A man wearing a brown cowboy hat and jacket with golden decorations. He also wears a white shirt and a red tie as well as golden necklaces. He has long hair.
Photo: Manuel Lossau
Life

Police Say This Is One of Berlin's Most Dangerous Areas. Locals Say There's More to It.

Photographer Manuel Lossau profiles the people of Kotti.
Robert Hofmann
ML
photos by Manuel Lossau

This article originally appeared on VICE Germany.

Kottbusser Tor is basically a roundabout surrounded by high-rise buildings with an overground metro line cutting through its centre. Some call it the Colosseum, but most Berliners call it Kotti. It has shops, kebabs, bars and many people live there, but it’s also associated with drug offences, thefts, and assaults – making it one of the seven most “high-crime” areas in Berlin.

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Despite public opposition, a police station opened there on the 15th of February in the hope of establishing more control and surveillance over illegal activities in the area. But according to local photographer Manuel Lossau, the station could disrupt the social fabric of the neighbourhood.

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Lossau has lived in Berlin for 12 years and has a special bond with Kotti. During his first year in the city, he did voluntary work at Fixpunkt, a drop-in centre for people with drug addiction in the area, where he handed out food and supplies to drug users. He later worked there as a social worker, too. 

This connection to the neighbourhood brought him to develop a series capturing the faces of the people who live and work in Kotti for his final project at the Ostkreuz School of Photography.

Kottbusser Tor, Berlin. A man with grey hair and a beard sitting on a chair in front of a balconly table, there's an ashtray on the table and some buildings and street lights in the background. He's wearing jeans, black boots, a black jacket and glasses.

Ercan, the owner of Cafe Kotti. Photo: Manuel Lossau

According to Lossau, heroin has been in Kotti for a while and the increase in crack use is causing damage to the neighbourhood. “People are becoming more and more aggressive,” he says. But Kotti is not just a drugs and criminality hub, so it was important for Lossau to give a face to its locals. “Kotti always seems chaotic and overwhelming at first,” he says. “But if you spend enough time there, you can find beauty amongst the grey.”

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The photographer describes Kotti as a place where different people are squeezed in together – that’s what makes the neighbourhood interesting. “People in Kotti simply have different problems,” he says. “They don't gloss over anything, it's not about maintaining a facade.” 

Besides taking their pictures, Lossau often hangs out with people in the neighbourhood. “It was exactly these hangouts that created the closeness I needed for my pictures,” he says. 

Kottbusser Tor, Berlin. A topless man with black pants and a black t-shirt on his head looks out from the balcony towards high white and yellow buildings under construction, the Berlin TV tower and a crane. There are graffitis on the balcony.

The watchtower. Photo: Manuel Lossau

For his project, Lossau decided to mainly shoot “those who are always there” – not the people who only come to eat a kebab during their lunch break or change metro lines. "I was interested in the people who have Kotti at the centre of their life,” he says.

Lossau shares many residents’ opinion that Kotti’s new police station will change the face of the neighbourhood and push some marginalised people out. This means his photos have an archival purpose, too. “I want people to look at my photos in ten years and see the people who used to live there,” he concludes. “It’s for people to remember people.”

Scroll down for more photos of Kotti:

Kottbusser Tor, Berlin. A teenager wearing a Batman mask looks down from a white balcony with colourful shapes.

Photo: Manuel Lossau

Kottbusser Tor, Berlin. An old man with grey hair and a beard in a white suit sitting on a white chair. In the background: random objects, a garage door with graffitis and a big colourful fan.

"Ahmed used to be a real character of Kotti – he gave speeches about the changes going on here on top of a telephone box for passers-by. He’s since passed and the phone box doesn't exist anymore either." Photo: Manuel Lossau

Kottbusser Tor, Berlin. Four men wearing a black costume with a hat. In the background there's a façade under renovation.

Photo: Manuel Lossau

Kottbusser Tor, Berlin. Two bearded dark-haired men dressed in black in front of Exil Bar in the summer: one of them sits on a big, black, shiny motorbike and wears shorts, a t-shirt and flipflops. The other one stands behind the motorbike.

The "36 Boys". Photo: Manuel Lossau

Kottbusser Tor, Berlin. A man sitting in a tyre shop. He has dark har, wears black shorts and a t-shirt and white gloves. His foot is on a big tyre. The wall in the background is orange and blue and there's a big watch and two wheel rims on it.

Karkin the tyre salesman has had his shop there since the 90s. Photo: Manuel Lossau

Kottbusser Tor, Berlin. A man with cameras around his neck wearing a kaki outfit and black nikes. There's a piece of furniture in the background with more cameras, a bike, and a door with lots of graffitis.

Prophet. “I think he saw himself as a photographer, but I never saw him taking pictures – the cameras around his neck were more like talismans. He also made political speeches. He was a supporter of the Kurdish Workers' Party and wanted to convince passers-by to come to his meetings. I never went.”Photo: Manuel Lossau

Kottbusser Tor, Berlin. A woman with black and red makeup and drawings on her face. She's wearing purple material and a grey scarf on her head, a green scarf around her neck and a black jacket.

“I don't see her at Kotti anymore, but she was a regular for the past ten years. She lived on the streets for a long time and we used to talk a lot – she’s an artist and her mission was to make public space prettier. She didn’t just paint her face, she also drew on buildings and painted mysterious symbols on the ground. Her make-up was an extension of her work.”Photo: Manuel Lossau

Kottbusser Tor, Berlin. A hooded crow eats guts on the wet asphalt

“I didn't want to focus on the grime, but I didn't want to gloss over anything either.” Photo: Manuel Lossau

Kottbusser Tor, Berlin. A backyard with a view on a mosque and windows of a building. There's barbed wire and a bird in the grey sky.

A backyard at Kottbusser Tor with a view of a mosque. Photo: Manuel Lossau

Kottbusser Tor, Berlin. A dog game with a pink handle. A man wearing black sits on a wall and holds the game's head. There's a colourful poster in the background.

Photo: Manuel Lossau

Kottbusser Tor, Berlin. A man sits on a partly sunny staircase, looking towards the light. He's wearing blue jeans, a kaki jacket and black shoes. There's a bike with a filled basket and a bag nest to the stairs.

Photo: Manuel Lossau

Kottbusser Tor, Berlin. A man wearing a sky-blue jacket and shirt, black pants and shoes, stands in the entrance of a kebab.

Yaprak. Photo: Manuel Lossau

Kottbusser Tor, Berlin. A man wearing a brown cowboy hat and jacket with golden decorations. He also wears a white shirt and a red tie as well as golden necklaces. He has long hair.

The sheriff. “He calls himself Sheriff and maybe Sheriff is even his real name. He’s made it his job to keep order in the drug milieu – I've seen him settle disputes between drug users.”Photo: Manuel Lossau

Tagged:BerlinpoliceGENTRIFICATIONCrime
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