The Große Freiheit is a side street to the Reeperbahn / Nobistor, starting at Beatles Square, which today belongs to the district of St. Pauli. The road was created in 1610 in Altona.
Its official name since the 17th century, like the neighboring Kleine Freiheit, has been influenced by religious and Freedom of trade, the resident, unzünftige craftsmen u. Glaubensgem. enjoyed in the city of Altona. It goes to a 1601 by Count Ernst von Schauenburg issued privilege to the Mennonite dealer François Noë u. others, which allowed them to set up a special economic zone in Altona, which eventually became known as Liberty. To the religion u. Trade freedoms still reminds the cath. St. Joseph's Church with its representative Baroque façade (rebuilt 1721) a. the listed building ensemble Große Freiheit 73 (built 1850) a. 75 (1772) as a former parish houses of the Altona Mennonites. The Great Freedom 75 housed the former pastorate, the Great Freedom 73 consisted in its original form of 2 wings, which marked the entrance to the 1943/44 bombed former Mennonite Church u. were joined later. Foundations u. Building remains of the ruined church are still between the building u. an adjacent school building suspected. Near the Altonaer Reichenstraße u. the Pepermölenbek was in the 18th century also the Dompelaarkirche. In the neighboring Little Freedom were each a French u. German-Dutch Reformed Church.
To St. Pauli the street belongs only since December 1938, when the National Socialists changed as a result of the incorporation of Altona to Hamburg by the Greater Hamburg Act, the neighborhood limits analogous to the boundaries of the Nazi Party districts.
It owes its fame to the nightclubs that used to exist there, such as Salambo, Safari, Colibri, Regina u. a., which were characterized by the fact that they not only offered striptease, but also showed the sexual act, sometimes in costumes, on stage. All are now closed.
Today the street offers some well-known music clubs & clubs. Discos like Große Freiheit 36, Kaiserkeller u. Verdigris u. is a busy part of the nightlife of the Reeperbahn. In the Great Freedom 64 is still the Indra music club to find the Beatles had their first performances before they came through their concerts in the Star Club to greater fame.