“Hans B\u00f6ckler Stra\u00dfe. Ever think about the lives intertwined with the stones beneath your feet?”
This is Hans B\u00f6ckler Stra\u00dfe, a street in Bremen with a layered past. It runs through Walle, specifically Utbremen. The street stretches from Doventorscontrescarpe and Bundesstra\u00dfe 75 up to Nordstra\u00dfe and Hansestra\u00dfe.
Once, this street was part of Nordstra\u00dfe. In 1951, it was renamed Hans-B\u00f6ckler-Stra\u00dfe. It honored Hans B\u00f6ckler. He was a politician and trade unionist. B\u00f6ckler was important in the Weimar Republic. He helped rebuild trade unions after 1945. In 1949, he became the first chairman of the German Trade Union Confederation.
Let’s talk about the cross streets. Auf dem Kamp got its name from a field enclosed by ditches or hedges. B\u00fcrgermeister-Hildebrand-Stra\u00dfe was named after Bremen’s mayor Hermann Hildebrand in 1956. Lloydstra\u00dfe is named for Norddeutscher Lloyd. It was once Bremen’s biggest shipping company. Today, it’s part of Hapag-Lloyd. Wolfardstra\u00dfe honors Adolf Wolfard. He was a journalist killed by a parcel bomb in his office in 1951. Zweigstra\u00dfe branches off from Baumstra\u00dfe. Friedrich-Naumann-Ring is named after the liberal politician Friedrich Naumann. Finally, Hansestra\u00dfe refers to the Hanseatic League. Bremen joined it in 1260.
Walle has early roots. The village was first mentioned in 1139. The Hof-Walle of the Lords of Walle appeared in 1179. The construction of the free port after 1888 spurred the development of Walle’s districts. The large Bremen jute spinning mill and weaving mill employed over 2,000 workers around 1895. They lived in densely built residential areas.
During World War II, Walle suffered extensive destruction in 1943 and 1944. From 1953 to 1955, a larger housing estate emerged. It was called Westliche Vorstadt. Gewoba, Bremer Treuhand and Schoss built it. Max S\u00e4ume and others planned it. The Volkshaus was badly damaged. It was rebuilt with only minor changes.
A horse-drawn tram ran on this street from 1881. Back then it was still Nordstra\u00dfe. It was the ring line to the intersection with Hansastra\u00dfe. Before electrification in 1900, two more lines appeared. All three linked Ostertorsteinweg through the city center with the mentioned intersection. Sometimes, they used a route closer to the port via Korffsdeich. Line numbers were introduced. For decades, these were lines 1, 2 and 3.
Line 1 was discontinued in 1942 due to the war. It never reopened. After World War II, the tracks on Hans-B\u00f6ckler-Stra\u00dfe were initially removed. Lines 2 and 3 used the Korffsdeich route. In 1962, this was abandoned. The lines returned to Hans-B\u00f6ckler-Stra\u00dfe. Since then, line 2 serves the southern part. It turns towards Walle in the middle of the street. Line 3 ran the entire length of Hans-B\u00f6ckler-Stra\u00dfe for decades.
In 2006, Bremer Stra\u00dfenbahn built a new parallel route for line 3. It runs through \u00dcberseestadt. This closely follows the old Korffsdeich route. The section of Hans-B\u00f6ckler-Stra\u00dfe that was no longer used remains as an operational route.
Buildings along the street include two- to three-story houses and four- to seven-story commercial buildings. Except for the Volkshaus and the bunker, all buildings date from after 1945. The Volkshaus at number 9 was built in 1928. Richard Jansen designed it. It had over 400 rooms for trade unions. From 1933 to 1938, it was the House of the German Labor Front of the Nazis. Now, it’s a social center. Eight sculptures by Bernhard Hoetger from 1928 to 1933 adorn the building. Six of the figures are recasts from 1979.
Other notable buildings include open residential buildings from the 1960s and 70s. There are also residential buildings at numbers 5-7 and 55-71. A business building stands at number 75. On the west side, there is a high-bay warehouse for coffee products. It dates from around 1990. A business building sits on the corner of Lloydstra\u00dfe 12. Another business building stands at numbers 48/50. A deaconess bunker is at number 58.
The Volkshaus features eight sculptures as a cycle of work by Hoetger from 1928. These figures are recasts from 1979 by Manfred Lohrengel. Stolpersteine commemorate victims of National Socialism.
Hans-B\u00f6ckler-Stra\u00dfe shows Bremen’s changing face. From trade union roots to modern life, each stone tells a story. Take a moment to think about that.