Ehem. Freibad Fischbachtal

The Ehemaliges Freibad Fischbachtal was an outdoor pool on a forest meadow in Saarbrücken. The city opened it in 1926, and families kept coming until the nineteen sixties. It lay between the Fischbachbahn railway and the road from Rußhütte to Fischbach. Bus stops of the Deutsche Bundesbahn and the Illtal Verkehr stood within easy reach. The Fischbach stream crossed the grounds and split the pool in two.

Towards Rußhütte stood the main pool, with a small non-swimmer area and a slide. The surrounding forest shaded the water and kept it cold, so local children called the place the Eiskeller, the ice cellar. Despite the chill, families came all the same. Mines had polluted the stream, so the baths drew their water from elsewhere. The facilities stayed basic, with communal changing rooms, one for each gender, and staff chlorinated the pools by hand.

To reach the second section, you crossed a footbridge over the stream. A large children's pool waited there, with playground equipment all around. Children and adults pushed the hand-operated carousels round together. The wide lawn took ball games and gave young couples a quiet retreat. And the children's pool had a shower shaped like a mushroom, with a ring of water jets around it.