Hall of mourning is being renewed | Offenbach

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The city council approves partial demolition with a new building for six million euros on the new cemetery. Only the SPD takes a stand.

All Offenbach city councilors agreed on at least one point on Thursday evening: The condition of the mourning hall in the New Cemetery is unworthy of a place of mourning. Among other things, it is not barrier-free, the rooms have problems with mold and there are cracks in the ceilings and walls. After almost an hour of discussion, the majority of the city council voted in favor of a new building with partial demolition of the old building. The left abstained, the SPD voted against and even pleaded for it to be removed from the agenda, but was unable to prevail.

It is unclear what happens to the glass windows by the Offenbach-born artist Bernd Rosenheim in the double doors and under the roof. Rosenheim had threatened the city with legal action if they should vote for a partial demolition. “There are two options,” said City Councilor Peter Freier (CDU). “You can expand the work of art as long as it’s not done in a degrading way. Or we expand it and give it back to the artist. ”A third option, integration into the new building, is not easy due to the“ character of Mr. Rosenheim ”. Freier wants to have one more check what possible recourse claims by the artist would mean.

The SPD had justified the postponement of the vote that it wanted to say that there had been no public participation in the project. Finally, the ESO, the Offenbacher service company, showed two alternatives: a new building with partial demolition or a renovation. At 6.8 million euros, this would have been around 800,000 euros more expensive than the new building. With this variant, the annual operating costs would be just under 51,600 euros, higher than for a new building (around 36,000 euros).

“It cannot be that a secular sacred building with a mystical light experience gives way to a new mourning hall with the charm of a gymnastics hall,” said Holger Hinkel from the SPD. He was pretty much alone with that description. Dominik Schwagereit (FDP) called the hall a “dark and unfriendly place” as long as the sun was not shining. “The matter is about a mourning hall, which as such initially represents a functional building,” emphasized Andreas Bruszynski (CDU) and listed the advantages of a new building: the improvement for the employees, the orientation towards interdenominational use, accessibility , an extension option for the crematorium and more flexibility in the size of funeral services.

Peter Freier added in the direction of the SPD: “If this building was so important to you, it would have been expressed in the corresponding actions in recent years.” Due to Corona, no face-to-face event, only a citizen information video was possible. “If the interest had been so great, more than 117 people would have watched it,” concluded Freier.

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