The ConHanHop shopping project on Leipzig’s Eisenbahnstrasse is one of the last of its kind. It is now in a sought-after location. It is under threat.
Traces of a turbulent time on and around the house Illustration: Jeong Hwa Min
LEIPZIG taz | The Railway Street in Leipzig offers a complete sensory overload at any time of day: engines roar, people chatting loudly from one sidewalk to the other, the tram coming. The tempting smell of the snack bars mixes with the stench of the sewers. In the middle of it all stands an old house that looks like it has been turned into a doll.
It is wrapped in a white, fine-meshed net, similar to fly screens. If you make your way under the scaffolding, another layer of the cocoon appears: the lower two and a half meters of the house are covered layer upon layer with posters for solo concerts and demos, like an anti-fascist advertising column. Eisenbahnstrasse 97, in the district called E97, houses nine tenants, as well as the left-wing shopping project ConHanHop and the pub Goldhorn.
A living room on the street side
The oddity
In 2013, the E97 was occupied again after being vacant. In an initial rent battle, the tenants negotiated favorable, staggered rental agreements until 2040. In the meantime, rents around the Eisenbahnstrasse have risen considerably.
The target group
From quarter to quarter and beyond. In the shop project, people meet for self-organized German lessons, an art exhibition, a jazz concert, a film evening about the situation on the Belarusian border or just to hang out.
Obstacles along the way
Even without the scaffolding, you still have to recognize the door to ConHanHop between all the posters and stickers. There are also no official opening hours and no website. Just come by and see if everything works.
When the E97 was revived from its vacancy more than 10 years ago, the letters of a former second-hand shop were still stuck to the window. To be more precise, it said: “con han hop”. This is how the name of the rooms came about, which initially served as a living room in the house, but were then increasingly opened up to the street, say Rita and Nathalie, who live in shared apartments above the shopping project. Today, ConHanHop is a public place and known throughout Leipzig.
The entrance leads to a room with a scratched wooden floor and a worn carpet in one corner. Beyond that is a smaller room with a homemade counter. The walls are water-stained, covered in embroidery and covered in tags. Spray-painted on one wall reads: “There’s No Business Like No Business.”
The saying says it all: “We are non-commercial and want to be easily accessible,” says Rita. Nathalie adds: “Very different groups of people come together here in the neighbourhood. But what many people have in common is that they don’t have that much money.” All events are therefore organised on a donation basis. “People from the neighbourhood keep coming and say that it would be a great loss for them if ConHanHop had to leave here,” says Rita.
The tenants of E97 have been fighting for their homes for almost a year. They actually have fairly cheap tiered rental agreements, fixed until 2040.
It started last summer with rumors that the house had changed owners. “Our cheap rents seem to be a thorn in the side of the new landlord, he wants to chase us away,” says Nathalie. Rita explains how the favorable rental agreements came about: “Now the area around Eisenbahnstrasse is very popular. But just fifteen years ago it was a ghost town.” Back then, homeowners were happy if they could rent out their apartments at all.
The shared apartment where we meet for the interview has high ceilings and the walls with holes have no wallpaper. After moving in in 2013, the residents of the house largely renovated the dilapidated apartments themselves. For weeks, the street is only visible from the windows through the white mesh on the scaffolding. Tenants are not informed about construction work. However: “Some windows are completely blacked out by large advertising banners,” says Rita.
No more hot water
There is a drying rack in the bathtub in the bathroom; it has not been used for three years. The joints are not tight, water would run into the wall. Neither the old nor the new landlord wanted to take care of it. Showering is a difficult subject in the E97 anyway. Since the end of May, the residents of the house have had no hot water and they cannot cook either. The gas supply was interrupted for no apparent reason, apparently a main gas lever in the basement was turned off, now the landlord should have the pipes checked. But nothing happened. Landlord rejects the accusation that the landlord influenced the taz.
This text comes from the weekday. Our weekly newspaper of the left! Wochentaz is about the world as it is – and as it could be. A left-wing weekly with a voice, attitude and the special taz view of the world. New every Saturday at the kiosk and of course by subscription.
Nathalie is indignant: “We are being harassed here.” The household is becoming increasingly concerned because the manager, the owner’s brother, has acted cholerically and is creating threatening scenarios.
As everywhere else, shopping projects around Eisenbahnstrasse are dying out. ConHanHop is one of the last in the area. The Goldhorn pub is already coming to an end. After the old lease expired, the new rent became too expensive and ended in September. We can only hope that one day a dazzling luxury property will not emerge from the cocoon of the E97.