Gaststätte Kretscham
THE ABANDONED THEATER IN GERMANY
Gaststätte Kretscham was once a bustling center for the working class, filled with lively events and community activities. Located in Ebersbach, this guesthouse and theater witnessed significant historical changes.
The first mention of this ‘Gaststätte Kretscham’ in Ebersbach was in 1537. A Kretscham is a village inn or a tavern. Ernst Rotzsche built the current hotel in 1910. It was 2000 m2 big, had three floors with two big theaters. Gaststätte Kretscham was a vibrant guesthouse and theater that served as a hub for the working class in its heyday. The theater hosted many events and was used by the local school as a dance studio and a training facility for Ebersbach chess players.
In the 1980s, the building was used as a HO-hotel. HO was short for Handelsorganisation or in English: ‘Trading Organisation’. It was the DDR retail business, that was created in 1948 by the Soviets. At the same time, the trade organisation also operated hotels, like this guesthouse.
In 1989, during the political turmoil in the DDR, the business and its hotels were taken over by the Treuhandanstalt, the agency managing state-owned enterprises. After the German reunification, the hotel was abandoned in 1993. Over the next twenty years, the building fell into disrepair, and the roof partially collapsed.
In 2016, just months after my visit, Gaststätte Kretscham was demolished. The demolition cost around 200,000 euros, marking the end of an era for this once lively establishment.
