May Day Riots

Aftermath of the May Day riot, 1987

Aftermath of the riot, 1987

May Day riots 1987

Location of the May Day Riots, 1987

Description of the May Day Riots, 1987

We begin our tour in the area surrounding Görlitzer Bahnhof subway station, on the corner of Skalitzerstrasse and Wienerstrasse; the epicentre of Kreuzberg’s most notable May Day demonstration. For years, Kreuzberg has been considered a place of social and political unrest, often leading to violence. Throughout the twentieth century, street fighting and demonstrations were prevalent, largely lead by the discontent working class and radical left. Each year on the 1st of May, also known as International Workers’ Day or May Day, a demonstration is held in Berlin’s infamous neighbourhood, allowing the working class to campaign for workers’ rights. Since its commencement in the 1860s, May Day demonstrations have come to embody the working class roots of Kreuzberg and the society’s frustrations with the government. On 1 May, 1987, the workers’ demonstrations, which had been occurring throughout the day, turned into a violent street riot at night, led primarily by autonomists and anarchists. Leading up to the demonstration, there was growing resentment throughout leftist groups’ towards Berlin’s government, including a raid of their headquarters that morning. The events on May 1st were relatively peaceful during the day, but descended into riots after the leftist groups’ were told by police to leave the trade union’s demonstrations. By 7 p.m. the demonstrations had become a street fight. For over twelve hours, rioters erected barricades along the streets, looted shops, and burned cars. By the end, more than four hundred people were injured and over fifty had been arrested. Devastation to the Görlitzer Bahnhof was significant, as police were largely unprepared. Along with being one of the thirty-four shops that had been looted, the Bölle supermarket, opposite the Görlitzer Bahnhof, had then been burnt to the ground. In the following years, the subway station would be repaired, but the ruins of the Bölle supermarket remained until recently, when a Mosque was built in its place. In the years following 1987, May Day has seen repeated clashes in regards to both workers’ rights and politics. Despite being most notable, the street surrounding the Görlitzer Bahnhof is only one of many sites of working class protest in Kreuzberg on May 1st. The ongoing demonstrations on International Workers’ Day throughout Kreuzberg’s history, exemplifies Kreuzberg and its origins as a working class neighbourhood.

Selected bibliography

Flakin, Wladek. 2010. "May Day for dummies." Exberliner. http://www.exberliner.com/features/people/may-day-does-anyone-remember-rosa/.

2008. "History of the 1^st of May: Of Strikes and Street Battles." Spiegel Online. http://www.spiegel.de/einestages/geschichte-des-1-mai-a-949254.html.

Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg. "Rioting in Kreuzberg." The Berlin Wall: A Multimedia History. Accessed November 10, 2017. https://www.the-berlin-wall.com/videos/may-day-in-kreuzberg-710/.

Shead, Sam. 2017. "PHOTOS: Thousands take to the streets for May Day in Berlin's Kreuzberg." Business Insider UK. http://uk.businessinsider.com/may-day-in-berlins-kreuzberg-2017-5.

Van Bebber, Werner. 2017. "May 1, 1987 in Berlin: Trace the Paving Stones." Der Tagesspiegel. http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/der-1-mai-1987-in-berlin-spur-der-pflastersteine/19734700.html.

Why is this site important?

For many years before it was gentrified, Kreuzberg represented a typical industrial-residential society. Prior to 1960s, the neighbourhood had begun to establish itself as an overcrowded workers' district, primarily occupied by migrants and the lower class.[1] Berlin saw drastic social and cultural changes after the Wall was built in 1961, essentially cutting Kreuzberg off from East Berlin. West Berlin experienced significant changes as a result, including a decline in its working class population because of the shrinking industry.[2] As a migrant working class district on the outskirts of Berlin, Kreuzberg now had the lowest average income per capita and the lowest living conditions in the city.[3]

In the late 1980s when the May Day demonstrations were at their most violent, Kreuzberg was considered the "backyard of Berlin" and described by the press as a "slum."[4] With a majority of its population being frustrated young students and the abandoned migrant-working class, and with its low living conditions, Kreuzberg began to emerge as the centre of political opposition.[5] At this time, the youth unemployment rate was at 40 percent, encouraging youth of all backgrounds to join groups that would fight for change.[6] A New York Times article from 3 May, 1987, directly blames Kreuzberg's riots on the youth, "Hundreds of youths looted shops and burned vehicles during an overnight riot described by the police as the worst violence in the city in several years."[7] Participating in the rioting on 1 May, 1987, was a way for the working class youth and immigrants living in Kreuzberg to have their voices heard in a way that would be more noticeable than peaceful labour protests.

The labour demonstrations that occur every May 1^st on International Workers' Day undoubtedly illustrates the working class roots of Kreuzberg. Since the late 19^th century, May Day has been considered the most well-known international labour movement, worldwide.[8] The devastation that the Görlitzer Bahnhof and Bölle supermarket experienced by rioters in 1987, was the culmination of dissatisfaction from the working class population of Kreuzberg. The demonstrations allowed for the mobilization of the working class, giving them the opportunity to voice their discontent over labour and political issues. The continuation of May Day demonstrations throughout Kreuzberg's history, symbolises the neighbourhood's working class roots and the working class populations' prominence in the early 20^th century.

Endnotes

[1] Reyhan Atasü Topçuoğlu and Emrah Akbaş, "An Attempt to See the Soul of the Change: Kreuzberg from Margins into the Center," Sosyoekonomi 15 (2011): 74.

[2] Barbara Becker-Cantarino, ed., Berlin in Focus: Cultural Transformations in Germany (Newport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1996), 16.

[3] Reyhan, "An Attempt to See the Soul of the Change", 75.

[4] Philipp Wurm, "May 1st Riots: One, Two- Punch!" Spiegel Online, April 30, 2017, http://www.spiegel.de/einestages/1-mai-in-berlin-die-geschichte-der-kreuzberger-krawalle-ab-1987-a-1144792.html.

[5] Reyhan, "An Attempt to See the Soul of the Change", 76.

[6] Wurm, "May 1st Riots," http://www.spiegel.de/einestages/1-mai-in-berlin-die-geschichte-der-kreuzberger-krawalle-ab-1987-a-1144792.html.

[7] "West Berlin Police Seize 51 In Riot After May Day Fete." New York Times, 3 May 1987.

[8] Ilse Helbrecht, et al. "The Changing Nature of Labour Protest: Comparing the Fragmentation of Protest Rituals on May 1st in Berlin and Budapest," Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 66, no. 2 (2017): 100.

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