On a warm but gray Thursday afternoon, children romp about the Giesinger Katzenbuckel. A boy enthusiastically pushes a wheelbarrow in front of him, in which his friend is sitting. “Faster, faster,” calls the friend, waving a stick around wildly. A kindergarten teacher is standing nearby and is talking to an elderly walker who happened to drop by while taking his dog for a walk. The two know each other well, they are neighbors and live a few minutes’ walk from the playground.
A few meters away, a man is leisurely doing his rounds in the park. He seems to be enjoying the hustle and bustle there while occasionally sipping from his coffee-to-go mug. “The Weißenseepark is something special,” he says, brushing his shoulder-length hair away from his face, through the dark brown of which there are already a few gray strands. In this park, on the southern outskirts of Munich, it doesn’t really matter who you are or where you’re from. “Everything comes together here. All cultures, all social classes,” he says. “The park is our green soul. It’s something like Giesing’s melting pot.”
SZ card: Mainka
(Photo: Mapcreator.io/HERE)
Welcome to the Weißenseepark, district of Obergiesing, where the rents are still comparatively cheap and the Boazn particularly rustic. A lot has changed in the eight-hectare park in the former working-class district over the past 20 years. The once neglected area, which stretches between Tegernseer Landstraße and Setzbergstraße, has become a heavily frequented local recreation area after repeated conversion and expansion. In 2018, the city even opened a toilet in the eastern part of the park – barrier-free, public and free.
A privilege that only a few parks in Munich are granted, because the need must be justified. This was the case in Giesing. According to figures from the urban development funding program “The Social City”, Weißenseepark is one of the most used parks in Munich in the “Small City Park” category, only surpassed by Maßmannpark in Maxvorstadt. A sign that the extensive and expensive renovation measures of the past few years are bearing fruit.
“The kids love it here”
On this Thursday afternoon, Hemma-Maria Wismeth is standing on the playground at Katzenbuckel and keeps a watchful eye on the 20 or so children from the day care center of the Weißensee School, which borders the park. The 56-year-old works there as a teacher. Her commute to work is short, she has lived with her family on Untersbergstrasse, which runs north of the park, for 23 years. “Here, where the playground is today, there was still an inhabited black housing settlement,” Wismeth remembers. Although she was occasionally in the park with her son, “the only playground here was infested with ants”. A meaningful use of the run-down facility was not possible.
The Weißenseepark has developed into the green soul of Giesing.
(Photo: Catherine Hess)
That changed after the renovation. “The kids love it here,” says Wismeth. “There are several playgrounds with many wooden structures and a water playground. During Corona, we had the opportunity to let the children play outside in small groups and with enough distance.” In her opinion, the long restructuring measures in the city have been very worthwhile. “Of course it was also exhausting for us residents. For years there was a permanent construction site in front of the door. But now everyone is more than happy with the result.”
In 2002, the city of Munich decided on specific projects to make the park, which had been laid out as a public green space in the 1980s, more attractive for local residents. In 2008, after the demolition of the buildings on the former Agfa company premises, which was directly opposite the park and whose drab silhouette shaped Giesing’s image for a long time, these plans picked up speed again. They wanted to offer the 2,000 new Giesingers who moved into the new buildings erected on the Agfa site in 2014 more than a dilapidated, ant-infested playground.
Almost four million euros flowed into the park
The Weißenseepark was upgraded in three construction phases with the support program “The Social City”, in which the federal and state governments participated. The first conversions of the main area of the park in the east cost around 1.45 million euros and were a success right from the start. With the official inauguration on July 31, 2010, more and more leisure and neighborhood activities were established in the park, such as walking or yoga groups, the district festival “Summer in the Park” or occasional circus and theater events for children. Soccer and basketball fields, a chess field, a summer curling rink and a small fitness course are open to the public and are used regularly. In the third and last construction phase, which was completed in 2020, the “Dirtpark” BMX facility, which is very popular with young people, was added. In total, the city spent around 3.8 million euros to beautify the Weißenseepark.
Erwin Grad (66) has lived at Weißenseepark for 48 years. He walks the neighbour’s dog, Leiko, almost every day.
(Photo: Catherine Hess)
If there is anyone who is familiar with the development of the Weißensee Park, it is Erwin Grad. He has now lived at the park for 48 of his 66 years. Twice a day, the pensioner walks Leiko, his neighbor’s dog, and often meets good friends like Hemma-Maria Wismeth. So also this Thursday. While Leiko calmly allows himself to be petted by the enthusiastic day care children, Grad explains the importance of green, especially for the younger generation. “It’s great what has become of the park. Young people meet, do sports together, party. There was nothing for them here before.” There is just one small fly in the ointment. Grad still remembers the eight small houses that used to be where Leiko was having fun with the children. “It actually wasn’t as nice as it ended.”
The last two illegal buildings on Franz-Eigl-Weg – here in 2012 – were finally demolished as well.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
Where the black buildings once stood, there is now a playground that is popular with children.
(Photo: Catherine Hess)
The Weißenseepark is located in the middle of the residential area and stretches from the Mittlerer Ring to the Setzbergstrasse.
(Photo: Google Earth)
The illegal constructions on the so-called Katzenbuckel on Franz-Eigl-Weg were erected in 1948 without permission. In 1970 the property was designated as a public green space. What followed was a decades-long toleration of the eight small houses, whose tenants had to reckon with an eviction notice again and again. After a long struggle in the planning committee, it was finally decided in 2001 to demolish the plant. Previously, this should be “settled in a socially responsible manner”. The residents were initially promised a lifelong right to stay, and the houses would only have to move in the end if the tenants voluntarily moved out or died. In 2012 only two of the eight houses were still standing. The residents saw themselves secured by the promised right to stay. But things turned out differently.
After the demolition of the illegal buildings had already been decided, the owners, a community of heirs, sold the property to the city. It should be “cleared and free of contaminated sites”. In plain language, this meant that the remaining houses had to go before the property could become the property of the city. She was under financial pressure. In order to be able to justify the high costs of the park renovation, according to the municipal committee, this must also be carried out promptly. So there was no time to wait until the last residents moved out voluntarily. A bitter fight for the right to stay began, which only ended with a word of authority from the then Mayor Christian Ude (SPD). Despite protests from residents and a great deal of media attention, the two remaining couples were finally moved to other apartments that the city offered them on favorable terms. A sign of accommodation. But a bitter aftertaste remained.
Xhevrije Musliu only knows the park as it is today. The young mother has lived in Giesing with her family since 2016. “We use the park very often, precisely because of the little ones,” says Musliu, while she is sitting with her two children at the water playground in the eastern part of Weißenseepark. For her, the park is the perfect place for young families who want to offer their children fun and nature without having to drive through the whole city, says the 27-year-old. In winter, the small hills are well suited to enable the little ones to have their first and safe toboggan ride, while in summer there are always many child-friendly events. But the best thing about it is that the additional offers in the park connect the people in the district with each other. “Then everyone comes together, whether old or young, big or small, skin color, religion, it doesn’t matter,” says Xhevrije Musliu. “It’s really great how this park brings the neighborhood together.”
the Southgerman newspaper is devoted to a series of Munich parks and green spaces. It’s not always about the large, well-known parks, because beyond the West Park or the English Garden there is valuable greenery that is dear to the residents and dear to the city – and which is discussed again and again given the ever-increasing housing pressure .