Hellerau

Geschichte

Hellerau is a northern quarter in the City of Dresden, Germany, slightly south of Dresden Airport. It was the first garden city in Germany. The northern section of Hellerau absorbed the village of Klotzsche, where some 18th century buildings remain.OriginsBased on the ideas of Ebenezer Howard, businessman Karl Schmidt-Hellerau founded Hellerau near Dresden in 1909. The idea was to create an organic, planned community. Several well-known architects participated in its construction, including Richard Riemerschmid, Heinrich Tessenow, Hermann Muthesius, Kurt Frick, Georg Metzendorf, Wilhelm Kreis and Bruno Paul.Hellerau attracted cultural visionaries from all over Europe. Among them were Émile Jaques-Dalcroze, composer, and Mary Wigman, choreographer. Until the start of World War I annual festivals attracted further members of the progressive elite of the time. In 1921 educator A. S. Neill founded his Summerhill School here. With the establishment of the National Socialist (Nazi) government in Germany in 1933, the progressive community at Hellerau ended.