Abstract
This chapter reconstructs the development of squatting practices in Berlin from 1969 to 2016. It shows how squatting is related to the general political circumstances and to the strength of the political movements. The authors discuss to what extent urban struggles facing renewal policies and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 influenced the squatters’ movement. The location of the squats, intensity and strength of the movement, and their social composition over time are discussed. Moreover, the chapter examines the consequences of the legal regulations and the criminalisation of squatting in Berlin.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The movement of the Autonomen was created in the early 1980s and is strongly influenced by anarchist and anti-authoritarian ideas. Therefore, this movement opposes any kind of power structures, domination and hierarchy, and continues its struggle against capitalism, racism, nationalism, sexism, homo- and transphobia, ableism, antiziganism, anti-Semitism and many more. They also reject the existence of states or nations.
- 2.
- 3.
Berlin had around 20 sites for mobile dwellings (Wagenplatz [−plätze, plural]). The first was squatted in 1981. After the fall of the Wall, several new places arose spontaneously on the former ‘death strip’, the no-man’s land between the Wall of East and West Berlin. All but one site, Lohmühle in the eastern district of Treptow, have been evicted. Other wagon places like Schwarzer Kanal (since 2015 called Kanal) were evicted and overrun by urban development plans. The East-Side, evicted in 1997, was comprised of several hundred people, one of the largest of this type in Germany.
- 4.
There was an open call in the weekly radical autonomen paper Interim (West Berlin ) and meetings in Kreuzberg ( West Berlin) in April 1990, to squat massively in the Eastern district of Friedrichshain, especially in Kreutziger- and Mainzer Straße.
- 5.
- 6.
The ownership structure of the Nazi era (1933–1945), where property rights had been taken mainly from the Jewish population and redistributed as part of the process of ‘aryanisation’, was thus potentially restored.
References
Amantine. (2011). Gender und Häuserkampf. Münster: Unrast.
Amantine (Ed.). (2012). »Die Häuser denen, die drin wohnen!«: Kleine Geschichte der Häuserkämpfe in Deutschland. Münster: Unrast.
Arndt, S., et al. (Eds.). (1992). Berlin—Mainzer Strasse. Wohnen ist wichtiger als das Gesetz. Berlin: BasisDruck.
azozomox. (2014a). Besetzen im 21.Jahrhundert—»Die Häuser denen, die drin wohnen«. In A. Holm (Ed.), Reclaim Berlin (pp. 273–304). Berlin: Assoziation A.
azozomox. (2014b). Data Base. https://sqek.squat.net/database-results/
azozomox. (2015). Squatting and diversity—Gender and patriarchy: In Berlin, Madrid and Barcelona. In C. Cattaneo & M. Martínez (Eds.), The squatters’ movement in Europe. Commons and autonomy as alternatives to capitalism (pp. 189–210). London: Pluto.
azozomox and International Women’s Space. (2017). Narrating the challenges of women-refugee activists of Ohlauer Strasse 12, International Women’s Space, Berlin. In P. Mudu & S. Chattopadhyay (Eds.), Migration, squatting and radical autonomy. Oxon: Routledge.
Bernt, M. (2003). Rübergeklappt! Die „Behutsame Stadterneuerung“ im Berlin der 90er Jahre. Berlin: Schelsky & Jeep.
Grashoff, U. (2011). Schwarzwohnen: Die Unterwanderung der staatlichen Wohnraumlenkung in der DDR. Göttingen: V&R Unipress.
Holm, A., & Kuhn, A. (2011). Squatting and urban renewal in Berlin. The interaction of squatter movements and strategies of urban restructuring. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 35(3), 644–658.
Holm, A., & Kuhn, A. (2016). Squatting and gentrification in East Germany since 1989/90. In F. Anders & A. Sedlmaier (Eds.), Public goods versus economic interests. Global perspectives on the history of squatting (pp. 278–304). London/New York: Routledge.
International Refugee Center. (2015). Movement 1. A Heroes Magazine, Berlin.
International Women Space. (2015). In our own words—Refugee women in Germany tell their stories. Berlin: International Women Space.
Katz, S., & Mayer, M. (1985). Gimme shelter: Self-help housing struggles within and against the state in New York City and West Berlin. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 9(1), 15–47.
Koopmans, R. (1995). Democracy from below. New social movements and the political system in West Germany. Boulder: Westview Press.
Kuhn, A. (2012). Zwischen gesellschaftlicher Intervention und radikaler Nischenpolitik. Häuserkämpfe in Berlin und Barcelona am Übergang zur neoliberalen Stadt. In H. Balz & J.-H. Friedrichs (Eds.), „All we ever wanted …“. Eine Kulturgeschichte europäischer Protestbewegungen der 1980er Jahre (pp. 37–52). Berlin: Dietz.
Kuhn, A. (2014). Vom Häuserkampf zur neoliberalen Stadt. Besetzungsbewegungen in Berlin und Barcelona. Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot.
Mulhak, R. (1983). Der Instandbesetzungskonflikt in Berlin. In P. Grottian & W. Nelles (Eds.), Großstadt und neue soziale Bewegungen (pp. 205–252). Basel/Boston/Stuttgart: Birkhäuser.
Schlusche, G. (1997). Die Internationale Bauausstellung Berlin: eine Bilanz. Planung und Durchführung 1979–1987 und Einfluß auf die Berliner Stadtentwicklung. Berlin: Technical University of Berlin.
Schultze, T., & Gross, A. (1997). Die Autonomen: Ursprünge, Entwicklung und Profil der autonomen Bewegung. Hamburg: Konkret Literatur Verlag.
Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung Berlin. (2004). 24. Bericht über die Stadterneuerung. Berichtszeitraum 01.01.2002–31.12.2003. Abgeordnetenhaus Berlin—15. Wahlperiode, Drucksache Nr. 15/3790.
Sonnewald, B., & Raabe-Zimmermann, J. (1983). Die „Berliner Linie“ und die Hausbesetzer-Szene. Berlin: Berlin-Verlag.
Tarrow, S. (1998). Power in movement. Social movements, collective action and politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Consortia
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
azozomox., Kuhn, A. (2018). The Cycles of Squatting in Berlin (1969–2016). In: Martínez López, M. (eds) The Urban Politics of Squatters' Movements. The Contemporary City. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95314-1_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95314-1_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-95313-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95314-1
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)