E-mail to:
degewo
Corporate Communications
Ex-crisis management
Potsdamer Str. 60
10785 Berlin
Copy to:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
and various media
Vienna, 11 July 2019
Dear Mrs Gohlisch,
It's nice that degewo wants to inform tenants about the danger of asbestos in a cloak-and-dagger operation - 26 years after asbestos was banned in Germany and 3 months after we complained on our website that you can't find a single piece of information about asbestos on degewo's own website - see attachment.
We have received your attempt at clarification commented on our website.
Unfortunately, when we moved into our degewo rental flat (Graunstr. 7 in 13355 Berlin) in 2012, we were not informed in any way about the possible asbestos hazard, although degewo had already informed the Senate in 2000 about the number of flats with Floor-Flex panels containing asbestos - see attachment. It was therefore well known that there was a potential danger for tenants.
Worse still, we were presented with an agreement on structural alterations that said nothing about a possible asbestos hazard - see attachment.
We have extensively renovated the flat, we have taken photos of the renovation - see attachment. Mrs Gohlisch, I removed broken Floor-Flex panels containing asbestos myself and disposed of them as building rubble in my car in Spandau. A friend milled out the asbestos-containing black glue with a concrete milling machine. I can still remember well how you could feel the vibrations from the machine in the whole house. The flat was full of dust, asbestos dust. Work was carried out without any protection. According to experts, a single respirable asbestos fibre is life-threatening. Yes, of course the asbestos fibres have evaporated over the years, but OUR FIRST BREATH IN THE FLAT WAS FULL OF ASBESTOS DUST.
Now your lawyers are denying that we have carried out any renovation work in the flat - see attachment. But no lawyer in the world will be able to dispute that, because it's true.
Isn't it bad enough that you concealed asbestos contamination from us when we moved in? That you didn't authorise us to pass on the flat because of pollution? (although the last two tenants were able to pass on the flat?) That you are now making claims against us via a lawyer for demolition, etc.? Is that still possible? Who is the injured party here??? Who has put their life at risk here because degewo has consistently played down and concealed the asbestos issue for decades??? Because you have chosen to remain silent and thereby jeopardise our lives. Can you do anything worse to someone???
What has remained of your large-scale campaign: "degewo - people at the centre"? What about us?
I promise you one thing, your lawyers can argue as much as they want, you won't get rid of me and my campaign even in 20 years.
Every lie, every attempt at deception, every recorded phone call, every video is presented to a broad public after the court hearing in a media-effective manner (and in accordance with media law). The public can then decide who is lying and who is telling the truth. I can promise you one thing, degewo will not look good in the end - thanks to your own actions. Of course, it already doesn't, but not many people realise it. I will change that.
Our Facebook campaign has so far reached over 60,000 Berliners. Most of them have reacted with horror - see attachment. On Google and YouTube, our information appears prominently on the first search results page. e.g. if you search for "degewo asbestos" on Google, or for "degewo" on YouTube. Our videos already have several thousand views (after just a few months).
I personally don't mind, quite the opposite. This campaign is a reference for me as I work in this field. I see it as my job to educate the public and ensure that this campaign remains visible on Google, Facebook, YouTube, etc. - as a witness to your absurd actions.
Yours sincerely
P.s. I have sought dialogue with degewo from the very beginning, but these attempts have been consistently blocked. The degewo customer centre is no longer a customer centre, in the past you could just walk in, now you can only call. A personal conversation is not welcome.
