"A cool place in warm weather", this is how the forderverein describes the open-air swimming pool in grafenberg. The fact that the number of visitors reached new dimensions this year was not only due to the weather. It is also thanks to the commitment of the forderverein that the pool was able to be reopened at all after the big bang in 2016. This, too, will be remembered at the weekend during the 80th anniversary of the grafenberg open-air pool. Because that, too, is part of the history of the open-air swimming pool, which began in 1937. It did not emerge from a pool of loo water, but was built as an open-air pool from the very beginning. It has 50 meter long lanes.
With sloping walls
The pool was built with sloping walls, as was customary at the time, in order to produce less excavated earth and save concrete. Where the parking lots are now, there was a pond in which the water was temporarily stored. It existed until the 60s. Then came the first hygiene regulations and the intermediate pond was abandoned. The construction of the open-air swimming pool, in which the people of grafenberg themselves lent a hand, began in the summer of 1937. Only one year later the open-air swimming pool was finished. The cost: 30,000 reichsmarks, as gerhard gundelfinger recorded in his local chronicle. And also the little story about the bath can be read there. For even though most of the people of grafenberg went to the open-air pool, they stayed in the non-swimmer’s pool. This was visually separated from the swimming pool by a wooden beam.
Hardly anyone knew how to swim
Hardly anyone could swim, there was simply no opportunity to learn how to swim before the open-air pool was built. The quickest to learn this were the youngsters, who soon ventured into the swimming pool to the amazement of the older generation. The admiration of the bathers was secured by the one who dared to take a header from the iron diving tower. The diving tower of yesteryear no longer exists. But memories of those early years. "As children, we went to the outdoor pool every day." This statement can be heard from almost every citizen in grafenberg who is now 70 or 80 years old. For many people in grafenberg, this remained the case until 2016, when, despite annual warnings from the public health department, it went bust. The open-air swimming pool was closed.
The circulation pump was missing
In addition to many minor deficiencies, the lack of a circulation pump was one of the main reasons for the department’s action. Demonstrations and crisis meetings followed. Finally, the city council decided to renovate the pool. The forderverein, which was founded in 1996, has taken on the maintenance and modernization of the outdoor pool and has done a lot, not least in the implementation of the renovation. "We from the forderverein paid for the house for the facility and boarded it up ourselves", write the responsible persons in a leaflet, which was brought out especially for the birthday. Many hours were spent in the pool by the members on a voluntary basis, laying the sewage pipes, cleaning the pool and trying everything possible to open the pool. The no remained, the season was lost and the pool was closed for the first time in history. It was not until 2017 that the longed-for "yes" came as recognition of the work and investment that had gone into the pool. The summer party and the "90s party in the open-air pool by the association "4.1.4 in love" are among the regular events, the profits of which are put back into the baths for the renovation work. So the 80. Birthday of the open-air swimming pool with a celebration on saturday, 8. September, celebrated. "DJ sonic" will provide music and good mood from 6 p.M. To midnight. Food is served from the grill. Fireworks will round off the festivities. The entry is free.