Villa Baltic (Kühlungsborn)

"The rarely beautiful building, the exceptionally large, wonderful park in which it is located, the location directly on the sea offer the most splendid opportunities for relaxation for the tired nerves of intellectual workers": This is how enthusiastically the Berlin University for the Science of Judaism describes it "Villa Baltic" in Arendsee in the early 1930s. The house, furnished with marble inside, served the Jewish academics as a rest home at that time. The wide, kilometer-long Baltic Sea beach is right outside the door, the neo-baroque property dominates the promenade with its column-supported veranda, bay windows, turrets and richly decorated gable. "

The search for traces first leads to the Heimatstube, a small museum in Kühlungsborn: The Jewish origins of the house are discussed in a showcase. A photo shows Wilhelm and Margarete Hausmann. The Berlin lawyer and notary had the villa built between 1910 and 1912 for 2.5 million gold marks - as a private house. The couple remains childless. Margarete Hausmann later bequeathed the property to the Jewish university. In 1931, the "Akademische Gesellschaft Hausmann-Stiftung" founded the year before opened its rest home, which was visited by 104 Jewish visitors in the first year: "The price for a full board with the best food (ritual) is RM 5."

Arendsee (today Kühlungsborn-West) was a popular holiday resort with Jewish families, but that ended the Nazi rule and the story goes on of course, but no one finds a concept for this building after the fall of the Wall. So it is there, I wonder how much longer?

Sources and much more to read:
ndr.de/kultur/geschichte/schauplaetze/villabaltic101_page-1.html
jg-berlin.org/beitraege/details/das-judenschloss-am-meer-i357d-2010-12-01.html

Unfortunately, the house continues to deteriorate and had to be blocked against vandalism.

Architecturally worth seeing, but in the meantime in need of renovation and therefore rather to be described as a 'low light' 😩