Conne Island

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Front house and patio of Conne Island in spring 2013
Conne Island Skatepark after renovation in 2013

The Conne Island is an alternative youth cultural center in the Leipzig district of Connewitz and houses a large outdoor skate park on its premises .

The name "Conne Island" alludes to the New York entertainment district of Coney Island . Concerts and discos with artists from the alternative environment of the facility take place in the cultural center. The cultural center is a contact point for the hardcore and punk scene, but hip-hop , electronic music and metal can also be found in the program, for example a performance by the band Mayhem was later published in 1990 under the name Live in Leipzig . The first Wave-Gotik-Treffen took place there in 1992 with around 1500 participants. The CEE IEH Newsflyer , which has been published regularly since 1994, was the venue for political debates that can be assigned to an oppositional anti-fascism born from the time of reunification .

history

The "Eiskeller" until 1990

The ice cellar around 1900

The property was built in the second half of the 19th century as an “Eiskeller” restaurant. From 1888/89 the owner was Friedrich Albert Rosenkranz. He had to sell the restaurant in 1934 due to debts. This circumstance prompted the Jewish Claims Conference in the early 1990s to file a restitution claim on the ice cellar, because at that time it was still unclear whether the sale was a so-called Aryanization . However, this was not confirmed. In the mid-1930s, the ice cellar was empty and neglected. At the end of 1937, the city of Leipzig acquired the building, had it rebuilt and left it as a group home for the Hitler Youth free of charge . Although the house has not officially been called "Eiskeller" since then, this name is still in use among the population. After 1945 the facility was used in the GDR as the FDJ youth club " Erich Zeigner ".

Independent center since 1991

The city of Leipzig wanted to close and sell the former FDJ youth club after the end of the GDR. The subcultural group reaction , which emerged in autumn 1989 and which created the “Eiskeller” during the fall of the Berlin Wall a. used for their concerts, protested against it. In March 1991 it occupied the Leipzig City Hall for a short time with around 50 people and the poster “If part of the culture does not come into our hands, we will set the city on fire”. At the same time, the group offered to lease the “Eiskeller” from the city. The city administration negotiated with the group and finally left the premises to the Verein project, which was founded for this purpose . Both sides also agreed on financial support from the city via a framework agreement.

The method that the municipality does not operate sociocultural centers itself, but leaves them to independent sponsors for their own responsibility, has since been referred to as the Leipziger Weg . It was also used, for example, in the children's and youth workshop (KiJuWe) in the occupied Zoro youth club . The Leipzig CDU rejected this path because they feared that “municipal grants (...) to support and promote squatting would be misappropriated”. The SPD-led city administration, however, saw it as advantageous to have partners in the Connewitz scene who criticized them, but also supported them in case of doubt. The city's cultural department, for example, praised the association as a “controversial and cooperative partner” after hosting the congress of squatters in 1995.

From 1996 the Saxon State Office for the Protection of the Constitution (LfV) monitored Conne Island, and from February 1999 to October 2000 the authority also implemented measures in accordance with the Article 10 Act (restriction of the secrecy of letters, post and telecommunications). In a report to the regional council of Leipzig in 2003, the LfV recommended withdrawing public funding due to the "private [m] political involvement of store managers and [the] presence of political groups" in Conne Island. The Leipzig tax office retroactively revoked the non-profit status of the sponsoring association until the beginning of 1999, since the Conne Island had levied a so-called anti - mark on all admission tickets since then , “in order to support projects”.

The city of Leipzig reserved the loss of non-profit status as an extraordinary reason for termination. However, the city administration made no use of its right of termination, but continued the lease agreement. In addition, the city's Department of Culture continued to provide financial support for Conne Island. In the new framework agreement from 2004, the association declared that it "rejects any violent confrontation in the political conflict" and undertook to "only document political statements by third parties in its publications if they do not contradict the principle of non-violence". Conne Island was committed to a “security partnership with the city” and committed itself to “a de-escalating mediator role”.

The cultural center received national media attention in October 2016 for its aggressive handling of incidents of sexual harassment by refugees. The “Refugee-Fuffzigers” project introduced in summer 2015, in which refugees only had to pay 50 cents to enter events in Conne Island, was ended again. This offer was abused "by young men with a migration background", "who attend dance events in larger groups at the weekend in particular and are happy to pay the low entrance fee to cause stress there".

In spring 2018, Conne Island organized a series of events called “70 Years of Israel ”, at which the anti-German and self-proclaimed “ Islam hater ” Thomas Maul gave a lecture “On the criticism of Islamic anti-Semitism and its trivialization”. During his speech, Maul claimed that the alternative for Germany was "the only party that supports Israel, is anti-Semitic and - at least as far as the Muslim patriarchy is concerned - patriarchal-critical party" in Germany. The appearance sparked a dispute in the left scene. An "initiative for a left counterculture" called for a boycott of Conne Island.

activities

Conne Island Skatepark (2012)

On the site, which is on the edge of the Leipzig floodplain forest , there is a café with an outdoor seating area and there are opportunities to do sports. Some rooms are also used by bands as rehearsal rooms. The buildings and grounds have been gradually modernized since 2011. In 2013 the skate park, which had previously been made of wood, was replaced by a concrete bowl.

publication

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alexander Lange: Search for traces - The history of the ice cellar until 1945. In: Conne Island - 15 years.
  2. ^ Sophie Perthus: From the danger prevention to the socio-spatial risk calculation. Local crime prevention in Leipzig-Connewitz in the service of valorising the district, 1990–2014. Lit Verlag, Berlin / Münster 2016, p. 74.
  3. ^ Sophie Perthus: From the danger prevention to the socio-spatial risk calculation. Local crime prevention in Leipzig-Connewitz in the service of valorising the district, 1990–2014. Lit Verlag, Berlin / Münster 2016, p. 75.
  4. ^ Sophie Perthus: From the danger prevention to the socio-spatial risk calculation. Local crime prevention in Leipzig-Connewitz in the service of valorising the district, 1990–2014. Lit Verlag, Berlin / Münster 2016, p. 76.
  5. ↑ Martin Kaul: Refugees in Conne Island - Lost in Connewitz. In: TAZ, October 12, 2016
  6. ↑ Laura Backes, Max Holscher: Why Leipziger Linke stopped an integration project. In: Spiegel Online , October 19, 2016
  7. ↑ Martin Niewendick: Why a hater of Islam is a guest on the left. Call for a boycott after the performance. Die Welt , July 15, 2018, accessed September 7, 2018 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 18 ′ 11 ″  N , 12 ° 22 ′ 27 ″  E