Resistance at the FU: Dispute over container village in Berlin-Dahlem
Resistance at the FU: Dispute over container village in Berlin-Dahlem
The property on Thielallee 63 in Berlin-Dahlem, which is currently still serving as a parking space, is the focus of a controversy. The Senate plans to build a container village for 260 refugees there. This encounters resistance in particular at the Free University (FU), since the university originally planned a building for teaching and research on the site. Communication between Berlin's refugee coordinator and FU Chancellor Andrea Güttner shows tensions because the university expressed concerns about the temporary accommodation of refugees.
The FU feels over and is concerned about the decision of the Senate to act without prior consultation with the university management. Although the university is fundamentally willing to support refugees, it emphasizes the urgent need for its own construction work on the affected property after 2023. Alternatively, FU suggests using empty buildings of the Federal Real Estate Authority nearby, which have already been used for refugee accommodation in the past.
The special representative of the Senate for Refugee Questions, Broemme, emphasizes that temporary accommodation of refugees on the fallow's brown -lying property should be possible as long as the university cannot show any specific blueprints. The decision to use the area also depends on possible concerns about nature conservation. Meanwhile, the Senate decided at the end of March to build 16 other container villages in various districts of Berlin in order to counter the acute lack of living space for refugees.
In the course of these developments, discussions about the resistance of the FU and the role of the university as cosmopolitan and tolerant institution have flared up. Critics on social media accuse the university of not acting in the case of refugee accommodation and question their previous position on social issues such as anti -Semitism and gender justice. The debate illustrates the challenges and tensions of dealing with refugee accommodation on the university area and raises questions about prioritization of interests in urban planning.