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40 years ago: how Bethanien became an Arthouse

Written by Sabine Küper on . Posted in Feed the Sense, Little Earthquake, The Passenger

  • Bethanien Hospital in the 19th Century
  • Künstlerhaus Bethanien (Art space) at Mariannenplatz Berlin today
  • Bethanien was a symbol for the Occupy-movement in the early 1970ths
  • Anarchist Georg von Rauch was killed in 1971 by the Police in Berlin

Arthouse Bethanien at the Mariannenplatz in Berlin-Kreuzberg is the result of the
Occupy movement of the 197oth and 198oth in Berlin.

Georg von Rauch was a radical anarchist and part of the Occupy-movement. He got
shot on the 4th of December 1971 at the Eisenacher Strasse in Berlin by the Police
trying to arrest him.

1970 the hospital Bethanien was closed, a demolition was prevented by the
uprising of the neighboorhood. The “Martha-Maria-House” had been the hostel for
the hospitals nurses. It got invaded by the occupy movement in 1971 an was
renamed into “Georg-Rauch-Haus”.

On the 19th of April 1972 there was a Razzia in the “Georg-Rauch-Haus”. The
musicians of the Group “Ton-Steine-Scherben” performed the “Georg-Rauch-
Haus-Song.

The public protest resulted into the “Culture-and Youth-Project” in the
Rauch-Haus. The Berlin Senate decided one year later for an Arthouse in the
main building of the Bethanien Complex.

“Ton Steine Scherben” was the most listened Occupy Band. Did you know, that Claudia Roth was there PR Manager in those days? Singer Rio Reiser composed the Rauch-House-Song. This is the first strophe.

“The Mariannen Square, was blue, we won’t get it like that again. So much Police was around.
Mensch Meier had to cry, probably because of the tear gas. He was asking someone, what’s up here? Do we celebrate something? The guy answered. Something like this. We do occupy the Bethanien right now!
Mensch Meier said, you even got late, it was empty the whole time. Life would be so beautiful without the police. The policechief was shouting: do empty the Maraiannen Square immediately. My pushstick guards need space to beat you all up. The people in the occupied house shouted: we won’t go out.Ypu won’t get us out from here. This is our house. Why don’t you through out Schmidt, Press and Bosch (building tycoons from Berlin in those days) out of Kreuzberg?”

The refrain: “this is our house” was the most popular slogan of the occupy movement in Germany. After Berlin in all the bigger cities empty houses sentenced do demolition were occupied. The normal population started to feel empathy. Police forces and the government had to compromiese. Later on the first free living communities were built in these houses. Bethanien is an Arthouse eversince.

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