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alexzapa 09.Jun.2005 00:12

ae, as aspas são as palavras q tive dificuldades em traduzir...
Algo q nao ta legal, so da o toque...

After the eviction is before the What? - a short update in 07.

xy 04.Jan.2007 17:01

The New Yorck in the Bethanien in Berlin Kreuzberg.

There is little to be found in English about the history after the eviction of the Y. Here is a poorly translated self description of one follow up of the Yorck59 - translated from the site http://www.yorck59.net - where also much more information about the last years can be found.

What's the New Yorck59 in the Bethanien? (10/2006)

We as the NewYorck59 emerged from the Yorck59, a house project in motion.

The Yorck59 existed since 1988 in the Yorck street 59 in the west of Berlin Kreuzberg, and accommodated in 8 living groups more than 60 persons, among them 11 children - in self-reconstructed factory floors. At a project floor worked political groups and initiatives, at an open event space happened meetings, exhibitions, concerts, and exercises for sports and childrens' theater groups, as well as a regular bar with an open kitchen (Vokue). In 2003, the business man Marc Walter bought the house in the Yorck str. No. 59 and demanded the double rent. As a consequence of our NO, many chicaneries followed from the side of the new owner, and a long house fight from our side started - with a lot of solidarity from many people and other projects.

On the 6th of June 2005, the residents of the Yorck59 were violently evicted from their house - on the 11th of June, they and many supporters of the Yorck59 squatted the left wing of the Bethanien at the Mariannenplatz in Kreuzberg - the location, where
until the end of 2004 there was the social welfare office.

Nowadays, former inhabitants of the Yorck59 and many new people live and work together in the NewYorck59, again with many children and adults, many groups and projects. The offices in the project space are used by the documentation group of the Anti-Racist Initiative (ARI), the citizens' initiative "Initiative Zukunft Bethanien", the Collective for Art, Culture and Communication (KUKKUK), the Kolumbien Kampagne and the internationalist group Libertad!. Political groups and networks, initiatives from the neighbourhood, refugees' groups, campaigns, theatre groups and more use the meeting rooms in the first floor as a meeting point. Every 1st, 3rd and 5th monday in each month the DružBar is happening - with tasty food and drinks for little money. Regularly there are readings, cultural and political evenings, theatre and movie evenings, concerts and solidarity parties.

The Bethanien is a former hospital, which was built in 1846. Its demolition in the beginning of the 70ies was prevented with a lot of pressure from the people, also by one of the first squattings in Berlin, the squat of the Georg-von-Rauch-Haus. Since then, the Bethanien is used by cultural, art and social institutions. In 2002, the responsible politicians decided to sell the poorly managed house to a private cultural investor. With the squatting of the southern wing of the building in June 2005, these plans were stopped. In September 2006, the politicians had to agree with the demands of about 14,000 people that supported a petition for a referendum run by the "Initiative Zukunft Bethanien" ( http://bethanien.info). The politicians had to stop the privatization of the building and agreed to the development of the building towards a cultural, artistic, political and social centre.

As "New Yorck im Bethanien" we see the future of the Bethanien as an open, self-organized meeting point for people from the neighbourhood, with affordable rooms for initiatives and groups and a lively culture of exchange and self-determination.

Bethanien für Alle!

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Berlin: Yorckstr.59 evicted

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After the eviction is before the What? - a short update in 07.