Soldiner Kiez e. V. is a registered not-for-profit association founded in 2002 out of a jury of citizens. That jury had decided upon 1 Million DM to be spent on social activities for Soldiner Kiez. Soldiner Kiez is an area with special need for development in central Berlin⁽¹⁾ with a high rate of unemployment. People from over 60 nations are living here – many of them have Turkish nationality or Turkish roots. Despite public image the area in fact has positive qualities. Since 1998 an office for Neighbourhood Management (Quartiersmanagement) is active here, searching for and activating self-help potential.

We still have jurys of citizens, discussing and deciding upon the funding of local projects, but Soldiner Kiez e. V. is not connected to these jurys any more, though single members of the association are member of these jurys from time to time. Meanwhile the association itself has developed to an actor in the field of social economy, running projects itself – using different kinds of funding and cooperation as well as voluntary work.

Soldiner Kiez e. V. is actively networking institutions, project managers, private companies and citizens for the benefit of Soldiner Kiez. Most of the social and cultural institutions plus quite a few public institutions and many individuals in this area are members of the association.

The association directly addresses citizens of the neighbourhood of all ages with cultural events, art exhibitions and theatre-related working groups. Further essential activities are social science on Soldiner Kiez as well as an image campaign for the area. The association is an experienced and reliable source for many project managers and citizens, offering consulting, practical support and matching contacts on how to reach certain target groups and how to realize ideas.

Contact

Do not hesitate to visit the FORUM in Prinzenallee 45 c, 13359 Berlin or contact the association by phone +49 (30) 559 585 97 or email soldinerkiez@googlemail.com if we can assist you or just come round to any event, a current list of which you will find at http://www.soldinerkiez-forum.de/

Links

Searching the internet for sources on Soldiner Kiez in English leads to the following findings:

The area has been subject to scientific research frequently.

In 2001 the Local Socio-economic profile for "Soldiner Kiez" was published by Technische Universität Berlin.

In 2006 a Transatlantic Students Symposia dealing with Immigration and Citizenship in the United States and the European Union partly dealt with " Quarter Management in the Soldiner Kiez".

The Intercultural Map gives a very clear description on the area and on strategys and practice of "area management" in Berlin and in Soldiner Kiez.

Just a detail: The City of Berlin gives information on a bridge over the river Panke, built in 1995.

The social enterprise Zukunftsbauen GmbH presents details of a project dealing with the remodelling of Fordoner Platz – central in Soldiner Kiez. The presentation gives a good example, that it needs quite a complex project design to gain European funding.

Most other resources are dealing with arts:

Kristofer Paetau is documenting & analyzing his research in the field of contemporary visual arts. One of his projects deals with 15 children in Soldiner Kiez.

A person named "Delcour (Forum Libertus)" – real identity not known – presents photographs on Soldiner Kiez.

Ondrej Brody presented his paintings in the evangelical kindergarten: Five paintings made after found children’s pictures and presumably looking exactly like the models.

Homo bellicus does not deal with Soldiner Kiez but with Genealogy of War. The exhibition was shown in Soldiner Kiez (2007) – and New York (2006).

Art laboratory Berlin is a non-commercial art-space in the center of Soldiner Kiez.

Christian Kesten presents some pieces of music from "Krieg der Sprachen"-festival (june 2007) on his website.

May be you are interested in the biography of Jovan Balov? Since 2007 he is owner of the award "Rigas Charta", which he received in Athen, Greece and – of course – he is living and working in Soldiner Kiez and member of Soldiner Kiez e. V.

At www.toytowngermany.com you find a discussion on the future of Soldiner Kiez and Berlin Wedding from the perspective of a visitor.

A site on housing in Berlin gives details on Berlin Wedding and Soldiner Kiez from another perspective. The area is close to the new train station Lehrter Bahnhof " which has the biggest developing potential beside Alexanderplatz".

Coming to the end of my list I would like you to collect some information on Kolonie Wedding – another project dealing with art, which has had very positive impact on Soldiner Kiez for over 6 years by now.

Just one more link on Soldiner Kiez: The author of this text here is project manager in the field of local economy in Soldiner Kiez. She has written an English summary for that website too and you are invited to visit www.MadeBySoldinerKiez.de

Of course there are many more resources on Soldiner Kiez on the internet, but resources in English are rather rare and they do give a different perspective. So if you are able to understand German, you may check the LINKS (see navigation) in German language too.

(c) Brigitte Lüdecke

(1) The term "Kiez" should better not be translated, even in Germany the usage of the term is not unique. Berliners tend to identify with their neighbourhood even more than with the district or the city. A Kiez is a geographical and a social neighbourhood. Professional translators identify "something casual, street-wise, lower class, perhaps even oppositional" in the term, see http://www.malcolmread.co.uk/conscise/body/4f.pdf
page 5.