Platzspitz
| Promenade Platzspitz Platzspitz Park |
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| State Museum with Platzspitz (1996) | ||
| basic data | ||
| location | Zurich | |
| district | old town | |
| created | 1780 | |
| Newly designed | 1883 ( National Exhibition ) 1898 ( National Museum ) 1992 (evacuation of «Needle Park») |
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| use | ||
| user groups | pedestrians , free time | |
| Technical specifications | ||
| parking area | 31'858 m² | |
683170 / 248299
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The Platzspitz , officially Platzpromenade , is a park in the heart of Zurich with a varied history. The presence of drug addicts from all over Central Europe , which was officially tolerated from the mid-1980s to 1992, aroused worldwide media interest .
position
The Platzspitz lies on a tapering terrain between the rivers Limmat and Sihl , which unite at the end of the park. The park is located in the heart of Zurich, just outside the old town . Zurich 's main train station and the state museum stand like a bar between the city center and the industrial quarter , which is located on the other side of the Sihl.
story
Shooting range at the gates of the city
The site was originally used as pasture. At the beginning of the 15th century a shooting range and a shooting range were built. In the 16th and 17th centuries, rifle festivals were celebrated on the Platzspitz, which lasted for months. Visitors from surrounding countries came to the competitions with fairs . Boys' shooting also had its origins on the Platzspitz.
From the baroque park to the forgotten landscape park
At the beginning of the 18th century, avenues were laid out along the two rivers, which soon became very popular. In 1780 a baroque park was built based on the French model. These included a memorial to the poet and statesman Salomon Gessner . It still stands in its original place and has therefore remained in place longer than any other monument in Zurich. Some of the plane trees in the park also date from this period. The shooting range was moved to Albisgüetli . The park was larger than today's area and extended to the first row of houses on today's station square. From then on, Zurich society enjoyed strolling and strolling here. Personalities such as Gottfried Keller and later James Joyce are said to have chosen the Platzspitz as their favorite place.
With the construction of the main train station, which was built on part of the site in 1846, the population's interest in Platzspitz waned. The tracks interrupted the promenade along the Sihl. It was to take until the state exhibition in 1883 before the Platzspitz regained its importance. The park was converted into a landscape park. The music pavilion and path network are still from this time. The first Swiss national exhibition was a great success. The people of Zurich had grown fond of the Platzspitz again: the music pavilion and a restaurant were allowed to remain at the request of the population.
With the construction of the State Museum, the park once again lost its size. The new mobility and the increasing traffic, which pushed another bar between the city center and the park, meant that the Platzspitz lost importance again.
«Needle Park»
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From 1986 the Platzspitz became the meeting place for drug addicts who had previously been driven out of other places (Riviera, Utoquai/Hirschenplatz, Bellevue Rondell, Seepromenade). After the ban on handing out syringes was lifted in July 1986, the police leadership decided to no longer carry out security service on the Platzspitz area. The open scene was tolerated by the police and politicians for a long time, so that the influx grew steadily. Only a minority of drug addicts lived in Zurich; Addicts from all over Switzerland and from abroad met at the Platzspitz. The facility attracted international attention as Needle Park . Open drug trafficking and consumption as well as the great misery in the middle of rich Switzerland brought Zurich a dubious fame. Around 2,000 people stocked up on drugs here every day, and at times up to 3,000 drug users stayed in the park. Initially, there was only sporadic medical care on the Platzspitz through private initiatives and no regular injections were given. In December 1988, Peter Grob and Werner Fuchs opened the Zurich intervention pilot project ZIPP-Aids. Their employees had to revive people about 3,600 times because of heroin overdoses , up to 25 times on peak days.
The growth of open drug scenes was accompanied by increasing impoverishment of drug addicts. As demand increased, so did the supply of drugs. Although the prices were very low, most of the addicts lived in abject poverty. Many had to get the money for the drugs through theft or prostitution . However, most drug users lived an inconspicuous life in normal circumstances with work and home. According to one study, around two-thirds of addicts had a job as a source of income, and almost one-fifth were supported by relatives or partners. But another fifth had drug sales as an income, and just under 10 percent made a living mainly from prostitution or burglary. Small "villages" made up of makeshift dwellings were created on the riverbank several times, which served as a temporary home for many addicts. However, these were regularly torn down again after a few days.
Due to great public pressure, the park was closed on February 5, 1992. Since at the time of the eviction there was still no infrastructure close to the street to accommodate the large number of heroin addicts, the scene merely shifted. The hasty closure of the park showed that repression alone will not solve the drug problem. The expulsion of drug addicts from the Platzspitz shifted the open scene to neighboring quarters before it settled again at the closed Letten train station . After the Lettenareal was closed on February 14, 1995, the remaining addicts from the open drug scene were picked up by the police in downtown Zurich for months. Consumers from outside the canton were consistently returned to their home cantons and fixer rooms were set up. The quality of life in Zurich did not improve immediately. The demand and nationwide supply of methadone made it possible for almost all addicts to reintegrate into society and escape from drug -related crime . The success is often explained by the fact that the police action was accompanied by extensive preventive measures throughout Switzerland. The sale of heroin to severely addicted people played only a minor role in overcoming drug problems.
Platzspitz today
After the closure in 1992, the city council commissioned the gardening department to make the Platzspitz accessible to the public again within a year and at low cost. In June 1993 the park was reopened. A resurgence of the drug scene was to be prevented with controls and a cordoning off of the site from 9 p.m. The ever-increasing life on the banks of the Limmat below the Platzspitz after the renovation of the Lettenareal led to the Platzspitz becoming more lively again.
art
literature
In the 2019 novel "I am the one my mother warned me about", the Swiss author Demian Lienhard describes life and survival in "Needle Park" from the point of view of his narrator Alba Doppler. Historical facts and locations are mixed with fictional elements.
In 2020, the doctor André Seidenberg published "The bloody eye of the top dog" in Zurich, his autobiographical memories of people, epidemics and the drug war with a non-fiction appendix.
Movie
In 2020 the film " Platzspitzbaby " was released, which tells the story of a drug-addicted mother. It is based on the autobiography Platzspitzbaby - My mother, her drugs and I by Michelle Halbheer . Directed by Pierre Monnard, the mother is played by Sarah Spale and her daughter is played by Luna Mwezi.
literature
- Gertrud Vogler, Chris Bänziger: We are only free if we comb it clean. Drugs and politics in Zurich. eco-verlag. Zurich 1990.
- Ernst Sieber : Platzspitz – tip of the iceberg. Zytglogge Verlag, Berne 1991, ISBN 3-7296-0373-6 .
- Judith Rohrer-Amberg. The Platzspitz: chronicle of a garden monument. Published on the occasion of the Swiss Year of Historic Gardens. Horticultural Office Zurich, Zurich 1995.
- The city council of Zurich (ed.): Drug policy of the city of Zurich. Strategies - Measures - Perspectives. Zurich 2004.
- Peter J. Grob: Zurich "Needle Park": a piece of drug history and politics, 1968-2008. Chronos Verlag, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-0340-0968-3 .
- Green City of Zurich (ed.): Platzspitz. Island in the flow of time. Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich 2016, ISBN 978-3-03810-179-6 .
- Christian Koller : 25 years ago: the clearance of »Needle Park« . In: Social Archive Info , 5, 2017, pp. 7–19.
- André Seidenberg: Cemetery Feelings . In: The Magazine . November 11, 2017 ( Seidenberg.ch [PDF]).
- André Seidenberg: The bloody eye of the top dog: My memories of people, epidemics and the drug war. Verlag Elster & Salis, Zurich, 2020, ISBN 978-3-03930-006-8
- Demian Lienhard: I am the one my mother warned me about . 1st edition. Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt, Frankfurt am Main 2019, ISBN 978-3-627-00260-2 .
web links
- Photos Platzspitz 1985-89 by Gertrud Vogler, in the Swiss Social Archives
- Michèle Binswanger : The Platzspitz trauma. Multimedia special from Tages-Anzeiger .ch , May 16, 2014
- André Seidenberg : Platzspitz chronicle and Platzspitz ABC and videos Seidenberg/Media
itemizations
- ↑ GIS Browser. Canton of Zurich, retrieved December 28, 2020 .
- ↑ Platzspitz. City of Zurich, retrieved December 28, 2020 .
- ↑ André Seidenberg : Platzspitz Chronicle. Retrieved May 17, 2020 .
- ↑ a b Peter J. Grob: Zurich "Needle Park": a piece of drug history and politics, 1968-2008. Chronos Verlag, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-0340-0968-3 .
- ↑ photowords.com ( December 25, 2008 memento at the Internet Archive )
- ↑ André Seidenberg: When heroin had Zurich under control . In: New Zurich newspaper . No. 29 , February 4, 2012, p. 20 ( online ).
- ↑ The Needle Trauma. Dossier. In: Daily Gazette. Retrieved January 16, 2017 .
- ↑ Nina Kunz: 25 years Platzspitz closure: The second to last Zurich drug drama. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of February 4, 2017.
- ↑ Martin Huber: 20 years after "Needle Park" there are 5000 drug addicts in Zurich . In: Tages-Anzeiger online, February 1, 2012. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
- ↑ a b c André Seidenberg: The bloody eye of the top dog: My memories of people, epidemics and the drug war . Publisher Elster & Salis, Zurich 2020, ISBN 978-3-03930-006-8 .
- ↑ Demian Lienhard: I am the one my mother warned me about . 1st edition. Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt, Frankfurt am Main 2019, ISBN 978-3-627-00260-2 .
- ↑ Platzspitzsbaby, film by Pierre Monnard