Email andreaschwaer@yahoo.com

22/5/2022 18:52

To info@fictoheritage.com

Dear Matt,

I hope you don’t mind that I am getting in touch. You can’t imagine how delighted I am to have found your website about the Kugelhaus building, and to have seen my grandfather mentioned on it! I think that you will be surprised to know that I own the negative of the photograph of the NIO group, and I thought that you would like to know a bit more about it. My name is Andrea Schwär and I am the granddaughter of Anselm Schwär, the man who took that photograph.

I am Mexican, the country where he settled. As you will see, my life has somehow been shaped by the Kugelhaus, or more precisely, by my grandfather’s interest in it. I didn’t get to know him, but everybody says he was an enthusiast. He was an ophthalmologist, but also an architecture and science-fiction lover, a globe-trotter and a socialist. When he joined the NIO in 1933 he became its youngest member, and he brought a lot of energy to it. He believed in progress, and convinced the others of the importance of keeping up to date; so during the next years they visited many towns, various fairs, seminars and events. They also implemented a program to donate spectacles to those in need through a fundraising campaign, which was held at the Kugelhaus every year. In 1939 he left Germany with the help of people he had met through the NIO. The official excuse for his trip was a visit to the New York World’s Fair, but he never went back to Europe.

We recently managed to get hold of a postcard he sent to his mother from the fair. I have scanned and attached it to this email, as it might be of your interest. As the atmosphere in the USA wasn’t welcoming for a German citizen, he moved to Mexico, where he slowly managed to own his own optometrist’s shop.

He liked to spend time at the UNAM’s library, where he claimed he had met a young Manuel Rosen Morrison, and held conversations about the Kugelhaus that were crucial for the future shape of his CECUT building. Just in case you are not familiar with it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tijuana_Cultural_Center

Anselm died in 1981, a Mexican citizen. He had expressed his wish of having his tombstone made as a scale model of the Kugelhaus. I think that the building represented for him his idea of a world no longer possible. It was the world of his youth, with all the ideas of progress, civilization and hope. He kept for this purpose a postcard of the model made by the Mitschke brothers in the 30’s, similar to the ones you have on your collection. His children tried to accomplish his wish, but it was an unrealistic task and they had to find a compromise. Please see the photo attached.

I have just moved to Madrid to study a masters in Architecture. I plan on taking advantage of being in Europe to know my ancestors’ country and I can’t wait to visit the site of the old Kugelhaus in Dresden. I will definitely not miss the chance to visit your exhibition.

Please let me know if I can offer any help with your project.

Andrea