Keupstrasse
The Keupstraße is a shopping street in Cologne rechtsrheinischem district Mülheim . It is known nationwide as a center of Turkish and Kurdish business life and is considered a typical example of a commercial street in an immigrant district; some observers also criticize it as a symbol of inner-city social segregation . Similar attractions are Weidengasse on Cologne's Eigelstein and the weekly market on Wilhelmplatz in Cologne's Nippes district . Today Keupstrasse is also an attraction for employees and visitors to the adjacent Schanzenviertel , an industrial district of the 19th century that now has several cultural institutions ( Kölner Schauspiel , E-Werk, etc.) as well as young companies, among others. a. the media industry.
location
Keupstraße begins at the junction of Dünnwalder Straße and Mülheimer Freiheit and runs in an arc to Bergisch Gladbacher Straße in the immediate vicinity of Wiener Platz . It has a length of about 800 meters.
history
The street, which was initially called Wolfstraße , was created during the industrialization of the 19th century in the then still independent town of Mülheim am Rhein . Today's street name is reminiscent of the widow of the Mülheim grain dealer Kaspar Keup, Maria Sybilla Petronella Keup, who donated the capital for the Dreikönigen Hospital founded here in 1857. The hospital was in operation until 1975; today there is an old people's home of the Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund in its place . Many foreign workers were already recruited during the industrialization. This continued after the Second World War when Germany was in short supply of labor. In the 1950s and 1960s, for example, migrant workers again moved to Keupstrasse. The former Kabelwerke Felten & Guilleaume in the neighboring Schanzenstrasse employed a large number of foreign workers in these decades. The predominantly Turkish workers were looking for inexpensive living space and found it in the needy and partly shabby tenement houses near their workplace.
In the two decades that followed, the street was one of Cologne's most important drug trading centers and turned into a social hotspot . Thanks to the police's consistent prevention work, the drug scene was pushed out of the neighborhood. In the same years, Turkish migrants who dared to take the step into self-employment gradually rented empty shops. Since then, the street has developed into a Turkish commercial and service center, whose appeal extends far beyond the city limits.
Today's appearance
The street is mostly lined with four-story residential and commercial buildings from the Wilhelminian era, the early 20th century and functional architecture from the post-war period. A section of the predominantly Turkish street is located directly on the factory wall of the adjacent industrial site. The ground floors of the houses are used by merchants, mostly of Turkish origin, many of them Kurds , as shops. This is where the businesses of the most varied of industries alternate. Mostly migrant families of Turkish origin live on the upper floors. Some buildings have a drive through to the backyards. There are rear buildings with apartments, other businesses and two mosque associations . Some of the shop facades have been preserved in their original state, some have been given a modern design, others are decorated with oriental ornaments.
The core of the business area of the road may only be used in one direction of travel. Special paving limits the speed of the flowing traffic in the busy shopping street during the day and into the late evening hours. There are parking bays on both sides of the road. However, these are not sufficient for all residents and business customers, so that parking is often in the second row and road traffic comes to a standstill at times.
A six-lane main traffic artery cuts through Keupstraße and separates the continuation closer to the Rhine from the busy part of the street. Right next to it is the Cologne light rail stop of the same name . This shorter section is primarily used as a residential area. A children's playground has also been created here. The first meters of the street are designed as a square and traffic-calmed. The Norbert Burger senior citizens' home was built here a few years ago . The Dreikönigen Hospital used to be there. Some benches and the recently built Dreikönigenbrunnen (Dreikönigenbrunnen) across the street should invite you to linger when the weather is nice.
Infrastructure
Keupstrasse is known as a shopping street with an exotic flair. The existing infrastructure of retail, services and gastronomy is tailored to the needs and demands of compatriots of Turkish origin and is gladly accepted by this clientele, but is also visited by many Cologne residents of German origin and occasionally by tourists who want to get to know the multicultural side of Cologne. The offer continues in the Bergisch-Gladbacher Straße adjoining to the south over a number of houses and is thus covered by a total of around 100 dealers and service providers. Articles for daily household needs, many everyday items and other services can be purchased without having to go to another shopping location. Recently there has been a sharp increase in restaurants and wedding services. Keupstrasse has developed into a point of attraction, especially for Turkish wedding parties, and is considered Cologne's Turkish wedding mile. Here wedding couples will find specialty shops for jewelry, invitation cards, wedding gifts, decorations and bridal wear. The number of small grocery stores that have long dominated the picture has declined in favor of oriental supermarkets due to the concentration in the grocery trade.
retail trade
The retail sector is represented by food markets, fruit and vegetable stores, bakeries and pastry shops. Five jewelers and several shops with household appliances, household items as well as decoration and gift supplies have set up shop in the lively street. One store specializes exclusively in the sale of gift and decorative cards. The clothing industry is represented with several boutiques. Textiles, shoes and accessories are on offer here. A fashion store for evening and party wear covers the high demand. Electronics and phone accessories stores can also be found on the street. There is also a store for Turkish sound carriers, a bookstore and a few kiosks. Every now and then the offer is supplemented by small traders who offer fresh goods for sale from a sales van. Bakeries, kiosks and restaurants are also open on Sundays.
Services and catering
The service industry is represented by a driving school, real estate agency, travel agencies, a tailoring shop, a photo studio and several hairdressing salons - there are no Turkish bank branches or medical practices. There is also a law firm. A large number of snack bars, tea rooms, pubs and restaurants rounds off the picture in gastronomy . The restaurants are mostly traditionally furnished, have an oriental ambience and are frequented by Germans and guests of other nationalities.
Bomb attack
Keupstrasse hit the headlines nationwide when it was shaken on June 9, 2004 by a nail bomb attack. 22 people were injured, four of them seriously. Considerable damage to property occurred at several shops. A hair salon was completely devastated by the force of the detonation. Numerous parked cars were damaged by the explosion and flying nails.
For years there was uncertainty about the perpetrator, the motive and other backgrounds. A terrorist act was initially ruled out. Speculations were based on both a xenophobic background and disputes between Turkish businessmen. Other suspicions linked the bomb attack to the Kurdish conflict in Turkey . After the self-exposure in November 2011, it turned out that the act can be attributed to the right-wing terrorist group National Socialist Underground .
One month after the attack, the then Cologne District President, later Lord Mayor Jürgen Roters, went to the crime scene. He started his tour at the hairdresser whose shop was destroyed by the nail bomb. Roters to the owner: “It's about time for me again. Call me and I'll be your first customer. ”He kept his word and had his hair cut when the salon reopened.
A campaign by the Federal Ministry of the Interior caused displeasure in the summer of 2012. Boxes of leaflets against Islamism were distributed in Keupstrasse. Both Muslim associations and local politicians from Cologne found it insensitive that this campaign began in Keupstrasse, where the attack had long been mistakenly attributed to Islamist perpetrators.
From June 7th to 9th, 2014 the mass rally " Birliche - Standing Together " took place on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the attack. An open-air street culture festival set artistic and musical signals against the attack, racism and right-wing extremist sentiments. In addition to Lord Mayor Roters and the chairman of the Keupstraße eV community of interests, Meral Sahin, the musicians Wolfgang Niedecken , Peter Maffay and Udo Lindenberg took part in an open-air concert. The Schauspiel Köln took part with the play "Die Lücke" directed by Nuran David Calis , which describes the investigation after the attack from the point of view of the local residents. Federal President Joachim Gauck spoke at the final rally .
Eko Fresh rapped about the attack in his song "Es brennt", the documentary film Der Kuaför from Keupstrasse by Andreas Maus (2016) allowed victims and residents to have their say. The Keupstrasse initiative was founded everywhere and is socially committed against racism.
Others
Every now and then the street serves as a backdrop for filming. In January 2007, the documentary series Die Özdags was broadcast on WDR television about the everyday life of an extended family of Turkish origin who run a pastry shop here.
In August 2011, a YouTube video of the German-speaking rapper Eko Fresh was shot there, which is distributed on the Internet by the Aggro.tv label as part of the “ Shut Up ” season .
The business people and residents of Keupstraße advertise with a YouTube video entitled Keupstraße lives for a visit and shopping trip on its street. They do not present themselves in a victim role, but as hosts with charm and humor. The director was the journalist and filmmaker Jürgen Kura.
In 1980, an essay by Achim Dümmler (psychologist) and Ludger Reiberg (Germanist and economic geographer, today Director of Studies in the Education Office of the City of Cologne) was published in an anthology for a Cologne literary competition, e.g. Cologne (Lamuv Verlag) with the title Keupstraße in Cologne Mülheim, their story , their change and their effect on the residents .
Sources and individual references
- ↑ https://www1.wdr.de/radio/wdr5/sendung/neugier-genuegt/redezeit-oezlem-yagmur-polizistin-auf-der-koelner-keupstrasse-100.html
- ↑ Ulrich S. Soenius, Jürgen Wilhelm (Ed.): Kölner Personen-Lexikon. Greven, Cologne 2007, p. 279
- ^ Helmut Frangenberg: Keupstrasse: Tradition and Awakening . In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger . ( ksta.de [accessed June 28, 2017]).
- ^ List of Turkish wedding service providers on Keupstrasse . In: gelinim.de (ed.): Düğün hazırlıkları burada başlar. | gelinim.de . ( gelinim.de [accessed June 28, 2017]).
- ^ Tanjev Schultz : NSU. The terror from the right and the failure of the state. Droemer Knaur, Munich 2018, Chapter 5, pp. 226–244, 257–263.
- ↑ Roters assures local residents financial aid. In: Kölner Stadtanzeiger , July 15, 2004.
- ^ Memories of the attack in Cologne are awakened ( memento from October 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive ). In: WDR.de , October 12, 2011.
- ↑ Campaign against Islamism starts at the NSU crime scene. In: Welt Online , September 26, 2012.
- ↑ Andrea Grunau: Feast against forgetting ten years after the attack in Keupstrasse. In: Deutsche Welle , June 9, 2014.
- ↑ Youtube-Video Keupstraße is alive
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 57 ′ 57 ″ N , 7 ° 0 ′ 30.9 ″ E