By Bjorn Trautwein
How do you live in Berlin’s worst area? The residents of the Neukölln High Deck settlement speak out.
The bus is gone, the onlookers are still there.
Passers-by stand on the median of Sonnenallee and take photos with their mobile phones. The white coach that young people set on fire on New Year’s Eve was towed away on Thursday, but trails of jet black smoke can still be seen on the facade of the huge bridge house that stretches across the street.
Bettina T. (76) stands behind this facade and cleans. “The soot is everywhere,” she says, “I’ve been mopping for two days. And on New Years I cried for the first time in years. It was terrible.” She lives on the third floor of the house in one of the apartments across the street. The bus burned directly below her.
A coach was set on fire in the High Deck development Photo: Spreepicture
The bridge house marks the entrance to the notorious “High Deck” settlement in Neukölln: 2,400 apartments, well over 6,000 residents, many of whom live off social benefits like nowhere else in Berlin. A gray marketplace, concrete walkways like trenches. Much violence, little hope. At least that is the image that everyone has of this building sin from the 70s and 80s.
Failed integration?
Whenever there is a bang, onlookers, the press and politicians come. Then the whole of Germany makes a quick judgment about the people who live here: criminal foreigners, failed integration. But when you talk to people, you get a different picture. Some love their settlement, others just want to leave. Even the youngsters.
Ibrahim* (17), just doing his Abitur, grew up in the settlement. His mother was born in Germany, his father is from Lebanon:
“It’s not as bad here as it’s being written about everywhere, there are also a lot of helpful people. I like that it’s a settlement, you meet friends, it’s more familiar than usual in Berlin. Recently I carried the bags up to my neighbor, that’s normal. I’m about to graduate from high school and have very little to do with the group that’s causing problems. The boys screw things up out of boredom and mess with the police. Of course there are often arguments, but in the end you only talk about the ones that stand out. But that’s 40 people at most. Nevertheless, I want to leave here as soon as I earn money myself. I don’t want my children to grow up here.”
The settlement also offers security: Wera P. (79) visits her mentally ill son twice a week. What she notices: everyone takes care of each other here. All neighbors are there for him. I don’t think that would be the case in a finer area.” She has never felt uncomfortable in the High Deck settlement. Photo: Ralf Gunther
The Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey also emphasized on Saturday that you shouldn’t just assume that everyone is the same. When 145 chaotic people mess up in a metropolis with almost four million people, you can’t conclude that all the other residents here are also chaotic,” she told the Berliner Zeitung. Next week she wants to convene a youth summit.
There’s been gunfire here since August
Pensioner Bettina T.* is still annoyed. She moved to the settlement three years ago. Even if there is no fire, everyday life does not return to them.
“There’s been gunfire here since August. There is a small group of young people who have no respect and always cause trouble. The other day I saw a 15-year-old girl with a blank pistol. It’s always the same guys who misbehave. I can see her from my window. When the police come, everyone flees and afterwards they party. On the other hand, they also greet you when you walk past them. They should be encouraged to do something meaningful with their lives. They’re not all stupid, they just don’t know what to do with themselves.”
Nobody cares about us. Many residents in the settlement complain that garbage is left behind and that the district shows too little interest in the settlement Photo: Timo Beurich
Your neighbor Armin F. (63) will soon be moving away. The stress is too great for him and the apartment, at 980 euros, is too expensive:
“The people who cause trouble here are all chaotic to me. They have no respect, they put a dent in my car while playing football. The small children come first in the afternoon and hang around, later the grown-ups come along and do nonsense. There aren’t many, maybe 20 to 30. But everyone is afraid of them. The police should set up a station here.”
The kids just hang out
This is also what Neukölln’s social councilor Falko Liecke (CDU) demands. For him, the New Year’s rioters are “predominantly Arab youngsters who spin freely here, are out of control and completely reject our state”. But the people on the high decks see things differently.
Julian (36) moved here last year after his apartment in Köpenick was terminated for personal use. With his reddish-blond beard, he attracts attention here in the settlement. He understands the young people in his new neighborhood.
“There are simply no offers for children here. They hang around and nobody cares. Every now and then the play mobile comes and that’s it.”
While Julian is talking, Hasib* (30) comes to us on the side of the road on Sonnenallee with several friends. He wants to get rid of something:
“We all think it’s bad what happened here on New Year’s Eve. These aren’t bad boys, but they are marginalized. We are often treated racist. From the police and also in the youth club. But no one talks about it, only when there’s a bang, then again it’s the bad foreigners’ fault. It just annoys a lot of people here.”
On New Year’s Eve, a group of young people set fire to a tour bus, they shot rockets and firecrackers into the bus Photo: Timo Beurich
Next to him are two boys whom he forbids to speak. Were you there the night the bus burned? They just grin and turn away. They don’t want to say anything.
“You should just be deported”
Many here are annoyed by the behavior of the young men. Shopkeepers holed up in their stores on New Year’s Eve for fear of fire.
Fadil* is a kiosk owner in the High Deck settlement and immigrated from Lebanon. He has no sympathy for the behavior of his neighbors.
“The boys fuck up. This is a gang. They’re between 18 and 20, want expensive Nike stuff, smoke hashish. They have no education and no chance of getting an apartment. When I came to Berlin, I was at the job center, then I worked and opened my own shop. I have five children, the oldest is 17 years old. I tell my son not to associate with those who do nonsense. Anyone who doesn’t behave here and becomes a criminal should simply be deported.”
Armin F. (63), has lived in the sun house for two years, the bus burned directly below him. In April he moves to Hellersdorf. His apartment costs 980 euros warm for 59 square meters. “For me, young people are chaotic. They have no respect, first in the afternoon the small children come and hang around, later the grown-ups come and do nonsense. That’s like 20, 30 young people. Everyone is afraid of them. The police should set up a station here.” Photo: Ralf Gunther
For the IntegrRation Commissioner from Neukölln, Güner Balci (44, SPD), the young offenders are “young people who, not very bright, have a high potential for violence.” But they are not the majority in the corresponding quarters.“
Move away to protect the children
Chafik F.* (58) thinks so too. He, too, is a shopkeeper in the High Deck development. He was born in Lebanon. His neighborhood is better than its reputation, he thinks:
“We are all one family here, one village. Most of the time Germans, Turks, Arabs and many other nations live together peacefully here. But when something happens, it’s always: The bad foreigners. Of course there are young people here who have no respect. But you can also find them on the Kudamm.”
The former confectioner Klaus H. (60) has lived in the High Deck settlement for 17 years. His one-room apartment costs 480 euros (48 square meters). He likes it in the settlement, he gets along well with the neighbors, he didn’t notice the riots on New Year’s Eve Photo: Ralf Gunther
Klaus H. (60) doesn’t understand the excitement either. He comes from Erlangen, has lived in Berlin since 1980 and has lived in the High Deck housing estate for 17 years:
“I saw many children who are now teenagers here on the street when they were little tots. You shouldn’t talk bad about everything. I only noticed on New Year’s Eve that there was a lot of banging, nothing happened here with me. Of course it’s annoying that a lot of people put their rubbish out on the street, but once I caught one and it was an allotment gardener from the neighborhood next to us.”
Building contractor Zafer Koc (56) has lived right next to the High Deck development for 22 years. His children are 10, 15 and 19 years old. He will be moving away at the end of the year. The young people have too little respect and there should be a ban on firecrackers in Berlin, he thinks Photo: Ralf Gunther
Zafer Koc (56), a building contractor who immigrated from Turkey as a student, is more critical. He too has lived right next to the High Deck development for 22 years. But he wants to leave to protect his children.
“Many young people here have no respect, that’s a big problem. Instead of being polite, they throw the trash on the floor. Parents just have to teach them how to behave. My children are 10, 15 and 19 years old. I’m worried that they’ll end up in the wrong circles. We’re moving away at the end of the year, I’m currently building a house in Rudow.”
*Names changed