Ignatz Bier is a artisan craft pilsner, brewed by HomeBase artists, beer lovers, neighbours and social entrepreneurs at the old Engelhardt Brewery located at Thulestrasse 54, Berlin, now home to HomeBase LAB. Our beer was named after Herr Ignatz Nacher, the first landlord of teh building – a German-Jewish merchant, beer maker, director and main shareholder of the Engelhardt brewery. Nacher transformed Engelhardt brewery into one of the most successful breweries in Germany before it was taken over in the 1930’s by the Third Reich, in what became one of the biggest cases of Nazi expropriation.
The building of the HB LAB located at Thulestrasse 54, Pankow survived two world wars and went through dramatic sociopolitical shifts. Built in 1890, it housed the Engelhardt brewery from 1905 -1949, directed by Mr. Ignatz Nacher . In the 1930’s it was taken over by the Third Reich and after WWII it became a communist brewery, a youth hostel of the Freie Deutsche Jugend (Free German Youth) and remained deserted for nearly 20 year after the fall of the berlin wall. In the summer of 2010 HomeBase Project arrived from NYC and brought a new life to this place, with the vision of creating the old brewery into a year-round research and residency center devoted to questions of home, and the role of art & social change.
The last day of the HB BUILD festival, March 5th 2012, marks exactly 105 years since the historic photo. The day will include the re-staging of the Engelhardt photograph dated March 5th 1907 in which Ignatz Nacher along with the brewery workers are proudly standing in front of the building, celebrating the launch of Englehart Pilsner brewed on site. Participants in the March 5th 2012 will gather to reflect on the past while creating together a new future for the site – the building of a permanent home for the HomeBase project. The photograph will include artists, neighbors, beer lovers, the Mayor of Pankow, local schools and the public.
Monday March 5th at 14:00 – 15:00
Please RSVP for photo and choose your lucky number at festival@homebaseproject.org
Ignatz Bier has been featured last year at VOLTA 7 and will be launched in the US at Volta NY, with the new photograph.
About Ignatz Nacher (1862 – 1939), a German-Jew began work at the brewery in 1901 and rose from a low-level worker to become its general director and majority shareholder. He invented the pasteurization of beer and under his management, the company became Germany’s second largest beer brewing conglomerate with several factories throughout the country and a beer garden. He was also known for his philanthropic work and built orphanages and old age homes. In 1934, his property was seized by the Nazi Regime and the profitable brewery was used to fund the war machine. Nacher tried to resist the takeover of the company, but he was arrested and ultimately deported to Switzerland where shortly after he died in poverty. The logo of the Engelhardt (which means angel heart) Brewery was changed from an angel with black hair to blond – signifying the aryanization of the brand.
www.ignatzbier.com
