Werner-Seelenbinder-Halle

Werner-Seelenbinder-Halle was an indoor sporting arena located in the

Prenzlauer Berg Prenzlauer Berg () is a locality of Berlin, forming the southerly and most urban district of the borough of Pankow. From its founding in 1920 until 2001, Prenzlauer Berg was a district of Berlin in its own right. However, that year it was incorp ...

district of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It was named after the executed Berlin resistance fighter

Werner Seelenbinder Werner Seelenbinder (2 August 1904 – 24 October 1944) was a German communist and wrestler. Early years Seelenbinder was born in Stettin, Pomerania (modern-day Poland), and became a wrestler after training as a joiner. He had connections wit ...

, a German

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

champion at several European championships and

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

athlete. The arena opened in 1950 in what was then

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

, in a converted hall that had been part of the central cattle market and slaughterhouse complex. It then hosted the first national meeting of the

Free German Youth The Free German Youth (german: Freie Deutsche Jugend; FDJ) is a youth movement in Germany. Formerly, it was the official youth movement of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. The organization was meant ...

. One of the major sports venues in Berlin in the 20th century, the capacity of the arena was up to 10,000 people. Until the opening of the

Palast der Republik The Palace of the Republic (german: link=no, Palast der Republik) was a building in Berlin that hosted the ''Volkskammer'', the parliament of East Germany, from 1976 to 1990. The Palace of the Republic, also known as the "People's Palace", was ...

in 1976, East German mass organizations like the

Socialist Unity Party of Germany The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (german: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, ; SED, ), often known in English as the East German Communist Party, was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East German ...

(SED) regularly used the Werner-Seelenbinder-Halle as a convention hall. From 1970 to 1990 it was also the site of the annual

Festival of Political Songs , image = , caption =1989 , location = East Berlin, East Germany , years_active =1970-1990 , founders =Oktoberklub, Free German Youth , dates =February , genre = Rock, folk, political music , attendance ...

. On 7 March 1988

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depeche ...

made their East German debut here, followed by

The Wedding Present The Wedding Present are an English indie rock group originally formed in 1985 in Leeds, England, from the ashes of The Lost Pandas. The band's music has evolved from fast-paced indie rock in the vein of their most obvious influences The Fall, ...

and

Jonathan Richman Jonathan Michael Richman (born May 16, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. In 1970, he founded the Modern Lovers, an influential proto-punk band. Since the mid-1970s, Richman has worked either solo or with low-key acoustic a ...

but also by

Feeling B Feeling B was a punk rock band founded in East Berlin in 1983. They started out firmly grounded in the underground punk scene. Over time, Feeling B's popularity grew greatly, and climaxed around the end of the German Democratic Republic. Front ...

and

Rio Reiser Ralph Christian Möbius (9 January 1950 – 20 August 1996), known professionally as Rio Reiser, was a German musician and the singer of rock group Ton Steine Scherben. He supported squatting in the early 1970s and later the green political part ...

in the same year. Werner-Seelenbinder-Halle was closed and demolished in 1993. It was replaced by the present-day

Velodrom The Velodrom (velodrome) is an indoor track cycling arena, in the Prenzlauer Berg locality of Berlin, Germany. Holding up to 12,000 people, it was also Berlin's largest concert venue, until the opening of O2 World in 2008. It is part of a large ...

. Sports venues in Berlin Indoor ice hockey venues in Germany Defunct sports venues in Germany Sports venues demolished in 1993 Demolished buildings and structures in Berlin Defunct indoor arenas {{Berlin-struct-stub