In Berlin, to find the "house in the trees", you have to go to the Bethaniendamm passage 0, not far from the Spree, on the border between the districts of Kreuzberg and Mitte. An imaginary address for a very real place, become after the fall of the Wall a symbol of reunified Berlin.
It was created expressly by the City because the "Baumhaus", as the Berliners affectionately call it, is the only house to have been built on the route of the Wall, in full "no-man's land", at the time when Berlin was still cut in half.
A small corner of greenery in the shadow of the Wall
Arrived on site, it is easy to miss this funny little building on two floors nestled between two trees, built entirely of recycled materials, which overlooks a small garden. The imposing facade of the St. Thomas Church facing it attracts even more attention.
But Berliners know her well. The history of this house dates back to the early 1980s. It was built by Osman Kalin, a Turkish immigrant who died last year at the age of 92, who was able to enjoy an aberration of the route of the Wall for nestle its little corner of greenery.
At this point on Bethaniendamm street, the East German workers should have built the wall at right angles to follow the official plans of the Berlin division. Pressed by time and in order to save money, they cut the path leaving a small piece of land fallow. It is on these 350 m², legally owned by the GDR, but found on the West German territory, that Osman Kalin has set his sights.
The police patrolling with their dogs, the armed guards in the border posts, the deadly atmosphere of this "no-man's land": none of this discouraged him. He was looking for a hobby to occupy his free time, and decided to green this wasteland by building, first, a kitchen garden. "To understand his motivation, do not forget where he came from." He brought with him the rules and culture of the village where he grew up, and according to his principles he could not understand not to beautify a neglected place, do not try to transform it into a welcoming place for all, he did not care about the Wall or the guards, "says Funda Kalin, Osman's granddaughter still today in Berlin.
His hobby did not go unnoticed. "Of course that caused some problems at the beginning." The East German guards quickly came to make sure he did not build a tunnel under the garden to facilitate the West Passage of East Berlin citizen, but when they realized it was just a vegetable garden, they let it go, "Funda Kalin continues. It was then, the West German police who asked him to leave, but he refused.
As this garden was officially in East German territory, the authorities of West Berlin could not intervene. And the policemen of the GDR, seeing that their colleagues in the West were annoyed by this stubborn Turk, took pleasure in leaving him free.
Onions against wine
The construction of the house, which began in 1982, was more problematic. Initially, Osman Kalin could only erect a small hut, because the GDR did not want a building higher than the Wall. But he did with it, as long as he could work in his garden where he planted his vegetables, mostly onions and garlic. He did not live there, the "Baumhaus" has always been "the Turkish equivalent of allotment gardens", says Funda Kalin.
Over the months, peaceful coexistence has been established between the border guards and the Turkish immigrant. He greeted them every day, offered them onions. In exchange, the soldiers sometimes gave him bottles of wine for the end-of-year festivities, which, as a practicing Muslim, he put aside.
After the reunification, Osman Kalin was finally able to expand his house using only recycled materials. It has running water, electricity, has a desk and a bedroom. "We spent a lot of time in this house, celebrating birthdays and organizing barbecues in the garden," recalls Funda Kalin. She remembers that the people passing by looked at them with astonishment in this house that looked like nothing.
It took time for the Berliners to rediscover the extraordinary history of their "Baumhaus" and set it up as a symbol of some form of protest against the established order during the Cold War. Funda Kalin, now 35 years old, realized the importance her grandfather's house had in class during an architectural history course when she was 17 years old. "The teacher was showing slides of important buildings like the Brandenburg Gate, the Louvre or the Eiffel Tower, and suddenly I see a picture of our house," she says. His classmates then began to protest, "to say that it was the house of a vagabond, but the teacher then told them the whole story and I understood that the vision that was had been changing, "she says.
Today, it is a question of making it a place of memory, attached to the Memorial of the Berlin Wall or a private museum. On the other hand no question of removing the "Baumhaus". Real estate developers have tried well, in the early 2010s, to build housing instead, but a massive mobilization of local residents has quickly derailed the project.