Berlin line

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The Berlin Line ( also called the "Berlin Line of Reason" by the Berlin Senate at the time ) is an ordinance according to which newly occupied houses in Berlin must be vacated within 24 hours of the occupation becoming known. A far more differentiated provision applied to houses that were already occupied when the ordinance came into force.

The ordinance was created in the spring of 1981 and is now being applied in a similar way in other cities.

West Berlin

As a means against the increasing squatting, especially in Berlin-Kreuzberg , the transitional senate under the ruling mayor Hans-Jochen Vogel developed the "Berlin Line of Reason" in 1981 in order to be able to counteract it in a targeted manner. The measure said that newly occupied houses , squares or apartments in Berlin must be vacated within 24 hours after the occupation became known.

After the elections of May 10, 1981 , the new had CDU - Senate Weizsäcker under Richard von Weizsacker announced the Berlin line to carry on and to try to apply consistently.

Already occupied houses should only be evacuated under certain conditions - according to a statement by the now CDU-led Senate of Berlin on June 28, 1983: “The conditions for this are the existence of an eviction request by the house owner combined with a criminal complaint for trespassing , a complete one Financing and utilization concept as well as the possible start of construction work immediately after the clearance. "

This declaration was made after the surprising evacuation of an occupied house (Willibald-Alexis-Straße 43), which was initiated by Interior Senator Heinrich Lummer against the wishes of Building Senator Ulrich Rastemborski on June 1, 1983, on the grounds of criminal behavior on the part of the residents. Here was a solution to the legality question at the door:

“The Gossner Mission, an institution of the Evangelical Church, wanted to buy the house for the occupiers for 675,000 marks. Suspiciously eyed by the Senator for the Interior, the contract flourished until it was ready for signature. Then, however, overnight - [...] because of 'criminal environmental pollution' [...] - had Interior Senator Heinrich Lummer evicted. [... He] announced that he would watch negotiations 'not until St. Never's Day'. "

The criteria of the Berlin line were obviously not present in the 'Alexis 43' and in the press Lummer's 'criminal approach' was rated as a kind of “pretext”. The Senate reacted in a conciliatory manner and emphasized “its 'serious will to negotiate'. Speculations and allegations that he is no longer interested in negotiated solutions are 'absurd', it says in a declaration adopted [on June 28]. [...] At the same time, he underlined the adherence to the so-called Berlin line ”.

The procedure was also heavily criticized, as Lummer had another house in Oranienstrasse 198 in Block 104 vacated, just as before, because both incidents occurred immediately before the start of work for the alternative redevelopment agency Stattbau , which was responsible for the legalization and redevelopment of 11 houses Kreuzberger Block 103 was planned.

Certainly the Senator for the Interior lost some of its freedom of action as a result of the incidents in the Senate: "After all, Lummer admitted that he had misjudged the consequences of the evictions."

After reunification

The Berlin line was also on during the turnaround in East Berlin used squats. The Berlin line was violated for the second time in 1996 when, under the CDU Interior Senator Jörg Schönbohm, a house that had been occupied since 1990 was evacuated without a judicial eviction title on the basis of the General Security and Order Act (ASOG Bln). As a result, the “protection” of old occupations was almost completely ignored.

In the case of the occupations of New York 59 (2005) and the Gerhart-Hauptmann-Schule (2012), squatting was tolerated and later legalized, despite the Berlin line.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Senate confirms: 'The Berlin line remains the benchmark for action' . In: Der Tagesspiegel , June 29, 1983. According to: Chronicle of the Stattbau Stadtentwicklungs-GmbH (Ed.): Stattbau informs . Volume 2. Stattbau & Oktoberdruck, Berlin 1984, ISBN 3-924536-00-7 , p. 328.
  2. ↑ "The Berlin Line is a corpse" . In: Der Spiegel . No. 25 , 1983 ( online ).
  3. ↑ 'Berlin line remains the benchmark for action' . In: Der Tagesspiegel , June 29, 1983. According to: Stattbau informs , p. 328.
  4. ↑ Take a deep breath in block 103 . In: the daily newspaper , July 18, 1983. According to: Stattbau informed , p. 330.
  5. ↑ Short chronology for Berlin . squat.net