Au () is the name of a building that has been

squatted Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...

since 1983 in

Rödelheim Rödelheim is a quarter of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is part of the ''Ortsbezirk (Frankfurt am Main), Ortsbezirk Mitte-West'' and is subdivided into the ''Stadtbezirke'' Rödelheim-Ost and Rödelheim-West. There are a number of celebrities ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, Germany. It bills itself as a 'self-organised cultural Centre and living project' (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

: Selbstverwaltetes Kulturelles Zentrum und Wohnprojekt). Au was home to the Au Squat Festival on June 3, 2006, featuring many

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

bands such as

The Restarts The Restarts are a street punk band based in London. The Restarts were formed in 1995 in London with Darragh O'Neill on drums, Kieran Plunkett from Armed and Hammered on bass guitar, and Mik Useless on the guitar. They played many shows in t ...

. The 2007 festival was on June 9 with bands such as

Sensa Yuma ''Sensa'' is a Latin word that means "thought" or "teachings". Sensa may also refer to: * Sensa (diet), a diet aid created by neurologist Alan Hirsch * ''The Story of Sensa'', a work by Mabel Collins Mabel Collins (9 September 1851 – 31 M ...

and the 2008 festival took place on June 7 with headliners Life... But How to Live It?. Any profits went to human rights organizations and were also given to antifascist networks and other autonomous centres. Beside the open air festival there are many other concerts and cultural or political events during the year.

History

2010 10 23 Accion Mutante live at AU Frankfurt Germany 071

The Au was occupied on June 4, 1983. The Frankfurt municipality bought the building from the Deutschen Bibliothek for 4.3 million Marks in 1988.

Eviction threat

In the aftermath of the

protests A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration, or remonstrance) is a public act of objection, disapproval or dissent against political advantage. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate ...

at the 2017 G20 summit in Hamburg, local politicians made statements about the Au. The FDP and

Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...

(AfD) all demanded that the centre was evicted. The CDU suggested the Au paid rent. In response, the Greens and the

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together wi ...

cautioned against hasty actions.

Arson attacks

In late 2018, there was a spate of arson attacks against left-wing projects in the

Rhine-Main The Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region, often simply referred to as Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main area or Rhine-Main area (German: ''Rhein-Main-Gebiet'', ''Frankfurt/Rhein-Main'' or ''FrankfurtRheinMain'', abbreviated FRM), is the third-l ...

region. The Au was attacked twice in November with fires started in the garden. Both times the residents were able to extinguish the flames. Nobody was apprehended. In a joint statement, representatives of Au and other autonomous spaces viewed the attacks as politically motivated and blamed the “dangerous sentiment against left projects” created by the previous statements of political parties.

References

External links

Au
{{coord, 50, 7, 17.98, N, 8, 35, 58.57, E, type:landmark_region:DE, display=title Buildings and structures in Frankfurt Squats in Germany