Abstract:
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.
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