We were looking for a symbol …

Interviewee: Margit Czenki

At the beginning we were looking for a symbol. It ended up being the pennant because I thought, right, this time we’ll have a symbol from the start. Christoph created the logo, I made and printed the pennant. It was clear to me that the whole thing would prove really difficult to get off the ground because people are scared of a large investment company. It was obvious that they’re neighbours, they’d never done anything political before. They use the park, take part in a planting action now and then, but taken a stance on something, that’s something they hadn’t done yet. Except for two of them. It was clear that we needed a symbol from the outset, something that could be hung out the window and others could see and think: Oh, they’re not afraid, they’re getting involved, so maybe I should too, and I can say to count me in too…It was then really important to make sure that it wasn’t a flag or a banner with some complex message, a statement that would be impossible to agree on. It needed to be something more abstract: a pennant. That’s what they have at St Pauli Football Club. The fans hang the pennant out the window and it doesn’t take up that much space, the window isn’t covered over. The owners can’t say anything if you hang out a pennant, but with a flag or a banner then you can quickly get into trouble. So it had to be something that was low-threshold and one could still signify that a stand was being taken. We also had to be mindful not to give the pennant two equal sides. That was important so that it doesn’t recall the yellow patch triangles the Nazis used in the concentration camps. And that’s how it came about.