Tall residential towers and low-rise apartment blocks stand crowded between the treetops and the sky. This is the Allende neighbourhood in Berlin’s largest borough, Treptow-Köpenick. The GDR government renamed streets, hospitals and schools after the coup against Chilean President Salvador Allende in 1973. The residents adopted the name for the whole neighbourhood. Urban planning divides the area into Allende I, which was built in the early 1970s, the Allende II expansion from the early 1980s and the Kämmereiheide estate, which largely comprises detached houses.

The first large-scale refurbishment measures were carried out in Allende I and II after reunification in 1990, in addition to the conversion of the stock of social housing into private-sector entities. The majority of residents from the ‘first phase of occupancy’ remained. New developments took place, including the demolition of the old neighbourhood social centre and the construction of the Allende Centre. The indoor swimming pool and schools were modernised and the Volkspark reconstructed. Several retirement homes were built for the ageing population and new daycare centres constructed for families with children. Official and self-organised youth clubs changed: the former FDJ youth club is now the Würfel children’s and youth leisure centre; and the ‘BUDE multigenerational project’ – including a forest daycare centre – is now situated where the former BMX track was once located on the periphery of the woods. 

Comprising 367 colourful containers, the accommodation for refugees was built on a former brownfield site in Allende II, directly between BUDE, the retirement home, Würfel and Müggelschlößchen primary school. Initially it was officially called ‘Wohncontainerdorf’ (residential container village’, informally mostly ‘Containerdorf’ (container village), later ‘Gemeinschaftsunterkunft’ (communal accommodation), sometimes ‘Übergangswohnheim’ (transitional residential centre’), just ‘Heim’ (the home) or, after the street name, ‘Alfred-Randt-Straße’. The exhibition sticks to the generic term of ‘accommodation’. The people who have lived there over the course of eleven years speak their minds as ‘residents’.

• ​​“Island of the Blissful – the most beautiful tenement estate in Berlin” 
• “First get to know the Allende neighbourhood!” 
• “Köpenick is the best borough if you ask me.”
• “I respected everyone and had no trouble with the locals.” 

“I can still remember the day very well. The containers didn’t even exist back then, the site was a wasteland. It was drizzling, grey and very dull. I remember looking at the area with a colleague. Because I was asked whether I could imagine running this organisation. To be honest, I couldn’t at first glance. Then I went home, spoke to some people and thought things through. I believe it was two days later that |I decided to give it a go. It was clear to me that I would have to move from Kreuzberg to Köpenick, which I did. And I can only say that it was the best decision I could ever have made.” (Peter Hermanns, Internationaler Bund, Accommodation Director, 2014-2021)

“This is the Allende neighbourhood. It’s very anonymous here, everyone does their own thing, for the most part. Nobody cares what other people get up to in their own four walls. Sure, you greet each other, but you just say: ‘good day’ and ‘see you’. You don’t really engage with others: ‘how are you? What did you do at the weekend?’ or something like that. This anonymity is largely intentional here, and nothing much will change.“ (Dirk, volunteer, Allende 2 hilft e.V., 2014-2023)

„You arrive and don’t yet have everything you need to help yourself. That’s when the social milieu becomes incredibly important. The first ‘real Germans’ you meet. Encounters break down prejudice. I think part of integration is definitely getting to know people, including in my neighbourhood, so that I feel safer and more comfortable where I live.“ (Linda Massino, Internationaler Bund, volunteer coordinator, 2016-2020)

“We have a son-in-law who said: ‘then we will no longer be able to let our children go out in the street if the foreigners are there.’ But we had already got to know the refugees, so I replied: ‘what nonsense.’ We tend to find it uncomfortable and strange initially if they have no contact with other countries or people. But these feelings subsided immediately. It passed very quickly.” (Gerd, volunteer, clothes shop and social café, since 2015)

“More and more refugees have arrived in the area – whether it’s children in the Würfel, young people and families in the BUDE and now also some in the KIEZKLUB, although it’s almost 20 minutes away on foot. Many refugees have become more familiar with the neighbourhood thanks to the BENN programme. It’s just that way: if you come from another country and don’t even know that KIEZKLUBs exist, you won’t look for them.“ (Lena Zeller, BENN team Allende-Viertel, team leader, on the team since 2018)

“The colourful vibe of the western boroughs in the city was noticeable. And the more you travelled on the commuter railway towards Köpenick, the whiter the people became.“ (Verena, volunteer, social café and women’s meeting place, since 2016)

Newspapers 2014/15

The decision to build containerised accommodation for refugees attracted a great deal of media attention, which continued as the project progressed. The majority of the neighbourhood learned about the decision from the press and television.