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CRIME

Breaking and entering with Germany’s ‘urban explorers’

A growing number of Germans have taken up a new hobby they call “urban exploration,” by breaking and entering crumbling structures to create photo documentations of the historic spaces. But property owners aren’t amused.

Breaking and entering with Germany's 'urban explorers'
The former Iraqi embassy in East Berlin, a favourite among explorers. Photo: DPA

Checking for witnesses, Erfurt resident Kerstin looks to her left and right before slipping through a hole in a rusty fence, tromping through thick undergrowth, and straining to open the heavy iron door of an abandoned building.

“It’s not always so easy,” she says, fishing for her camera.

Kerstin must break the law to enjoy her hobby – photographing the decline of old buildings.

“This is primarily about documentation,” the 51-year-old says, focusing her lens on an industrial ventilator.

Some 4,500 urban explorers are registered on two large German internet forums, where users share photo galleries and location tips.

“Scenesters” understand the legal risk of their activities, but separate themselves from common vandals and squatters who intentionally damage such structures, says Kerstin, shaking her head over graffiti and metal thievery.

“Normally I don’t change anything in the buildings,” she says.

Kerstin has never been caught, and spotting a new-model car on the property, decides to turn back.

“One mustn’t risk everything,” she says, explaining there were plenty of other ruins in the eastern German city.

A half hour later, Kerstin scrambles over her next fence, and this time she is alone on the property.

Urban exploration may be an exciting recreational activity for people like Kerstin, but property owners disapprove, despite their relatively innocent intentions.

“Their intentions play no role for us in the end,” says Klaus-Peter Hesse, spokesperson for the German Property Federation (ZIA).

People who want to enter private property must obey the law and ask for permission first he said.

“Some are less strict, some more, but laws are always to be respected,” he says.

Kerstin says she understands property owners’ reservations, but thinks the problem lies in liability law.

“If I go in somewhere and something happens, then that’s my bad luck,” she says, adding that she would not think to sue the building’s owner.

Some owners probably don’t want people on their property because they are ashamed of the dilapidation, she says.

The next building’s entrance is blocked by a reedy pond, while inside electrical boxes reveal Polish parts, and miniature urinals bedeck the walls of one room on each floor.

Kerstin guesses the building was once a school in communist East Germany, and photographs a small plastic cat among rubbish lying on the floor.

“This is the stuff that gives buildings their soul,” she says.

DAPD/ka

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BUSINESS

Elon Musk visits Tesla’s sabotage-hit German factory

Elon Musk travelled Wednesday to Tesla's factory near Berlin to lend his workers "support" after the plant was forced to halt production by a suspected arson attack on nearby power lines.

Elon Musk visits Tesla's sabotage-hit German factory

The Tesla CEO addressed thousands of employees on arrival at the site, accusing “eco-terrorists” of the sabotage as he defended his company’s green credentials.

With his son X AE A-XII in his arms, Musk said: “I am here to support you.”

The billionaire’s visit came a week after power lines supplying the electric carmaker’s only European plant were set on fire in an act of sabotage claimed by a far-left group called the Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group).

READ ALSO: Far-left group claims ‘sabotage’ on Tesla’s German factory

Musk had said then that the attack was “extremely dumb”, while the company said it would cost it several hundred million euros.

A week on, the lights have come back on at the site, but Andre Thierig, who heads the site, said on LinkedIn that it would “take a bit of time” before production is back to full speed.

Industry experts have warned that the reputational impact caused by the sabotage on the region could be more severe than the losses suffered by Tesla.

Tesla’s German plant started production in 2022 following an arduous two-year approval and construction process dogged by administrative and legal obstacles.

Tesla wants to expand the site by 170 hectares and boost production up to one million vehicles annually to feed Europe’s growing demand for electric cars and take on rivals who are shifting away from combustion engine vehicles.

But the plans have annoyed local residents, who voted against the project in a non-binding ballot last month.

After the vote, Tesla said it might have to rethink the plans. Environmental activists opposed to the expansion of the factory have recently also set up a camp in a wooded area near the plant.

READ ALSO: Why is Tesla’s expansion near Berlin so controversial?

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