Berlin: Køpiplatz resquatted. We are here to reclaim what is ours

This was not just a piece of land to us. It was our home, it was family, it was a our place to welcome people from all over the world, to learn and support each other, where we could grow and connect. In the most simple and wonderful way, it was our community and our life. But now our family have been split up; and more than anything we want to be back together.

6 months have passed since the bullshit eviction of Køpiplatz and some things still haven’t changed; the ground still stays empty, except a couple of hired goons to watch over it, but now it is filled with the wreckage of what was once our homes and lives.

The offer we received from the state and Howoge was not designed to support us, but rather a ‘Catch 22′ that would split us up in a variety of unacceptable ways, including an offer to remove 70 percent and leave a slither of land only able to accommodate a couple of trailers. These offers were refused. As a wagenplatz we are all or nothing and we are still a family despite now being forced apart and scattered across Berlin, and we are still searching for a place to be back together. [Read More]

Berlin: Illegal eviction of Køpi wagenplatz. Supposed owner gave falsified signature in court. Nevertheless eviction plan goes ahead.

On the 8th of October 2021 we gave a press conference in front of Köpi. Read our statement:

Just a week before the eviction of the Køpi wagenplatz we received the report from the official investigator for signature verificationthat the signature presented at the trial in May 2021 by the supposed owner Yervand Chuckhajyan of the postbox company Startezia GmbH differs from previous signatures and is therefore false.

The falsification, and the fact no one ever saw Mr Chuckhajyan, reinforces our suspicion that the supposed owner of this postbox company does in fact not represent the company and is actually another fraud of the real owner of this postbox company, Siegried Nelhs of SANUS AG.

At the trial also the judge Claudia Wolter noticed the different signatures, criticized the supposed owner for not being present at the trial and questioned his lawyers about their relationship with their client. Nevertheless the judge decided that if Startezia GmbH pays a security deposit of 200.000€ the eviction can go ahead even before our appeal hearing. Again we see that justice is not blind, that the court favours suspicious anonymous postbox companies with enough money over the lives, homes and futures of dozens of people. [Read More]

Berlin: eviction of Køpi Wagenplatz, 15 October

Dear comrades!

We have now received the date for the eviction of Køpi Wagenplatz. On 15 October 2021, at 10:00 AM!
Therefore, we call for action weeks from now on, on one hand to push the topic of the planned eviction massively in the public and to mobilize, on the other hand this should once again give the opportunity to network, to discuss, to learn and to organize.
The action weeks should take place from now until the planned eviction as long and continuously as possible.
For this we need your support!
If you want to organize an info- or discussion event, a workshop or open skill sharing, please write us the dates and publish them yourself on Stressfaktor and other event pages.
Banners can be put up anytime and anywhere, posters and stickers can be put up, flyers can be distributed and soli photos can be published. A drink in your bar/pub could temporarily be called ‘Køpiplatz bleibt!’ or whatever you can think of, just do it! Also writing solo statements and spreading our info + events, articles and statements help us out!
If you have space in your location for such an event, but don’t want to or can’t organize anything yourself, you are also welcome to contact us in order to be able to refer other groups without rooms if necessary.
Also groups with event ideas but no location are welcome to contact us. [Read More]

Berlin: Manifestation against the eviction process of Køpi Wagenplatz

A home doesn’t always need four brick walls, and spaces sometimes come on wheels.

Køpi wagenplatz is synonymous with a way of life that attempts to exist autonomously and self determinedly, offering a clear and visible answer to a dominant culture of property as status that shuts its front door on community, neighbourhood and solidarity.

On the 10th of June the trial against this structure will take place. The “legal” existence of this self-organized project, as various other houses in Berlin, is being decided from people who have only one priority: to serve the interest of the capital, the landlords, the real estate companies. Our position is to make clear that not only we’ll defend every threatened project but we stand for the self determination of our existence and our life. We do not recognize their institutions but we want to be present to every decision that is taken for us, without us. [Read More]

Berlin: Analysis, Tips and Tactics – Don’t wait until it’s too late

Køpi and Rigaer94 are calling for the “Don’t wait until it’s too late” Demo, may 15th on Gendarmenmarkt.

It should be a strong and dynamic demo, not waiting for the next eviction date. There have been many evaluations and analysis of our demos in the last years, enough so to succeed a few times in breaking out of our usual behaviour and winning back some potential for action. We’re hoping for our demos to be good for more than just being seen and heard, or blocking something. It’s about creating collective moments, moments where we can find together in the street, moments of breaking with normality, getting over mass inertia and snapping the social reigns. Moments were we can recognize and experience our collective strength. Not as an event but with the goal of creating an instant which connects us with other points in a timeline of radical praxis and building on them. Moments from which a dynamic can grow, where it’s possible to join spontaneously, where people can dare to try new things and gain experience. In order not to turn this quest into our own impasse it’s necessary to always rethink and adjust our approach and break out of habits and routines. As a base we gathered some analysis and suggestions here. [Read More]

Berlin: Køpi Weekend of Protest

Køpi calls for friends and allies from around the world to meet in Berlin on the 15th and 16th of May for a weekend of protest. As Køpiplatz (trailer park) faces the most serious eviction threat to date, Køpi stands united to fight for our homes and families. Køpi has been a DIY project in the heart of Berlin offering living space for people in the house and trailer park for more than 30 years. It also continues to be a home for collectives, events, and creative energy since the day the first door was broken open. We will not give up our way of life for some state backed developers! When the law wants to take our homes away, it’s time to break the law!
The alleged owner of Køpi, Startezia GmbH, is just another example of how our homes and autonomous communities are destroyed by anonymous postbox companies that care only about profit and not about people. Køpiplatz does not face the threat of eviction alone. Other Berlin projects, Potse, Rigaer 94, and Queer Wagenplatz Mollies are also in immediate danger. In the last year alone, crucial left-wing places like Liebig 34, Syndikat, Meuterei, Diesel A, Sabot Garden and G17a have already been evicted. [Read More]

Berlin: Køpi taking the threat seriously

Statement – 22.03.2021
Our current situation:

At February 4th we received a formal letter filed in court from Startezia GmbH to vacate the Køpi Wagenplatz (aka Køpiplatz) by February 28th 2021. After more than 20 years, Startezia GmbH thinks they can force us to leave Køpiplatz but of course we have not left, and we are unwilling to give up our homes. Until now the first court date has not been set, but it is definitely coming sooner rather than later. We have been under threat of sale or eviction before, but this time, as gentrification and new construction surround us, we believe the risk to be more serious than ever before. [Read More]

Berlin: Rigaer 94 – What‘s the price of this shithole?

Berlin, March 2021: A conflict, in which there will be no other option but to take a stand, escalates. This is not about fire safety. This argument is only a masquerade. Those ruling try to make the public believe in the morality of their actions and to create a spectacle. We have repeatedly stated that an independent fire safety expert can walk through the building with us at any time, as it happened in 2016 and November 2020. As this has been ignored, it is obvious that this mission is about the eviction and destruction of Rigaer94 as she has been existing for 30 years. It intends nothing more but a siege and a gradual transformation into a destroyed, uninhabitable house controlled by fences and security gates. It is an attempt to evict us. Those responsible chose March 11th and 12th, 2021 as kick-off. This attempt will meet our fierce resistance! [Read More]

Berlin: Køpi Wagenplatz – Legal proceeding of eviction have started

It is almost our 31st birthday and we would love to celebrate with all of you but instead we have difficult news to share: Køpi Wagenplatz has received a legal document starting the eviction process from the current owner Startezia GmbH.
Startezia`s letter demands they will take vacant possession of Køpi Wagenplatz by the end of February 2021. After this date the owner will continue legal proceedings for eviction.
Obviously this news hits us hard but this is just the beginning of a long fight. We will update you regularly and we count on international solidarity.

Come to the Wagenplatz demonstration and support our fight against displacement and for self-determined housing! On the 20th of February at 2pm sharp we will start from KØPI by bike and join the the truck convoy in Scheffelstrasse at 3pm.

Køpi bleibt Risikokapital! [Read More]

Berlin: Wagenplatz Demo

Come to the Wagenplatz demonstration and support our fight against displacement and for self-determined housing!
On the 20th of February at 2pm we will start from KØPI by bike and join the the truck convoi in Scheffelstrasse at 3pm. Please come with face masks and maintain distance to each other!

No place for gentrification! Defend Wagenplatzes!

Berlin is full of caravan sites that shape the neighbourhoods and fill the streets with life. Our homes are organised in open, solidary structures and offer space for collective togetherness. We stand for self-organised alternatives to a cityscape shaped by capitalist, exploitative logic. But hardly any place has a long-term perspective or secure contract. Almost all of them are constantly and acutely threatened by real estate speculation and the sell-out of the city by the Red-Red-Green Party. We are not alone in this – our neighbours and other self-organised projects, such as the Kiezkneipe Syndikat, Sabot Garden, DieselA and Liebig34, were evicted in 2020. We are in solidarity with all people who are threatened or affected by displacement! We fight for a city where housing is not a commodity!

For self-organised housing! For car life! Let’s take back the city! [Read More]