The Große Freiheit (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

for: "Great Freedom") is a cross street on the North Side to

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Reeperbahn The Reeperbahn () is a street and entertainment district in Hamburg's St. Pauli district, one of the two centres of Hamburg's nightlife (the other being Sternschanze) and also the city's major red-light district. In German, it is also nick ...

road in the

St. Pauli St. Pauli (Sankt Pauli; ) is a quarter of the city of Hamburg belonging to the centrally located Hamburg-Mitte borough. Situated on the right bank of the Elbe river, the nearby Landungsbrücken is a northern part of the port of Hamburg. St. ...

quarter. It is part of the red-light district.

History

The street was named in 1610 after the fact that Count Ernest of Schaumburg and Holstein-Pinneberg had granted religious freedom to non-Lutherans such as Mennonites and Roman Catholics to practise their faith here and commercial freedom for handcrafters not enrolled in the else compelling guilds. At that time this district was part of the city of Altona within the county of

Holstein-Pinneberg The County of Holstein-Pinneberg (), also known as the County of Schauenburg and Holstein-Pinneberg (), was a small territory which existed from 1290 until 1640, centred around Pinneberg in modern-day Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Rise and fall of ...

, and did not yet belong to Hamburg. When the Duchy of

Holstein-Glückstadt Holstein-Glückstadt or Schleswig-Holstein-Glückstadt is the historiographical name, as well as contemporary shorthand name, for the parts of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein that were ruled by the Kings of Denmark in their function as dukes ...

annexed Holstein-Pinneberg in 1640 the comital freedoms were confirmed. Non-Lutherans were forbidden to publicly practise their religions in Lutheran Hamburg proper. The street has still a Catholic church (St. Joseph), situated among rather unholy businesses. The Mennonite church, established in 1611, moved into another neighbourhood in 1915. In 1938, when the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...

changed borders with the

Greater Hamburg Act The Greater Hamburg Act (german: Groß-Hamburg-Gesetz), in full the Law Regarding Greater Hamburg and Other Territorial Readjustments (german: Gesetz über Groß-Hamburg und andere Gebietsbereinigungen), was passed by the government of Nazi Germa ...

, the street became part of Hamburg. In 1944, the German movie '' Große Freiheit Nr. 7'' with Hans Albers was named after the road. In the 1960s, The Beatles played here, e.g. in Große Freiheit 36 (

Kaiserkeller Kaiserkeller is a music club in the St. Pauli quarter of Hamburg, Germany, near the Reeperbahn. It was opened by Bruno Koschmider on 14 October 1959. The Beatles had a contract with Kaiserkeller to play there in 1960. History A Caribbean steel ...

), Große Freiheit 64 (today Indra-Musikclub), and in Große Freiheit 39 (the

Star-Club The Star-Club was a music club in Hamburg, Germany, that opened on Friday 13 April 1962, and was initially operated by Manfred Weissleder and Horst Fascher. In the 1960s, many of the giants of rock music played at the club. The club closed on 3 ...

, 1962–1969). The street still hosts music clubs like '' Große Freiheit 36'' and '' Grünspan''. In the 1970s, several sex theatres (''Salambo'', ''Regina'', ''Colibri'', ''Safari'') showed live sex acts on stage. , until its closure in 2013, the ''Safari'' was the only live sex theatre left in Germany. The popular

table dance A table dance, or bartop dance, is a dance performed at (or on) a table or bar, as opposed to on a stage. It may be an erotic dance performed by a sex worker or it may be done as a leisure activity. Sex work In some jurisdictions, a table dance m ...

club ''Dollhouse'' now takes the place of the ''Salambo''. In 1975, the German rock band Randy Pie used two views of Grosse Freiheit for their album ''Kitsch'': the front cover is a picture of the street at night, while the back cover is the same view but at day time. In 2008, the Beatles-Platz square was built. In the same year, Hamburg's oldest brothel, the Hotel Luxor, which had operated on the street for 60 years, closed. There is only one hotel on the street, the St. Joseph Hotel Hamburg, which opened 2005 and named after the church of the same name, St. Joseph.

Sights

Image:Große_freiheit_rockclub.jpg, Music club "Große Freiheit 36" Image:Grenzgang Gr.Freiheit.jpg, Houses at the "Grenzgang" of Altona, between Große Freiheit and Talstraße Image:St. Joseph Kirche.jpg, St. Joseph Church on Große Freiheit

In popular culture

The popular 1944 movie '' Große Freiheit Nr. 7'' tells the story of a singer (played by Hans Albers) who works in a Reeperbahn club and falls in love with a girl played by Ilse Werner. '' Kleine Freiheit'' (international title: A Little Bit of Freedom) is a 2003 film by Kurdish director Yüksel Yavuz about the friendship (and later relationship) between two teenage boys who are illegal immigrants in Germany, is set on the street and the title is a play on words about the street.Gozde Naiboglu

Literature

* Uwe Heimowski: ''Brunos Dankeschön - Geschichten von der Reeperbahn,'' Neufeld Verlag, Schwarzenfeld 2005,

References

External links

* *
Images from the road, Grosse Freiheit

City of Hamburg about Reeperbahn

History Reeperbahn

''Beatles Hamburg 1966'' on Youtube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grosse Freiheit Red-light districts in Germany Streets in Hamburg Prostitution in Germany