A few days ago it was the anniversary of the closure of the Colosseum cinema. Senate and district office are still examining a possible purchase of the traditional house in Prenzlauer Berg.
So far, residents and fans have not lost hope of a rescue of the cinema. They use the anniversary of the closure to once again draw attention to the importance of the cinema for the Kiez and Berlin. And continue to hope that the Colosseum will be saved.
In the beginning, the signs were goodbye. After the community of heirs of the cinema patron Artur Brauner filed for bankruptcy for the cinema operating company in spring 2020, film operations on Schönhauser Allee were discontinued. It was later announced that there had been plans to sell the property since 2019 and that the cinema should make way for a new office complex.
This caused protests among residents of the neighborhood who want to keep their traditional house. An online petition quickly found more than 10,000 supporters. Meanwhile, the Pankow district office and the Senate were examining the possibility of buying the building from the Brauner community of heirs. In a letter, the district office advertised “to work to save the Colosseum as a long-term cultural location and to ensure a long-term perspective for the cultural and public use of the listed cinema.”
Poem with an appeal to politics
But nothing has happened so far. The initiative “Save the Colosseum“Now wants to draw attention to the standstill of negotiations with a special action and addresses politics with a poem, including the Governing Mayor of Berlin, Michael Müller (SPD). “Two demos and a petition, it’s not just an illusion. Nobody wants an office here, but everyone would be happy about a cinema, ”says the lyrical appeal written by a former cinema employee. “Politics has to take action and not only when everything is in pieces. A rescue has to be found now, not only I wish that very much. “
The Colosseum friends have not yet given up hope.
Date: March 17, 2021, text: kr, picture: IMAGO / Sabine Gudath
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