»The Paprika Village«

This project deals with the mutation of a place over time and the traces of the key influences such as military, religion, politics and agriculture, which are still visible today.

It is about a city district of Griesheim/ Hesse (Germany), which became in 1948 the new home for Hungarian refugees of German origin. They named it Sankt Stephan after the first Hungarian emperor.

The series title »The Paprika Village« is a quote from an old newspaper article. It refers to the fact that the Hungarians introduced the cultivation and use of peppers in our area.


Religion played an essential part in the life of the settlers. The cities building department designed the streets as a Christ on the cross when seen from above. Right at the beginning, the bell tower was built. It was replaced, together with the makeshift church with a large church in 1954. The processions led on high holidays through the whole settlement.


The regional government decided to settle these people in the difficult to cultivate area because they were experienced in growing wine and vegetables on sandy grounds.

The idea was abandoned after a short time and asparagus, which is more suitable here, is cultivated until today.


The government's idea was to create some kind of copy of the Hungarian village they settlers came from. A standard house was designed by the municipal building authority, based on the architecture of Hungarian farmhouses.

On the right: In this house, 14 Donau street, settler Adam Schultz opened the district's first post office. For some years, it was also a police station. Three years later, the office moved into another house, a few meters away. Schultze's daughter still runs a post office in Griesheim.

The change of a street (Nehringstrasse) of St. Stephan: From 1951 to 1962 to 2020. On the right: The remains of a bunker from the second world war were here until the 1970s.


Johann Berghardt opened his Restaurant "Zur Paprika" in 17 Donau street in 1951. It is named after the vegetable because the settlers from Hungary brought it (and its use) to our area. The building burned down a few years ago and was replaced with a multi-family house.


The community was an essential part of the settler's life. The football club was founded in 1953 and still exists. Besides that, the district has a choral society, carnival society and costume group.


The former commercial district (1920/ 1967/ 2020)
The area where Sankt Stephan is located today was used for military purposes from 1860 on. In the beginning, it was a training camp for the Germany army. At this place just outside the camp, bars, restaurants and stores opened there here. With the founding of the (now non-military) city district, it became a place for trade again. The bank, a butcher and other stores opened. Today only the butcher is left.


The »Stars and Stripes Compound«
After WWII, the US Army used the former airfield and its buildings until 2007. The European edition of the newspaper »Stars and Stripes« was edited and printed in the old airfield building from 1956 to 2007. The building was initially built in the thirties as a terminal for zeppelin flights. Today this part of the airfield area is abandoned and waiting for a new use.


The wind tunnel
It is the only fully preserved and used building on the former airfield site. It was built in 1935/ 36 and used for military and civil research. The US Army used the building as a casino after the war. In 1954, research was restarted by the University Darmstadt.


Sankt Stephan is the home of Germany's oldest airfield, founded in 1908.
It was used mostly for military purposes, but in the 1930s for civilian flights, too. For a long time after the second world war, it was a base for nuclear and non-nuclear warhead missiles. Today it is a research area of the university, contains a small museum and is a nature reserve.


List of images used:

Figure 1 (Newspaper article):

Unknown maker. Ca. 1953. Newspaper article 'Das Paprikadorf'. Stadtarchiv Griesheim [archive image]

Figure 2 (Religion as a vital part of the settlement):

STADTBAUVERWALTUNG DARMSTADT. 1949. Dorfplan für St. Stephan (Village plan for St. Stephan). Stadtarchiv Griesheim [archive image]

Overlay: Unknown maker. ca. 1950. The bell tower of the second makeshift church from 1950. Stadtarchiv Griesheim [archive image]

Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. The church of St. Stephan, build in 1954.

Unknown maker. ca. 1960. Procession (probably Corpus Christi). Stadtarchiv Griesheim [archive image]

Marcel Rauschkolb. 2020. Graffiti on an abandoned American bungalow in Nehringstrasse [translation: 'God loves you'].

Figure 3 (Wine and agriculture/ 1):

Unknown maker. ca. 1950. Wine harvesting. Stadtarchiv Griesheim [archive image]

Unknown maker. ca. 1955. Mrs Gasz from Palota-Boszok in her working costume (with Schlitzerländer felt clogs) in her vineyard. [translated with deepl.com] Stadtarchiv Griesheim [archive image]

Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. Vines in Draustrasse.

Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. Traditional building and vines in Draustrasse.

Figure 4 (Wine and agriculture/ 2):

Unknown maker. ca. 1950. Grandma Walter is happy about the vineyard, her granddaughter Hildegard about the ducks. But they are looking for water on the hot sandy ground. [own translation] Stadtarchiv Griesheim [archive image]

Unknown maker. ca. 1970. Man in the asparagus fields. Stadtarchiv Griesheim [archive image]

Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. Greenhouses for asparagus.

Figure 5 (The standard house):

STADTPLANUNG DARMSTADT. 1948. Doppelhaustyp der Ungarn-Deutschen Siedlung St. Stephan. Stadtarchiv Griesheim [archive image]

Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. One of the original houses in Donaustrasse.

Unknown maker. ca. 1950. The "Post Office St. Stephan" was established by Adam Schultz in his house at Donaustrasse 14 on 1.8.1950. [own translation] Stadtarchiv Griesheim [archive image]

Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. The building Donaustrasse 14/16 today.

Figure 6 (Mutation of a street, Nehringstrasse):

Unknown maker. ca. 1951. Nehringstrasse: 1951 these houses were built for 15000 marks.[own translation] Stadtarchiv Griesheim [archive image]

Unknown maker. 1987. From 1962 the houses were modernized and extended for ten times the price. [own transalation] Stadtarchiv Griesheim [archive image]

Overlay: Unknown maker. ca. 1970. Rests of a bunker. Stadtarchiv Griesheim [archive image]

Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. Nehringstrasse today.

Figure 7 (Restaurant »Zur Paprika«):

Unknown maker. ca. 1980. Reproduction of the 1954 menu of the restaurant »Zur Paprika«. Stadtarchiv Griesheim [archive image]

Unknown maker. ca. 1954. Settler Johann Berghardt opened his restaurant »Zur Paprika« in 1951. Stadtarchiv Griesheim [archive image]

Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. A block of flats at the place where the restaurant »Zur Paprika« was before.

Figure 8 (The football club):

Unknown maker. 1961. Football match of the »Gerhards youth« 1961. [translated with deepl.com] Stadtarchiv Griesheim [archive image]

Unknown maker. 1988. The champion team of SVS Griesheim from 1987/88. [own translation] From: GROMES, Gustl. 1989. St. Stephan von A bis Z. Griesheim: V. Bassenauer Gmbh, p 138.

Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. Football field SV St. Stephan 1953 (Sports Club Sankt Stephan) today.  

Figure 9 (The business district):

Unknown maker. 1920. Military training area near Darmstadt. Service buildings. [reproduction of old postcard] [own translation] From GROMES, Gustl. 1989. St. Stephan von A bis Z. Griesheim: V. Bassenauer Gmbh, p 178.

Unknown maker. 1967. The commercial district at the end of Bessunger Strasse 1967. [own translation] From GROMES, Gustl. 1989. St. Stephan von A bis Z. Griesheim: V. Bassenauer Gmbh, p 178.

Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. The area where the former commercial district was today.

Figure 10 (The Stars and Stripes Compound):

Overlay: Unknown maker. 1952. Main Gate, Stars & Stripes Compound, Griesheim, 1952. [online image] Available at: https://www.usarmygermany.com/Units/StarsandStripes/USAREUR_StarsandStripes.htm [accessed 13 Aug 2020].

Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. The gate and building of the former »Stars and Stripes Compound«. The building in the background was planned in the thirties as a check-in hall for flights with the Zeppelin.

Unknown maker. ca. 1956. USAFE PIO personnel admire the four-colour press during a tour of the Griesheim facility. [online image] Available at: https://www.usarmygermany.com/Units/StarsandStripes/USAREUR_StarsandStripes.htm [accessed 13 Aug 2020].

Unknown maker. 1956. Page one of the "Stars and Stripes"-newspaper from 18 April 1956. [online image] Available at: https://newspaperarchive.com/european-stars-and-stripes-apr-18-1956-p-1/ [accessed 13 Aug 2020].

Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. Old faded issues of the »Stars and Stripes« lying for years in an abandoned guardhouse of the former airfield.

Figure 11 (The Wind Tunnel):

Unknown maker. ca. 1936. Wind Tunnel. Stadtarchiv Griesheim [archive image]

Overlay: Unknown maker. ca. 1935/ 36. Shell construction of the TH [Technical College] wind tunnel in Griesheim. In the years 1935/1936, a new wind tunnel was built according to the designs of Professor Franz Nikolaus Scheubel, the then holder of the chair for "Airship Aviation and Aeronautical Engineering", on the premises of the German Gliding Research Institute (DFS) near the Darmstadt airfield in Griesheim. [translated with deepl.com] [online image] Available at: https://www.sla.tu-darmstadt.de/sla/geschichte_sla/index.de.jsp [accessed 10 Aug 2020].

Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. The Wind Tunnel today.

Figure 12 (The airfield)

Unknown maker. 1908. Reproduction of Germany's pilot's license No. 1 for August Euler. Stadtarchiv Griesheim [archive image]

Unknown maker. 1909 or 1910. Big air show 1909 or 1910. [own translation] From: GROMES, Gustl. 1989. St. Stephan von A bis Z. Griesheim: V. Bassenauer Gmbh, p 75.

Unknown maker. 1960. Soldiers and civilians participate in an activation ceremony at the new permanent NIKE launching area in Griesheim in November 1960. A temporary site had been in operation at the same location since 1958. UPI press photo via Charles Everett. [online image] Available at: http://www.usarmygermany.com/Sont.htm?http&&&www.usarmygermany.com/Units/Air%20Defense/USAREUR_94th%20ADA%20Bde.htm [accessed 13 Aug 2020].

Marcel RAUSCHKOLB. 2020. Today, the airfield is a nature reserve.

Marcel RAUSCHKOLB: 2020. The fence around the airfield with an improvised kite.

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