Deutschlandhalle was an arena located in the Westend neighbourhood of Berlin, Germany. It was inaugurated on 29 November 1935 by

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 building was granted landmark status in 1995, but was demolished on 3 December 2011.

History

Built primarily for the 1936 Summer Olympics, the Deutschlandhalle could hold 8,764 people. The Olympic

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

weightlifting Weightlifting generally refers to activities in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells or barbells. People lift various kinds of weights for a variety of different reasons. These may include various types of competition; promo ...

and

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 ...

competitions took place here. On 19 February 1938 test pilot

Hanna Reitsch Hanna Reitsch (29 March 1912 – 24 August 1979) was a German aviator and test pilot. Along with Melitta von Stauffenberg, she flight tested many of Germany's new aircraft during World War II and received many honors. Reitsch was amon ...

demonstrated the first indoor flight in the arena with a

Focke-Wulf Fw 61 The Focke-Wulf Fw 61 is often considered the first practical, functional helicopter, first flown in 1936. It was also known as the Fa 61, as Focke began a new company—Focke-Achgelis—in 1937. Design and development Professor Henrich Foc ...

helicopter. Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-P018933, Berlin, Deutschlandhalle

Heavily damaged by air raids in 1943, the Deutschlandhalle was rebuilt after World War II and from 1957 served as a multi purpose arena and sports venue, in the last years primarily for

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

, but also for indoor soccer and again for

. After the 1990 German reunification, the Deutschlandhalle lost its position as Berlin's primary arena, replaced by the newly erected

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 ...

Max-Schmeling-Halle Max-Schmeling-Halle is a multi-purpose arena, in Berlin, Germany, named after the famous German boxer Max Schmeling. Apart from Mercedes-Benz Arena and the Velodrom, it's one of Berlin's biggest indoor sports arenas and holds from 8,861 people, up ...

and Mercedes-Benz Arena. In 1998 it was closed but in 2001 was reopened again as an ice hockey venue for

BSC Preussen BSC Preussen was an ice hockey team in Berlin, Germany that existed between 1983 and 2005. They played in the highest German league from 1987 to 2001, reaching the playoff semifinals on seven occasions. History BSC Preussen was founded in 1983 in ...

, who needed a new home venue after their old venue, Eisstadion an der Jafféstraße, had been demolished. Preussen used it as their home venue until 2009 when it was finally closed. After the building had to be closed for repairs several times, the

Berlin Senate The Senate of Berlin (german: Berliner Senat) is the executive body governing the city of Berlin, which at the same time is a state of Germany. According to the the Senate consists of the Governing Mayor of Berlin and up to ten senators appoint ...

in May 2008 decided to demolish it. Demolition took place on 3 December 2011 with the explosive destruction of the roof.

Events

The arena hosted the 1980 FIBA European Champions Cup final between

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

and Real Madrid, in which Madrid won 89–85, the

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

FIBA Korać Cup The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the third-tier level club competition in European basketball, after the FIBA European Champions' Cup (later renamed th ...

finals in which local Alba Berlin won the trophy,Club History
and the

1995 World Amateur Boxing Championships The Men's 1995 World Amateur Boxing Championships were held in the Deutschlandhalle in Berlin, Germany from May 4 to May 15. The eighth edition of this competition, held a year before the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, was organised by the ...

. The building has also been used for musical events: as part of her ''À travers l'Europe Tour'', in 1959

Dalida Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti (; 17 January 1933 – 3 May 1987), professionally known as Dalida, was an Italian-French singer and actress born in Egypt. She sang in eleven languages and sold millions of records internationally. Her best known son ...

had a sold out concert in front of audience of 9,500.

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...

performed here in 1960; the concert was recorded as '' Ella in Berlin''. On 4 September 1970, it was the site of Jimi Hendrix's penultimate performance. On 30 November 1980,

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

had performed a concert in the Deutschlandhalle. During the solo of Bohemian Rhapsody (song), Brian accidentally broke a string of his guitar. The 1981 film '' Christiane F.'' shows a performance by

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

in the Deutschlandhalle (this scene consists of footage of crowds at an unrelated AC/DC concert in the Deutschlandhalle interspersed with studio scenes featuring Bowie).

References

External links

Deutschlandhalle
(German)
Hitler’s mega development – The Deutschlandhalle
(English) {{Authority control Venues of the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic boxing venues Olympic weightlifting venues Olympic wrestling venues Indoor arenas in Germany Basketball venues in Germany Indoor ice hockey venues in Germany Nazi architecture Sports venues in Berlin Buildings and structures in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf Buildings and structures demolished in 2011 Demolished buildings and structures in Berlin Boxing venues in Germany Articles containing video clips 1935 establishments in Germany Former ice hockey venues Defunct basketball venues Defunct indoor arenas