Year 5 MArch Th esi s — page 2 67 —
On International Labour Day, 1st May 1987, after apparently unprovoked police attacks on protest groups in Berlin during annual demonstrations, the radical left sought cover at the Kreuzberg peoples-fest. The situation escalated into the first of the famous ‘Mai Krawalle’ after almost a thousand people returned the attack. In the following days, the district of Kreuzberg made national and international news, reinforcing a now familiar portrayal of it as the volatile cradle of West Germany’s radical left community. Today the riots have become a tradition in Kreuzberg, recurring every May Day since, but never with the fatalities of the first two years. This annual repetition has contributed to the transformation of the riots into something of legend, one that is irrefutably connected to the district and its political and cultural development, not only of its residents but also the built form of the urban environment. This thesis traces the process of new German identity formation through its direct effects on the urban fabric of the district of Kreuzberg in West and reunified Berlin. Despite their differences, both East and West Berlin
shared the problem of how to differentiate themselves with Germany of the Third Reich. The Cold War was yet another epoch that focused German concerns about identity, with solutions offered by the famous modernist urban planners and architects of the age. These were later contested by the alternative presented in Kreuzberg. Today, those young enough for the memories of the Second World War not to haunt them directly, no longer wish to be constantly apologizing for the atrocities of the previous generation. They are looking for a way that they can be proud of the city they belong to. This problem of ‘being German’ may ultimately be tested, contested and resolved in Berlin. The German people will inevitably look to their capital for direction: ‘Berlin is where we will see whether the Germans succeed in finding the way from the tragedy of division to a new identity’ (Stimmann, 1991). The city today has become a lens through which it is possible to explore issues such as architecture and urbanism, identity and belonging, cultural historical memory and forgetting.
B A RT LET T 2012
TIA RANDALL
THE RITUAL: The May Day Riots — Kreuzberg’s role in Berlin’s Identity