1904: Everyone rushed to the abattoir: it was the most modern in Europe
You have to give the old Offenbachers credit for foresight and optimism. When they opened their new abattoir on October 2, 1904, it was designed for 100,000 inhabitants, with building reserves for the needs of 200,000, even though the city had just 60,000 inhabitants. They had built for the future. As modern as the latest technology would allow. It was worth two million gold marks to them.
The new abattoir replaced a facility that had been in operation in the former stables of Isenburg Palace since 1832. It stood where the University of Design is located today. Not only the knowledge of a young generation of engineers was used in the planning of the new building "on a greenfield site" outside the city. Practical experts, the future users of the facility, also had a say in the decision. Three Offenbach master butchers appointed by the guild were assigned to the planning committee of the city councillors.
What they had developed caused a sensation. The experts were amazed that this was Europe's most modern abattoir. Commissions from many cities, including from abroad, traveled to Offenbach to inspect it. One even came from as far away as Russia. And even more cities requested the memorandum with the technical details. Probably the longest journey was made by a request from Chile in South America.
But the citizens of Offenbach were also allowed to visit the new abattoir at any time. For an entrance fee of 20 pfennigs, they had access, and not just in the weeks following the opening. The curious came in droves. They saw meat processing facilities that set new standards in hygiene and efficiency. These included rentable cold storage cells, an ice factory for in-house and external use and the sale of a district heating system. The abattoir's heating plant also supplied the nearby municipal old people's home. Years later, it was extended to the Buchhügel quarters with the Theodor Heuss School.
The spacious stables with railway sidings included kennels for the butchers' draught dogs. It was still common for butchers to transport their loads with carts pulled by dogs. "A monument to the efficient, progressive community", enthused the press. The abattoir made Offenbach appear more metropolitan than anywhere else in the city.
A remarkable period in the history of the abattoir began in 1947, when the Marburg Behringwerke set up a "vaccine station" in Offenbach. The raw lymph was obtained there, which was then used in Marburg to produce vaccine, the vaccine against foot-and-mouth disease made from attenuated pathogens.
Until the end of the war, the raw product had been supplied by a factory that was now located in the Soviet occupation zone. A replacement had to be built from scratch in the West. The Offenbach abattoir received considerable investment from the state and federal government, especially as it now also had the function of a "border abattoir". Livestock imported from abroad that was destined for Hesse first came to Offenbach. It is not known whether the animals were grateful for this.
That is all in the past. In the last decades of the century, the decline became increasingly clear. The expected population of 100,000 was reached and exceeded. However, the number of artisan butchers' shops shrank considerably. In many cases, they succumbed to competition from supermarkets. And among the remaining butchers, only a few continued to slaughter their own meat. The Offenbach abattoir's profits dwindled. It was closed in 1990.
Since then, it has become a congress and cultural center with a hotel, surrounded by attractive residential areas. The listed architectural elements have been preserved, this ensemble of water tower, engine house, cold stores and administrative buildings. The appearance is still dominated by the vaulted loading road, which was once the center of a slaughterhouse.
Lothar Braun
