Kiefernstrasse is in the Flingern-Süd district of Düsseldorf. The street of residential housing is about 400 metres long and was built in 1905 as accommodation for workers at the adjacent steelworks. After the closure of the steelworks in 1975, the city council took over the properties and placed refugees in some of the apartments. Squatters soon followed and were later charged with criminal trespass by the authorities. The street is also notorious for its connections to the Bader-Meinhof Gang (Red Army Faction), a far-left militant organisation founded in 1970.
In 2008 the tenants were informed that their tenancy agreements would be renewed indefinitely. The street is now home to about 800 people from 40 nations, including punks, doctors and lawyers and is a meeting point for alternative culture.