Kreuzberg: from exclusion to representation

1980s and 1990s, with a note on current rents

Turkish-German residents organised for citizenship and political representation. Today's rent pressure affects all working-class residents.

The pressure

Worn down

In 1975 Berlin barred new foreign residents from Kreuzberg, Tiergarten and Wedding. The ban was lifted in 1990 after proving ineffective. Barbara John became Berlin's first commissioner for foreigners in 1981.

H.-G. Kleff, Die Bevölkerung türkischer Herkunft in Berlin-Kreuzberg (Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, 1998); taz, Zuzugssperre für Ausländer aufgehoben (26 September 1990); Berlin Senate, 40 years of integration policy (5 November 2021).

Pushed out

Median asking rent in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg was EUR 13.52/m² net cold in 2021, against EUR 10.55 for Berlin. Berlin's city-wide median reached EUR 15.74/m² in 2024. These are a district snapshot and a city trend, not a Kreuzberg-only time series or evidence of ethnic targeting.

Investitionsbank Berlin, IBB Wohnungsmarktbericht 2021, Tabellenband, table 24; Berlin Senate press release (7 March 2025).

What people did

  • Residents of Turkish origin maintained a growing community presence: Kleff recorded 12.3% of Kreuzberg's population in 1973 and 19.3% in 1982 and 1989.
  • Berlin established a commissioner for foreigners in 1981; the settlement ban ended in 1990.

What held

The community remained despite the settlement ban. Institutional representation developed, but the evidence here does not establish that organising caused the ban to end.

What didn't

Political representation did not remove class inequality, discrimination or rising rents.

What you can borrow

Sources

Sources: Kleff (1998), taz (1990), IBB (2021) and Berlin Senate releases (2021, 2025). The Berlin Reader (2013) provides further reading; its chapter-level claims are not relied on here.