April 28: Sag niemals nie -- Räumung Mainzer Straße

PG Kino presents: Documentaries

Sag niemals nie -- Räumung Mainzer Straße

German and English, no subtitles
90 min.

Wednesday, April 28 2010
7:30PM, Lewis Auditorium (Goldwin Smith Hall)


The eviction of Mainzer Street in Friedrichshain in Berlin on 14 November 1990 was a street battle over twelve occupied houses and is considered one of the most massive police operations of postwar Berlin.

The film Sag niemals Nie - Räumung Mainzer Straße (Never Say Never – the Eviction of Mainzer Street) documents the life of the squatters and their struggle against fascism and the state’s measures to evict them from a block on this street.


After reunification, many autonomists from Kreuzberg’s squatting scene were drawn to the east of the city. On the 29th of April 1990 twelve houses on Mainzer Straße were occupied. On the morning of the 12th of November, three newly occupied houses were evicted by the police, which prompted a midday demonstration on Frankfurter Allee by the residents of Mainzer Straße. On the basis of the barricades erected and trenches dug at the end of the road, the police fought with water cannons and APCs until about three in the morning and then withdrew. In the night of the 14th of November, the squatters’ barricades were raised higher. Towards six the following morning, about 4,000 policemen, with water cannons, helicopters, tear gas and guns, stormed the block, which was defended by about 500 autonomists with stones and Molotov cocktails. It was completely cleared within two hours. Altogether there were 300 arrests and many injured, some seriously. About 10,000 demonstrators gathered in the evening to protest against the eviction. (adapted from doku.cc)

This film, collectively produced by former residents of the squats on Mainzer Straße and others, brings together footage, interviews, recollections, and music in a document about an often overlooked moment of the uneasy transition from Wende to Wiedervereinigung.



Preceded by an introduction and followed by an open discussion.
Free and open to the public.