Expropriations | Berlin: An uprising in the cooperatives

Many cooperatives are critical of expropriations - to the displeasure of some cooperative members. Photo: dpa/Sebastian Gollnow The plans of the business associations' campaign against the implementation of the referendum "Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co" (DWE), which were leaked in July, are taking shape. Vonovia spokesman Matthias Wulff explained at the time that “a great need for information” had been identified. Now it becomes clear how this "need for information" is to be met: in subway stations, cute harlequins appear on information boards that announce: "Surprise - it will be several billion more expensive." The campaign page contains compelling arguments such as “No bargain, crazy idea.” Furthermore, the well-known horrors of the collapse of the financial and real estate markets are being conjured up. The campaign is said to have cost 380,000 euros.

Some members of the Association of Berlin-Brandenburg Housing Companies (BBU) are also warming up. With unusual consequences. Cooperative members are generally considered to be less conflict-oriented and quite satisfied because they have comparatively low rents and do not have to worry about being displaced with their lifelong right of residence. However, since the model "interview" was printed in the first member newspapers of the cooperatives, in which BBU board member Maren Kern predicted great damage to the real estate industry in general and the housing cooperatives in particular ("I am very worried about the cooperatives"), that has changed. The audacity of the business associations and the BBU, which want to overturn the prevailing mood for socialization with their shallow campaign, is also bringing good members to the fore Barricades.

The demand for the flyer “Not in our name,” which explains why cooperatives are not socialized and why cooperatives in particular should be interested in socialization, is unexpectedly high, reports Hilde Schrader from the organizational team of the Die Genossenschafter initiative. Almost 20,000 copies have been distributed and residents have been reached in more than 20 cooperatives.

»Neither the support of the private profit-oriented real estate industry nor the intended influence on elections are among the statutory goals of the Moabit hereditary building association.«

The anti-expropriation campaign is making a particularly big splash at the Hereditary Building Association Moabit (EVM), which sent its members home a two-page letter with a key “interview” attached. "As a cooperative, we generally behave neutrally," writes the board - only to break exactly this rule in the next sentence: "One thing is clear, socialization/expropriation does not solve the problems." Then follow the text modules from the business associations' campaign.

That didn't go down well with many people. “I am angry and stunned by the EVM’s letter on the expropriation debate,” wrote a member to the Die Genossenschafter initiative. Another wonders “why this letter ends up in mailboxes so shortly before the House of Representatives election.”

Wolfgang Mahnke, an EVM member for 45 years, is also outraged. »The board spends more than 10,000 euros in postage costs for this propaganda. Opposite opinions, which also exist in our cooperative, are not expressed. Where is the required neutrality?" Mahnke therefore filed a complaint with the public prosecutor's office on August 26th against the two EVM board members "on suspicion of embezzlement." “Neither the support of the private, profit-oriented real estate industry nor the intended influence on elections are among the statutory goals of the Moabit hereditary building association,” the advertisement states as justification. "By sending the membership letter, the board violated its duty to use the cooperative's funds in accordance with the statutes."

While the real estate lobby floods the public noticeboards with its slogans, unusually little is heard or seen about the expropriation initiative. There you can see the consequences of the campaign calmly. Leona Gladbach, spokeswoman for the initiative, points out to "nd" that, according to a survey from the beginning of 2026, a majority of Berliners support socialization. Instead of responding with large public campaigns, they continue to focus on tenant activation. “Our strength is not the large amount of money that we can put into such a poster campaign – our strength is the many teams that support local tenants in defending themselves against outrageously high rents and additional costs.” The spokeswoman admits that it has also become more difficult to get into the media - "during the election campaign we are more likely to be talked about than we ourselves are invited to studio discussions or interviews." Ultimately, however, every party that calls itself democratic must implement the referendum it has won.

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