History of The Political Project
After the shutdown of the department store, musical producer Friedrich Kurz came forward with plans of turning the empty building into a musical theater. However, residents, shopkeepers and autonomous groups responded negatively and, within months, the protest grew. Nevertheless, the historical building was torn down in April 1988. Still, the protests went on and soon culminated in several violent assaults by militant groups. The need of police protection and the negative response in media eventually urged the investors to forfeit the plan.
Until following summer, the ruins and remaining parts were vacant, although several groups, involved in the prior protests, had ambitions of renovating and reusing the house again. In August 1989, the city unexpectedly offered a six-months lease to these groups. After the lease was official, the Rote Flora opened on September 23, 1989. However, the lease was soon declared obsolete and the Rote Flora was declared as squatted on November 1, 1989. Since then, the Rote Flora offers space for cultural and political events. The project is financed privately and administrated independently.
Between 1990 and 1991, the project turned the deserted backyard - formerly the construction site - into a park. The city, on the other hand, had plans of building apartments on the same ground, and soon the conflict ended with an eviction order carried out by massive police forces.
In August 1992, the Senator for Urban Development urged the organizers of the Rote Flora to sign a valid lease within six weeks. If not, another eviction order would be deployed. The negotiations between officials and representatives of the Rote Flora lasted for months; the eviction was not ordered and the Rote Flora remained squatted.
A fire in November 1995 destroyed big part of the building, but was soon renovated and restored. The Rote Flora remained as a cultural and (left-winged) political meeting point. In autumn 2000, the Senate of Hamburg once more started negotiations about a new lease. After 11 years of occupation, the Rote Flora was a political issue and also made a subject of the elections in 2001.
After controversial discussions, the occupiers refused any further negotiations with the Senate. In response, the Senate sold the building in March 2001 to the entrepreneur Klausmartin Kretschmer. In the next weeks, Kretschmer made clear that no changes are going to be made; the Rote Flora would remain autonomous.
Read more about this topic: Rote Flora
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