As of: January 25, 2024, 7:01 a.m
By: Sandra Sedlmaier
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Rosengarten construction site: Where Prof. Arnulf Melzer stands, the popular actor Hans Albers once sat in a famous photo on the outside staircase that led from the house to the lake.
TUM wants to rebuild these stairs.
© Andrea Jaksch
The Albers Villa is a construction site, inside and out: students from the Technical University are working in the house and garden.
The university is fulfilling what it promised to the state parliament: to make the villa a place of encounter and remembrance.
Garatshausen
- There is a photo of the actor Hans Albers (1891-1960) in front of his villa on Lake Starnberg.
Albers sits with his partner Hansi Burg and sister Anna Holst on the wide staircase that leads from the house to the lakeshore, between lushly blooming roses.
The Technical University of Munich (TUM), which took over the property from the Free State, wants to recreate this atmosphere.
TUM students have been working on restoring the garden as it did in Albers' time and renovating the villa for around a year.
Hans Albers (1891-1960) lived in Garatshausen from 1935 until his death.
His partner Hansi Burg was Jewish and left Germany between 1939 and 1945. © Heinz Röhnert/dpa-Bildfunk
They are currently working in the garden, clearing it of the wild growth of the past decades and taking care of the oak tree on the side facing away from the lake, which suffered storm damage.
“We have to be finished here by the end of February, then we won’t be allowed to cut anything down,” says Emeritus Professor Arnulf Melzer, who collects donations for TUM, including for the Albers Villa, and coordinates the work.
Melzer lends a hand himself, as do colleagues and friends.
On this day, forestry expert Prof. Gerhard Müller-Starck is out and about on the site with students and a chainsaw.
The TUM was awarded the contract for the villa following a needs survey from the Free State.
The concept convinced the state parliament's budget committee, says Melzer.
The state parliament liked it better than what the Tutzinger initiative “Albers for All” and the “Respect & Remember” association planned to do with the villa.
Now the TUM wants to renovate the villa at its own expense and add a new building in order to have enough space for its “Young Academy”.
A commemorative concept was also part of the TUM application for the Albers Villa (see below).
According to the plan, the public should be able to come to the garden on Sundays during the summer months.
The villa itself will be reserved for students.
TUM has the money to restore the building to the condition it was in during Albers' time.
First and foremost, this is a lot of work.
Everything has been agreed with the state monument office and the monument protection authority in the district office, including the request for the outside staircase, says Melzer.
“We found a small piece of concrete from the stairs.
The students dug with picks and buckets.” The State Fisheries Institute, which used the villa until 2009, had the stairs removed in 1990.
“At that time, 340 cubic meters of gravel were dumped on top,” says Melzer.
Lots to do for his students.
You can see at first glance how much has already happened inside.
The students knocked tiles off the walls in the annex of the state institute, in the bathrooms and the kitchens; they work for 15 euros an hour.
“They would have done it for free, but we didn’t want that,” says Melzer.
All of the stair railings up to the roof have been sanded and show their warm wood tone, as have the floors.
“The old wooden floor from 1860 was revealed under the hardboard and felt,” reports Melzer.
“It should remain visible.” The balcony was cleared of moss, sanded by hand and coated with linseed oil.
“Our colleague for restoration technology, Prof. Erwin Emmerling, helped us,” says the TUM donation officer.
Working on the Albers property: Student Pamina Heimig and Prof. Gerhard Müller-Starck.
© Andrea Jaksch
The roof truss from 1860 is basically fine, with only occasional damage.
However, the floor between the attic and upper floor is completely rotten.
“We found a lot of walnuts and acorns, all brought here by mice,” says Melzer.
“This has to be redone.” Somehow for historical reasons: “Romy Schneider and Hildegard Knef are said to have stayed here.” There was no bathroom under the roof, but there was plenty of space under the sloping ceilings.
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Melzer estimates that the students will be ready by April.
Then he could start commissioning specialist offices.
Electrics and water pipes should be replaced, as should the heating.
The old oil heating system has already been removed, says Melzer.
One of the students lights the fireplace for snacks in the former living room and future fireplace room for mentor discussions.
The villa in which Albers lived with his partner is actually not particularly large.
210 square meters of usable space, a living room with bay window and open fireplace, three rooms and a bathroom on the first floor and the attic.
Around 15 sleeping places are to be created for the “Young Academy”.
A breakfast room and kitchen are planned in the fishing annex, and a new seminar building for around 70 people will be built in the garden, says Melzer.
“So that we can meet the demands of the budget committee and work with the local cultural associations.”
Melzer isn't worried about getting enough money.
His donors are ready.
At the moment he is expecting costs of three to four million euros.
Ascending trend.
The TUM memory concept
The villa of the popular actor Hans Albers is more than just a property with a sensational view of Lake Starnberg and the mountain range.
It is the setting for a German-Jewish love story that survived the Nazi era.
Albers' partner Hansi Burg entered into a marriage of convenience in 1935, but continued to live with Albers in Garatshausen.
She emigrated in 1939 and returned in 1946.
This special story is part of the memory concept that the Technical University of Munich (TUM) is developing.
This love story in the context of society as a whole back then and its impact on the present and the future, both for the individual and for society, should be processed in an app, among other things.
This can be seen from the plans that TUM presented to the state parliament and which envisage collaboration with the Tutzing Academy for Political Education and the NS Documentation Center.
In addition to the app, the concept includes other measures such as seminars and discussions.
The “Young Academy” is also a good choice in connection with the concept of remembrance and strengthening moral courage, as Prof. Arnulf Melzer emphasizes.
“1,000 of our students apply every year and 50 are accepted.” What counts is not just intellectual performance and grades, but also social commitment.
“We don’t need specialist idiots, we need people who move the world.”