Stollwerck occupation

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Beginning of the occupation: Demonstration train in front of the Stollwerck factory on May 20, 1980

The Stollwerck occupation was a 49-day squatting of the former Stollwerck chocolate factory in Cologne's Severinsviertel , which began on May 20, 1980. The largest squatting in the history of the city of Cologne with up to 600 occupants received nationwide attention from a political and cultural point of view. The question of how to deal with the occupation led to disputes among the Social Democrats in Cologne , in which high-ranking representatives of SPD federal politics finally intervened. The occupation ended with the withdrawal of the occupiers after negotiations with a council representative. The main goal, the self-managed conversion of the factory buildings into inexpensive living and cultural space, was not achieved. As a success of the occupation, however, the factory was used as a cultural center for a progressive art and theater scene for seven years . In 1987, most of the buildings were finally torn down in favor of a new housing estate.

prehistory

The Stollwerck chocolate factory, which last extended over 50,000 square meters in the Severinsviertel, was founded in 1839 by Franz Stollwerck . After several generational changes, the global company got into financial difficulties in the wake of the global economic crisis and World War II , which only ended when it was taken over by Hans Imhoff in 1972. Under Imhoff, Stollwerck developed into one of the leading German chocolate manufacturers.

The Stollwerck factory site represented a dominant complex within the southern inner city and shaped the surrounding Severinsviertel, which in the 1970s was predominantly a working-class area with a high population density and run-down buildings. In other areas of the inner city, the settlement of large service companies, for example through the headquarters of insurance companies, contributed to a decline in living space. This increased the pressure on city politicians to transform inner-city industrial areas that were created in the previous century and can hardly be operated economically. The takeover of Stollwerck by Imhoff, a successful entrepreneur in the food industry, whose ideas for expansion could no longer cope with the inner-city factory premises, seemed to the city to be a stroke of luck. In fact, in the mid-1970s, Stollwerck shut down the inner-city production site and relocated production to other branches, including a new site in an industrial area in Cologne-Porz.

sale

Although the city of Cologne showed interest in purchasing the Stollwerck site and also submitted an offer for 25.5 million DM , Imhoff sold the developed site to the financial entrepreneur Detlev Renatus Rüger at a price of 48.3 million DM. However, Rüger could not manage the property freely: three days after the purchase, the declaration of the area as a redevelopment area became legally binding, so that every change to be made there had to be coordinated with the city administration. Under the pressure of the interest burden, Rüger finally sold the area, which was hardly usable for his purposes, back to the city of Cologne at a price of 34.5 million marks. The winner of these transactions was Imhoff, who also obtained a grant of 9.6 million from the city and an interest-free loan of 10 million marks for moving his production to the outskirts of Cologne.

Ideas competition

On May 30, 1978, the city of Cologne announced an architectural competition to redesign the Stollwerck site. The competition was won by the Cologne Design Team 8 planning group (DT8). Their design included an extensive demolition of the factory buildings, combined with the construction of new residential buildings on the site. A smaller part of the factory was to be preserved by adding apartments. The design of the “Wohnen im Stollwerck” working group, which envisaged the conversion of the entire factory into affordable living space by installing apartments in the industrial buildings, was defeated in the competition. One of the architects in this working group, Stephan Görner , worked at DT8 himself in the 1970s and helped develop the model of factory conversion into apartments. In the meantime he was also the spokesman for the citizens' initiative southern old town (BISA), officially founded on February 11, 1971. In this initiative, interested citizens, including urban planners and architects, organized themselves in the Severinsviertel social space .

Both the citizens' initiative and "Wohnen im Stollwerck" represented the complete preservation of the factory buildings. A planning office in Berlin compared the two concepts in a cost and benefit calculation and came to the conclusion that total maintenance with renovation of all office and factory buildings could initially be around 20% cheaper, but that the follow-up costs would in the long term be aligned a mixed solution of demolition and renovation would occur. Ultimately, the city assumed that, for urban planning and aesthetic reasons, removing the “concrete block” from Stollwerck would be advantageous.

On the other hand, BISA propagated an alternative concept of self-help to conventional living and tenancy conditions : future residents should participate in the design and implementation of the renovations through co-determination and practical participation and thus design their future living space themselves. Refurbished factory floors were to be settled as mixed living, working and cultural spaces based on the " loft living " that had led to the successful conversion of former factories in New York's SoHo , for example , but also in Hamburg and Düsseldorf. For two years there was an argument with the city administration about the fate of the Stollwerck and about the approval to build a model apartment on the factory site, which should show the feasibility of the BISA idea. In the meantime, parts of the site have been leased as quarters for the Circus Roncalli ; the old Annosaal was used by the Kölner Schauspiel as a venue in which Peter Greiner's Kiez was premiered.

Last aid festival and model apartment

In April 1980 the dispute came to a head: while an overarching meeting of the parliamentary group chairmen of the Cologne council parties decided on a timetable for the demolition of the Stollwerck building, a meeting of BISA and its supporters took place in a hall of the Stollwerck factory, at which the construction of a Model apartment was set. The apartment should demonstrate the possibility of remodeling. Senior City Director Kurt Rossa (SPD) had the order to implement the demolition schedule. However, under the pressure of a threatened occupation shortly before the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia on May 11th, he first negotiated with BISA about the installation of the model apartment. As a result, the city administration approved the construction of the model apartment from April 26th. BISA and its supporters began building the apartment in the hope that they would still be able to convince the population and politicians of the concept of the factory conversion.

In the course of the “Last Aid Festival” organized by BISA on April 27th, 12,000 stones were carried over 100 meters from hand to hand by human chain into the factory, where activists built them for two days under the guidance of architects. Numerous sympathizers from the left-wing scene turned up for the action with music and food, as well as residents and children from the neighborhood who used the area to play.

During the festival, a momentous incident occurred when a 13-year-old boy fell 15 meters into an unsecured elevator shaft and was killed in the process. As a result, Rossa initially revoked the permit to build the partially completed model apartment and ordered the construction site to be closed in order to secure the site against unauthorized entry to avoid further accidents. Another round of parliamentary group chairmen of the council parties confirmed that they wanted to stop construction for good for reasons of traffic safety . In view of the emerging radicalization of BISA supporters and the feared consequences for the state elections in the event of violent action by the police against the initiative, Rossa, with the support of the FDP and SPD parliamentary groups, released the building again shortly afterwards, subject to conditions. This led to a break with the CDU parliamentary group, which was still strictly against the construction and insisted on the agreement. The conditions included regulations for securing the site, but also stipulating that the model apartment was only used for demonstration purposes and was not allowed to be used as a reference. BISA also had to forego ownership and copyright to the building.

Finally, a kind of bungalow with three rooms was built on the first floor of the factory . Daylight was added to the shell through a combined glass / half-timbered construction. On May 13th, BISA proudly presented the shell of the model apartment to the press and, in violation of the agreed conditions, also to the invited citizens of the Severinsviertel. The reactions from the city administration and the council remained cautious and negative.

On May 20, 1980, the urban development committee confirmed the partial demolition of the factory and the redevelopment model favored by the city despite vehement protests by BISA and its sympathizers. When it became clear that the demolition was imminent, the locked-out of the committee meeting demonstrators marched from City Hall to the factory and took the land in possession .

occupation

By the late evening of May 20, up to 600 mostly young people had come to the factory premises and decided on the occupation in a first general meeting. For the first time, people spent the night in the former factory in sleeping bags they had brought with them or bought them later. Before the demolition excavators were able to penetrate the factory premises under police protection in the early morning of May 21, 1980, the occupiers had already successfully barricaded themselves . The police and the city administration had not planned any measures against the invasion of the occupiers, especially since parts of the factory were still rented out. An immediate evacuation by the police force present was not possible due to the large number of occupants. Kurt Rossa initially ordered a demolition stop.

"Makes Stollwerck a bulwark"

Under the motto “Make Stollwerck a Bulwark ”, the occupiers prepared to stay in the factory for a longer period of time. Communication and decision-making structures such as plenary sessions and wall newspapers were set up, leaflets were printed, and a public kitchen with daily catering began operations. In cooperation with the occupiers, the Palazzo Schoko cultural center , a legal sub-tenant, organized concerts and performance art in the factory , which in turn attracted the supporters of the occupation. Among the occupiers were Cologne BISA activists, but also nationwide members of the squatter scene . Hoped by the squatters and feared by the police because of the suspected potential for violence, there was no personal support from the Dutch squatter scene of the "Kraaker". The use of “paramilitary rockers ” to defend the site, as feared publicly by SPD parliamentary group leader Günter Herterich , did not take place either. As the occupation lasted, however, the proportion of members of socially marginalized groups such as punks , the homeless and people with mental disorders increased , which increasingly led to conflicts and tensions among the occupiers.

Reception of the cast

The occupiers presented themselves as open and friendly towards the population. They opened a street café and, especially on the weekend of Pentecost, welcomed visitors with coffee, cake and Kölsch . The attitude of the citizens in the Severinsviertel experiences a contradicting representation in reports. Engelbert Greis classified the reactions to the BISA activities and the sympathizers referred to as “dropouts and freaks, freaks and haggers, bums and protesters” as cautious to negative. Meanwhile, Stefan Peil, one of the former squatters, describes closer interlinking of the interests of citizens and activists or squatters. In addition to criticism and rejection from the council groups and the bourgeois camp, the BISA received recognition for its model apartment from the Dortmund city planner Peter Zlonicky . The ensemble of the Schauspielhaus, which performed Greiner's “Kiez” during the occupation, expressed its solidarity with the cast. As a spectator of the play, Federal Research Minister Volker Hauff (SPD) even signed an appeal to support the goals of BISA.

Reactions from politics and administration

Those responsible in politics and administration in the city of Cologne were initially taken by surprise by the rapid occupation. Representatives of politics and city administration pointed out verbally, later also in leaflets, that the occupation was illegal and threatened the occupiers with criminal charges . Kurt Rossa made BISA responsible for the occupation and its consequences, especially for the behavior of groups that did not belong to BISA. In a first non-partisan meeting between the parliamentary group chairman and the administration, the City Director and the Police President agreed that an eviction by the police would be disproportionately risky. The group leaders, however, called for a quick evacuation of the area. In a first council meeting, the three parliamentary groups unanimously confirm the decision on the urban redevelopment concept and emphasize the council's claim not to let squatters determine the fate of the Stollwerck.

Hans-Jürgen Wischnewski

The city administration finally terminated the rental contracts for the Stollwerck buildings for all groups and companies, had electricity and water cut off, which also ended the activities of the Cologne theater on the site. The administration came under pressure from the commercial tenants, who were also affected by this measure, because their business was affected and damage was caused, for example by failed cold stores. The CDU parliamentary group accused Rossa and the SPD of having promoted the following occupation against the background of the state elections by making concessions to the BISA. For her part, she called for the immediate implementation of the Council's resolutions, i.e. the demolition and the associated evacuation of the site. Even within the Social Democrats, differences of opinion about the causes and solutions to the problem grew. The parliamentary group leader Herterich and the right wing of the SPD parliamentary group also accused Rossa of having made the occupation possible through indulgence. On the other hand, the left wing of the SPD criticized Herterich for exaggerating the portrayal of the dangers posed by the occupiers. As a result, there were upheavals between the SPD top and the base in the form of parliamentary groups and parties. Finally, the left wing of the Social Democrats narrowly prevailed at a party congress with a motion against a forced eviction, which obliged the parliamentary group to make concessions to the occupiers and to continue negotiations on the factory. This did not pacify the internal party situation. Most recently, Willy Brandt sent Hans-Jürgen Wischnewski from Cologne , then deputy federal chairman of the SPD, to mediate the Stollwerck affair. Vishnevsky called for a dialogue between the divided wings.

Against the background of the party congress resolution, Herterich finally started negotiations with representatives of the Stollwerck occupiers, which the CDU parliamentary group criticized as an “opportunistic policy” against lawbreakers. The Kölnische Rundschau warned against equating illegal squatting with legal citizens' interests, which would attack the state.

Situation in the Stollwerck

Especially at the beginning of the occupation in Stollwerck, many of the participants felt solidarity , a spirit of optimism, the feeling of a shared dream of alternative life and living models as well as a collective spirit of resistance in the fight for these ideas. Concepts of non-violence , the abolition of the traditional separation between head and manual labor or even the abolition of the money economy created cross-group visions of a better future. The highlights of this sense of community were the collective construction of the model apartment, the successful occupation and the following weekend of Pentecost, when thousands of visitors visited the Stollwerck for a family celebration with a church service in which there was talk of the disdainful Jesus Christ . Beyond the Stollwerck, people felt a connection with the Berlin squatter scene or with the builders of the Republic of Free Wendland . This mood, and the initial fear of an eviction by the police, was described by the rock group BAP in their "Stollwerckleed":

Kölsch Standard German
“The nevven dir sinn Kääls and women
who loose themselves don't mess up,
they don't just want voices.
They don’t keep quiet,
they don’t let go, they
defend themselves now, they mix.

'I always cry,
I hope always,
because only you tell me your op!' " 		“The ones next to you are guys and women
who can no longer be messed up,
they no longer just want to be voting cattle.
They no longer stand still and wait, they
can no longer be loaded, they
are now defending themselves, they are interfering.

'We're getting more and more,
hopefully more and more,
because that's the only way we can stop them!' "

Soon, however, cracks appeared in the common model of ideas, and the different ideas and lifestyles of the groups involved arose, in some cases massive conflicts in coexistence: "Future student councils" met "homeless and unemployed young people" (...) " Freaks in velvet and wool meet punks in steel and leather, the rat on the shoulder ”.
Thefts from one another, threats , violence and the use of hard drugs spread with the influx of other marginalized groups in search of refuge and shelter. In the meantime, the original, idealistic occupiers withdrew from the increasingly aggressive atmosphere, were unable to remove “disruptors”, and quite a few left the occupied factory for fear of violence. An editor of the Kölnische Rundschau , who spent one night in the factory, reported on the rape of a woman. The offenders were provided by other squatters and vigilantism been badly beaten.
At the beginning of the negotiations with the ruling SPD, many of the occupiers realized that Stollwerck could not be held for long under these conditions.

Negotiation and end of occupation

From the end of June, SPD parliamentary group leader Herterich conducted private negotiations with delegates from the occupiers at secret locations. Every evening interim results were presented in the plenum of the occupiers. After a slow start, agreements on most points emerged, but both sides were criticized from within their own ranks for betraying goals or making too many concessions to the other side. In the occupied factory, in the already difficult situation, this led to considerable disputes, while Herterich, whom the Council had backed to start negotiations, was criticized by the press, his own parliamentary group and the opposition on individual issues. In the meantime, the police had worked out a plan for the evacuation and, shortly before the conclusion of the negotiations, were in a position to implement it, given the small number of remaining occupiers. Nevertheless, the negotiations continued and on the night of July 6 the negotiating partners succeeded in drafting a joint declaration containing important agreements:

  • The site must be vacated by the occupiers by 4:00 p.m. on the same day
  • Continuation of the development plan process with the participation of affected citizens and the specialist public, also from the point of view of the self-help idea and alternative forms of financing
  • Interim use of the area by a cultural center as a registered association , under whose roof various initiatives and groups have access to the factory rooms
  • Completion of the model apartment, which can then be made accessible to the public
  • Provision of housing for homeless young people under the occupiers
  • Withdrawal of city criminal charges for trespassing and waiver of civil law claims against the occupiers, with the exception of serious deliberate destruction.

Both negotiating parties supplemented the declaration with their own statements, which interpreted the negotiation result as their own success and saw their own positions strengthened. The SPD emphasized the fact that the council could not be blackmailed and adhered to a legal framework, while the occupiers saw the success of their militant approach in stopping the demolition, in the democratization of the further development plan process and the coming temporary use by a self-administered cultural center.

In fact, the remaining base of the occupiers, estimated by the police at around 100 people, accepted the agreement and prepared to leave the factory. After breakfast, mattresses and other rubbish were burned, belongings were taken out of the tunnel on foot or by handcart and, often with tears, they said goodbye to the occupied complex. At 4:30 p.m. the factory was deserted. From 5:00 p.m. onwards, strong police forces, there are two to six hundred troops, reached the formerly occupied buildings in order to secure and search them. This resulted in tumultuous scenes in front of the factory and later in the city center, when former occupiers reacted with anger to the police action and the demolition column approaching shortly afterwards, which tore down the first walls and buildings. Overall, however, the evacuation of the Stollwerck factory took place without major street battles .

aftermath

Frank Köllges during a public rehearsal of the Intermission Orchestra group in the Stollwerck machine hall, December 28, 1986, photographed by Eusebius Wirdeier
Remaining machine parts from the wheel room of the Stollwerck chocolate factory
The anno bar converted into apartments

The east-west wing of the factory, which also contained the model apartment, was blown up 18 months later. The machine hall, the wheel room, the tile hall and the anno hall of the Stollwerck complex remained. The two associations Pallazzo Schoko and Regebogenhaus used the space for an autonomous cultural center. Twenty to thirty groups with social, cultural and political work were guests here every day. The stages of the city of Cologne also continued to play in the Annosaal, so u. a. with the premiere of the play "Absa (h) nierung", a critical examination of the redevelopment of the southern part of the city with Heinrich Pachl and Richard Rogler on the stage and a set by Eusebius Wirdeier. Conflicts among the very heterogeneous operator and user groups paralyzed the work of the cultural center, which came to an end after two years. The state development company of North Rhine-Westphalia, now trustee of the factory, then had the entrances to the cultural center walled up.

Under the direction of art mediator and gallery owner Ingo Kümmel , the machine hall and anno room, but later almost the entire factory, became the Stollwerck culture factory, used for work and exhibitions by regional and national artists. Among them were Marcus Krips , Heribert C. Ottersbach , Klaus Winterfeld and Adem Yılmaz , who provided almost all the facades of the Annoriegel and the machine hall with ornaments, graffiti , stick figures and inscriptions such as “We have to paint pictures that people will commit suicide” however, shortly before they were later demolished, they themselves destroyed, although art dealers were interested and calls for monument protection were loud. Kümmel himself initiated the noted Davul Performance (1984) and later the 100-day exhibition Stollwerckumenta (1986). After the factory had been a focal point of the Cologne art scene for seven years, the farewell party “Finale Fanale” was celebrated in April 1987 in the ruins of the factory that was being demolished.

Except for the anno bolt, some parts of the gear train and a chimney base, all the buildings of the Stollwerck factory fell victim to the demolition. The Annoriegel was converted into living space, and residential buildings and green spaces were created on the vacated area. Today a plaque on the gear train, designed as a monument, reminds of the factory that once stood here.

The Stollwerck community center still in existence today in Cologne's Südstadt district also has its roots in the former chocolate factory. As one of the largest town houses in North Rhine-Westphalia, it has been based in a former Prussian provisions store from 1906, right next to the former factory site, since 1987 .

Among the participants in the cast and in the left-wing scene, the events are still rated controversially to this day. Some activists saw it as the start of ongoing political work, others turned away from it and got involved in alternative projects.

The occupation was the subject of the special exhibition “Stollwerck / Bollwerk / Dollwerk” in the Cologne City Museum in 2005 with photographs by Eusebius Wirdeier and Annette Frick .

Quotes

“You were our living space, for part of us an attitude towards life. They could not understand that you were a place of impulses and impulses, even an indispensable source for modern art, separating these greats, art, life and business from one another as if one had a life of its own for each of these three aspects Life"

- Angie Hiesl , performance artist :

literature

  • Engelbert Greis: The Stollwerck Story. the history of the occupation and its political background 1980, ISBN 3922475000 .
  • Last help; Article in Der Spiegel 24/1980, online, accessed July 1, 2010.
  • Romana Schneider, Rudolf Stegers: Glück, Stadt, Raum in Europa 1945 to 2000 Birkhauser , 2002, ISBN 978-3764369712 .
  • Text "Stollwerckleed" by BAP , 1980, from the album Affjetaut , Stollwerck-Leed / BAP ( Memento from March 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  • Klaus, the violinist: Germany's most famous street musician tells a story. With a foreword by Günter Wallraff. Cologne: Kiepenheuer and Witsch, 1996.

Exhibitions

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g last help; Article in Der Spiegel 24/1980, online, accessed July 1, 2010.
  2. ↑ a b HAUMANN, SEBASTIAN. "Disputed Transformations: Deindustrialization and Redevelopment of Cologne's Stollwerck Factory, 1970–1980." Urban History , vol. 40, no. 1, 2013, pp. 156-173. JSTOR , www.jstor.org/stable/26398198. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
  3. ↑ Engelbert Greis: The Stollwerck story. the history of the occupation and its political background 1980, ISBN 3922475000 ; P. 9.
  4. ↑ Greis, p. 10.
  5. ^ As in the theater, Der Spiegel 29/1976, online, accessed on August 22, 2010.
  6. ↑ Martin Stankowski : Introduction to the finding aid of the KölnArchiv e. V., online ( Memento of the original from July 12, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed July 17, 2010. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.koelnarchiv.de
  7. ↑ a b c d »It could have worked«, interview with the Stollwerck occupier Stefan Peil in: StadtRevue Archive, online, ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on July 17, 2010.
  8. ↑ Greis, pp. 13-14.
  9. ↑ Greis, p. 32.
  10. ↑ Greis, p. 18.
  11. ↑ Greis, pp. 20-22.
  12. ↑ Greis, pp. 26-27.
  13. ↑ Greis, pp. 14, 26.
  14. ↑ Greis, pp. 34–35.
  15. ↑ Greis, pp. 44-45.
  16. ↑ Greis, pp. 52–53.
  17. ↑ a b c d Rudolf Stegers: Kraftwerk Lustwerk Stollwerck - A Cologne History 1980–1987 in: Romana Schneider, Rudolf Stegers: Glück, Stadt, Raum in Europa 1945 to 2000 Birkhauser , 2002, ISBN 978-3764369712 , pp. 56–61 .
  18. ^ From: Stollwerckleed by BAP , LP Affjetaut , 1980, text: Wolfgang Niedecken . Translation according to Stollwerck-Leed / BAP ( Memento from March 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  19. ↑ a b Stegers, p. 58
  20. ↑ Greis, pp. 48-49.
  21. ↑ Stegers. P. 58.
  22. ↑ Greis, pp. 56-60.
  23. ↑ Greis, p. 56.
  24. ↑ a b Stegers, p. 59.
  25. ↑ Greis, p. 60.
  26. ↑ Stollwerck 25 years ago - between the occupation and the cultural center, http://www.museenkoeln.de/ , online, accessed on August 22, 2010.
  27. ^ Website of the Stollwerck community center, online, accessed on 23 August 2010.
  28. ↑ a b Jürgen Schön: Squatters ready for the museum in: taz, the daily newspaper on April 21, 2005.
  29. ↑ In: Eusebius Wirdeier; Hans Bender; L Fritz Gruber; Cologne City Museum .; et al .: Kölsch ?: Eusebius Wirdeier Heimatphotographie. Emons Verlag, Cologne 1990, ISBN 3924491305 .