The stage of the left-wing collective bar “Dots” in the Börnerviertel burnt out

Göttingen.Early on Friday morning, the stage structure of the “Dots” bar in the inner courtyard of the Börnerviertel on Barfüsserstraße was completely burned out. A resident noticed the fire around 5:30 a.m. due to loud cracking noises, looked out the window and called the emergency number. Nobody was injured.

What happened that night

The flames rose meters high up the facade. Because the keyword “roof structure fire” was initially issued, the fire station Klinikum and the local fire departments Stadtmitte and Geismar were deployed in addition to the south station of the professional fire department. On site it became clear that only the open-air stage and roof, which was mainly made of wooden pallets, burned - it belongs to the bar opposite in the inner courtyard.

The fire was quickly extinguished. There was hardly anything left of the stage; The house wall was significantly damaged by the smoke. There was initially no information available about the cause or amount of damage - the investigation is ongoing.

The “Dots”: a collective, not a business

The “Dots” is not just any bar. The café, bar and club have been operated as a collective since 2015: decisions are made together, the work is shared, everyone earns the same wage. “No one benefits from this place,” the collective writes about itself. It expressly sees itself as more than gastronomy – as a space in which culture and subculture are lived and in which everyone is welcome, regardless of gender, skin color or sexual orientation. Sexism, racism and anti-Semitism are openly rejected. “Eat the rich, we serve the drinks” is one of their mottos. In the inner courtyard there is an open-air stage in summer - now burnt out - and in winter there is a small cellar.

This makes the “Dots” one of the few self-managed, alternative open spaces in downtown Göttingen – a place of open, solidarity-based coexistence.

What is known – and what remains open

What is known is:Time (around 5:30 a.m.), location (inner courtyard, Barfüsserstrasse), extent (stage and roof destroyed, facade covered in soot) and that no one was hurt.What is open is:the cause of the fire. Neither the fire department nor the police have made a conclusive statement as to whether there was a technical defect, negligence or arson; the police are investigating. The Göttinger Tageblatt now asks openly: “Was it arson?” – even if only behind a pay barrier. What's also new: GT and the police have now been informed that images from a surveillance camera show a person in the courtyard of the "Dot" at the time in question - hood low over his face, remaining in the shadows. Arson can certainly no longer be ruled out. That's exactly why we're holding off on making a final assessment until an official assessment is available.

Why a right-wing background is suspected

In the left-wing scene in Göttingen, suspicion immediately falls in one direction: to the right. And not out of reflex, but out of experience. A nighttime fire that hit the stage of one of the city's most famous left-wing venues, a few months after the same bar was covered with 13 swastikas - to dismiss this as a mere coincidence would be naive. Nothing has been proven. But anyone who knows the history understands why no one here believes in a technical defect.

On the night of October 5, 2025, unknown persons daubed the outside seating, walls and windows of the “Dot” with a total of 13 swastikas, 20 to 80 centimeters tall, in white paint. The State Police Commissariat for Protection began investigations into the use of license plates of unconstitutional organizations and damage to property; There was no trace of the perpetrators. The attack triggered a wave of solidarity at the time. The collective refused to be intimidated: "The Dots is and will remain a place where everyone is welcome - except fascists. This act of hate will not silence us."

This graffiti was not an isolated incident, but part of an escalation. A right-wing youth clique, which has been active for around two years, specifically visits left-wing places in Göttingen "to look for stress" - sometimes verbally, sometimes with New Year's Eve rockets at the left-wing alternative "Juzi". A staircase decorated in rainbow colors and a memorial plaque commemorating the Nazi book burnings were defaced. In June 2026, a 17-year-old right-wing extremist stabbed a 23-year-old anti-fascist in the chest, barely missing the heart; The injured man only survived after emergency surgery and an artificial coma. More than 1,000 people then took to the streets. It was the most serious in a series of right-wing attacks – in a city that had long seen itself as a “red stronghold”.

And the fire at “Dots” is not alone. Just a few days earlier, on the night of September 1st, 2026, a poster was set on fire right on the front door of the T-Keller - another left-wing bar in the Göttingen G19 complex - shortly after the bar closed. It advertised a concert by the “Rheinmetall Disarmen” alliance in the OM10. The T-Keller unambiguously sees the act as “right-wing aggression” and arson: “We will not allow ourselves to be intimidated.” The T-Keller expressly sees the danger for the entire building complex - it is also home to the arthouse cinema Kino Lumière and the queer bar “Café Collective Krawall”. Two burning doors of left-wing shops within a few days – this is not a random pattern.

The suspicion remains a suspicion as long as the investigation is ongoing - that's one side. The other: Anyone who knows the series knows that “unexplained” has become the rule in these cases. The swastikas on the dots: perpetrator unknown. The rockets on Juzi: perpetrator unknown. The 17-year-old who rammed the knife into the chest of an anti-fascist was initially released - keyword self-defense. You don't have to be a cynic to recognize that the authorities consistently downplay right-wing violence in Göttingen, while covering left-wing structures with state protection and repression. If arson is confirmed, this fire would be part of a frightening continuity of right-wing violence against self-organized, migrant and queer spaces that has been tolerated by the police and the judiciary for far too long.

What counts now: solidarity

Regardless of what the investigation reveals, one thing is clear: the “Dots” is not alone. After the swastika attack, the collective showed that intimidation doesn't work - and this stage will also be rebuilt. Solidarity specifically means: going there, supporting, not leaving the place alone. Open spaces under attack do not survive through pity, but through people who stand up for them.

Faultline will update this article as soon as the fire department or police provide reliable information about the cause of the fire. Anyone who observed something in the Börnerviertel area on Friday night should contact those affected and local anti-fascist structures.