# Earth Stadium: Sunken German Stadium Berlin 1909



## Timeshifter (Sep 14, 2020)

Olympic Stadium Berlin

I was listening to sports radio in the UK today and they were discussing how this stadium was dug out of the ground this immediately peeked my interest, so I have done a quick bit of research. This will have holes, it was quick, so please do chip in, elaborate and contribute J

The original stadium: German Stadium Berlin.



1920: Photo: Deutsches Stadion - Berlin B&W | Germany album | Whocares-nl

According to wiki:

‘The stadium was located on the site of today's Berlin Olympic Stadium. It was in the inside of a race track, opened in 1909. Racetrack Grunewald created *sunk *and only accessible through a tunnel’

TS: Created sunk and only accessible through a tunnel, ears are pricked up now…

‘They decided on an earth stadium so as not to obstruct the spectators on the racetrack. Thus, only the imperial lodge and an opposite pillar affected the view over the racetrack. After 200 days of construction, the 2.2 million mark expensive construction finished. The architect himself no longer experienced the opening, as he died on April 1, 1913’

There are no links to references of this info on wiki, which always makes me suspicious. Why in the world would you build a stadium into the ground? Unless perhaps the stadium of sorts was already there, but covered with mud?

Wiki further states: ‘The stadium was opened on June 8, 1913 with a large stadium consecration. On the same day also the subway operation was added to the station stadium for the first time’

TS: I cannot discern what this means, was there an underground station at the stadium? or does it mean nearby? Google translate hasn't helped.

Again no links for references for the above.

Further, no dates, only a poor wiki statement of ‘ Already at this time was a *85,000 m² excavated* pit in the middle of the stadium construction, but delayed due to financial problems’ on wiki. That is a lot of excavated dirt… Ears still pricked up...

Wiki states that it was a 200 day construction. 1913, 200 days to build this stadium, does this sound plausible, even in the 85,000 m2 had already been excavated?

More from Wiki: ‘The Schwimmbahntribüne was framed by numerous sculptures, which were created at short notice under the direction of Count Adalbert von Francken-Sierstorpff . Because of the short construction time, the sculptures were in Stucco is made of a mixture of gypsum and cement casting’

So here we have some more fakery with regards to sculptures, I wonder if they were known at the time to be fakes? A building for an Olympics using fakes due to lack of time?
Ref: V. Kluge: Olympic Stadium Berlin - stones begin to talk. 1999, p. 38.

So here we have an Olympic ‘earth’ stadium, built inside an existing horse racing track,  within 200 days, yet I can find zero, zilch, no photographs, etchings, drawing or other of any construction (Online at least). Why is that? A building being readied for the 1916 Olympics and not a single construction photograph?

Photography is well in to the public domain by 1900 if we believe the official timeline.

However I did find this plan stated to be from 1909:



Deutsches Stadion (Berlin) – Wikipedia

I cannot find any further information on its planning, construction, other than the name Otto March? Who if we believe his Wiki page, was the architect for many other buildings Otto March – Wikipedia

As the Olympics never occurred, the stadium was used for soccer and the German College of Physical Education who continued to arrect buildings around the site.

We then seem to have a gap in info, where the stadium appears to have been initially rebuilt for the 1936 Olympics, yet I can find little evidence of any rebuilding or construction and information is very patchy, only wiki stating the original stadium was demolished din 1934 and rebuilt, under Hitler’s command and new architect for 1936. However, if you look at both stadiums it is clear that the stadium remained an ‘earth’ stadium, and does to this day.

1934 - 1936 stadium:


File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R82532, Berlin, Olympia-Stadion (Luftaufnahme).jpg - Wikipedia



Even though much changed, the stadium remained partially underground’

Here are some images I found purporting to be of the construction of the 1934-46 stadium






Links

Skyscrapers of old under construction - Page 3 - SkyscraperPage Forum

World History Facts

One thing I notice with many of these older construction photographs, the distinct lack or work, movement or people. In 1934, shutter speeds were rapid.

This is quite a massive build, in 2 years? Again does this seem feasible in 1934? A stadium local to me took almost a year to build and is only 10,000 capacity and was using ‘modern’ techniques.



New York Stadium - Wikipedia

Further it has taken Tottenham Hotspurs premier league soccer team, almost 2 years to complete their ‘upgrade’ of a 60,000 seater stadium.



Northumberland Development Project - Wikipedia


So to recap:

1909: An ‘established’ as an ‘Earth’ Stadium for the Olympics, complete with underground station? and fake décor. Earth stadium design for better viewing?

1913: Completed and unveiled, the same day as the New Underground Station, which also houses an underground museum… U-Bahnhof Olympia-Stadion – Wikipedia

1914: Closed and used as an Hospital, only occasion athletics afterwards.

1916: Olympics never happen because of the War

1916 – 1934: Some football and local events, nothing major

1934: Old stadium upgraded/ demolished, conflicting research

1934 – 36: Stadium rebuilt, but ‘earth; stadium and original tunnel retained

1936 onwards, I haven’t had much time to look at, but the stadium has been renovated much since.

Official timeline here: https://www.archinform.net/projekte/8974.htm

An interesting aside, for the 2004 alterations, here is something of interest I noticed:

‘With the intention of creating a more intimate atmosphere for football games, the playing field was lowered by 2.65 metres (8.7 ft). Approximately 90,000 cubic metres *(3,200,000 cu ft) of sand *was excavated. The lower tier of seating in the stadium was demolished and rebuilt at a completely different angle of inclinations’

Link: https://www.archinform.net/projekte/8974.htm#79336315c776b03b03f7bf08e2609323

*Sand, *given the thread here talking about possible sand flood, not mud?

_Dust_

This all seems very strange to me. We have very limited info and or images of the original stadium construction, renovation, demolition, and some scares evidence of the 1934-36 rebuilding, but very little construction photographic evidence.

The thing that struck me was, why build a stadium into the earth? (I did a search on ‘earth stadiums and found only 4, all in Germany, although I am sure there must be more?) Erdstadion – Wikipedia

It makes no sense to me. Wiki says it is easier to construct and earth stadium, no foundations required? I don’t buy that for a second. It makes more sense to me that something was already there and it was easier to dig out, rather than build?

A sunken stadium with an underground station and underground museum nearby? I smell something fishy here. And very little evidence of construction of any of this?

Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Do we have any German friends who could help out, much of wiki is translated. Apologies for the lack of deep research, I know there will be lots of political, regional etc reasons to add to this, I just haven’t had the time.

I’ve done this on the hoof before I forgot about it : )





> Note: This OP was recovered from the Sh.org archive.


----------

