienna. ''Bettgeher'' were poor people with
no fixed abode
In law, no fixed abode or without fixed abode is not having a fixed geographical location as a residence, commonly referred to as no fixed address. This is applicable to several groups:
* People who have a home, but which is not always in the ...
, often shift workers from the countryside, who paid a small fee for the use of a bed in a private house for a few hours during the day. In 1910, they numbered 80,000 in Vienna, and were regarded as a threat to the morals of the host family.
The six-story dormitory was among the most modern facilities of its kind when it was opened in 1905. It was lit by
gas lamp
Gas lighting is the production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, such as hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, coal gas (town gas) or natural gas. The light is produced either directly ...
s and light bulbs, and heated by a modern steam heater. On the ground floor, it featured a mess hall, a reading room with daily newspapers and a library. The underground floor held cleaning rooms, a luggage room, a bicycle storage room as well as a
shoemaker
Shoemaking is the process of making footwear.
Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand, often by groups of shoemakers, or cobblers (also known as '' cordwainers''). In the 18th century, dozens or even hundreds of masters, journeymen ...
's and a
tailor
A tailor is a person who makes or alters clothing, particularly in men's clothing. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the thirteenth century.
History
Although clothing construction goes back to prehistory, there is evidence of ...
's workshop. Moreover, the dormitory included a sick room with a resident physician, a disinfection chamber for the
de-lousing of new residents,
washroom
A bathroom or washroom is a room, typically in a home or other residential building, that contains either a bathtub or a shower (or both). The inclusion of a wash basin is common. In some parts of the world e.g. India, a toilet is typically i ...
s, a shaving room and a bathroom with sixteen showers and four bathtubs.
The actual dormitory was located on the upper four stories. Each of the up to 544 residents had a small cabin to his own, measuring by . The cabins, which were unlocked each evening at 8 p.m. and had to be vacated by 9 a.m., had a lockable door, a lightbulb, a bed, a small table, a clothes-hanger and a mirror.
The weekly rent was 2.50
crowns
A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...
, about as much as a ''Bettgeher'' would have to pay for the use of a bed, which made it a very affordable lodging for unskilled labourers or journeyman artisans with an annual income of about 1,000 crowns. When the dormitory opened, the Viennese press praised it as "fantastical quarters, a paradise on earth" and as a "wonder of elegance and inexpensiveness".
Adolf Hitler's stay
![Wohnheim Meldemannstrasse 3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Wohnheim_Meldemannstrasse_3.jpg)
According to police registration files,
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
– at the time unemployed and living off the sale of his paintings – lived in the dormitory for three years, 9 February 1910 to 24 May 1913. He had moved in from a
homeless shelter
Homeless shelters are a type of homeless service agency which provide temporary residence for homeless individuals and families. Shelters exist to provide residents with safety and protection from exposure to the weather while simultaneously r ...
in
Meidling
Meidling () is the 12th district of Vienna (german: 12. Bezirk, Meidling). It is located just southwest of the central districts, south of the Wienfluss, west of the Gürtel belt, and east and southeast of Schönbrunn palace. Meidling is a heav ...
, where he had stayed since December 1909, and moved to
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
in 1913 after receiving his father's inheritance.
Hitler himself appears to have provided no details about his daily life in Vienna, but several of his co-residents later published their recollections of Hitler's stay in the dormitory. They report that he read the newspapers each morning in the non-smoking area of the reading room, where he also painted, discussed politics with other residents and gave speeches.
Among the men who wrote about Hitler's residence in the dormitory were
Reinhold Hanisch, a vagabond and part-time labourer who died in prison in 1937 under unclear circumstances and whose recollections were published in ''
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
'' in 1939; one Karl Honisch who wrote a report for the
Nazi party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
archives in 1938;
Josef Greiner Josef Greiner (28 June 1886 in Preding, Styria — 4 September 1971 in Vienna) was an Austrian writer. He supposedly knew Adolf Hitler during Hitler's time in Vienna and later published two memoirs on this topic, for which he is best known.
Biograp ...
, a worker who published slim memoirs in 1938 and 1947; and an anonymous man who wrote reports that appeared in Czech newspapers in the 1930s.
Other co-residents of the dormitory with whom Hitler was involved included his Jewish friends Eduard Löffner and Josef Neumann, the Viennese druggist
Rudolf Häusler who moved to Munich with Hitler in 1913, and a rival painter,
Karl Leidenroth.
Later history
![Wohnheim Meldemannstrasse 4](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Wohnheim_Meldemannstrasse_4.jpg)
In the 1990s, the Viennese city government decided to close the timeworn dormitory, which now served as a shelter for the homeless, in favour of a new shelter in
Floridsdorf
Floridsdorf (; Central Bavarian: ''Fluridsduaf'') is the 21st district of Vienna (german: 21. Bezirk, Floridsdorf), located in the northern part of the city and comprising seven formerly independent communities: Floridsdorf, Donaufeld, Greater Jed ...
. Prior to its closure on 28 November 2003, the dormitory served in 2002 and 2003 as the venue of regular productions of
George Tabori
George Tabori ( György Tábori; 24 May 1914 – 23 July 2007) was a Hungarian writer and theatre director.
Life and career
Tabori was born in Budapest as György Tábori, a son of Kornél and Elsa Tábori. His father Kornél (Cornelius) was m ...
's play ''
Mein Kampf
(; ''My Struggle'' or ''My Battle'') is a 1925 autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The work describes the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germ ...
'', whose subject is Hitler's stay in Vienna.
After its closure, the building was briefly occupied by
squatters
Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...
. In 2007, the former dormitory was converted to a
retirement home
A retirement home – sometimes called an old people's home or old age home, although ''old people's home'' can also refer to a nursing home – is a multi-residence housing facility intended for the elderly. Typically, each person or couple i ...
with 200 rooms, named ''Seniorenschlössl Brigittenau''.
It opened in January 2009; its entrance is on Winarskystraße.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meldemannstrasse dormitory
Buildings and structures in Brigittenau
Adolf Hitler
Residential buildings in Vienna
1905 establishments in Austria
2003 disestablishments in Austria