Antifa graffiti in Friedrichshain: “They don’t give a damn who they cancel”
“Intifada” has been written on Tim Johannson’s carpentry shop at Boxhagener Platz since election night. It has hit the wrong person, and not for the first time.
"They don't give a damn who they cancel," says Tim Johannson. He is sitting in front of his carpentry supplies shop on Boxhagener Platz in Friedrichshain. His comment refers to the new letters on the facade. "Intifada" can be read in red. Or, even larger, right by the entrance door: "Gaza Fuck AfD."
On the night of Monday, a group of autonomous activists passed by. There was a police report: 50 to 100 masked people kicked over bicycles and e-scooters, set off pyrotechnics and chanted "pro-Palestinian chants," they say. The windows of 16 cars were damaged. Perhaps it was an Antifa election party.
The graffiti on Johannson's shop is not mentioned in the report. But there is a video on X. There you can see an autonomous man with a hood over his peaked cap spraying something on the wall of the shop. At the same time, smoke bombs are being waved and fireworks are flying against cars and into the sky.
When the "Israhell" lettering is finished, the autonomous artist hurries on. The camera follows him with a pan and briefly someone appears in the picture, wearing the same outfit and painting the wall of the shop.
What “Israhell” means is not entirely clear to the trained toolmaker: “Israel in hell, I assume.”
Berlin yesterday: In exactly the district where the Left apparently picked up its direct mandate. #IsraelHatred pic.twitter.com/BBSOpCowUL
— Iman Sefati (@ISefati) February 24, 2025
Johannson knows a lot about the suffering in Gaza. He often talks to the people from Palestine who sell falafel a few houses away. "Sometimes they almost start crying," he says. "They have friends where entire families were wiped out." He can "understand the fears and grief of these people very well."
His best friend, a Syrian whom he met in the GDR days while studying mechanical engineering, introduced him to the misery in the Arab world. For ten years, Johannson has been transferring money every month to a project that this friend set up in Latakia, a rural region in the mountains of Syria .
The money is used to pay the teachers at a school. "Very young," says Johannson. "It's a pittance, but they are very dedicated."
His message to the autonomous groups would be: If they wanted to do something for the poorest of the poor, they should "not graffiti walls or do any other stupid things, but take 50 euros and donate to a good project. They can also come to me. I'll tell them where they can transfer the money for the school."
When a neighbor sent him a few photos of the facade on Monday night, his first thought was: I hope they haven't smeared the windows too. Cleaning them would be "really difficult." His second thought was even worse: "The main thing is that they haven't smashed the shop windows."
The glass is burglar-proof. There is a film on the outside. But if great forces are applied to it, the glass shatters like a car window. Once someone stuck a "Polish firecracker" to a window and lit it, "and then there was a hole in it." Johannson forms a circle with a diameter of about 20 centimeters with his hands.
Three autonomous activists were arrested by the police on Monday night. As far as prosecution is concerned, Johannson does not have high hopes: "They won't get anything anyway, but that's fine." He waves it off. The police only announced on Tuesday that the whole thing was being handled by the "Middle East Investigation Group." There are no new findings yet.
Johansson has received a lot of "condolences" from the neighborhood: "Are you insured? Report it and so on." He was able to calm people down. Because the house is regularly vandalized, the owners' association signed a contract with a painting company many years ago. When the time comes again, the caretaker calls them and within a week or two the facade is repainted. At no extra cost per square meter. The service is paid for at a flat rate for the whole year.
Johannson has previously dealt with the Berliner Zeitung on a completely different matter. It was about traffic calming by means of bollards that are to be set up in front of his shop. Johannson does not believe that the long trucks that deliver to his shop will be able to get through. He sees his existence threatened.
Now he has been invited to an event organized by the CDU on this issue. The CDU is in opposition in the district. "Perhaps they still have an ace up their sleeve," says Johannson. But here, too, his hopes are not particularly high.
Berliner-zeitung
