1943 – 9 Personen – 40m² Geschichten, Menschen und Gebäude

From temporary housing in Hamburg to the Falkenberg housing development.

Monika Blankenheim, born in Hamburg in 1951, grew up in Neugraben—not far from the temporary housing settlement at Falkenberg, where her grandparents had lived since 1944. Many years later, she returned to this place to tell the story of the people who lived there and still live there. Now her book is being published—the result of a four-year research journey through nearly 100 years of history in this part of Hamburg.

In her book, Monika Blankenheim describes the history ofthe Falkenberg settlementin Neugraben-Fischbek, its origins, and its evolution into the only temporary housing settlement in Hamburg that still exists today. She recounts its roots in the Nazi era, the use offorced laborerson the construction site of the temporary housing settlement—which was built to house Hamburg residents who had lost their homes to bombing—as well as the residents’ struggle to keep their homes during the postwar housing crisis and the conversion of the temporary housing units into single-family homes.