It was one of the largest projects in the history of Munich: The Fürstenried housing estate was built for around 60 years.
Today there is to be rebuilding and densification there - but that is controversial.
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Hans Rothascher still knows the district from the time when there were fields in front of the door.
© Sigi Jantz
In the past, Hans Rothascher's house was in the middle of a garden settlement. “We walked across the open fields from the forest cemetery.” Fürstenried as we know it today did not yet exist. It was not until 1961 that the farmer's settlement became a satellite town; 60 years ago, the topping-out ceremony for the Fürstenried settlement, one of the mammoth projects in the history of the city, took place. Around 4,000 people found their home here, many in the residential honeycombs, as the Munich residents affectionately call the blocks.
The 88-year-old Hans Rothascher has witnessed the change.
The grandparents bought the house on Maxhofstrasse in 1939.
“The roads were not paved and there was no snow removal in winter,” he recalls.
Ernst Ziegler from the Forstenried Historical Association says that after the harvest, the children picked the rest of the potatoes from the field.
“We made a potato fire,” says the now 72-year-old.
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The Fürstenried housing estate: left the A95, right the Forstenrieder Allee.
© Historical Association Fürstenried
Model settlement to combat the housing shortage
That all changed when Fürstenried-Ost, then Fürstenried-West and finally Neu-Forstenried were created - to combat the housing shortage.
Ziegler: “A model settlement with different building types and social classes was planned.” He still remembers how the last harvest was collected and the construction of terraced houses began immediately afterwards.
There were condominiums, privately financed apartments and social housing.
"Many families have moved here and good contacts have been made through the church and kindergarten," says Rothascher.
"There was a spirit of optimism."
Residents criticize planned densification
A lot will change again in the near future: The Bavarian Supply Chamber would like to create around 660 new apartments through new buildings and additions, some of which will be subsidized.
A shop, a café, a neighborhood meeting place and day-care centers are also planned.
In this context, the settlement should be upgraded, for example the green spaces or the infrastructure.
But many residents are concerned about further growth.
"The redensification is excessively excessive, the infrastructure cannot cope with it," says Christoph Söllner from the Pro-Fürstenried association.
He also criticizes the fact that an inhabited building should give way to a high-rise and that the residents have to move - "an unreasonable burden".
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Heidemarie Bremer lives in an eight-story apartment building on Forst-Kasten-Allee and likes the area.
© Markus Götzfried
Our newspaper spoke to three residents about what life is like here. Lutz-Joachim and Heidemarie Bremer (75) have been living in a 100-square-meter apartment in an eight-story apartment building on Forst-Kasten-Allee for 47 years. They came to the apartment by chance, their three children grew up there. “It's nice here, the apartment is well laid out,” says Heidemarie Bremer. “The house is not particularly beautiful from the outside,” says Lutz-Joachim Bremer. “But from our balcony you can see the trees and the greenery.” But the couple fears that this could change soon. “A house with 16 floors is to be built in front of our house,” reports Heidemarie Bremer. The two expect that many trees will have to go. “The amount of people doesn't fit,” says Lutz-Joachim Bremer."There would also be too much traffic."
Mixture of high-rise and single-family houses
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Jelka Janic has lived in the settlement since 1982.
© cla
It was not easy to get your apartment, reports resident Jelka Janic.
“I went to the housing office every Tuesday for six years,” says the 77-year-old.
In 1982 it finally worked with a social flat in an apartment building on Züricher Straße.
“I like it here very much,” she says.
“I don't want to move out.” She particularly likes the green space behind the building complex.
“And the subway, the bakery and a café are right here too,” she reports.
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Maria Frank likes the mix.
© cla
“I like it in the district,” says Maria Frank, who has lived in Fürstenried for around 50 years.
“I think it's good that there is a mixture of high-rise buildings and single-family houses.” A lot has changed since she moved here: At that time, the subway didn't even go to Fürstenried, just the tram.
The 83-year-old used to enjoy cycling to Forstenrieder Park and sometimes even to Starnberg.
Even now she is satisfied: "There are many shops for shopping and doctors, you have everything you need," she says.
That is how it was intended when the settlement was built 60 years ago.
