Georg Elser Halle

Georg Elser Halle is a 2,200-capacity concert and multipurpose room in Hamburg’s St. Pauli, built into the five-storey addition atop Flakturm IV at the Grünen Bunker. The setting is its defining fact: a contemporary stage occupies a structure built for air defence and civilian shelter during the Second World War. Its name honours resistance fighter Georg Elser, connecting each show to a site where remembrance remains part of the redevelopment around it.

A hall built into Hamburg’s bunker history

The building beneath the hall began life in 1942–43 as a flak tower, constructed through forced labour and designed for anti-aircraft operations as well as shelter during air raids. After 1945, the huge structure took on civilian uses; investor Thomas Matzen secured a hereditary lease from the city in 1993, starting its life as a “media bunker.” In 2017, authorities approved a five-storey extension for hotel, hospitality, fitness and event space, with construction beginning in 2019. The project reached its public opening in July 2024. Georg Elser Halle opened on July 20, 2024, a date chosen to coincide with the anniversary of the 1944 Stauffenberg attempt; Hamburger indie figure Frank Spilker of Die Sterne provided the musical opening soundcheck. That launch made the room a concert venue while retaining the bunker’s historical frame.

The room on show night

This is a bookable multipurpose hall: the venue actively solicits promoter enquiries and presents concerts alongside cultural events, fairs and school sport. Its music calendar ranges across hip-hop, rock, country, electronic, pop and indie. The 27-by-44-metre room can be divided into three sections with partition walls, useful for tailoring scale and crowd flow. For full-capacity shows, the house system centres on 12 L-Acoustics K3 loudspeakers and nine KS28 subwoofers. The result is a large standing-room concert environment with the operational flexibility of a sports hall.