RED AND GREEN
What is the story behind the photo showing a red MGB in front of a green East German meadow in the early 2000’s?
Whilst researching the history of Golf in East Germany after 1945 in what was to become the German Democratic republic my journey brought me to Saalfeld, Thuringia, 55km south of the state capital Erfurt and 140km Southwest of Leipzig.
It was here, that Dr. Ernst Hüther (1880-1944) after having taken over the majority of shares in the Schokoladenfabrik Mauxion in 1918 had asked the Dresden based architect Max Hans Kühne (Lossow & Kühne) to build a residence for the Hüther family. This house, just about one kilometre away from the chocolate factory, was built in 1923/24. Using the term “house” here is a slight understatement though, as we are talking about a mixture of castle, country estate and villa.
Not enough, Dr. Hüther by the end of the 1920s asked the then leading British Golf architectural practice of Colt, Allison & Morrison to design a private golf course using the park. This golf course was designed by John S.F. Morrison and built by the Berlin based company Späth Gartenbau.
The routing of the fairways as can be seen on the course map shown here proofed to be somewhat chaotic, as several fairways crossed each other. 6 Tees and six greens made up a 9-hole course, with three greens being played at from different angles twice each. Uncommon today, this was a practice used quite often for private golf courses during the 1920s, the original layout of the Gütermann Gutach golf course north of Freiburg in Breisgau was not much different to mention only one example.
One must bear in mind, that the course was used by a maximum of 8 players at the same time. The Hüther family was often joined by the Schaede family with their daughter (an industrialist family from the nearabout) and a certain Mr. Müller-Junghans, at least according to the 1936 yearbook of the German Golf Association.
Interestingly, there was even a full-time golf professional, Mr Willi Bessner, part of a dynasty of golf professional from the Bavarian Spa town of Kissingen, where golf started in 1911. Seven brothers and all of them became golf professional. Even though it was well known the golf course on the Bergfried was a private golf course without a proper golf club being attached to it, membership in the “Fachamt Golf”, as the German Golf Federation was called in 1934 before being renamed to its original name in 1936, became compulsory, as it did for Gutach and several other private golf courses in Germany. In 1939 the club had eight members according to the German Golf Federation yearbook.
From the golf architectural point of view Green number 3, also used as number 8, was the most interesting green as German golf architect Bernhard von Limburger reported after having played the course at Saalfeld during the 1930’s. This green was first approached from below, then from above, first from the wide side of the green, then from the narrow side of the green.
The Bergfried golf course was closed down in 1945 when the Hüther family had to leave Russian occupied Thuringia losing their property including the famous family-owned chocolate factory “Mauxion”.
It would be relatively easy to restore the golf course, only parts of the seventh fairway are now covered by a building, but there is plenty of neighbouring open space that could be used as a golf course. At least that’s what the director of the Saalfeld building office told me then.
In 2015 a rather short-lived initiative was set up in Saalfeld just to do that. On 23 January 2016, the “Ostthüringer Zeitung” reported on that, but nothing was heard again, but as we all know, hope dies last.
Any Questions & Answers regarding Saalfeld – please contact the author via history@depeche-golf.com
Christoph Meister
May 2024