A Short Essay About Linden Today And 50 Years Ago

by Philipp Puttins

Linden is a district of Hannover. It borders to the center; in between there is the BBS 3, our school.

Its area consists of Linden-Nord, Linden-Mitte, Linden-Süd and Limmer. It has about 45.000 inhabitants.

Linden is characterized by old buildings; blocks of flats made of red-blue clinker which were built in the 1920ies. In this time as an industrial base Linden was seeked after by many people who were looking for work. This is the reason for the self-image as a traditional working class district.

50 years ago the housing conditions of local labour differed much to those of today: The flats were significantly smaller, often two rooms for one family had to suffice. The toilets were separated to stairway or backyard. Taking a bath meant visiting a public bath on Sunday. These baths had nothing in common with the swimming baths we know today; there was no pool but a lot of bath tubs.

Today Linden is not a working class district anymore. Industries moved, social barriers blurred. Linden is now populated by a colourful mix of classes and ethnics. Students love to live in Linden because of its proximity to the Hannover University.

The unification of the intellectual student body, the tradition of progressive labour movements and the great number of immigrants gives Linden a unique climate of peaceful cooperation; alternative structures and ways of life can develop without conflicts.

To draw a picture of Linden's streets there are wholemeal-bakeries, shops selling biological food and goods, oriental traders selling vegetables and almost everything else, alternative nurseries and an endless number of Turkish “Kiosks”.

The students brought another thing to Linden: The pubs and the parties. There are a lot of beer taverns and party-locations and almost every night an event takes place.

Last but not least, you can share a flat with a few students to save money.

So, in my opinion, Linden is ideal as domicile for a student of the BBS 3.