12  O

BRESLAU.

It  should  be  observed,  however,  that  the  tenements  referred  to  in  the
Report  were  in  almost  every  case  to  be  found  in  .the  older  parts  of  Breslau,
either  in  what  may  be  termed  the  “City”  or  in  some  of  the  older  suburbs
which  are  by  now  scarcely  less  central  than  the  City.  It  was  stated,
moreover,  that  several  of  these  defective  tenements  had  been  condemned  and
demolished  since  the  issue  of  the  report.  The  oldest  and  most  central  part  of
the  town—the  part  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  river  and  on  the  other  sides  by
the  semicircle  of  promenades  and  lakes  into  which  the  ramparts  and  moats  of
former  times  have  been  converted—is  being  given  over  more  and  more  to
business  and  becoming  less  of  a  residential  quarter.  In  1871  there  were  still
73,000  people  living  in  this  part  of  Breslau,  and  by  1905  the  number  had  fallen
to  53,000.  Among  these,  as  among  the  resident  population  of  almost  any  part
of  the  town,  are  comprised  a  certain  proportion  of  working-class  families,
occupying  either  the  basement  or  the  top-floor  tenements.  The  great
bulk  of  the  industrial  working  classes,  however,  live  further  out,  and  more
especially  in  the  north-western  suburb  known  as  the  Nikolai  Vorstadt,  the  only
part  of  the  urban  area  where  factory  chimneys  are  a  prominent  feature,  and  where
any  large  proportion  of  the  houses  are  found  to  be  inhabited  exclusively  by
working-class  families.  On  the  occasion  of  the  Housing  Census  of  1900,  the
amount  of  overcrowding  was  found  to  be  greatest  in  this  part  of  Breslau,  10*3
per  cent,  of  all  the  dwellings  and  17*5  per  cent,  of  the  population  being
described  as  coming  within  the  definition  of  what,  in  German  housing  statistics,
constitutes  “overcrowding.”  The  term  is  held  to  apply  whenever  a  dwelling
comprising  only  one  heatable  room  is  inhabited  by  six  or  more  persons,  or  when
a  dwelling  comprising  only  two  such  rooms  contains  10  or  more  persons.
As  the  table  given  above  shows,  the  working  classes  of  Breslau  live  in
tenements  consisting  of  either  two  or  three  rooms,  and  more  frequently  in  two
rooms  than  in  three.  In  the  former  case  the  larger  room  serves  as  general
living-room  and  kitchen,  and  the  other  as  bedroom.  The  three-roomed  tenement
consists  either  of  a  living-room,  a  kitchen  and  bedroom,  or  of  a  general  livingroom
  and  kitchen  combined,  and  two  bedrooms.  Where  the  tenement  has  a
separate  vestibule  (as  is  the  case  in  all  but  the  very  oldest  houses),  that  space
frequently  contains  the  cooking-stove  and*serves  as  the  kitchen,  being  windowless ­
  artificial  light  has  to  be  used.  This  arrangement  is  to  be  found  in  about
one  of  every  three  working-class  tenements  in  Breslau.  Every  tenement  has,  in
addition,  a  small  attic  compartment  (used  as  a  lumber  room),  a  separate
compartment  in  the  cellar,  and  the  use  of  the  loft-space,  immediately  beneath
the  rafters,  for  drying  laundry  on  certain  days.
The  household  water  supply  is  rarely  situated  inside  the  tenement,  and
has  to  be  fetched  from  taps  fixed  on  the  stair  landings  of  the  various  floors.
Gas  is  seldom  supplied  either  for  lighting  or  cooking,  and  the  number  of
tenements  having  exclusive  use  of  a  closet  is  so  small  as  to  be  negligible.  On
the  other  hand  it  may  be  noted  that  the  dry-closet  system,  which  constitutes  an
unpleasant  feature  in  the  working-class  tenements  of  many  German  (and
especially  Saxon)  towns,  has  been  entirely  superseded  in  Breslau  by  the
modern  arrangement  with  its  flushing  apparatus.
Through  the  courtesy  of  the  Chief  Burgomaster  it  has  been  possible  to
ascertain  in  respect  of  1,200  working-class  tenements  situated  in  various  parts
of  Breslau  the  rents  which  were  being  paid  in  December,  1905,  as  returned  by
the  occupiers  on  the  Census  Schedules.  Of  these  1,200  tenements,  865  consisted
of  two,  and  335  of  three  rooms.  Tenements  with  lodgers  or  sub-tenants  were
not  included.  From  the  data  so  obtained  the  predominant  rents  charged  for
tenements  of  two  and  three  rooms  were  found  to  be  as  shown  below.

Predominant  Rents  of  WorJcing-class  Dwellings.

Number  of  Rooms  per  Tenement.

Predominant  Weekly  Rent.

Two  rooms  .
Three  rooms

3s.  3d.  to  3s.  8d.
3s.  (jé¿.  ,,  4:S,  7d.

Rents  in  Berlin  being  taken  as  100,  the  index  number  for  Breslau  is  56.