FreiLand Potsdam

In the location's words:

The former site (which also included today's MAZ / Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung) was home to the "Seidenweberei Michels" from 1913-26 and the "Electrola Schallplattenwerke" from 1926-36. The darkest chapter began in 1936, when the Arado aircraft factory built war planes for the Nazis here and exploited forced laborers. (See arado-rundgang.de and ../zwangsarbeit-in-potsdam)
After the bombing in 1945, the site was rebuilt until the 1960s to such an extent that the GDR water company was able to start work on what is now part of the freiLand site. The site is still owned by the public utility Stadtwerke Potsdam (SWP) and has been leased to freiLand since 2010 for use as a youth and socio-cultural center.

freiLand - a self-organized youth and socio-cultural centre

freiLand is now home to more than 50 permanent projects covering a broad spectrum from social work and youth organizations to diverse cultural and event venues, sports and theater groups and a diverse range of artists and cultural practitioners.
These fields of activity are made possible by a variety of spaces. For example, freiLand has various offices, studios, seminar rooms, sports and theater rehearsal rooms, a youth club, two event venues, a radio studio and a screen printing workshop, a comprehensive "maker space" with an attached "bio-hacking lab" as well as band rehearsal rooms and recording studios that are currently under construction. The walls of the buildings in freiLand are a large, constantly changing open-air graffiti gallery - the largest legal public graffiti area in Brandenburg. In addition, freiLand makes its outdoor area available to "urban gardeners", who green the grounds with their "freiGarten" project and contribute thematic content on urban development and sustainability.
A list of all users with their descriptions and contact details can be found here.

This variety of projects is organized in the "freiLand user plenum", which meets monthly and makes its decisions democratically by consensus. Between the freiLand plenums, various thematic working groups and project-related plenums are responsible for and steer different detailed discourses and projects.

Day-to-day operations, such as the organization of room rental, project support and the safeguarding of all administrative and infrastructural tasks, are carried out by the supporting company CULTUS gUG (limited liability).
If you would like to rent rooms in freiLand, you can find all further information here.

The state capital of Potsdam currently supports freiLand Potsdam and its sponsor CULTUS gUG (haftungsbeschränkt) with an annual grant. The administration as well as the majority of the city councillors support the long-term safeguarding of freiLand and have underpinned this accordingly through resolutions and budget planning.

The principles of freiLand

The principles of freiLand are transparent structures and communication, non-violence, mutual recognition and acceptance, low-threshold and low-barrier access, self-empowerment and active political and cultural participation.

Our cooperation is guided by openness and diversity, equality and critical thinking. We strive for sustainability, self-realization, emancipation, freedom and solidarity. freiLand not only realizes these values within the project, but also actively incorporates them into overall social and urban policy processes.

The users of freiLand organize themselves democratically in the freiLand plenum. We make our decisions by consensus and independently of political parties.

The freiLand plenum has adopted a basic anti-racist and anti-fascist consensus and opposes any discrimination or degradation of groups or individuals based on racism, anti-Semitism, sexism or homo/trans hostility.
People who hold such positions and members of right-wing organizations or parties, such as the AfD, therefore have no place at freiLand. The display or wearing of clear symbols, scene-typical clothing brands or music bands will also lead to exclusion.