The return of Berlin-Kreuzberg. Brought back from the margins by memory

The borough of Kreuzberg used to be a central locality and economic stronghold of Berlin. After the Second World War and the erection of the Berlin Wall, however, the borough found itself at the margins. It remained home to predominantly marginalised people like workers, old people and migrants. When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, the borough returned to the centre of the reunified city again. Today, Kreuzberg is largely gentrified and an outstanding example of demographic change. This process, however, reaches back to the late 1970s. The urban renaissance of Kreuzberg is part of longer-term cultural change and the memory boom in Western Europe. Urban activists, students and squatters rediscovered the old borough and tried to protect its old urban structure by exploring its history. The article focuses on three local initiatives: 1) the foundation of a local museum that emphasised the life of marginalised people, 2) the Berlin History Workshop, which studied the traditions of resistance in the borough, and 3) local activists who protested against the planned demolition of the old tenements. These initiatives eventually not only succeeded in protecting the old urban structure, but also led to the unintended gentrification of Kreuzberg today.