By Stephen Peter
The gay and lesbian club “Busche” has been in Berlin for 40 years. The owner sees its future threatened – by a new refugee home on the other side of the street. That’s why she wrote an open letter to the Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (50, CDU).
The “Busche” was founded in 1985 on Buschallee (Weißensee), and has resided on Warsaw Square (Friedrichshain) since 2004. Two dance floors, the audience also comes from Brandenburg. Now operator Carla Pahlau is thinking about giving up.
Reason: In the next few weeks, a refugee home for up to 650 people will be opened in a former hostel directly opposite the club. The asylum seekers come from Turkey, Afghanistan and Syria. “We were only informed about the opening of the home a week ago,” says Pahlau to the BZ
The former hostel on Warschauer Platz becomes accommodation for 650 refugees – the disco is directly opposite Photo: Olaf Selchow
The letter to the governing Kai Wegner Photo: private
She worries about her guests – they would be afraid. “In the last few months, the number of crimes against homosexuals in Berlin has increased enormously,” said Pahlau in her letter to Wegner. “The vast majority of offenders are migrants with a Muslim background.” According to the justice administration, however, no data is collected on the religious affiliation of the offenders.
The refugees get their food in this room, they can’t cook anything themselves Photo: Olaf Selchow
If there are conflicts with her guests after the opening of the home, it’s over for Pahlau. “Then the club will not be able to continue to exist.”
Are the club operator’s concerns justified? The Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district office refused to answer the question to the BZ, social administration and queer officer Alfonso Pantisano (49) did not even answer.
“We consider the decision for this location to be a catastrophe,” said the two CDU MPs Kurt Wansner (75) and Timur Husein (42) to the BZ Not only because of the proximity to the “Busche”, the two politicians emphasize. “The proximity to the Matrix disco and the crime-ridden area of Warsaw Bridge as well as the drug hotspots RAW Gelände and Görlitzer Park will also lead to massive upheaval in the Rudolf-Kiez. There will be a massive increase in crime.” Wansner and Husein continue: “We therefore call on the responsible Senate administration not to open this location.”
This is where the asylum seekers will live: View of one of the rooms Photo: Olaf Selchow
Marlene Heihsel, for the FDP in the district parliament: “I can understand the fears, and it is right to honestly address the realistic potential for conflict. It’s no use closing your eyes here. On the other hand, it is right not to push refugee facilities to the outskirts, but to locate them in our heart.”
Wiebke Neumann (36), the SPD parliamentary group’s queer policy spokeswoman, has no problem with the new asylum home: “If the refugees are prepared for their new social space by social workers, for example, there is no increased potential for conflict.”
Katina Schubert (61), social affairs spokeswoman for the Left Group, on the BZ: “Refugees must not be assumed to disturb safe spaces. They need to know what group of people the club is for. This requires educational work and persuasion, but no rejection.”
On Friday, the State Office for Refugee Affairs (LAF) invited to the “Open Day” in the home and showed the residents the rooms. “Ask any questions,” they said. However, when the subject of men traveling alone came up, an annoyed LAF employee said: “I can’t hear this question anymore…”
Deputy Mayor Oliver Nöll (left) was present at the appointment. He read his few sentences from the sheet. “No one flees without a reason,” he claimed. And warned the residents: “The people living here and those who will soon be arriving will have to get used to each other.”