A well-known hotelier on Lake Tegernsee accommodates refugees from the Ukraine in his luxury hotel
Created: 03/08/2022, 21:08
By: Christina Jachert-Maier
Korbinian Kohler in his Hotel Bachmair-Weissach.
Refugees from the Ukraine are now moving in here.
© Thomas Plettenberg
On Sunday evening, a bus rolled in the direction of Kreuth.
50 refugees from the Ukraine have now found shelter in Wildbad Kreuth, in the luxury hotel Bachmair Weissach and in Oberhof.
The houses belong to Korbinian Kohler and Bräustüberl landlord Peter Hubert.
Kreuth –
The message reached Kreuth's mayor Josef Bierschneider (CSU) on Sunday afternoon.
On Sunday evening he welcomed the first refugees from the Ukraine war in Wildbad Kreuth, together with the entrepreneur and hotelier Korbinian Kohler.
A total of 50 people who escaped from Putin's war are housed in the small community of Kreuth.
"A challenge," says Bierschneider.
But you will overcome them.
"If you see the situation, you have to help," says the mayor.
The community is in the process of reactivating the refugee helper group.
Korbinian Kohler makes rooms available
It is thanks to Kohler's offer that the first refugees from the Ukraine are now being housed in remote Kreuth.
As reported, the entrepreneur offered the district office last week to make rooms in Wildbad Kreuth available for refugees.
According to Kohler, the impetus came from an encounter with a Ukrainian journalist on the sidelines of a demonstration in Munich.
"I've worked with her before," says Kohler.
"War is so close." He decided to make the rooms of his pop-up lodge available.
They should be rented out again after the winter break from April.
If necessary, says Kohler, he will make the rooms available for longer.
He did not have a time limit on his offer to the district.
Refugee accommodation in Oberhof
In Kreuth, the district office also has additional accommodation.
In the summer of 2020, Bräustüberl landlord Peter Hubert rented out an apartment building in Oberhof as refugee accommodation.
He had acquired it shortly before as a staff house.
The house has not yet been occupied.
Now it is urgently needed.
20 refugees have found space there, 30 in Wildbad Kreuth.
Kohler accommodated four other people in his Hotel Bachmair Weissach.
Kohler takes care of feeding the people in his houses himself, as well as supplying them with hygiene articles.
He has set up a playroom for the children.
His employees take care of supervision and coordination.
Touched by the fate of the refugees
Upon arrival in Wildbad Kreuth, mayor Josef Bierschneider (left) and Korbinian Kohler (4th from right) with his wife Suse (3rd from right) and son Ferdinand (with hat) welcomed refugees from the Ukraine.
© Bachmair Weissach
At the topping-out ceremony on Monday for his newly-roofed Hotel Bussi Baby in Bad Wiessee, Kohler was very touched by the fate of the refugees.
“These are people like us, cultured, educated, hardworking.
They come with nothing but a suitcase and their children, some with a dog and cat,” he reported.
But without their husbands, fathers, brothers, sons to worry about.
According to Kohler, the fact that he is currently building a luxury wellness spa with a pool on the roof of a hotel felt “completely right” to him until a month ago.
In view of the hardships of the people in Ukraine, the question arises as to whether one sometimes overshoots the mark.
In any case, it is important to keep in mind the level of prosperity one lives in.
"We should look at this with a fair amount of modesty and humility."
Mayor Bierschneider praised Kohler's willingness to open the doors of Wildbad Kreuth to the refugees as a "generous sign of solidarity".
In 2020 there was trouble because of renting it out as refugee accommodation
The fact that Bräustüberl host Hubert rented his house in Oberhof as refugee accommodation to the district office was less well received by the community in 2020.
"But it was about the procedure, not about refugees moving in," Bierschneider now assures.
Hubert could also have rented to locals if he didn't need staff apartments because of Corona.
Instead, the house had been empty for two years.
Hubert only found out on Monday afternoon that his house now serves as accommodation for 20 war refugees.
The district office is responsible for care and support.
It is unclear how long those who have now arrived will stay in Kreuth.
Some, Bierschneider knows, wanted to move on to relatives who live in the EU as quickly as possible.
By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Tegernsee newsletter.
