House on Berlin's Belt Street not disclosed

After many years, there is again an openly so-called squatting in Berlin. But how long can she stave off eviction?

“Refuse rent, give notice in the toilet,” is often shouted at demonstrations. Now this slogan can be read on a banner hanging on a window in Berlin-Friedrichshain. A few days ago, residents on Belt Street made their squatting public. In the former Georgshof hostel, homeless people had already quietly and secretly occupied the building two years ago. Refugees from different countries had previously lived in the building.

In the summer of 2014, it made headlines that refugees stayed on the roof of the building for 13 days to protest against their threatened deportation. This spectacular action received a lot of press coverage and the occupiers experienced a lot of solidarity at the time. Several hundred people had gathered near the house to support the refugees in their fight. After 13 days they had to give up their protest for health reasons. Refugees and supporters subsequently made serious allegations against the police. This prevented us from bringing water to the people on the roof and providing them with health care.

After that, the building became quiet. But people who previously mostly had to camp on the streets continued to live there. Over the past 13 years, there have always been new people who have found shelter in the spacious house, at least temporarily. The group, which has been living there for two years, also has political goals. »We don't want to end up on the streets again. It's not just about us. Living space is supposed to be destroyed here and we want to prevent that,” says Paul, a young punk who lives there.

Support for the residents has now also begun. “Belt Road remains,” is the slogan that can be read on banners and walls lately. Leaflets call for solidarity with the residents. Help is also arriving from the neighborhood. »Residents from nearby houses came by. They brought us pots and plates,” says Lou, a resident of Belt Street. The “neighbors against eviction” have reported.

In fact, as Lou and Paul say, the risk of eviction is high. That's why they made the years-long silent occupation public at the beginning of September. The real estate industry has long had its eye on the old hostel. The owner is GSI 2 Development GmbH from Vienna and the project developer commissioned by it, dBS Investment GmbH. They want to build a new, high-priced property at the location, a “new and existing building with underground parking,” as can be read on the Internet. Notices were posted asking residents to leave the house by the beginning of September. But they don't think about it.

Apart from that, the locks of the Berlin office of GSI 2 Development GmbH were taped at night at the beginning of September, according to a letter of responsibility published on the Internet.

"It's absurd that people should be thrown out onto the street so that another expensive new building can be built."

Martin Winter Supporter

Martin Winter also has great sympathy for the Belt Street residents. The man from Lichtenberg found out about the impending eviction and wanted to find out more from the residents and ask how he could help. "It's absurd that people should be thrown out onto the street so that another expensive new building can be built," says Winter.

Residents of left-wing house projects also support Belt Street. Many of them occupied empty houses in the early 1990s, preventing them from being converted into luxury properties. But from 1992 onwards, the so-called Berlin Line meant that occupations in Berlin could hardly be maintained any longer. This line stipulated that new appointments would be immediately evicted by the police. However, there were exceptions where an occupation could be kept longer.

In recent years there have been repeated events on the topic: “Why not squat houses again?” How long will the thing on Belt Street stay occupied? “I have no idea,” Lou and Paul admit. But they know one thing. "We're not leaving here because we don't have a place to go."

https://kontrapolis.info/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/IMG_6829.jpg"> decoding="async" src="width="150" height="150" alt="IMG_6829.jpg" style="display:inline-block" />

web address: https://kontrapolis.info/18645/author/group: New Germany feed date: Saturday, September 12, 2026 - 08:32