Tabakbörse

Tabakbörse in Bremen’s Walle district, within Überseestadt, is a post-war building created for tobacco auctions. Erik Schott designed it between 1961 and 1962 during the reconstruction of Bremen’s damaged port facilities. Its fully air-conditioned shed-roof hall has slender supports running along the central axis. Long wooden tables called “Stells” displayed bundles of tobacco leaves known as “Doggen” for assessment. Brokers and buyers used adjoining rooms and boxes to shape samples into cigars, then tested their quality and taste by smoking them.

The building stood inside the free trade zone after Indonesian tobacco trading shifted towards Bremen in the late 1950s. A two-storey office annex, fronted by an arcade-like entrance porch, handled administration beside the auction hall. Bremen’s tobacco auctions once drew hundreds of participants and processed tens of thousands of bales, while later activity focused on high-quality Sumatra tobacco. Since 2013, the monument has also accommodated Bremer Bühnenhaus and the Atelier Bremer Tabakbörse. The atelier occupies 1,340 square metres, giving the former trading complex a studio use alongside its tobacco history.