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Rebuilt city palace: successor to BER airport - as a scandal project
Photo: Jens Kalaene / picture alliance / dpa
The rebuilt city palace still looks brand new, it is not even accessible to the public, but the scandals are mounting. Last Tuesday, through articles from SPIEGEL and the TV political magazine Frontal 21, it became public that there had probably been massive violations of the rights of employees. Quite a few employees in the new national cultural site were also fired or, according to their own statements, could no longer stand it because of harassment. The horror in the German cultural landscape was great in view of these conditions. But shortly after the report last week, three more employees were laid off.
The Humboldt Forum Foundation is the mistress of the City Palace; a subsidiary of the Foundation is responsible for security and smooth processes.
This Humboldt Forum Service GmbH also includes the visitor service - its employees were anything but squeamish about.
Of a total of 75 people who had been hired for this area from November 2020, 28 left the company by the week before last, some were terminated, others left because they said they could no longer stand it.
Bitter letter to the director
The Humboldt Forum justified these first dismissals to the press with poor work performance or inappropriate behavior.
But it was also admitted that the company management had made mistakes, so "complete clarification" was praised and a managing director was released from her duties for the time being.
Understanding was shown for the dissatisfaction in the team.
It was stated that they wanted to find solutions.
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This should all sound like remorse and compassion - shortly afterwards three other employees were fired. One was dissatisfied with their performance, writes a spokesman in response to a request from SPIEGEL - which is astonishing, because they have not yet been able to perform their actual work: the castle has not yet been opened as planned, so there have not been any visitors to look after .
Instead, almost all visitor guides have been deployed as assistants for the security guards in the past few months, and quite a few felt harassed in their day-to-day work. In addition, the existence of a list that superiors had kept inadmissibly and that was apparently easily accessible had become known. Quite a few employees were rated “critical” or “very critical”, these assessments were justified with references to psychotherapy or sleep problems, and the commitment to colleagues was also considered disruptive. One person was referred to as the "spokesman for the poor." The foundation admitted that the collection of personal data should not have happened. However, she contradicted other allegations, including an alleged toilet ban.
It will be difficult for the superordinate Humboldt Forum Foundation to remedy the damage to its image. Especially since the mood seems to be bad not only in the subsidiary, but also in the own workforce. SPIEGEL has a letter that the works council of the Humboldt Forum sent to General Manager Hartmut Dorgerloh at the end of April.
The foundation employs 289 people.
The letter speaks of an "exorbitantly increased" burden.
In “their desperation”, out of “fear” and “self-protection”, according to the works council, colleagues had increased risk notices.
In addition, there was an increasing number of conflicts among the teaching staff.
The basis for a good long-term cooperation will be undermined.
In the workforce, a lot of trust in the management board has been lost, and belief in the success and correctness of the project has also declined - so the works council describes it.
Mr. Dorgerloh, "hand on heart"
There seem to be many reasons for the pressure, one being the condition of the building.
Despite claims to the contrary, the construction is far from complete, so it is in the letter.
According to the works council, various departments have "major concerns about opening a partially functioning house of this complexity".
The fact that the opening of the State Palace for the public is repeatedly postponed, with reference to the pandemic and the corresponding regulations, even appears to the works council as an attempt to "conceal".
Director Dorgerloh is asked whether he could - "hand on heart" - imagine that this house would have long been open to the public without Corona.
The foundation apparently sees it differently.
The "Süddeutsche Zeitung" quoted on Tuesday from a letter from the building board and speculated that the partial opening, which had been postponed to July, was at risk due to various technical defects.
A few hours later, those responsible at the Humboldt Forum responded with a statement: Only residual services would have to be provided, that could be done during ongoing operations.
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Minister of State for Culture Grütters: Responsibility also for working conditions
Photo: Sean Gallup / Getty Images
As a scandalous object, the castle is increasingly replacing Berlin's BER airport.
The palace on the Spree, supposedly called "little BER" internally, falls under the responsibility of State Minister for Culture Monika Grütters.
The CDU politician heads the board of trustees, her department also heads the subsidiary's supervisory board.
Grütters' spokesman wrote on May 17 that "the Humboldt Forum Foundation is expected to provide unreserved clarification and will receive regular reports on this, as well as on measures to improve working conditions."
So far, only one result can be seen - the three other layoffs.