Basler Hof

The Basler Hof today, viewed from Kaiser-Joseph-Straße.

Last week, the Badische Zeitung organized its second guided tour, which focused on the Basler Hof. More than 140 people wanted to hear explanations from a former resident, Dr. Sven von Ungern-Sternberg, who served as district president of southern Baden from 1998 to 2007.

Dr. Sven von Ungern-Sternberg welcomed the crowd (Photo BZ).

The Basler Hof is one of Freiburg's historical landmarks. From 1480 on, Kaiser Maximilian's chancellor Konrad Stürtzel bought seven plots of land on the Große Gaß (today's Kaiser-Joseph-Straße) and had his city residence built there between 1494 and 1496. These plots were originally 100 by 50 feet, as defined by the Dukes of Zähringen, and were issued to the first settlers in Freiburg for a yearly rent of 12 Pfennig due on St. Martin's (November 11). Stürzel could afford to build the palace, for he was a rich man who lent money to the Habsburgs, like the Fuggers in Augsburg.

Emperor Maximilian, always in search of money, watches the visitors.

By the end of the 16th century, the building became home to the chapter of the Basel Cathedral. As early as 1529, the capitulars fled the Reformation in Basel to Catholic Freiburg, but they did not acquire the Basler Hof until 1587. When Louis XVI's troops occupied Freiburg in 1677 and made it a French city, they deprived the chapter of its financial resources, so the capitulars moved to Switzerland (Arlesheim). The Austrian administration used the building after Freiburg's restitution to the Habsburgs in 1697.

German double eagle with Austrian Bindenschild red-white-red
and Order of the Golden Fleece.
Stucco at the ceiling of the district president's office.

Later, when Habsburg's westernmost territories became the province of Further Austria (Vorderösterreich), the Vienna governors resided in the Basler Hof until 1806, when Napoleon gave the Breisgau to the Grand Duke of Baden.

Dr. Sven von Ungern-Sternberg tells the building's history (Photo BZ).

Since then, the Basler Hof has always been used by administration and services, mirroring the trials and tribulations of German history:

1806 - 1918: Grand Duchy of Baden (Court House, Post Office)
March 20, 1849: Grand jury trying Gustav Struve and Karl Blind for their participation in the uprising against  the government of the Grand Duchy in September 1848
June/July 1849: During the Baden Revolution, the seat of the revolutionary Government of Baden
1919 - 1933: Weimar Republic (Tax Administration, Police Station)
1933 - 1944: Third Reich officials
From 1933 to 1941, the Gestapo had its headquarters in the Basler Hof
November 27, 1944: Air raid Operation Tigerfish destroyed the building

Kaiser-Joseph-Straße and Basler Hof in 1946.

1948 - 1950: Reconstruction of the building
1950 - 1952: Department of Interior of the State of South Baden (More details)
1953 to today: Seat of the district president (Regierungspräsident) for southern Baden of the State of Baden-Württemberg

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