Deutsches Stadion

Deutsches Stadion was a multi-use sports stadium in Berlin, Germany. It was located at Deutsches Sportforum in the present-day Westend quarter on the northern rim of the large Grunewald forest. Built according to plans designed by Otto March, it was opened on 8 June 1913, on the occasion of Emperor Wilhelm's II silver jubilee, due to host the 1916 Summer Olympics that were cancelled after the outbreak of World War I. The stadium was destroyed 20 years later and replaced by the current Olympiastadion. History From 1907 the terrain on the sandy Teltow plateau between the Heerstraße road and the Spree river, west of the then independent city of Charlottenburg, was leased to the Union-Klub horse racing organisation. The aristocratic association had the Berliner Rennverein established to lay out a large race-course (Rennbahn Grunewald) at the site, designed by Otto March, which was inaugurated on 23 May 1909 in the presence of Emperor Wilhelm II (progressively arriving in a motor car) and his consort Augusta Victoria. A nearby Rennbahn railway station on the Spandau Suburban Line opened on the same day. Even at this stage, the German government prepared for hosting Olympic Games, and March's plans already provided a large space within the circuit, accessible via a tunnel and suitable for the construction of a proposed stadium. Up to today, the tunnel and the old ticket booths survive on Jesse-Owens-Allee. When during the 1912 Summer Olympics the city of Berlin was designated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to host the 1916 Olympic Games, the Rennbahn area was designated as the central venue for this event and the officials hired the same architect who originally had built the racing track, Otto March.