‘A symbol of resistance’: the fight to save treehouse built on no man’s land next to Berlin Wall
Supporters are fighting to preserve a historic treehouse built by Turkish guest worker Osman Kalin on a patch of no man's land next to the Berlin Wall. Originally a guerrilla garden, the structure has become a symbol of resistance and history, though officials now fear it may be a safety hazard.
Why it matters
The case highlights the tension between preserving grassroots historical monuments and modern urban safety regulations.
‘Perhaps he wasn’t the perfect artist, but he created something artistic,’ one supporter said of Osman Kalin’s treehouse. ‘Perhaps he wasn’t the perfect artist, but he created something artistic,’ one supporter said of Osman Kalin’s treehouse. Germany ‘A symbol of resistance’: the fight to save treehouse built on no man’s land next to Berlin Wall Supporters fear structure could be torn down as safety hazard and want it to become memorial to postwar foreign labourers in honour of its Turkish creator
Deborah Cole in Berlin Sat 1 Aug 2026 02.00 EDT Share Prefer the Guardian on Google S ometimes the currents of history converge in a single spot. In Berlin, one of the most intriguing of those places is a small traffic island with a lovingly tended garden and a ramshackle two-storey structure called the Treehouse at the Wall.
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