ASPECTS OF ALLOTMENT GARDENING POLITICS IN BERLIN, GERMANY, BETWEEN 1985 AND 1995

Berlin, the largest city in Germany, was politically and physically divided into East-Berlin and West-Berlin from 1949, respectively 1961 when the Berlin wall was built, until 1989/90 when the wall came down, and the city reunited as part of the unification process in Germany.

With a long-standing research interest in allotment gardening of the 19th and 20th centuries in Germany myself,¹ I will focus today on the decade from 1985 to 1995 in Berlin.
At first I will briefly report a few statistical and organizational data about allotment gardening in Berlin.
Then I will address some aspects of the political realities and their meaning for garden permanence in Berlin.
Ultimately I want to communicate to you that as peaceful as gardening as a leisurely pursuit may be, gardening as an activity in a large and dynamic city is political fight, fight, and fight again.

XXV International Horticultural Congress, Part 13: New and Specialized Crops and Products, Botanic Gardens and Human-Horticulture Relationship

G. Groening

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2000.523.22