Battle on the Fraenkelufer

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Coordinates: 52 ° 29 ′ 44.2 ″  N , 13 ° 24 ′ 45.7 ″  E The battle on Fraenkelufer describes a street battle between members of the squatter movement and the police between December 12 and 14, 1980 in the West Berlin district of Kreuzberg . The occasion was the prevention of the occupation of Fraenkelufer 48 by the police on the evening of December 12th. After violent street battles on the evenings of December 12th and 13th, during which more than 200 people were injured and 66 arrested, the house at Fraenkelufer 48 was occupied on December 14th without further police intervention. In police circles, the houses at Fraenkelufer 46, 48 and 50 were referred to as "Fraenkelburg" from now on. The residents were considered particularly militant .

The so-called "Battle on Fraenkelufer" is considered to be the starting signal for the wave of squatting in West Berlin in the early 1980s and the birth of the autonomous movement in Berlin.

chronology

The former Bethanien Hospital (see: Georg-von-Rauch-Haus ) and the Tommy-Weisbecker-Haus in Kreuzberg were already occupied in the early 1970s . From 1979, occupations increased empty buildings in Berlin and a " Besetzerrat " as a joint representation was established. In December 1980 a total of 18 houses were occupied, including Fraenkelufer 50.

On December 12, 1980 around 5 p.m., a group of young people tried to occupy the Fraenkelufer 48 building. In contrast to their behavior in previous occupations, the police intervened this time. It was rumored within the squatting movement that the police were planning massive evictions for the evening. As a result, members of these barricades were erected on nearby streets and there were initial clashes with the police, who used clubs and tear gas . Demonstrators who were driven to Kottbusser Tor smashed the windows of banks and supermarkets and overturned a patrol car. There was also looting. A 27-year-old was hit by a patrol car during the street battle and seriously injured. The confrontation is considered "the most violent street battle that the city had seen in the last ten years."

The next day, representatives of the squatter movement met and issued an ultimatum for the release of all those arrested the previous day. When the ultimatum expired at 8 p.m., several thousand people demonstrated on Kurfürstendamm . The windows of department stores and banks were destroyed and shops were looted. In addition, there were actions by sometimes militant small groups in various places within Berlin .

On the evening of December 14th, the house at Fraenkelufer 48 was occupied. The police did not intervene this time.

On December 20, 15,000 people demonstrated in front of the detention center in Moabit for the release of those arrested.

In March 1981, special police units cleared the so-called "Fraenkelburg": the houses at Fraenkelufer 46, 48 and 50.

Reactions

On December 13, 1980, citing a police report, a prevented occupation of Admiralstrasse 18 was named as the trigger for the street battle. From December 14th and 15th, the newspapers mostly correctly spoke of a prevented occupation of Fraenkelufer 48, but still incorrectly of a simultaneous evacuation of Admiralstrasse 18.

Admiralstrasse 18 had been designated by the social-liberal Senate in Berlin as an object of negotiation with the squatters. Subsequently, among others, the Berlin Senator for Construction Harry Ristock claimed in an interview printed on December 17, 1980 in the newspaper “ Der Abend ” that members of the Berlin squatters' movement (he spoke of “chaots”) had the Admiralstrasse 18 with “provocative intent occupied to prevent negotiations between squatters and the Senate on legalizing the occupations from the outset ”.

Effects

The violent clashes are considered to be the "real starting shot" for the wave of squatting in West Berlin in the early 1980s. After the battle on Fraenkelufer, the wave of occupations increased. New houses were occupied almost every day until the peak was finally reached in the summer of 1981 with around 165 occupied houses.

The negotiations planned by the social-liberal Senate in Berlin to legalize the individual already existing occupations were prevented by the street battles. Following the street battles, the occupation council decided to freeze negotiations as long as not all arrested persons were released. Even negotiations that were about to be signed were broken off. The negotiations between the occupiers and the Senate subsequently failed because of this demand. It was not until the spring of 1981 that the Occupation Council gradually moved away from this demand.

In addition, until mid-1981 there were demonstrations with several thousand participants, street battles and attacks with property damage in order to emphasize the demand for an amnesty for all squatters.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Sontheimer : Berlin house warfare: utopia and riot . In: Spiegel Online . January 29, 2014 ( spiegel.de [accessed May 30, 2018]).
  2. ↑ FLEE: Chronicle around December 12, 1980: The battle on Fraenkelufer. In: taz.de . December 16, 2005, accessed May 30, 2018 .
  3. ^ Andrej Holm , Armin Kuhn: House warfare and urban renewal. Sheets for German and International Politics 3/2010, p. 107
  4. ^ Andrej Holm, Armin Kuhn: House warfare and urban renewal. Sheets for German and International Politics 3/2010, p. 107ff