Homelessness | Hugo House Berlin: Residents evicted for the second time

The former hostel on Belt Street has a long history of squatting: in 2014, refugees occupied it to demonstrate for everyone's right to stay. Photo: dpa/Paul Zinken In Berlin, the number of homeless people is growing as the cold season approaches. After several people were evicted from Habersaathstrasse in the Mitte district on Tuesday morning, the residents of the “Hugo Village” had to vacate their homes on Wednesday afternoon. That's what they called the tent city on Belt Street, which was registered as a vigil. They are young punks who temporarily occupied a long-vacant building at Beltstrasse 39-41 in Friedrichshain.

After they publicly announced in mid-September that they were living in the former hostel, there was soon graffiti and stickers with the slogan "Hugo House Remains." That’s what the young residents called their domicile (“nd” reported). But they were unable to prevent the eviction at the end of September. It came after there were conflicts between the residents and construction workers who wanted to make preparations for the planned demolition of the building on behalf of the investor.

Since then, the residents have been sitting on the streets. They had set up directly opposite the building, which was now equipped with scaffolding and guarded by security. “We had already set up an information point at this point in mid-September,” says Andreas, one of the residents, to “nd”. After the evacuation, this meeting point became the Hugo Village. It was accessible to all passers-by. The residents' demands were written down handwritten on signs. They want to go back to the vacated house or to another building where they can all live together. But their demands were ignored by politicians.

»Some are staying with friends, some are thinking about moving to other cities. Others don’t know where to stay.”

In recent days the mood in the Hugo village has been depressed. Above all, the temperatures, which approach freezing point at night, caused problems for those present. Supporters had brought over sleeping bags in which several of the people on the mattress camp had wrapped themselves up when “nd” visited the camp. A young man who doesn't want to say his name doesn't expect anything from politics. “They’re all reformists,” he simply shouts. »You can forget about them. Nobody prevented our eviction. Resident Andreas sees it in a more nuanced way. “We have to stay active,” he says. There are meetings with supporters from Friedrichshain and other parts of the city. Plans for a new demonstration were being discussed there.

With the evacuation of Hugo Village, the people are scattered. »Some are staying with friends, some are thinking about moving to other cities. Others don’t know where to stay,” says resident Martina as she dismantled her tent on Wednesday afternoon. You can see how living space across the street is being destroyed. All windows and sanitary facilities in the formerly occupied building have been torn out. The neighboring building is now being scaffolded. The land belongs to a real estate company.

Vasili Franco, who still sits in the House of Representatives for the Greens, criticizes the treatment of the residents. »The situation is now dramatic for the former residents of the Hugo House. The cold eviction by the owner was absolutely unnecessary and prevented a temporary solution from being found," he says to "nd". The procedure contributed to the mental and physical stress for those affected leading to a real health risk. “It was only thanks to the supporters of the vigil opposite the house that survival was ensured in the last few weeks,” emphasizes Franco. “The Belt Street is an example of how homelessness is not an abstract problem, but a growing social issue that determines personal fate,” he says.

dBS Investment GmbH contradicts the impression that a police operation in September was an evacuation of the building that it initiated. Rather, the officers took action on the basis of a judicial search warrant from the Tiergarten district court. “This was preceded by attacks by people who were in the building without authorization, on construction and security employees working there,” said the GmbH. Employees were doused with urine and pelted with glass bottles and one worker was injured in the face, as can be seen from a police report at the time. “The police are investigating various crimes, including dangerous bodily harm and damage to property, and made it expressly clear that this was not a police eviction,” explains dBS Investment GmbH. »dBS Investment GmbH was also not responsible for the end of the camp in public spaces on October 14, 2026. This was based on the non-renewal of the official permission to use the public space.

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