The Hasselwerder street is only a few hundred meters south of the new starting and landing runways of the German headquarters of the firm Airbus in Hamburg. In 2004, Airbus went public with its plans for the extension of the airfield for what is currently the world’s largest passenger airplane, the A380. The Hamburg Senate feared lawsuits from the house owners due to the noise pollution and prevented this by simply buying up sixty-seven homes in the approach path. The inhabitants moved out with their belongings; only the shells of the houses remained. But the empty shells appear well tended. With their curtains hanging before the empty rooms, propped-up hedges, and swept sidewalks, they look as though an invisible hand makes sure that things are in order every day. And the illusion is no deception. The invisible hand belongs to the Hamburg Senate which introduced extensive measures to maintain the empty houses: “safeguarding existence” and “object protection” have become important buzz words.
