Zukunft – Future

Verschwundene Schwimmbäder – Vanished swimming pools

Swimming pools are not buildings for eternity. Roland Wendel, chairman of the Schwäbisch Gmünd swimming club, documents outdoor swimming pools that have disappeared. Indoor swimming pools also fall into disrepair or are used for other purposes. Examples include the empty ‘Aquatoll’ in Neckarsulm and the ‘Tullabad’ used by Karlsruhe Zoo. Swimming clubs criticise the fact that the organisations responsible are doing too little to maintain pools with ‘teaching pools’ for swimming lessons. Today, economically profitable ‘fun pools’ are being built, which often do not allow swimming lessons.

According to surveys by our federal association, six out of ten children cannot swim safely at the end of primary school. And one in four primary schools has no access to a swimming pool.’
Armin Flohr, German Lifesaving Association Württemberg, 2023

Photo series ‘Disappeared swimming pools’, 1926-2024
Haus der Geschichte Baden-Württemberg

Nordheim erhält sein Bad – Nordheim gets its pool

In 1939, the people of Nordheim near Heilbronn built an open-air swimming pool with their own hands. In the 1980s, outdated technology and poor water quality threatened its preservation. The community was sceptical about a renovation costing several million Deutschmarks. Once again, the population became active. A committed group and primary school pupils collected signatures and appealed to the local council to save the institution. In 1996, a support association was founded to collect donations. Against this background, the municipality decided to renovate the building in 2001. The association was able to contribute over 100,000 Deutschmarks. The renovated pool was officially opened on 9 May 2008. Many other outdoor swimming pools in the state also owe their preservation to citizen involvement. In some cases, clubs even run ‘their’ pool themselves.

The people of Nordheim must have an outdoor pool gene in them.’
Klaus Heitinger from the Nordheim outdoor pool association, 2008

Signature list for the preservation of the Nordheim outdoor pool, 1989
Nordheim municipal archive

Letter from a primary school pupil to the Nordheim municipal council, 1993
Nordheim municipal archives

Donation piggy bank of the ‘Förderverein Freibad Nordheim’, after 1996
Nordheim municipal archives

Der Stettener Bädlesverein – the Stettener Bädlesverein association

Stetten’s outdoor pool, which opened in 1932, was closed in 2001 due to poor water quality. The municipality was prepared to provide funding for the necessary renovation, but on one condition: An association was to carry out the refurbishment and then run the pool – subsidised by the municipality. Committed citizens therefore founded a ‘Bädlesverein’ association in 2002 and began demolishing the old baths in October 2003. Volunteers put in thousands of hours of work, reducing the cost of the new building by up to 40 per cent. Media engineer Thomas Bitzer-Prill recorded the work on film. The new pool was opened on 30 July 2004, with the ‘Bädlesverein’ association, as the operator, hoisting its flag. The preservation of the pool made it possible for eight-year-old Syrian Mohammed Alakech to learn to swim in 2016.

We can only open next year if everyone joins in, we need every member.’
Jürgen Schmid, Chairman of the Stetten ‘Bädlesverein’, 2003

The municipality no longer felt able to maintain the Bädle and forced the citizens to found this association to keep it open.’
Letter to the editor in the ‘Waiblinger Kreiszeitung’, 29th of March 2003

Flag of the ‘Stettener Bädlesverein’, 2004
Stettener Bädlesverein e. V., Kernen im Remstal

Film ‘Sʼ Bädle’, 2004
Thomas Bitzer-Prill, dig it! Media

Interviews with Mohammed Alakech and Ebbe Kögel at the Stetten outdoor pool, 2024
Haus der Geschichte Baden-Württemberg

Die Wasserwelt „Rulantica“ – The ‘Rulantica’ water world

The ‘Rulantica’ water park (a portmanteau of the town of Rust and Atlantic Ocean) at Europapark Rust was opened in 2019 and is constantly being expanded. The attractions include the largest wave pool in Germany and water slides with a total length of almost 1.6 km. Sliding tyres are sometimes used. They are decorated with symbols that match the mystical and fantastical setting of the water park. The construction of the huge facility cost 180 million euros up to 2019, which is why the admission prices are higher than for other ‘fun pools’. The accusation that such facilities do not offer the opportunity for swimming lessons does not apply to ‘Rulantica’: Rust primary school is allowed to use the wave pool for swimming lessons.

Ticket prices in the park and the water world climb to unprecedented heights.’
Schwarzwälder Bote, 24th of October 2023

In an international industry comparison, the Water World […] is very affordable.’
Rulantica media spokesperson Leah Borer, 2023

Sliding tyres from the ‘Rulantica’, 2024
Haus der Geschichte Baden-Württemberg

Outdoor area of ‘Rulantica’, 2022
Europa-Park Adventure Resort / Rulantica, Rust

‘Nordiskturn/Vikinglop’ slide in “Rulantica”, 2023
Europa-Park Adventure Resort / Rulantica, Rust

Wave pool in the ‘Rulantica’, 2023
Europa-Park Adventure Resort / Rulantica, Rust