Rubber Island (Gummiinsel) is the nickname of an estate in the western part of

Giessen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univer ...

(

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

). Due to its location close to the

Lahn river The Lahn is a , right (or eastern) tributary of the Rhine in Germany. Its course passes through the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia (23.0 km), Hesse (165.6 km), and Rhineland-Palatinate (57.0 km). It has its source in ...

, and because it was close to the rubber factory Poppe & Co. The area was then isolated from the rest of the city on the opposite side of the Lahn. Even today, the area can be clearly demarcated by its physical structure of the rest of the western city.

Location

The residential area was built 1932-39 as a settlement of small two-storey red brick houses with no basement, each with a small front yard. They were built within a concept similar to council houses as emergency shelters, especially for families of Yenish tradesmen, showmen, scrap merchants, second-hand dealers and descendants of regional

Sinti The Sinti (also ''Sinta'' or ''Sinte''; masc. sing. ''Sinto''; fem. sing. ''Sintesa'') are a subgroup of Romani people mostly found in Germany and Central Europe that number around 200,000 people. They were traditionally itinerant, but today o ...

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. Later these houses have been renovated, partially demolished, replaced by high-rise public housing and the residential area to the west city expanded. As far as they still exist, they are now in possession of the municipal-private housing company, Wohnbau Gießen GmbH.

Sociology

The ''rubber island'' was and still is regarded as a social focal point. The name of the neighborhood had a disparaging tone. The population structure of the area is still (as of 31 December 2012) characterized by a high concentration of low-income and

socially disadvantaged Social exclusion or social marginalisation is the social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society. It is a term that has been used widely in Europe and was first used in France in the late 20th century. It is used across discipline ...

households and by a great ethnic diversity. The percentage of children is higher than in other parts of the town. The proportion of households living on benefits is very high. Due to the elimination of jobs in the manufacturing sector for the people in the western city there are few chances of employment. For part of the person concerned, this means permanent unemployment and persistent

chronic poverty Chronic poverty is a phenomenon whereby an individual or group is in a state of poverty over extended period of time. While determining both the implicit poverty line and the duration needed to be considered long-term is debated, the identification ...

. In recent times, there was an increased influx of families with a migration background. This has intensified integration and tolerance problems between traditional incumbent poverty, substandard poverty and new immigrant groups.Fördergebiete und Lebenslagen in Gießen - Gemeinwesenarbeit vor Ort - Weststadt.
. Under the influence of the student movement emerged citizens' groups, who took care of the misery in this remote district, and offered especially support to the many large families. Community work in the area and extensive building renovations defused the social focus. Since the early 1970s the city tried to apply counter measures to the continued threat of isolation and impoverishment.

Language

Residents of ''rubber island'' spoke, at least until the 1980s, an unusual dialect within the traditional neighborhood including the close-by estates ''Margaretenhütte'' (Henriette-Fürth-Straße) and ''Owls Head'' (''Eulenkopf''): It was a

Sociolect In sociolinguistics, a sociolect is a form of language ( non-standard dialect, restricted register) or a set of lexical items used by a socioeconomic class, profession, an age group, or other social group. Sociolects involve both passive acqui ...

based on Manisch and

Romani language Romani (; also Romany, Romanes , Roma; rom, rromani ćhib, links=no) is an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities. According to '' Ethnologue'', seven varieties of Romani are divergent enough to be considered languages of their ...

. Today the Manisch slang exists only in relics and the cant or cryptolect (i.e. secret language) has nearly disappeared.

References

Giessen Romani language Cant languages