Brauerei Bodenstein 1823 – 1947
The merchant and wealthy landowner August Leberecht Bodenstein established the brewery “Brauerei A. Bodenstein” on his estate on the Sieverstorstraße on the 8th of August 1823. It was one – if not the first brewery in the city of Magdeburg, and was one of the first companies to make use of a steam engine. Soon after its establishment, the brewery was the first business on Magdeburg to acquire an ice machine.
August’s son Franz Bodenstein took over the brewery after his father died in 1877. Franz only outlived his father by a few years, dying in 1885. The brewery was turned into a joint-stock company, with the majority of shares being retained by the family. A son in law of August Bodenstein – Emil Grünwald – became chairman of the board.
The brewery underwent a slight restructuring and name change in 1924, operating as the “Brauerei Bodenstein AG zu Magdeburg”, with Emil Grünwalds son in law – Friedrich Carl Untucht acting as chairman of the board. The Brauerei Bodenstein built a 38 meter high malt silo and brewhouse in 1936, which soon became the the visual trademark of the brewery.
VEB Börde-Brauerei Magdeburg 1947 – 1991
The brewery survived the end of the second world war virtually unscathed, though the family Bodenstein and the shareholders of the Brauerei Bodenstein were dispossessed by the soviet military administration (SMAD). The brewery was “converted” into a publicly owned enterprise (VEB) – and rebranded as the VEB Börde-Brauerei Magdeburg.
While its not entirely clear (to us) why the name “Börde” was picked, our best guess is that this allowed the SMAD and East Germans to continue to use the company branding – as it was completely retained post 1947.
The name Börde also has direct ties to Magdeburg and the region, as the Magdeburger Börde is highly fertile landscape that stretches from the west to the south of Magdeburg.
While digging though the information we could find, it also appears that the brewery did use the name Börde Brauerei at some point, so it seems like the switch to VEB Börde Brauerei was also just a continuity thing.
The Börde Brauerei was merged together with the Diamant Brauerei and the Sudenburger Brauhaus in 1961, and formed the VEB Vereinigte Brauereien Magdeburg (Unified Breweries Magdeburg) – which operated until 1991.
Börde-Brauerei – Brauerei Bodenstein 1991 – 2024
The Börde Brauerei ceased brewing in 1991 and was shut down. Magdeburgs oldest brewery remained empty and abandoned for the next 15 years. Although the Börde Brewery was a classified as a heritage building – developers demolished everthing aside from the malt silo between 2006 and 2009. The malt tower was supposed to be converted into luxury loft apartments, but the project never materialised.
Börde-Brauerei Today (2025)
As of 2025, the loft appartments still havent been built, and its very unlikely that they will any time soon. While it does seem like some sort of work has been going on around the malt silo – mainly in the form of an excavator pushing around mounds of earth – it seems like there might be construction work happening adjacent to the tower. While the large copper kettles have long been removed, the green tiles in the spacious hall still give an impressive picture. Sadly thats about all there is to really see.
As expected though, years of neglect and vandalism have left (whats left of) the Börde Brauerei in a very sad state. While it seems like the building is still in a structurally sound state, the fact that its entirely exposed to the elements along with an open roof surely cant be doing it any favours.
In some uplifting news: One of the descendants of the founding family managed to resurrect the Bodensteiner brand in 2021, setting up an office directly across the street from the torn down/abandoned Börde Brauerei. The Bodensteiner Bier, along with some non-alcoholic drinks is now brewed in Gommern, just outside of Magdeburg.
VEB Börde Brauerei Address
Sieverstorstraße 49, 39106 Magdeburg
52.14885278835565, 11.64833868200038
