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Kleingärten – Germany’s unique green spaces
When a party of intrepid cyclists set out to pedal the 350 kilometres to York’s twin city in Germany two years ago, one of our aims was to learn from the experience how Münster had become the Federal Republic’s ‘cycling capital’. This summer, I returned with a different intention. This had come out of the good-natured ribbing I had received from my exchange partner in Münster, Andreas, about my admittedly imperfect allotment on Walmgate Stray. Andreas’s invitation was to explore Münster’s green spaces – its former monastic grounds, its post-war housing experiments and, most of all, its Kleingärten, the distinctive vegetable plots that are the secret gems of any German city.
To the eye of an English northerner, the Kleingärten might appear just a little too tidy, with their carefully clipped hedges and neatly tended gravel paths. Rather than a flatpack shed or an improvised shack, most plots have the equivalent of a small summer house with plumbed-in water and electricity supplies and their own little kitchen. Although tenants are officially forbidden to sleep in these structures, once summer comes many plot-holders, in practice, make them their second homes. I queried with Andreas whether this was something of an an ‘exclusive club’, open only to those with the time to perfect their plot and the money to pay for the facilities. Rental, however, is in fact surprisingly low, about 300 Euros a year, though new tenants often have to haggle over a price for any structures that will remain on the site.
What is significant, though, is not so much the self-satisfaction of tenants in their personal parcels of ground, but how the Gärten bring the community together. All plot-holders are required to give so many days’ work to the upkeep of the site, including shared facilities such as a children’s play area, a boules court or, believe it or not, a clubhouse with a licensed bar. By renting a strip of ground, individuals thus become members of an urban village.
The allotment movement has spread across Europe over the past two hundred years and, in each country, it reflects a different culture. In the UK, it emerged from a history of common land, enclosure and industrialisation. In Germany, its roots are often traced, not entirely accurately, to the pioneering work of the 19th-century social reformer Daniel Schreber, a doctor who dedicated his career to the health of young people, particularly those of the working class. His theories now appear frankly weird and had such a disturbing effect on his own children that one of his sons was the subject of Freud’s early study of paranoia. In his name, however, Schrebergärten were established in cities across Germany, initially for youths to work off their ‘excess energy’ and subsequently for them to grow food. The idea proved so popular, however, that all generations became involved and the movement now cuts across classes.
There is no reason why we should imitate the Kleingärten in Britain, as these were born of a particular local reality. But our two countries can still learn from each other. Just as, in the UK, our ramshackle re-use of resources on our allotments factors in a kind of sustainability, the German attention to collective action has kindled a community spirit which we could all benefit from.
Chris Copland
You can learn more about the York Münster Twinning Association here:
https://york-muenster.weebly.com/
Do you have any green stories to tell? Send them to yorkfoecoord@gmail.com
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