The news hit many Frankfurters right in the heart four years ago: The Goethe Tower, a popular excursion destination in the city forest and one of the city's landmarks for decades, was in ruins - the work of an arsonist who has not yet been caught. It was quickly decided at the time that the wooden tower should be rebuilt true to the original, and the 43-meter-high structure has been in place this spring and is accessible to visitors. What was still missing because of the corona pandemic was an official, festive opening ceremony for the new tower. But the Frankfurters finally made up for that at the weekend.

“The tower calls” is the motto of the Goethe Tower Festival, to which more than 200 guests came on Saturday afternoon and took their seats on beer benches in the shade of the trees. The TG Bad Soden music train plays marches and polkas, with a view of the tower there is draft beer, Ebbelwei and bratwurst. No matter who you ask, everyone is happy that the landmark is finally back. One of the visitors wears a T-shirt with the imprint "Frankfurter Stolz aus Metall und Holz" and a picture of the Goethe Tower. The man's name is Jochen Reitbauer. As a child he played on and next to the tower, he says. And he even hung a piece of wood from the old, burnt down tower on the wall at home. He likes that the new structure looks very similar to the old one. It can be clearly seen that more steel has been used to make the tower safer,says Reitbauer. Probably also to protect him from further arson. In addition, the wood is now a bit lighter, but that will change over time and adapt to the original.

The celebration itself is also celebrated

If you want to climb the 196 steps to the top of the tower on this festival Saturday, you have to be patient.

Only eight small groups are allowed to go up at a time.

For the waiting time, however, the visitors are rewarded with a unique view of the city and its skyline.

“Look, the S-Bahn,” says a father to his son on the viewing platform and points into the distance.

"Looks like a model train."

However, not only the tower is celebrated, but basically also the celebration itself - namely the fact that since the last festival in 2019, so many people have finally been able to get together again. More than a dozen Sachsenhausen associations helped to get the event off the ground. "We are just so happy that the festival and the tower are back," says Dieter Breidt from the Sachsenhausen Well and Notch Society. And during the tapping of the barrel in the afternoon, the official opening of the celebrations, Mayor Peter Feldmann (SPD) calls the Goetheturm Festival a symbol that the "horror virus" has now hopefully been overcome.

After the socializing on Saturday, there was a ceremony on Sunday at which the founder of the old Goethe Tower was remembered, Gustav Gerst, who was born 150 years ago. The Jewish patron and owner of the Tietz an der Zeil department store provided 28,000 Reichsmarks for the construction of the building in 1931, but remained anonymous at his own request until his death in 1948. In his honor, a replica of a memorial plaque burnt with the old tower was unveiled on Sunday and a documentary film about the reconstruction of the tower was shown.