Immigration in Berlin

Social movements
The main finding is that the attention grows
over time: The articles reporting on the
occupation in December are mainly neutral
news pieces, a reportage in the Tagesspiegel
highlights the cold and the snow that make the
protesting difficult. The Berliner Morgenpost
speculates on the refugees‘ supporters
being related to the
correctly and provide safety. The Berliner
Zeitung acknowledges that they are not
responsible but “forced“ to “undemocratic“
action due to the politicians’ inactivity. The
Tagesspiegel dedicates a whole article on the
incomprehension of the residents who say the
police resemble “paramilitary forces“.
extreme-left wing [The refugees] don’t differentiate
Antifa. The Berliner between municipality and federal state,
Zeitung portrays between Germany and Europe.
them as “arrogant“,
“uncoope-
the competences of a district. [...]
They don’t know about EU laws and
rative“ with the
We will have to bend the law to give
police and “unable
these people a minimum of humanity.
to cope“ after an
(S. Fehrle, chief editor of Berliner Zeitung,
incident in late De-
1 /7/1 4, on the „moral right to asylum“)
cember when two residents
are stabbed with a
knife in the kitchen of the school. The Tagesspiegel
focuses on the peaceful and wide
support of the refugee protests among the
Kreuzberg residents.
Attention is bigger when a symbol for
protest is attacked
One and a half years later, the occupied
Gerhart-Hauptmann-Schule has become a
symbol for refugee protest and activism, as
well as the “home“ (Berliner Zeitung) for its
residents. The media attention and style of
reporting following the first clearing of the
building is similar to that following the
occupation: Mostly neutral; some sceptical
mentions of the big police presence – “how
voluntary was the moving out really if 900
policemen were needed?“. Berliner Zeitung
and Berliner Morgenpost mention the
“catastrophic hygiene situation“ of the school
(it had one shower for about 200 residents).
Some of the supporters are hard-core activists
and “try to prevent a peaceful solution“
(Berliner Zeitung).
But then, the last occupiers remained on the
roof. Down in the streets the massive police
security annoyed residents and shop owners,
but also journalists who felt the freedom of the
press being violated. Only the Berliner
Morgenpost finds that the police do their work
Political struggle
reflected in the
reporting
The occupiers
want asylum
which the dis-
trict administration
cannot
give them and
the CDU-led Senate
does not want to
give them. Opinion differs whether the Senate
should stay strong against “blackmail“
(Tagesspiegel) or whether the refugees have a
“moral right to asylum“ because they have
been treated dishonestly by everyone (Berliner
Zeitung); whether the occupation was
illigitimate and blackmail (Berliner Morgenpost)
or whether human dignitiy cannot be
extorted, because it has to be guaranteed to
everyone by a social democracy such as
Germany (Berliner Zeitung).
The newspapers agree in one aspect: Local
politicians should know their limits, activists
should not use refugees for their purposes.
Tagesspiegel and Berliner Zeitung connect the
powerlessness of the municipalities with the
EU border countries – in the end, German
federal laws and EU agreements can be made
responsible for such dramas.
Data:
Original newspaper articles related to refugees’
occupation of the Gerhart-Hauptmann-Schule in
Kreuzberg, taken from online archives (Berliner Zeitung,
Tagesspiegel) and from LexisNexis (Berliner Morgenpost),
between December 8, 201 2 and December 29, 201 2 as
well as June 24, 201 4 and July 1 5, 201 4.
Jondis Luise Schwartzkopff,
4th semester BA student in Social Sciences,
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
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