Free University of Berlin fights against container village for refugees

Free University of Berlin fights against container village for refugees

The property on Thielallee 63 in Berlin-Dahlem, which the Senate has intended for the construction of a container village for 260 refugees, encounters resistance, especially from the Free University. The university actually plans the construction of a building for teaching and research and feels about the Senate plans. The university management was only informed of the intended use from the newspaper and has not yet approved this project.

FU-Berlin has supported people who have already refugee and provided temporary emergency accommodation. However, the university emphasizes that the property in question is urgently needed for its own construction measures after 2023. The university management points out that buildings are empty on the Thielallee 92 site, just a few hundred meters away, buildings that were already used for the accommodation of refugees until 2017.

The Berlin Senate plans a total of 16 other container villages, since the need for accommodation for refugees in the city is still high. These new locations are to be created mainly in the eastern part of the city, which further exacerbates the imbalance of the distribution of refugees in the districts. There is also resistance to the establishment of accommodations for refugees in other districts such as Steglitz-Zehlendorf.

On the Internet, the FU-Berlin protest against the container village on the universe area is mocked. Some users question the alleged cosmopolitanism and tolerance of the university in view of the resistance to refugee accommodation. The discussion shows the tensions and contradictions in the accommodation of refugees in the city and the partially contradictory reactions of various actors.