How a village in the Black Forest saved its pool

A sunny day begins at the outdoor pool in Tannheim in the extreme southwest of Germany. But instead of putting on his swimming trunks, Rolf Keller grabs a shovel. The retired mason is currently building a new pool for babies, with about 20 people of all ages helping him.

"We did it all," he says proudly as he levels the freshly concreted edge of the pool. So they recently renovated a large 33-meter long pool with a new foil and installed a new filter.

In a small town in the Black Forest, with about 1.500 inhabitants, there are enough craftsmen and they are neither lazy nor stingy to collect and give donations. From midwives to carpenters, from teenagers to pensioners: every year residents work for free for thousands of hours so that they can enjoy their outdoor pool, the greenery and the hills.

Kiosk as a source of income

"Here are the cakes," shouts Nadine and puts the tray with the forest fruit cake on the counter of the kiosk. She is the principal of an elementary school, but in the summer she bakes koleki every day and gives them to the team that runs the kiosk. Bread and sausages come from local businesses at purchase price.

On nice days, around 200 guests sit here and eat sausages and pizzas. Everyone who buys something here helps the pool, because the kiosk is the main source of income. So the kiosk became a gathering place in Tanheim.

20 years ago, the pool was written in black: because, in 2004, the city of Vilingen-Schveningen, to which Tannheim belongs, decided to close two of the three open pools, including the one in Tannheim. The costs were simply too high.

In Tannheim, they reacted like lightning, remembers Karl-Heinz Barch, a newly arrived teacher. Within 48 hours, the Association for the Support of the Pool was established, because this allows citizens to contact institutions, collect donations, and have a clean bill with the tax authorities, etc.

"Every child should learn to swim"

Dozens of citizens trained as lifeguards. The local community bought an outdoor swimming pool from the city for the symbolic sum of one euro. The support association now has almost 300 members, about 70 of them are actively helping. Everyone works for free: from cleaning toilets to collecting tickets, every activity is done on a voluntary basis.

It opens only on sunny days, and the organization goes through a WhatsApp group. They have a "lawn trustee" and an "internet site designer". And if something breaks, the construction crew comes. Behind the changing rooms from 1957, they set up a small workshop. "Out of respect for the generation that dug the pool themselves," explains Rolf Keler

Beate Risterer politely but decisively calls out: "Swim well, take it easy!" She is a lifeguard and believes that “every child should learn to swim.” Risterer also trains volunteer lifeguards and holds a refresher course every year.

Team spirit - cash in plus

According to the German Life Saving Society (DLRG), around 80 swimming pools in Germany are closed every year. The main reasons are allegedly expensive maintenance and lack of personnel.

So what's different about Tannheim? "There was a dynamic and now we will show you that we can do it," remembers Karl-Heinz Barch, a member of the support association from the very beginning.

When Tannheim was incorporated into the city in the 1970s, preservation of the outdoor pool was part of the agreement. If the city had really closed the pool then, the heart of the village would have disappeared with it. "We don't have traffic lights or zebra crossings here – but we do have an outdoor swimming pool!"

The success proves that the stubborn inhabitants of Tanhjam are right: "We are in the plus". They are probably the only pool in Germany that can leave something new on the side. The city now subsidizes the pool with 35.000 euros a year, but what is much more important for the people of Tannheim, according to Barč, is solidarity: "The open pool brought us together, the team spirit is huge."