Clash of cultures
October 12, 2010
Berlin's inner-city Ernst-Reuter Square is a prime business location, housing the offices of companies from around the world.
But the nine-storey office building at No. 2 stands half empty with a huge billboard near the entrance offering office space. This is at least in part because of a number of restrictions placed on commercial tenants of the building.
"Companies seeking to rent office space here are not allowed to operate business that involves selling pork", said Simone Krziwanek, a lawyer representing a small communications firm on the groundfloor of the building.
What is also banned, she said, are businesses offering "interest-paying financial products, as well as sex shops, gambling halls and liquor stores".
"We, as a communications firm, don't have any problem with that," she added, "after all, it is entirely up to the owner to decide to whom they want to rent out the offices."
Outcry over Sharia laws
The building was once the Berlin headquarters of the American computer giant International Business Machines, IBM.
It now belongs to an Arab property investor, who is said to be based in London, but whose name is so far being kept secret.
On Monday, Germany's mass-circulation newspaper Bild published details of the controversial rental contracts, describing their clauses as "Sharia laws and multi-cultural madness which is now also undermining German business."
Chicago-based property developer Jones, Lang, LaSallem which is marketing the building in the name of the Arab investor, can't understand the "fuss" that has been made about the contracts.
"Quite frankly, most of the preconditions are not unusual, besides maybe the pork meat clause," Ruediger Thraene, the firm's Berlin representative told Deutsche Welle.
He said clauses excluding the sex business, drugs, alcohol and gambling were "quite common and part of many contracts for office space in Germany."
Political dimension
According to the German Association of Property Owners, the commercial property market in Berlin is attractive for international investors, notably for those coming from rich countries in the Arab world.
"Unlike in the housing market, contracts for commercial properties are largely unregulated", said Dieter Bluemel, the head of the organization, adding: "The provisions in this contract are not breaking any existing laws".
But Ralph Ghadban, an Islam researcher at Berlin's Evangelical College, speaks of a trend among Arab investors who are "increasingly looking to see that religious rules were not broken by the companies they invest in".
"There's always a political dimension in what they see as a clash with Western civilization. Arab investors, of course, want to promote their values, and sometimes are just overdoing this a bit", he said.
Christian backing
Perhaps surprisingly, the German Catholic Church on Monday indirectly expressed support for the Arab investor.
"Businesses not in line with Catholic ethics, like the arms trade or pornography, are also not allowed to rent office space on church property," said Stefan Foerner of the Berlin archbishopric.
Among those banned were also shops selling condoms, he added.
Author: Uwe Hessler
Editor: Chuck Penfold