A global local newspaper in cooperation with

October 2016

(Mis)Understanding A dictionary for our city

All Berliners know the most so that he actually said he was a memorable four words spoken by pastry. This is, however, a two-fold John F. Kennedy during his 1963 misunderstanding. While in some visit: *Ich bin ein Berliner. He aimed German-speaking regions Berliner is to express that all free citizens of the indeed the term for a certain sweet world, no matter where they live, are cake, Kennedy’s correct use of ein citizens of Berlin, and that as a free only strengthened his much-needed man he is proud to consider himself words of solidarity. Those keen to one of them. Some sneered, and understand Berlin must speak Berlin. still do, that the president’s chosen The Berlin Times alphabet explains the phrase was grammatically incorrect city from A to Z, helping readers learn

for including ein before Berliner, what it means today to be ein Berliner. © CHALABALA / FOTOLIA 2 2016 2016 3

BERLIN IS A ... German: Arbeit   City of jobs [ˈaʁbaɪ̯t] Wundertüte English: Work [ˈvʊndɐtyːtə] Berlin is on a roll Bag of marvels Berlin: Sitting in the By Michael Müller, Mayor of Berlin park and e-mailing Wundertüte is a wonderful German from your iPhone. word. It is wonderful to be given a Wundertüte as a child, as on your erlin has become a strong lure for people from all over the Berlin is a center of science and learning that is unique in Europe. very first day of school. It customar- world. In recent years, Berlin’s population has grown by more This environment gives rise to new businesses with sustainable jobs ily contains all sorts of sweets and than 40,000 people annually. As early as 2025 the city could every day. toys. Of course, today there are few- be a metropolis with a total population of 4 million. The focus of our economic policy must stay on creating the er sweets, as most parents feel the STANDING STILL BThe upcoming coalition talks will surely center around the necessary framework conditions for developing and apply- long-term health of their children is more important than one fleeting key issues for Berlin in the coming years: the question of ing the technologies of the future. With a strong concentra- feeling of joy. So, more toys it is, the “growing city,” creating affordable housing, integrating tion of scientific, academic and research institutions, labs and today that means smartphones refugees, budget consolidation, social justice and participa- and startups, we are poised to become both a test bed If we just let things carry on as they are, we are risking a dangerous new arms race and tablets. tion for all our residents. and a production site for Industry 4.0. Berlin is also a Wundertüte. The key to a city committed to the principles of solidarity We need to prepare for different industries; for instance, By Frank-Walter Steinmeier Upon opening this edition of The Berlin Times you’ll find all will remain education and the good jobs that education results the solutions that worked for traditional sectors will not sorts of treats: We say goodbye to in. A prerequisite for good jobs is a strong economy. be adequate for startups. And since startups in President Obama, who has twice Thanks to our goal-oriented policy-making in Berlin employ more than 60,000 people, visited the city, and ask wheth- recent years, we were able to rebuild Berlin as that’s a big issue. There will be 50 new he came down 27 hopeless. These are all examples of success- the world. When they start work with us, is, of course, our main focus. We managed er Angela Merkel can again be a business location. In 2015 we saw stronger IT professorships in the field of digitiza- years ago. Walking around Berlin ful diplomacy. the world’s new crisis mode is their default to get aid and supplies to 110,000 people elected chancellor this coming year; We welcome refugees while economic growth than any other German state. tion. The professors will be appointed today, there are many spots where It is important to draw attention to setting. They know the Cold War only from in Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria via airdrops. also learning that the silent major- In 2015 alone around 50,000 new jobs by Technische Universität Berlin, I can still see the remains of that these successes, because images of crises their history books. That is why they need However, we are not only concerned generating social security contributions were Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Tinhumane border: the concrete, the metal and disasters often stay in memory longer a different range of tools than we used to with alleviating acute suffering; we also ity of German-Turks will not speak up for fear of the fanatical follow- created, which makes 300,000 of these new Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt- plates in the ground, the occasional iron think about what happens afterwards. One ers of Turkey’s President Erdoğan; jobs since 2005. Universität zu Berlin, Universität der struts still jutting out of the ground. The illustration of this is our reconstruction We look into our future (startups)

Employment now stands at less than Künste Berlin, Beuth Hochschule für Wall divided not only Germany, but Europe PARWEZ work in cities such as Ramadi and Tikrit, and discover old Berlin novels; We climb steep walls (in a city without 10 percent – the city’s lowest figure since Technik and Hochschule für Tech- and the world as well. where – after they were liberated from ISIL hills) and take a twirl on the tango reunification. nik und Wirtschaft Berlin and will What is left of the Wall today looks like control – we rapidly ensured that the people floor; We grill with a penchant for This economic success is the precondi- constitute part of the new Einstein the skeleton of a vanished world. A few could once again make their homes there. meat, but it is not too warm to con- tion for further investment and, in turn, Center Digital Future. Over the next corners are crumbling away and the gray Ninety percent of the population has now template twelve men fighting over for being able to shape a growing city 10 years we will invest an additional concrete is covered in colorful graffiti. But returned to these cities. a black disk on a patch of ice. committed to solidarity. €100 million annually in strengthen- despite the bright colors, the old heaviness Our cultural relations and education Reach inside your Wundertüte, every Our policies will therefore continue ing Berlin as a center of science and and inhumanity remain. What has changed, policy also forms part of our work in crises. page a surprise – it would be a to ensure that the economic upswing learning. even more than the Wall itself, is the world Together with the Federal Agency for shame not to read it. and the resulting tax revenues will Our economic policy is also facing around it. Technical Relief, we are providing practical be used to make investment possible. many challenges. What’s most impor- Beyond any doubt, the fall of the Berlin training for young Syrians so that they can Detlef Prinz Thanks to Berlin’s positive devel- tant here is that we understand eco- Wall, the reunification of Germany and finally one day rebuild their country. Publisher opment we were able to invest an nomic and labor policy as a shared the collapse of the Soviet Union marked an Of course, the overarching goal is to find additional €500 million in our city in responsibility of policy-makers and the historic watershed. All at once, the Cold a political solution to the conflict. 2015 alone. business community, as well as, of course, the War and the bloc mentality that had divided Parallel to these crisis instruments, we The coming years will be all about trade unions and business associations. people were things of the past. Back then, are also working to create structures for an making sure this trend continues. We In order to make Berlin a better business many people thought “everything will be improved international order, as Germany The Berlin Times is an international registered trademark of Times Media GmbH. want to show the people of this city that location we must also continue to recruit skilled better now.” Some even spoke of the “end of is one of the beneficiaries of a rules-based All rights reserved. we will use the economic upswing to improve staff for our civil service, thereby creating the history.” Almost everyone hoped for a new world. That is why we assumed the OSCE This edition has been produced in cooperation with everyone’s prospects. Above all, that means necessary conditions for attracting more business. - DIE WELT and Berlin Partner for Business and Technology. order that would bring peace and stability to Chairmanship in 2016; that is why Ger Publisher & liable for editorial content: Detlef Prinz creating additional jobs. To me, the motto “Berlin as a city of jobs” will all corners of the globe. many is standing for election to a seat on Printed in Germany by Axel Springer Druckhaus Berlin is now home to a myriad of thriving remain one of the guiding principles of the new We have to acknowledge that much of the the UN Security Council in the 2019/20 Spandau GmbH & Co. KG, Brunsbütteler Damm 156 – 172, 13581 Berlin industries and business sectors, meaning that our legislative term. new normality we thought the end of the term; and that is why I have suggested that © Times Media GmbH, Tempelhofer Ufer 23 – 24, economic development rests on a much broader Cold War would bring now seems anything we go back to talking about arms control, 10963 Berlin, Germany. foundation than was the case a few years ago. A but certain. The world is in disarray. The with the West and with Russia. If we just www.times-media.de new business is started here once every 20 hours! PICTUREALLIANCE / DPA denseness and intensity of the crises and let things carry on as they are, we are risk- conflicts raging around us are greater than ing a dangerous new arms race, and in the anyone would have predicted 27 years ago. end there will be no winners, only losers New and old actors are fighting for influence on all sides. in a world that has become increasingly com- At this time, when peace is not guaranteed, plex. A new order to replace the bloc-based Germany must give impetus to finding solu- confrontation has yet to be found. The end Frank-Walter Steinmeier on top the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. The Social Democrat tions for instilling new order in a world that of history? Absolutely not. has been serving his second term in office since December 2013. is out of joint. Germany should be sending a A brutal civil war has raged for years in signal and giving hope that life in the age of Syria, dragging an entire region down into a than tough negotiations producing lengthy have. It is a matter of learning to identify globalization consists not only of constantly spiral of violence. The ISIL terrorist organi- agreements. We cannot simply swing the small steps that can be taken, and to stop defending one’s own ground, but also of zation is committing atrocities from Iraq to wrecking ball and get rid of all the world’s focusing on the great wall that we could shaping the world. I would even say that, Nigeria. With the bitter result of the British problems overnight. We need to keep never pierce with a single blow. with patience and willingness to approach referendum on whether to remain in the EU, taking small, laborious steps towards solu- In recent years, we have therefore others, this world can be made a little more what was long unthinkable has become a tions, sometimes working more with a file reviewed and revitalized our foreign policy, peaceful and a little more just. reality. And the annexation of Crimea and than with a wrecking ball. This is often and we are increasingly looking at the entire As there is no use in just hiding and with- the situation in eastern Ukraine have even time-consuming and sometimes frustrating, cycle of a conflict, ranging from humanitar- drawing, we need to tackle the problems. brought the issues of war and peace back to but it is important that we have the right ian aid and crisis prevention to stabilization Standing still is not an option. Europe. Given the numerous trouble spots, instruments to counter the feeling of having and expanding our urgently needed media- one has to say that today’s world has become lost control. tion capacities. Frank-Walter Steinmeier is more chaotic, more complex and much more The Berlin Wall fell 27 years ago, and For example, Germany has now become foreign minister of Germany. unpredictable. that is the age of many of our young dip- the world’s third-largest provider of Nevertheless, diplomacy still has chances lomats going out to represent Germany in humanitarian assistance. The crisis in Syria of success. Despite all the crises, we have seen concrete instances of this Millions of farmers across the world rely on the soil for their livelihoods. in recent years: the nuclear agree- ment with Iran; the Minsk agree- And we’re helping them to keep it fertile for future generations. CLAAS is one of the world’s leading suppliers of farming technology. ment in the Ukraine crisis, despite Our ultra-reliable machines are designed to meet the needs of farmers across the planet. all its shortcomings; the gradual The future of sustainable harvesting. success in managing the refugee crisis; and the peace agreement in claas.com Colombia, which has brought an IS NOT AN OPTION end to a conflict that long appeared 4 2016

 Bargeld [ˈbaːɐ̯ˌɡɛlt] Cash The only way to pay the check at most restaurants in the city THE END OF MAKE LOVE, NOT BORDERS. THE AFFAIR

Angela Merkel’s refugee policy has lost her the trust of many voters. Her party is seething. Will she stand for another term? | By Günter Bannas

he political situation in Germany selves verbally from her. The cries of their refuses to make one publicly, repeating her to stand, she holds a strong hand: no one is more uncertain than at any time municipal officials who felt overwhelmed mantra that she will make an appropriate in the CDU is positioning themselves as a since Angela Merkel was elected by the refugee influx had consequences. announcement when the time is ripe. She potential successor. German chancellor in 2005. The But the SPD’s change of tack is being seen has refrained even from committing herself Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble Tparties currently represented in the Bund- simply as a campaign tactic, rendering it within her party’s most exclusive body, the will turn 75 next year. Party sources say estag – the CDU, CSU, SPD, Greens and the less credible. In nationwide surveys the SPD CDU presidium, while senior CDU figures that while Interior Minister Thomas de Left Party – are losing voters’ trust. Doubts continues to languish at about 25 percent claim to know nothing of her plans. As Maizière may be a good cabinet official, are growing that “those up there” or “those of the vote – a figure far too low to capture the CDU/CSU parliamentary party leader a party leader he is not. Ursula von der in Berlin” can still govern Germany. the chancellery. Volker Kauder has done, they may indeed Leyen, Germany’s defense minister, is not Figureheads of the establishment parties Meanwhile, the once revered role of chan- go public with their party’s wishes for a especially well liked within the CDU’s are finding it increasingly more difficult to cellor candidate is being tossed around like fourth Merkel candidacy. Thus far, how- leadership committees or parliamentary communicate their positions – a problem a hot potato. Promising figures, especially ever, mum’s the word. group. pronounced most explicitly in Germany’s Hamburg Mayor Olaf Schulz, are maintain- Kauder recently stated that in the election Even Merkel critics, including CDU law- refugee policy, where the conflict over faster ing a dignified silence. Sigmar Gabriel, the campaign the conservative parties would maker Wolfgang Bosbach, admit that she deportation of undocumented immigrants party chairman, will probably step up to the fight to lead the federal government fol- still commands high respect within the has become a permanent issue. plate. In fact, the perceived wisdom – not lowing the 2017 vote, yet stopped short party. No one wants to be the one to topple The loss of voter confidence suffered least due to hints from the SPD – is that of saying that the campaign’s goal was to her and all candidates for her succession by the CDU and SPD has very real conse- Gabriel will have to take on Merkel. He continue Merkel’s chancellorship. have supported her refugee policy. More- quences for the achievement of stable gov- would otherwise lose the party leadership. With their constant criticism of Merkel, over, Merkel takes advantage of her strong erning majorities. Three-party coalitions And as for Angela Merkel herself? Many Horst Seehofer and the entire CSU leader- position, refusing to back down from her now govern four German states: Thuringia factors indicate that she would run for yet ship in Munich are acting as if they no stance. The most she concedes is that things (Left Party, SPD, Greens), Saxony-Anhalt another term at Germany’s helm. However, longer want to see this chancellor from must get “better.” (CDU, SPD, Greens), Rhineland-Palatinate her continued lack of commitment one way eastern Germany as their head of govern- Her rivals, meanwhile, are groaning and (SPD, FDP, Greens) and Schleswig-Holstein or the other has been striking. At least she ment. However, in the case of her choosing clenching their fists, but that’s the extent of (SPD, Greens and the ethnic-Danish South it. Perhaps Merkel will share the fate of all Schleswig Voters’ Association). These her forerunners. From Konrad Adenauer conditions are also reflected in Cologne, to Gerhard Schröder, none have left the Germany’s fourth-largest city, where the chancellery voluntarily; each was toppled independent Henriette Reker governs as either by his party, coalition partners or the mayor with the support of the CDU, Greens German electorate. and the FDP. ALLIANCE/AAPIMAGES PICTURE The success of the AfD in regional elec- First and foremost it is the mass influx tions and opinion polls is a harbinger for of refugees that has permeated Germany’s the Bundestag elections. A new, right- political landscape over the last year. Even wing populist rival has emerged in German among the ranks of her own CDU, Chancel- politics. Merkel, acting like a president lor Merkel’s “We can do this” has drifted above the inter-party fray, recently tried far from the consensus. in the Bundestag to form an anti-AfD The conservative wing of the party, which alliance stretching from the CDU/CSU to has seen itself marginalized into the role the Left Party. In election campaigns, this The Volkswagen Sustainability Programs. of misfit, is seething, yet has no clout to sort of thing is doomed to failure, yet challenge her authority within the party. her attempt betrays her concerns that the Brilliant minds have always wanted to push frontiers in order to make the world a little better. Its Bavarian sister party, the CSU, is in AfD’s advances will come mainly at the rebellion, but it too lacks the power to expense of her own party. Merkel and the Therefore, today we too are at home in 31 countries on four continents and ensure growth force its demands on the chancellor’s power CDU have yet to repeat the experiences and employment, regional development as well as high social and environmental standards in machine. of the SPD and its last two chancellors. It all those places. Furthermore, Volkswagen engages together with partner organizations in While they may voice loudly their was during Helmut Schmidt’s tenure that about 200 projects for education, sport, youth, health, art, nature conservation and environment demands for a ceiling on migration and the Greens emerged. The Left Party arose a burqa ban, these measures are probably during Gerhard Schröder’s chancellorship. protection. And in this way demonstrates: entrepreneurial success and social improvement unconstitutional. The SPD initially sup- Each time, the SPD hemorrhaged voters. can be linked – with this thought in mind we want to be pioneers. ported the chancellor’s policy – and quite Merkel’s legacy for the conservative parties proudly, not least because they believed goes by one name: AfD. Merkel would be lost without the Social Democrats. They are now distancing them-

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Europeans flew their sorties. But, just like at Obama’s greatest achievement – would be  eight years earlier in Iraq, there was no plan climate change.  Charme for the time after Gaddafi. Obama admitted The Clean Power Plan of August 2015 Doppelgänger [ʃaʁm] as much in a Fox News interview when asked will require America’s coal-fired power sta- [ˈdɔpl̩ˌɡɛŋɐ] about his worst mistake. War heroes Nicolas tions – which provide almost 40 percent of Charm Look-alike Sarkozy and David Cameron quickly turned the country’s electricity – to cut their CO2 Tough love their attention to other matters. Since then, emissions by 32 percent from 2005 levels. Every bearded, retro-dressed, GOODBYE, Libya has also become a failed state where IS Most Americans support Obama’s climate bespectacled hipster in Neukölln has gained a foothold. According to Jeffrey objectives, but in February 2016 the Supreme Goldberg in the April issue of The Atlantic, Court suspended the targets until lawsuits MERCURY Obama now refers to the Libya intervention filed by multiple states are decided. And yet, as a “shit show.” Obama’s change of direction, as well as agree- The Olympic Village from the 1936 games, in Elstal, 30 kilometers from Obama is the first US president to recog- ments with China and India on reducing emis- Berlin, exudes the dark charm of decay. nize that “the West” could not help rule the sions, enabled world leaders to sign a historic Several buildings have been demolished; Middle East and North Africa. Yet, as he climate pact that would limit global warming the gymnastics hall is home to a lone could not leave that task to the terrorists, to a maximum 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius above rusted pommel horse; the swimming pool MR. PRESIDENT is bone dry. Not much remains from the he ordered drone strikes that killed not only pre-industrial levels. The US, once an obstruc- targeted individuals but hundreds of civil- tive force on climate issues, has joined the propaganda show put on for the Nazi ians as well. Criticism from Germany for activist vanguard. PICTURE ALLIANCE/UNITED ARCHIVES/WHA games 80 years hence. With one excep- tion: Jesse Owens. The star sprinter, failed to meet some of his goals. But perhaps his this morally dubious activity has not been New thinking also informed the US approach who won four gold medals in Berlin (top), nearly as strident as that which George W. to its bitter foe, Iran. The 2015 Vienna nuclear has been honored at the grounds with presidency will be remembered less for what it achieved than for Bush could have expected. accords only became possible by rethinking his own museum, which alone is worth a what it avoided | By Peter H. Koepf Obama has a motto: “Don’t do stupid outdated diplomatic strategy. The same is visit. Owens’ room in the Olympic Village shit.” In foreign policy, Obama has avoided true for the thaw in US-Cuban relations. And has been reconstructed, with beds, foot- ack in July 2008 when Senator Barack Obama start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving stupidity. And it would have been stupid to Obama’s “pivot to Asia” has proven to be a stool and wooden table. Adjoining rooms chart his rise from college athlete to spoke at Berlin’s Victory Column, 200,000 perspir- follow the “foreign policy establishment and prescient strategy to contain China’s hege- around or being utilized.” A year later, hundreds of Olympic champion and emblematic proof PICTURE-ALLIANCE/AKG-IMAGES ing people assembled to hear the man they believed people died in a poison gas attack in Ghouta, a region its cruise missile playbook,” as Goldberg calls monic ambitions. The Transpacific Partner- of Hitler’s delusions: a black man faster could make the world a better place. They took on east of Damascus. Obama did nothing. Assad remains it, as well as the “demands of America’s frus- ship, a free-trade agreement without Chinese than all Aryans. As it happened, Berlin Bboard that as president he would demand more from the the head of a rump state where the self-proclaimed trating, high-maintenance allies in the Middle participation, is a key element of these efforts. spectators cheered him on, even then. Germans than in recent memory: more money, more arms Islamic State has long since also made its mark. East – countries, he complains privately, Barack Obama failed to attain all his goals The German Luz Long, Owens’s big- and more soldiers. “In this new century, Americans and It was not only the trigger-happy hawks among the seeking to exploit American ‘muscle’ for their because even “the most powerful man in the gest rival in the long jump and eventual Europeans alike will be required to do more – not less.” Republicans that decried Obama’s silence. Hillary Clin- own narrow, sectarian ends.” world” eventually reaches his limits. War and silver medalist, became his good friend (middle), much to Hitler’s chagrin. Had George W. Bush uttered these words, the reply would ton also railed against Obama’s inaction, saying it had hurt Obama’s caution had other grounds. He terrorism render some foreign policy objec- Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, where his have been a chorus of boos, jeers and whistles. America’s credibility and deterrent potential. Clinton’s believed the US had become overstretched tives obsolete. And an opposition Congress name was inscribed on the Eight years later, in the twilight of the Obama Era, more outspoken rival for president recently remarked that the in its role as world policeman, which is an has dashed many a presidential dream – yet listing gold medal winners (bottom), than a few people, including Germans, are disappointed in withdrawal from Iraq allowed the jihadists to gain strength; enormous burden on the country’s finances. considering who may next take office, that ALLIANCE//HIP PICTURE today houses a Jesse Owens Lounge; the US president, who – it seems – has managed to keep Obama was therefore the “founder of ISIS,” which could He decided to weigh costs and benefits more may be a comforting thought. the street running alongside the arena just a handful of his promises. He took up the fight for gay then spread far and wide through Syria. finely – especially toward Syria and IS, which is Jesse Owens Allee. Nonetheless, the marriage and pushed through his health care reform that has Lest we forget, it was George W. Bush who invaded he did not consider the greatest threats to the runner’s home is still where it always was – the Olympic Village. brought affordable health insurance to more than ten million Iraq on the basis of untruthful arguments. The 2003 US and the world. That – and here we arrive Americans. The country has also managed to overcome the attack is now recognized as the starting point for all effects of the financial crisis; the economy is back on track. the region’s upheavals, not least because there However, Guantánamo prison – a human rights fiasco was no power-sharing plan for the region’s – remains in operation. Gun violence in America is still groups. The eclipse of the Sunnis in Iraq’s rampant. Tensions between whites and African Americans political and military hierarchy led to their have grown worse, a fact attested to by more than just the radicalization, providing IS with plenty of lopsided statistics of police violence. And let us not forget specialized fighters. Our brand is a promise. that eavesdropping on the German chancellor’s phone Obama, however, refused to be drawn conversations was not exactly polite. into a war – especially not alone. That The big questions have to do with foreign policy. One was why he left the visible air strikes in accusation holds that, as the Syrian regime of Bashar al- Libya to the British and French when Assad committed one atrocity after another in the country’s strongman Muammar Gaddafi pledged civil war, Obama sat on the fence. to drive the Benghazi rebels from their “We have been very clear to the Assad regime,“ Obama hideouts “like rats.” US Air Force drones

explained in the summer of 2012, “that a red line for us is we destroyed Libya’s air defenses before the PICTURE ALLIANCE/DPA

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 Ehrgeiz Furcht  [ˈeːɐ̯ɡaɪ̯ʦ] [fʊʁçt] Ambition Fear Clubbing at Winter is coming Berghain from end-of-work Friday to start-of-work SILENT MAJORITY Monday Shake it off Does Berlin need a monument to German reunification? | By Harald Jähner

In Berlin, tens of thousands of German-Turks demonstrated in support of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. ome call it a disgrace, others are ton’s bat, Myotis Daubentonii, had found gate was the international icon of German reconciliation process is truly over. There Yet, to believe the entire community stands by the AKP would be a mistake. Erdoğan’s detractors are many; relieved; most couldn’t care less. For a suitable nesting place in the dignified old separation and, thanks to the hammers is really no need for a monument here – at they just don’t dare take to the streets. An assessment of the situation by Güner Yasemin Balci the time being, Berlin will not receive masonry and set out evening after evening and chisels that people put to the Wall least not yet. a monument to German unification. on the hunt for mosquitoes swarming over in its shadow in November 1989, the It would make more sense to erect one SPlanning for a memorial on Schloßplatz the . These creatures of the vesper bat icon of German reunification as well. No in the middle of the former East Germany, recalling the peaceful revolution in East family, weighing all of ten grams each, are new monument could equal the expressive in Leipzig, perhaps, to honor both the urkey is transforming into a dic- which willingly sought the support of Turk- types of German-Turks: the enlightened denunciation has been known to react with Germany and subsequent reunification has under official wildlife protection and would power of the . So why popular uprising that brought down the tatorship before our very eyes ish-German citizens, even known members of ones who found the Bundestag’s Armenia trigger-happy glee. been stopped. The German parliament’s have had to be resettled at considerable try to build one? Wall and the subsequent vote to reunify. and anyone, be they Turkish or the “Gray Wolves,” a nationalist group that resolution well over due and would like to Turkey is a multi-ethnic state that since its budgetary committee recommended all work effort and expense. So, with the help of Berlin, if we look at it more closely, is But there, too, plans of the sort have sput- Turkish-German, who denies it defined itself as a pure race and nourished live in an open democracy, and those who founding as a republic has sought by force to its own living, breath- Tis taking a risk. Even those who live here hopes of someday becoming a world power. only act as if they are part of this society, transform itself into a country of one people, ing monument to in Germany have quite a bit to lose. At a But most Germans can only imagine German- but in the depths of their heart harbor with the goal of Turkey for the Turks – the reunification, which minimum they would face a travel ban to German Nazis as real Nazis. dreams of the great Turkish empire that Sunni Muslims – who should all be ready to die people are reminded

Turkey, and this would mean not seeing However, the possibility that one of them would be Sunni Muslim, know no borders for the fatherland. Despite genocidal campaigns PICTURE ALLIANCE/DPA “The city still of with practically

family and friends for an indefinite period. may be named Ahmet or Betül has been lost and where dissenters would have no, or against Armenians, Arameans and the Zazas every step they take PICTURE ALLIANCE/AP PHOTO While a statement in the German public on most German citizens not of Turkish at most a very limited voice. Although in Dersim, despite the ongoing pogrom-like needs some time through the city. This about current conditions of Turkey may origin. And then there is these greater Turkish visionaries may not atmosphere concerning the Kurds, the forced is especially true in breeze by with nary a retort, on the the fatal multi-culti represent the majority of German-Turks, resettlements, forced Islamizations and language before the Berlin’s central dis- Bosphorus it can unleash a tornado reflex. When Betül they are well established prohibitions, Turkey remains multi-ethnic, com- tricts, where the Wall of reaction. Ulusoy, an activist prising various cultures, languages and religions. reconciliation often bisected densely The people are afraid, thus the rau- in a headscarf who While the majority of Turks ascribes to Sunni inhabited, built-up cous tens of thousands of Erdoğan belongs to Ditib Islam, this group can be rather nuanced, ranging process is neighborhoods, where supporters fill our streets without (the Turkish- from atheist to agnostic to ultra-orthodox, not truly over.” its former path can still encountering hundreds of thou- to mention the diversity of political tendencies. be surmised, and some- sands of counter protestors, Sure, many Turks stand behind Recep Tayyip times even felt. also with Turkish roots. To Erdoğan and his party, but an absolute majority The people’s seesaw: just an amusing idea. Thank goodness. It is not only the dif- The Brandenburg Gate, 1961. conclude that “the Turks” they are not, despite regular statements to the fering styles of postwar all stand behind Erdoğan contrary. The elections of Nov. 1, 2015, were on future construction be broken off, due these tiny mammals, the seesaw of unity construction in the city’s East and West, tered – after all, the reunified capital and would be a mistake. The manipulated, a fact attested to by to cost. will hopefully remain just an amusing idea. but also the divergent residential profiles the Brandenburg Gate belong to the people others are experiencing not only countless independent Even before the first shovel hit the soil, cost And thank goodness. For all the fun and the social atmosphere in the streets of Leipzig, as well. a feeling of powerless- journalists, who now sit in pris- estimates for the project had climbed from 10 this kinetic sculpture might have been, it that remind pedestrians, even 25 years after ness in the face of a ons in Turkey, but also by elections to 15 million euros. But the sudden financial would never have matched the symbolic reunification, where the communist capital Harald Jähner has been the development in which observers from the Council of scruples revealed other, deeper reasons to significance of another, existing edifice that ended and the urban capitalist island began. feuilleton editor of the Berliner systematic injustice is PICTURE ALLIANCE/EIBNER-PRESSEFOTO Europe and the OSCE. Hardly stop the planned monument. That is, the long ago entered the popular consciousness Thanks to the antagonistic social systems Zeitung since 2004. declared just – for the any German politician has otherwise tolerable rise in price would almost as the encapsulation of Germany’s divi- that stubbornly faced one another during moment, the struggle spoken out against the certainly have been deemed acceptable if only sion and reunification: the Brandenburg the Cold War, Berlin still needs some time, for a free, democratic fraud, as Turkey is the planned design had been more convinc- Gate. Closed for decades by the Wall, the and a little more creativity, before the Turkey appears lost. too important as a partner for ing or the basic idea an innate necessity. Martial law will pre- Europe, NATO and Germany’s The Bundestag vote reads as a thinly veiled dominate for an indefi- refugee policy. suggestion that Berlin needs no unification nite amount of time, Perhaps it is good that these monument. And certainly not this seesaw. Discover more opposition parties are hordes of Islamist headscarved Five years ago, after a chaotic competition, db.com/madeforgood nothing but extras in women and flag-waving Turk- a jury had finally given the nod to a design Erdoğan’s sultanate, ish nationals are finally visible on by choreographer Sasha Waltz and Milla & and anyone not wishing to be persecuted the streets of Germany; perhaps the Partner, a “agency for spatial communica- simply shuts up. Islamic Union for Religious Affairs, the in Ditib communities, other nationalist- German school curriculum concern- tion.” While the monument design’s official The failed coup attempt has made it easier umbrella organization for Turkish-Islamic religious organizations and billion-dollar ing Islam – which is organized by name was “Citizens on the Move,” it quickly for Erdoğan to implement his dream of con- mosques in Germany, which is adminis- corporate coalitions with structured net- Ditib – will now be taught more critically, and became known as “the people’s seesaw.” verting Turkey’s parliamentary democracy tered by the Turkish prime minister) as works in all areas of public life. With their perhaps this display of Islamist-Turkish self- The object would have been an accessible, into an authoritarian presidential system awareness is an occasion to rethink the Federal 50-meter-long gold-colored bowl that could faster than he could have hoped. And those Constitutional Court verdict that even public be set in motion, but only if a large majority still campaigning for the persecuted Fetullah “Turkey remains multi-ethnic, employees may wear headscarves, along with of the visitors atop the object shifted to one Gülen should not forget that Erdoğan and comprising various cultures, the other concessions we have made. These are of its sides, thereby tipping it. The process Gülen were once good friends, and that it is particularly inconsistent with an open, demo- would playfully express the power of the a verifiable fact that it was Gülen supporters languages and religions.” cratic and secular society. people – by the people themselves. Though Business means who, beginning in 2007, stripped countless Hundreds of thousand of German-Turks it initially convinced some politicians and dissidents of their jobs under false pretenses well as a German law graduate and blogger, two-pronged strategy of reaping all the would be grateful. Perhaps for the first time they observers that the people’s seesaw could more when it’s and incarcerated them without trials. uses historically problematic rhetoric to benefits Germany has to offer without sur- would feel they are not alone. become the “monument to joy” that politi- Many are now asking themselves what praise the mass arrests in Turkey as a long- rendering their orthodox-Muslim national cal leaders had wanted, over time the doubts happened as they ponder the masses of Turk- awaited “cleansing” that is sure to have identities, they can always count on the piled up. The plans excluded disabled people. made for good. ish-Germans who so fervently demonstrate Allah’s blessing, she can be certain that a support of elected German representatives. Güner Yasemin Balci is a The wheelchair-bound could only have tra- All around the world, a new breed of entrepreneurs are combining business with for Erdoğan, against freedom of the press, German colleague will spring to her side However, all other critical lone warriors, filmmaker and author. Her most versed the middle of the bowl, and the strong social purpose. Our global enterprise programme Made for Good adds the business against civil rights and for the reinstatement to protect the supposedly misunderstood for whom no lobby exists either in Turkey recent book, Das Mädchen und damping of any movement – which would know-how to help them succeed. We work with small and early-stage ventures of the death penalty. The answer is simple: Muslim woman from the allegedly Islamo- or Germany, are left out in the cold – for die Gotteskrieger (The Girl and the be necessary to maintain safety – would have who want to regenerate communities and improve livelihoods, and charities who nothing. Nationalist Turks, with their ortho- phobic witch hunt. Were she not a Turk in example the Islamic reform theologians who Jihadist), was published in June of this taken all the fun out of it. need to adopt more entrepreneurial business models. Made for Good provides what they need to be commercially viable – business advice and support, access to dox interpretation of Islam, have been part a headscarf, she would have zero chance teach in Germany but will remain unnamed year. Her filmDer Jungfrauenwahn And finally, in the foundation of the former sources of funding and connections to others who can help. Microenterprise, social of the Federal Republic of Germany since the of ever becoming a lawyer or journalist in this newspaper for fear that they may lose (The Virginty Obsession) won the equestrian memorial to Kaiser Wilhelm I on start-up, charity and commercial business, we’re working with the mall to show early 1960s; it is only now that people have in Germany. And that would be just fine. their university jobs or suffer some other 2016 Bayerischer Fernsehpreis. which the new structure was to stand – sym- how much good business can do. taken notice. An exception over the years has People whose forbears immigrated from indignity. After all, the arm of Erdoğan is bolizing the progress of history – crews dis- been the Antifa activists and the radical left, Turkey learn early on that there are two a long one, and this country’s culture of covered another, special little folk. Dauben-

1609_8774_DB_ANZ_MFG_BUSINESS_180x123.indd 1 12.09.16 09:01 10 2016 2016 11

Größenwahn   Höflichkeit [ˈɡʀøːsn̩ˌvaːn] [ˈhøːflɪçkaɪ̯t] Megalomania Brexit poses a big opportunity for European cities wanting to attract startups. Politeness If Berlin wants to profit from Britain’s brain drain, it must stay cheap, livable Owning a car in Berlin Waiting until dark before Continental drift and open | By Bastian Brauns pissing in the street

hen Britons voted to leave the family firms, our small and medium-sized Straight after the vote, many London start- the pie. Valérie Pécresse, the councilor of the secure flow of money around the world. Bank- Yet this is just one snapshot of Europe’s After all, the German capital is home to more be face to face when the contract is signed. This European Union in June, they businesses are the backbone of our country.” ups made the call to Berlin to ask about the Île-de-France capital region, sent out 4,000 ing apps are just one of many fintech fields. financial development. One-off deals bringing than 6,000 startups, including around 100 can often be exceedingly impractical when it unwittingly handed an advan- She added that the UK would never be fully pros and cons of a move to the city on the letters to British companies as soon as the BrickVest, a British-German property invest- a big investment to a single company – as was fintech companies. comes to digital processes, he says. Bartz sees tage to the cities on the conti- cut off from the European market. Spree. Berlin Senator of Economics Cornelia referendum result was announced. Her words ment startup, has officially announced that its the case with Spotify in Stockholm – can make Chris Bartz, is a venture partner at FinLeap, it as Germany’s task to push forward further Wnent. Brexit – a horror scenario for the entire But at the moment, with the conditions for Yzer reported that more than 100 companies were blunt: “The battle of the cities has begun.” headquarters are moving to Berlin. But the online it seem that the location overall is enormously one of Europe’s key fintech firms, and chairman unification of the European market. “Brexit European economic zone – would neverthe- the UK’s departure not yet negotiated and the had made enquiries by late July. “There was In Berlin it seems that the early eupho- platform will continue to be run from its London valuable. Yet the number of financing rounds of the FinTechs, Insurance & Banking Innova- will hurt everyone in the long run, even if less create endless opportunities for startup consequences unpredictable, it is a danger- a real flood of them at the start,” says ria has faded. Stefan Franzke claims office (see interview p. 12). must also be considered, for they show how tions working group at the digital industry startup cities benefit in the beginning,” Bartz locations like Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam and ous time for London and a tempting one for Stefan Fran- zke, manager of Berlin Part- that interest has waned. And he never For the moment, Berlin as a business location many startup projects the investments are association, Bitkom. “Here in Germany we says, because it is ultimately essential to have Stockholm. Even if the British government Berlin. The battle to be seen as the most fertile ner GmbH. Franzke’s public-private called it a battle to begin with. “The appears to have been weakened rather than distributed across. mustn’t think too small when it comes to uniform rules and a long reach, without borders is not in official talks with the EU about the ground for startups is underway. Fearing legal partnership comprises the Berlin Senate startup scene is far too internation- strengthened. According to the Ernst & Young In 2015 Berlin was well ahead of London financial technologies,” he says. or barriers. country’s departure, one thing is clear – ever uncertainties, more and more investors may and more than 270 enterprises while offer- ally connected and interdependent startup barometer, the German capital is ranked in terms of these financing rounds. Inves- He compares Germany’s current digital But he believes Berlin is on the right path. since the vote, the startup capital of London simply keep their money out of Britain, or ing support for companies of all sizes and for people in it to want to hurt one not number one, as it had been in the past, tors put money into Berlin startups on 205 economy with how it looked around the year “A city’s feel-good factor is more than just a has been facing tougher competition from invest it in cities that have a more predictable shapes, but especially for startups. another,” he says. But there are but only number four, with invest- occasions, compared to 132 for London 2000. Back then, no one managed to establish a fringe benefit,” says Bartz. The framework other cities in Europe for talent, ideas and political and economic climate. When inves- Other cities such as Paris eight companies making concrete ment volumes of €520 million. startups. In the first half of 2016, however, German Apple, Facebook or Google. “My first has to be right not just for the entrepreneurs, innovations. tors hesitate, startup companies get nervous. are also look- plans to move to Berlin, London is back on top with Berlin was no longer number smartphone was a Siemens. No one talks about but also for employees and their families. With As Europe’s most important financial New companies in particular rely on cash and ing for a he adds. According investments of €1.3 bil- one; with 117 financing Siemens in that context any more,” Bartz says. its international outlook, welcoming culture, center, many of London’s advantages will trust from investors in order to grow quickly slice to Franzke, many lion, followed rounds – including an He does not want to see a repeat perfor- openness, freedom, well-trained IT technicians remain even if the UK does leave the EU. in a competitive environment. of are in fintech, or by Stockholm, estimated €62 million mance. “There’s a good chance right now that and affordable cost of living, Berlin has got There are good reasons why the British capital London may also be facing an uphill battle finance technol- which attracted of invest- ment in the we will end up empty-handed once again, and it all. According to Bartz, entrepreneurs ask provides the current headquarters for some to attract the smartest minds and best ideas. ogy, specializ- a cool billion, Sound- cloud music it’s up to us to change the situation.” He points themselves two primary questions: “Where 275,000 startups. If anything, London, with The government has yet to answer the ques- ing in transac- and Paris, at platform – it came in at out that digitalization has led to an enormous can I get the people I need?” and “Where do I its business-friendly tax laws, will be able to tion of how tightly it will restrict immigration tion technolo- €673 million. number three. Paris shift in the value-creation chain. Bartz believes myself want to go?” offer even bigger tax breaks in the future. in the future. But at the very least it seems gies to ensure topped the list we need more political will so that we are not Berlin’s two coalition parties, the SPD and The country’s new prime minister, Theresa that freedom of movement for workers from the swift and with 178 rounds too content with what appears to work well CDU, as well as other parties, are competing to May, is well aware of the importance of the EU will come to an end in the foreseeable of financing, fol- enough. “We have to stop being so complacent come up with the best startup proposal for the innovative new companies. A few weeks ago future. More than half of those working at lowed by London and instead realign ourselves according to the city. In September Berlin even opened its own she underscored this fact at a meeting at 10 startups in London come from outside the with 157. current state of the technology,” he says. recruiting office in London’s creative startup Downing Street, where she addressed repre- UK. Many interpret Brexit as the UK saying What has to Bartz talks about the discouraging effect district of Camden. Working together with sentatives of small and medium-sized enter- “You are not wanted here!” Smart people are happen for Berlin German laws can have. For instance, there are the consulting firm KPMG, Berlin officials aim prises: “From dynamic startups to established thinking of packing their bags. FOTOLIA/ANTIKWAR1 to get back on top? rules stating that two parties in a contract must to be on the spot to advise startup companies continued on p. 12 BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERG – WHERE PEOPLE LOVE TO LIVE AND DISCOVER @ Nowhere else can inventors work – and live – so well. L-Bank plays its part, by promoting a climate of innovation with various programmes for small and medium-sized enterprises. We also promote quality of life with measures aimed at families, infrastructure and climate protection. This is how we ensure that Baden-Württemberg’s many inventions continue to find their way around the world – whilst their inventors like to stay firmly put! Find out more at www.l-bank.de CHAPEAU SWITZERLAND PIONEERING PROJECT PAR EXCELLENCE Congratulations to Switzerland and all pioneers on jointly completing and opening this groundbreaking project of the century in June 2016. A year ahead of plan, the iconic Gotthard Base Tunnel represents record progress set in stone.

herrenknecht.com/Gotthard

16-09-16_044_IDxxx_eAz_Gotthard Sonder_BerlinTimes_247x180_01fo.indd 1 16.09.16 15:11 12 2016 2016 13 continued from p. 11 eager to move to Berlin. Simultaneously the   Ja Berlin Senate announced that it would create [jaː] 50 new IT professorships for Berlin, although they would not be tenured positions. White-collar refugees Yes “Companies follow the talent,” says Stefan Find out why the fintech company BrickVest moved from London to Berlin Answer to the question: Franzke. A first wave of educated arrivals Another coffee? came to Germany and its capital city fol- LAUNCH PAD lowing the 2008 financial crisis. “We benefit n mid-September of this year, the online investment plat- To what extent is the system heavily bureaucratic? tremendously from the skilled labor that form BrickVest was one of the first companies to make the In London, fintechs have more flexibility and face much less has come here, from Spain and Greece, for post-Brexit move from the British to the German capital. regulation. This is why all the startups are in London. Take example,” Franzke says. This international Founded in London two years ago, this financial technology for example the AIFM license, which we need wherever we Top startup cities are forming global networks, and Berlin is at the heart of it all | By Stefan Franzke movement has siphoned talent to Germany, Icompany manages a portfolio of 20 million, drawn from inves- do business. The same way a driver’s license is more difficult € giving a boost to our entire startup culture. tors with capital ranging from €10,000 to €5 million. Seven of to get in Germany, so is the AIFM. News like the results of the state election the company’s 15 employees – their so-called back office – were erlin continues to shine bright at the heart of the ing cities, including Tel Aviv, New York, Shanghai and especially attractive due to its many collaborations with tech in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania – in involved in the move. The Berlin Times talked to co-founder What would you recommend Germany do? European startup scene. In fact, over the past Paris. It also includes an exchange program that enables companies. The large number of venture capitalists in the which the anti-immigration AfD party placed Thomas Schneider about the reasons for the relocation. The first thing would be to solve the language problem. If I several years the German capital has become young entrepreneurs to test these cities for up to six United States makes that country an attractive international second – are unhelpful, Franzke says, because were the BaFin or a politician, I would synonymous with the cutting-edge cooperation weeks. Participants are given free-of-charge location. The Chinese market scores points with its massive “people in the business talk about how Ger- introduce English as an official andB exchange between established companies and up- scalability. And Paris stands out for its exchange between THE BERLIN TIMES: Why Berlin? many is so welcoming to newcomers.” THOMAS SCHNEIDER: We’d been thinking of doing it for a language. Young entrepreneurs and-coming entrepreneurs. Indeed, an increasing number fashion and creative startups. Finleap’s Chris Bartz agrees. “It’s up to while. Then the Brexit vote gave us that extra incentive to actu- all speak English. I would also of companies ranging from medium-sized enterprises In return, startups from these leading global cities are us to develop and communicate a positive ally do it. Now, if and when Brexit comes, we’ll already have a set up a regulatory agency that to major industrial corporations are already working invited to Berlin and given the opportunity to make a outlook for the future,” he says. “Fear comes basis here in Berlin. takes an open and cooperative closely together with young and innovative founders in decisive step into European markets via the German capi- all by itself.” approach to new concepts. If Berlin. And it is a perfect match: while startups bring tal. Especially in light of the recent Brexit vote, Berlin has

Is the Berlin market really so interesting? these things were in place, Berlin their digital know-how to the table, established compa - CHARLOTTENBURG FOTOSTUDIO become the focus of an even greater level of interest. More The entire German market is interesting; all of Europe is, too, and Germany would have massive nies contribute their many years of market experience. and more people are noticing that it is possible, and fulfill- for that matter. We’re a European platform. Office space and opportunities in a growing market. This special blend has become a proven recipe for ing, to live and work here completely in English. More the cost of living are highly affordable in Berlin, and that’s success. Today, companies from all over Germany, than half of today’s venture capital in Germany flows into important for a young company like ours, where the salaries including Bayer, Daimler, Lufthansa, Deutsche Bank and Berlin-based startups. Plus, German industrial companies aren’t as lavish as you might think. PRIVATE Würth Elektronik, are eager to establish strategic links to continue to seek out new and exciting founders to work the startup scene in Berlin. Many of them set up innova - with them on cooperative activities in Berlin. Did government agencies support your move? tion centers in the capital, which are designed to drive Stefan Franzke Yes, but I would have expected more in that regard. For the process of digitization throughout their businesses. International startups are invited to apply at example, the BaFin banking supervisory authority is very Furthermore, Berlin is Germany’s most international access to spaces in co-working hubs and are encouraged www.berlin-partner.de/sab. bureaucratic. They’re overly cautious and focused on investor city, meaning that global networks play an essential role for to network with the ecosystems in each city. With the help protection, which is, of course, important, but it’s counter - the capital as well. This is why the Berlin Partner business of their newly found knowledge and insight, they can then Stefan Franzke is management Ideologie productive to be suspicious of everything new – especially development agency launched Start Alliance Berlin, a decide whether or not entering those markets makes sense spokesperson at Berlin Partner for [ideoloˈɡiː] for us, seeing as our entire business model is based on “the program designed to create sustainable links to all the for them. Business and Technology. Ideology new.” For example, we do the real estate business differently major startup cities in the world. The program involves Berlin-based founders can draw on the program to gain and better than any bank could. If we did everything the way the most in-demand co-working hubs in the participat - key access to exciting markets. Tel Aviv, for example, is A word not used since they do, there would be no need for us anymore. the fall of the Wall Thomas Schneider

he German Institute for Economic Research of the working refugees finding their first jobs in Germany (DIW) and Humboldt University in Berlin have via friends or relatives. analyzed the data from surveys of refugees in For children, early education is vital. Refugees seem to Language Germany between 1990 and 2010. The find- know this – their children are just as happy as other kids Tings revealed low levels of qualification, a low propensity to participate in voluntary activities at school. Yet activities Quarzwerke – to finish school (refugees: 20 percent, migrants: 10 percent), poor knowledge Training of German upon arrival, and a tendency to start their first job later than non-refu- more than just mining

gees. “But unlike work-seeking migrants, ALLIANCE / ZB PICTURE refugees are hardly able to prepare for the dubius Charadrius Work country they go to,” says Martin Kroh of DIW Berlin. Refugees are more often unemployed and earn less. About two-thirds of male More than one million refugees refugees but only one in four women came to Germany in 2014 and found a job within the first five years of 2015. While this year’s numbers being in Germany – primarily in small businesses, processing industries and the are far lower, the refugees now catering industry. · Sustainable long term vision here are in need of places to live, Some results provide grounds for hope: refugees had a better track record on · Reliable supplier of industrial minerals jobs and prospects for the future. school attendance and higher levels of How can we make integration education than other immigrants. The to key industries researchers were optimistic about the work? latest wave of refugees, a result of there High potentials: Young refugee children, actually happy to be in school. · Innovative products – traditional values being far more integration measures today · Committed to social responsibility than in the past: “The many measures and social initiatives outside of school – for instance in sports clubs – are not so give us hope that the most recent refugees will be integrated popular. It is comparatively rare for refugee children under · Awarded for maintaining biodiversity quickly,” says Kroh. The researchers recommend that the age of three to attend a kindergarten or parent-child German authorities be quicker to recognize qualifications group. Katharina Spiess of the DIW says that is a shame: from abroad. They conclude that refugees need better “Early education holds especially great potential, which information on how to obtain degrees, training certificates we should better utilize in the interests of successful inte- and work experience recognized in Germany – something gration.” As a solution she recommends an intercultural only one in three has managed so far. approach and targeted recruiting of volunteers and integra- Quarzwerke As for language – a vital criterion for integration – making tion workers who themselves have roots outside Germany. www.quarzwerke.com A FAMILY ENTERPRISE SINCE 1884 work and training options available earlier may quickly improve refugees’ German-language skills. Social contact plays a big role in success in the labor market, with half

QW_AZ_BerlinTimes_247,8x180-RZ.indd 1 01.09.16 13:48 14 2016 2016 15

Kindergarten GARDENS OF THE WORLD  Luftschloss  [ˈkɪndɐˌɡaʁtn̩] [ˈlʊftˌʃlɔs] Kindergarten Castle in the sky Dating venue for Berlin’s What most Berliners wish the numerous single parents LIVING ROOM had remained

The city is booming. But so are real estate prices. Berlin’s new urban planning idea comprises mixed social milieus, which create more than just new opportunities for homeowners and investors | By Tong-Jin Smith We can be heroes, just for one like For two years he was a Berliner. David Bowie’s apartment building in Schöneberg has become a memorial site © GESKES.HACK LANDSCHAFTSARCHITEKTEN The cubicles in the eastern Berlin banli- and from several different spots on the eue of Marzahn-Hellersdorf are getting a 100-hectare grounds visitors can catch an bigger yard. And a gondola lift to boot, so astounding view of the colossal housing that people may soon hover above “Ein estates erected by the GDR. Renewable MEHR aus Farben” – a play on the Ger- energies, natural habitats within the city man phrase for “a sea of colors” and also and visonary urban landscapes: these are © MIKET / FOTOLIA the motto of IGA Berlin 2017, the interna- the three most important themes the IGA tional garden show opening on Apr. 13 of is seeking to augment and explore. All this next year. Until Oct. 16, 2017, visitors will erlin is the place to be. Not only and up to 3,000 units in 2017, with more to public or private, to enter into a discourse whose neighborhood we are creating some- in addition to myriad flower gardens and

PICTURE ALLIANCE/CHRIS HOFFMANN be able to marvel at how landscape cultural offerings are planned to draw visi- are Germans flocking to the city come. In addition, the city’s public housing with the city and district where they plan thing new,” says Hertfelder. “We have to architects conceive of the future of city tors from all over the world. to live, study and work; interna- associations are investing in new homes. By to develop their real estate. The goal is to listen to the people and the administration. and landscape, of urban space and On Oct. 16 of this year, an autumn festival tional sojourners are also joining 2026 the six state-supported associations create more than just new opportunities for What does a particular neighborhood need? nature. The urban development concept will be held in the Gardens of the World – theB growing ranks of new Berliners each are planning to build or acquire 54,000 new homeowners and investors; a minimum of 25 Affordable housing? Family apartments? A of the IGA grounds combines the existing the last opportunity to admire them before year. Even retirees are discovering Berlin as a apartments, although not all of these new percent of the new homes must be allocated new kindergarten? Urban gardens? There is Gardens of the World with the adjoining they are transformed to make way for the culturally and socially diverse haven in which homes are intended for low-income families as affordable rental units. so much more that goes into city develop- Kienberg and rambling Wuhletal. The future. three areas are connected to one another to enjoy the autumn of their lives, preferably at affordable rents of 6.50 to 8.00 per This is where many private developers ment than just adding another building.” € € by Berlin’s first gondola lift. From the air www.iga-berlin-2017.de near their children and grandchildren. sqm. The goal is to preserve the city’s social have begun to turn to the public housing Most developers are beginning to under- Berlin has been growing since 2005. mix in all its neighborhoods and prevent the associations or one of the city’s many hous- stand that. But in Berlin, where about Since 2010 the population has increased by development of ghettos. ing cooperatives as partners. Although the 12 percent of developable land is owned by roughly 40,000 each year, and in 2015 by “Having a healthy mix of people from all development process may be slowed down the city, finding the right plot at an accept- 48,000 – and that’s not counting the influx walks of life living together under the same by this form of public-private partnership, able price is becoming difficult. “We would of refugees. As a result, living space for the roof has been one of Berlin’s great attrac- the results are generally more agreeable for love to develop a plot in Stralau that belongs city’s more than 3.5 million residents has tors,” explains architect Siegfried Hertfelder. all stakeholders involved. to the BSR, the municipal garbage collec- become a sought-after commodity, especially In fact, the city has a long tradition of pre- One such project is the development of tion authority, but three years ago the city in the affordable range. Finding a rental unit serving its particular social mix. When in the so-called Freudenberg area, a former government stopped the sale of public land for less than €10 per sqm within the S-Bahn 1862 James Hobrecht was entrusted with industrial tract in the middle of Friedrichs- to private developers so it could potentially ring, which approximates the city center, has planning Berlin’s development into a proper hain, one of the city’s popular districts in the offer these plots to public housing associa- become nearly impossible. And real estate metropolis, he not only brought in modern eastern part of town. Initially, Bauwert, the tions,” explains Julian Streletzki, a developer prices have soared, with annual increases canalization, but also a system of large radial developer in question, had planned to sell in Berlin. “Since then, nothing has happened. of up to 17 percent depending on location It’s sad.” Berlin calling. 60,000 attended David Bowie’s and standard. Currently, according to the Streletzki is currently building 165 family concert in front of the Reichstag (below) real estate platform immowelt.de, the city’s “Public-private partnerships are apartments in Karlshorst, about 40 minutes in June 1987. average price per sqm has reached €3,778. by public transport from Friedrichstraße These days, by international standards generally more agreeable for all in the city center. “It’s maybe a bit off the a 90-sqm two bedroom apartment for beaten track, but it’s a good neighborhood t is a perfectly normal apartment build- of music as the Berlin Trilogy. His song €340,000 in the heart of the German capi- stakeholders involved.” with healthy infrastructure that will become ing at Hauptstraße 155 in the Berlin “Heroes,” with its serene, melancholic tal may not sound like a lot, but for most more attractive as the cities continues to district of Schöneberg. At the end of sound, has become the unofficial anthem Berliners, who have an average disposable streets, which became the framework for the 40 percent of the apartments as condo- grow,” he explains. He expects the develop- August it was given a simple, white of the city. After Bowie’s death on Jan. 10 income of roughly 17,600 per year, it’s city as we know it today, along with its typi- miniums. ment of many outer districts to follow on Imemorial plaque. of this year, thou- € hard to finance, even with the current low cal multi-courtyard tenements, many parks But after three round tables with political the heels of the more sought-after central And sure enough, sands of people interest rates. and public spaces. decision-makers and local action groups, the districts like , Prenzlauer Berg and it is now the hip- gathered outside Also, Berlin has traditionally been a rental Thus, Hobrecht aimed to ensure Berlin’s plans were modified. Now only 90 of the 650 Kreuzberg. “Berlin is polycentric. That’s our pest selfie loca- Bowie’s apartment

city. Only 15 percent of the population social balance. The rich should not be apartments currently under construction on great advantage. And many of these small tion in the city, PICTURE-ALLIANCE/DPA building, trans- owns the house or apartment they live in, separated from the poor. “In tenements, the 26,000-sqm property will be condos. centers are growing both economically as a pilgrimage site forming the side- compared to 43 percent nationally. And the children from the basement dwellings A large property management company well as in terms of population.” Maintaining for those seeking walk into a sea of then there is the fact that the city is Europe’s attending charity school will pass through has acquired over 10,000 sqm of retail and social balance while increasing the number traces of Berlin’s candles and flow- freelancer capital. In other words, lots and the same entrance hall as the children of office space on the premises, along with 226 of homeowners is a challenge facing today’s recent and not- ers. Thousands A CLASS OF THEIR OWN. lots of singles and families have an irregular academics and merchants on their way apartments expected to rent for about €13 Berlin. so-recent past. 40 of fans showed “No other ships today can match the high standards set by medium-to-low income earned in a tech to secondary school,” Hobrecht said in per sqm. “We need new construction to meet the years ago, in 1976, up again for the MS EUROPA and MS EUROPA 2 and their crews.” startup, ad agency or one of the many defense of his mixed quarters. Although One hundred and twenty-two units have demand for new and affordable homes. To pop star David unveiling of the companies in Berlin’s creative industries. his grand plan could prevent neither real been sold to the public housing association achieve that, we have to increase the number Bowie moved plaque, includ- Douglas Ward, Berlitz Cruise Guide This creates the looming threat of a housing estate and property speculation nor the Howoge, which will be charging a subsi- of developable plots and ensure that prop- into the building ing Berlin Mayor problem, with the elderly facing povertyonce emergence of low-income neighborhoods, dized rent of €6.50 per sqm. Howoge also erty speculation is curtailed,” says Andreas where he would Michael Müller. all these freelancers hit retirement age. Hobrecht’s idea of mixed social milieus acquired an additional building that will Geisel. “One of the steps we have taken is to then spend two What David EUROPA and EUROPA 2, as the world’s best cruise ships, were once again awarded the highest “Regarding our current demographic remains a guiding principle in Berlin’s house a kindergarten for 90 to 100 children. map out 12 new neighborhoods with poten- years, formative Bowie found here, distinction: 5-stars-plus*. Experience the elegant luxury and the freedom that takes you places development, we estimate the need for urban planning of today. Due to the lack of green areas in the neigh- tial for 50,000 new apartments.” These are ones both musi- Müller said, was a in the highest award category. *According to Berlitz Cruise Guide 2016 15,000 to 20,000 new homes every year,” It is perhaps best embodied in a scheme borhood, the project encompasses a public ambitious plans that will need many partners cally and person- city that inspired Find out more from your travel agent or at www.hl-cruises.com says Andreas Geisel (SPD), Berlin’s senator initiated by the city’s current mayor, Michael park and gardens for its residents and their and diverse concepts if Berlin is to interna- ally. The artist overcame his drug addiction, his creativity, “and that is still why creative for urban development and the environment. Müller (SPD) during his term as Berlin’s neighbors. Once completed in 2018, it is tionalize and expand while maintaining its visited the city’s museums and did some and extraordinary people from all over the The city has thus set aside a budget to sup- senator for urban development under Mayor hoped that it will become a model for other unique social and cultural balance. painting himself. world come to Berlin.” port construction of new, affordable rental Klaus Wowereit (SPD). Known as the Berlin such developments. Above all, however, his time in Berlin units, with numbers increasing from 197 Model for Cooperative Property Develop- “As planners, architects and developers, inspired three albums, Low, Heroes and subsidized units in 2014 to currently 2,500 ment, it requires all developers, whether we have to get involved with the people in Lodger, which are hailed in the annals

121,9x180,0_EUR_EUX_5Sterne_The_Berlin_Times_en.indd 1 16.09.16 08:43 Cölln (1237) Tempelhof Airport (1948/49) Despite what most think, the is not the oldest Beginning on June 28, 1948, two million West Berliners had part of Berlin. Across the Spree from where a village called to be supplied by aircraft, as the Soviets had severed all land Berlin would later arise, Cölln was founded in 1237. In 1280 connections between the Western occupation zones and the two villages united to form a city. What does that have to Berlin. The Western Powers – the US and the UK – organized do with world history? Without the founding of Berlin, history a Luftbrücke, or air bridge. By May 12, 1949, 1.6 million tons would look very different today. of coal and 540,000 tons of food had been delivered.

Brandenburg Gate (1806/1814) Karl-Marx-Allee (1953) Atop the gate stood the Quadriga, a winged goddess of East Germany’s People’s Uprising of June 17, 1953, actually peace molded by sculptor Johann G. Schadow, until Napo- began in Berlin on June 16. At a huge construction site on leon lugged it back to Paris after his victory at Jena and his what was then Stalinallee, the first workers lay down their march through the Brandenburg Gate on Oct. 27, 1806. Eight tools to form a protest march against increased work norms. years later, after the Allies took Paris, Prussian troops re- The rest of the story is better known: large demonstrations turned the Quadriga to its original resting place, and Schad- on June 17; the East German army opens fires on East Ger- ow proceeded to transform the figure on the chariot into a man citizens; martial law. goddess of victory.

Breite Straße (1848) The French Revolution reached as far as Berlin. After more than 200 insurgents and dozens of soldiers had died on Mar. 18, 1848, the King of Friedrich Wilhelm IV promised: “Prussia will henceforth be merged into Germany.” The peo- ple lay down their arms, but German unification and a liberal Mut constitution would have to wait. The restoration struck back. [muːt] Courage Reichstag (1918) LIGHT AND DARK Crossing the street on a red light On Nov. 9, 1918, after the lost war and the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the Social Democrat Philipp Scheide- Berlin became whole again on Oct. 3, 1990, a rare joyful when there’s no traffic to be seen mann proclaimed the republic from the west balcony of the Reichstag dining hall. He wanted to beat the marxist Karl moment in the city’s checkered past. A walk through its Liebknecht to the punch, who would declare a “free social- center reveals a testimony to world history at every turn ist republic” a few hours later. Scheidemann proclaimed: “The old and the brittle, the monarchy has collapsed! Long live the new! Long live the German Republic.”

Humboldthafen (1961) Lichtenstein Bridge (1919) After the Socialist Spartacus uprising, Rosa Luxemburg and The first casualty of the Wall. On Aug. 24, 1961, a tailor Karl Liebknecht were murdered by members of the Rifle Di- named Günter Litfin tried to escape to the West over a train vision of the Cavalry Guards. On Jan. 15, 1919, her corpse track. After a policeman fired warning shots, Litfin jumped was thrown into the Landwehr Canal and not found until into the water. As he had almost reached the far bank of the four months later, just next to the Lichtenstein Bridge. Lieb- canal, a bullet struck his head. At least 100 more would-be knecht’s body was found in the . The culprits were escapees met the same fate. 500 meters to the north, at the acquitted and the judgment signed by SPD Reichswehr Min- Spandau Ship Canal, a memorial site was established in a for- ister Gustav Noske, who is alleged to have sanctioned the mer watchtower. killings before the fact. Rathaus Schöneberg (1963) 1 2 3 4 6 Niederkirchner Straße (1933/45) “All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, The Nazi seat of power. The grounds of today’s Topography of and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words ‘Ich Terror, on what was then called Prinz-Albrecht-Straße, were bin ein Berliner!’” – perhaps no other sentence in Berlin or home to the National Socialist headquarters of terror from German history is more recitable than President John F. Ken- 1933 to 1945: the Gestapo, which had its own “house prison,” nedy’s words of solidarity for West Berlin, spoken on June the SS, the SD and, during the World War II, the Reich Main 26, 1963, from the balcony of Rathaus Schöneberg, at that Security Office. In 1985 citizens began to excavate the site’s time the seat of the Berlin parliament. 100,000 people were there to hear the speech live. buried history, which eventually led to today’s museum. 5

Pallasstraße 3 (1943) Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 8 (1964) Here stood the famed Sportpalast, normally a venue for This visit was hardly official. With just a credit card as ID, ice hockey and boxing. But World War II gave occasion for Martin Luther King was allowed to cross through Checkpoint another spectacle on the site: Goebbels’ speech after the Charlie on Sep. 13, 1964. He headed straight to St. Mary’s Wehrmacht’s defeat at Stalingrad on Feb. 18, 1943. “Do you Church to give a sermon before 3,000 people, greeting the 7 8 9 10 16 want total war?” screamed the Reich propaganda minister. crowd as “My dear Christian friends in East Berlin.” The choir The deluded Berliners cheered him on enthusiastically. The then began to sing “Go down, Moses,” with its refrain: “Let Pallasseum, built on the grounds in 1977, is a social housing my people go!” complex.

Krumme Straße (1967) Stauffenbergstraße 18 (1944) On June 2, 1967, student demonstrators gathered in front of “Long live sacred Germany” – the last words of Claus Graf the Deutsche Oper to protest the visit of Mohammad Reza Schenk von Stauffenberg, spoken on the night of July 20, Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran. The police dispersed the students. 1944, just before his summary execution in the inner court- In an inner courtyard on Krumme Straße, a policeman shot yard of the Bendlerblock, headquarters of the Wehrmacht. the 26-year-old Benno Ohnesorg. The deed became a bea- 11 12 13 14 15 Earlier in the day, in the rooms of the General Army Office, con, a turning point of sorts. One portion of the protestors the attempt by Hitler opponents had failed to bring down the became radicalized, culminating in the founding of the Red regime. Ringleader Stauffenberg had carried out a bomb at- Army Faction (RAF), an organization that would later carry tack that Hitler managed to survive. Nevertheless, the colo- out numerous deadly attacks and terrorize Germany for 10 nel had hoped to be able to complete the coup in Berlin. A years. museum in the building commemorates the failed attempt. Platz-des-18.-März (1987/89) Anhalter Bahnhof (1942/45) Where Straße-des-17.-Juni meets the curved Ebertstraße is But the for portico, the train station was completely de- where Ronald Reagan, with his back to the Reichstag, beck- stroyed by bombing raids in February 1945. Between 1942 oned the ruling powers of the East on June 12, 1987: “Mr. and 1945 almost 10,000 Jews were transported from the sta- Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” No one could expect that tion to Theresienstadt concentration camp. The site bears a just over two years later, on Nov. 9, 1989, people would be commemorative plaque in memoriam. dancing on the Wall just in front of Reagan’s podium.

1 PICTURE-ALLIANCE/AKG-IMAGES; 2 PICTURE ALLIANCE/AKG-IMAGES; 3 PICTURE-ALLIANCE/AKG-IMAGES; 4 IMAGO/UNITED ARCHIVES INTERNATIONAL; 5 PICTURE ALLIANCE/CPA MEDIA CO. LTD; 6 PICTURE ALLIANCE/ZB; 7 PICTURE-ALLIANCE/DPA; 8 PICTURE-ALLIANCE/DPA; 9 PICTURE ALLIANCE/ARKIVI; 10 AP2007; 11 PICTURE ALLIANCE/ZB; 12 WIKIPEDIA/RALF ROLETSCHEK; 13 PICTURE-ALLIANCE/DPA; 14 PICTURE ALLIANCE/AP IMAGES; 15 PICTURE-ALLIANCE/AKG-IMAGES/HENSCHEL; 16 PICTURE ALLIANCE/ASSOCIATED PRESS 18 2016 2016 19

Nebenbuhler  [ˈneːbn̩ˌbuːlɐ]  Rival Munich, but it’s not 2014 Concrete Architecture Prize. A second To be sure, the smell of oil exhaust now Ambulatory cure nearly as poor, or sexy office complex has popped up next door; its wafts above Westhafen; at the northern architects call it a “green building.” When end of the district it’s kerosene that pre- finished, the new quarter will encompass vails upon the senses. Where Fontane once Hiking in Berlin? Lace up your boots! Thanks to prescient urban planning the city of stone also offers office space for 10,000 people and housing trod through pine woods, the airport and for 2,000 prosperous individuals. autobahn today impede the way. But from “20 green arteries,” whose 565 kilometers connect parks and waterfronts | By Benjamin Walter They will gaze from windows and balconies Westhafen on, Artery 3 leads almost exclu- across the canal at Invaliden Cemetery, where sively through nature. It proceeds past Lake uthor Theodor Fontane, who lived Berlin’s Ministry for Urban Development kilometers of lakeshore and riverbanks from bahnhof, between the Spandau Ship Canal, half of an air squadron is buried: Manfred Plötzensee, Rehberge Park and an allotment in Berlin most of his life, was as and the Environment, links together the development. North Port, Humboldthain Park and Rosen- von Richthofen, Werner Mölders, Ernst Udet, garden colony. At the edge of Jungfern- famous for his long hikes as for his city’s parks and waterside paths. Berlin’s post-1945 reconstruction kept thaler Platz – Fontane found train stations Wolff von Stutterheim. East German border heide, a pack of wild boars roams and roots dry wit. Even in 1873, before any The foundation for this network of urban to this plan and, inside their walled-in city, and army barracks, cemeteries and iron- guards fatally shot several people here as they through the woodland soil. Finally, along Aautomobiles drove the streets, but countless hiking trails was laid in 1910 in a basic afforded West Berliners the option of works. He watched “funeral processions and tried to escape to the West. A plaque in the the shore of Lake Tegel, we head for the chimneys belched coal smoke, he admitted: plan for construction in Greater stepping “out the front door and battalions pass by with songs and music,” cemetery recalls the former border fortifica- parking lot, the Tegel boat docks or our “Berlin air – could be better.” Yet nothing Berlin (itself incorporated in into nature.” After the fall of the listened to the whistle of locomotives, saw tions; a former guard tower nearby houses a chosen destination, the U-Bahn. could deter his daily walks through the city 1920) by the urban Wall, the 1994 Landscape Program smokestacks and chimneys at work and memorial to Günter Litfin, the first person Fontane would have despised such means and beyond its gates. As bad as it might be, planner Hermann once again incorporated the east marveled at the “fine taste that, in its sense killed trying to flee East Berlin. of transport, and the people who use them Berlin air “is simple, uncomplicated, straight Jansen. He envis- of Berlin. Between 2004 and for the beautiful, has not neglected to serve The district of Wedding, which we reach as well. In his day, the Omnibus from the source, one might say.” aged a system of 2010, the details of “20 a practical purpose.” at the Nordhafen river port, was not to to Buch, northeast of Berlin, carted pas- However, witticisms like these no longer connected parks green arteries” were The stations and barracks are long gone, Fontane’s liking: “An alarming lack of the sengers from Pankow and Schönhausen carry much weight. The city is packed and it with a smaller elaborated. Today, vol- along with the ironworks. Nature now picturesque pervades.” Everywhere he saw to the edge of Französisch-Buchholz, that stinks; why would anyone in their right mind inner ring and a unteers from the Berlin unfurls itself in the inner city. Right at the “a spirit of mediocre order, mediocre clean- is, over half the distance. He never took cross it on foot? Because there’s so much larger external Hiking Associa- tour’s outset, at Invalidenstraße along the liness, everywhere the striving to reach for it. “But we, with that proud feeling of the to explore in so few kilometers. Anyone belt of woods, tion tend the Spandau Ship Canal, swallows tend to their the ceiling and get along through hard work itinerant, longing for exertion, ever scorned for whom the beaten path has become a parks and 565-kilometer young in the springtime under the roof of the and thriftiness, but nowhere the need to see the omnibus.” bore – the Brandenburg Gate, , gardens, con- network of path- Charité hospital’s medical history museum. beauty – that which uplifts and delights – , , the nected by radial MAP: © CPAUSCHERT / FOTOLIA ways. A few hundred meters farther, at the Nor- other than in a fresh paint job or the straight- TV Tower and Friedrichstraße – and who is green “spokes” that would reach all Come along! Let’s dufer embankment, an egret stands perched ness of a fence.” ready for destinations farther afield will find the way to the city center. The city then take Artery Number 3 to in the water. Obrigkeit an immense infrastructure waiting to wel- purchased – and allegedly even seized – the Tegel! “Anyone who can trust his feet,” On the opposite bank, pedestrians in the [ˈoːbʀɪçkaɪ̯t] come them. Between Berlin’s urban canyons required territory. In 1915 Berlin took con- recommended Fontane, who often walked coming years will be able to gawk at how lurks a network of walking paths unique for trol of 10,200 hectares of state forest along to Tegel, “does well to do the whole tour the metropolis devours undeveloped land. Authority a city its size. “20 Green Arteries” (20 grüne the city outskirts (Tegel, Lake Müggelssee on foot, using Berlin as the starting point.” That’s where so-called Europacity will soon Hauptwege; see illustration), the name of a and Grunewald forests) where construction In what was then the Oranienburg Vorstadt emerge. Its first building, the Tour Total, What’s that? Being an author? public program and term trademarked by was banned. In 1922 a new law secured 119 – a suburb north and east of today’s Haupt- built by an Austrian developer, received the PICTURE ALLIANCE/DPA

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olf Biermann was an unrivaled the persecution of the Jews, nighttime Allied  Biermann carried the tragedies of the cen- sorrow remained alive: “My grief made me Her whole life long, Biermann’s mother In the spring of 1953 he set off for East Ger- to jail or a concentration camp for their com- pain in the neck for the GDR bombings, the end of World War II, post-war tury within himself and translated them into a cheeky doubter, then a pious heretic and a Emma asked herself how her life might have many: “I wanted to live in the GDR and learn munist convictions, and most of the time paid and contributed happily to that division, reunification and coming to terms great works of literature in the form of small brave renegade of communism; an extremely been “if he hadn’t said those words.” His father the right stuff from the right people.” Only for it with their lives, made religion untouch- Pissoir country’s demise. He was a with the GDR dictatorship. verses. Between Bertolt Brecht and Heinrich sad child of good fortune in Germany, a time- was his soul, his mother Emma was his back- one week after arriving, he experienced what able for me. What person can beat to death a [pɪˈso̯aːɐ̯] communist,W which is precisely what made Biermann is about to turn 80 and has written Heine, he toiled away on Germany’s dark worn child of the world.” bone, in turn inherited from his Oma Meume. that meant in terms of tangible social reality: father who has already been murdered! Our him so threatening to the East German estab- his memoirs. He has reconstructed his life out fairytales in a manner that was filled with Biermann did not fit into any specific ideol- They outlived Hitler and the bombings that set in a makeshift school auditorium housed in a martyrs held me firmly in check.” Public urinal lishment. In that socialist state of workers of countless verses and memories, with addi- bitter irony and even occasional diversions ogy, and it took him decades to notice this a firestorm upon Hamburg; and they clung restaurant called “Fortschritt” (“Progress”), This deep-rooted conviction also gave him A burger joint in Kreuzberg. and peasants east of the River Elbe, he was tional help from two suitcases full of diaries into kitsch; it was an approach that was wise and free himself from his father’s legacy, firmly to communism, which quickly mutated the pupils were invited by the FdJ youth the strength to do battle with those who It’s true, look it up: a newcomer from the West. He came on his he once passed on to a friend for safe keep- and soft, yet loud and clear. which he still carried with him. into the real existing socialism of the GDR. organization to ceremoniously renounce the would turn a humanitarian idea into an own accord, only to be forcibly expatriated in ing while the Berlin Wall was still standing. He was brave to the point of audacity, He was born at five minutes past midnight The young Wolf failed out of Heinrich protestant church. When a small, pale girl said inhuman practice. Indeed, he never fought www.burger-meister.de the end. While thousands sought to escape the When the GDR collapsed, Biermann found sometimes sentimental and then suddenly dry on Nov. 15, 1936, in Hamburg, after only Hertz School in Hamburg. After receiving a in a soft voice, “I refuse to leave the church,” with comrades in the GDR about the “com- bad grade in math, he was subjected to one the FdJ secretary stood up and “screeched like munist idea itself, but rather only about a machine gun.” its totalitarian implementation in practice.” Biermann found On the second-to-last page of his book, he this “sickeningly acknowledges having had a belated insight. were devastating surprises. Yet still, even amid amusing,” put He truly believed democracy and communism the dirty work of surveillance, he found some up his hand and could work together in harmony. In conclu- true administrative poetry. For example, the PICTURE-ALLIANCE/ ZB stammered, “I sion he admits: “I was wrong.” protocol from a night spent with a female am a commu- On this journey through the chaos of East- guest: PUBLIC ENEMY #1 nist... I’m against West German history, there is nonetheless the church ... one bitter chapter of real-life satire in which “Biermann has sexual intercourse with a lady. Religion is opium Wolf Biermann played the undisputed leading It is Eva-Maria Hagen. for the masses ... role: the communist composer of texts and Afterwards, he asks her if she would like Communist poet Wolf Biermann is set to publish his autobiography in October, one month before But what’s going melodies that regularly wiped the smiles off something to drink. on here is not the faces of the GDR power elite. His songs But the lady is hungry. his 80th birthday. He once believed that democracy and communism could work together in harmony. communism ... made him public enemy number one. And yet, Afterwards, all is quiet.” Now he knows he was wrong | By Stefan Aust My father did the helpless rage of those in power ran like not die so that water off a duck’s back and left the intrepid Today, Biermann – that poetic and divided country closed in by the Wall, he stayed. That out that this “friend” had been an “unofficial as a bone. What did he have to lose, other eight months in the womb. His parents were this girl could be artist unfazed, never allowing himself to be bon vivant – lives in Hamburg, the hometown is, until they tossed him out. His poems and employee” (IM) of the Stasi, the East German than his life? As his memoir makes clear, his staunch communists and resistance fight- oppressed.” stigmatized as an enemy of the people. of his father and mother. At 80 years old, he Sprechgesang – a guitar-based form of musi- Ministry for State Security (MfS). The man courage was the smokestack of Auschwitz. ers. When his father, Dagobert Biermann, In other words, Biermann was under surveillance all day, is a sprightly legend. A man who loved life, Wolf Biermann, 1989 cal expression halfway between speech and had nevertheless kept safe the written treasures “My father was ripped away from me when stood before the court, having been charged as he says him- every day. When the Wall fell and the GDR and women – as evidenced by his ten children. song – leapfrogged over the Wall. His work entrusted to him. While reading through his I was four months old,” is the first line of his with “conspiracy to commit high treason,” self in his book, came to an end, he visited the former Stasi A chronicler of love, hate and the insanity of was banned in East Germany and venerated in Stasi file, Biermann found one line about the book. “This terrible wound stayed open all the judge rattled off the personal details of particular accusation from his mother: “Your he picked up and swung “Emma’s Auschwitz headquarters to read the files they had com- the past century. A poet, a thinker, a master the West. Biermann was the poet of a divided IM he thought had been his friend: “Under my life, as I can never escape this early death. the accused, including a firm “none” with father didn’t die in Auschwitz so you could get cudgel.” He expressed a sentiment that piled on him; there were 50 binders contain- of mockery. Germany. His oeuvre reflects a relentless criti- Biermann’s corrosive influence, the IM has The sorrow about my father – the communist, regard to any religious affiliation, at which a bad grade in math!” He hated himself, and would reappear like a refrain throughout ing roughly 20,000 pages. He read the names cal assessment of real existing communism begun behaving untruthfully to the MfS and the worker, the Jew – is my fateful influence, point the father interrupted him, yelling: “I. just to make sure it didn’t hurt so much, he his poetic, political work: “The fact that my of the informants sent to spy on him; some of and German history, including class struggle, is no longer of any use to our further work.” my good spirit, my bad spirit.” And this Am. A. Jew!” hated her, too. father and so many of his comrades were sent them he had long since suspected, while others

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  Röntgen [ˈʀœntɡn̩] X-ray Passing the baton Bouncer at a club; can tell when there’s not one The Berlin Philharmonic ushers out Sir Simon Rattle and greets Kirill Petrenko, cool bone with hopes for a return to what matters most: interpretation in your body By Peter Uehling

n June 2015 the musicians of the Berlin lin’s cultural institutions. Simon Rattle was ductor and the most authoritarian of them fly when passing the baton to guest- con big debate about integration Philharmonic gathered in Dahlem, not meant to give the Berlin Philharmonic a forti- all. Not until the final years of von Karajan ductors such Abbado, Herbert Blomstedt, is playing out in Germany’s far from Jesus Christ Church, their fied foundation in society, with measures such were there frequent enough clashes with the Nikolaus Harnoncourt – or Kirill Petrenko, theaters. But Berlin’s Maxim longstanding venue, to choose a new as the Education Program for children and musicians’ aplomb; indeed, Abbado’s defen- Rattle’s designated successor. That the Berlin Gorki Theater has taken it one Iconductor. At stake at this fateful meeting teenagers from disadvantaged backgrounds. sive style was one reason he succeeded von Philharmonic is switching from an adeptly Astep further; the troupe is the very embodi- was perhaps the future of classical music, for Complementing this, the Digital Concert Hall Karajan as principal. diplomatic, charismatic Briton to a brooding, ment of integration. The ensemble and not only is the Berlin Philharmonic – along was created as a platform for promoting the How the musicians assert power over their withdrawn, workaholic Siberian shows that most of the artistic staff are “people with a with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Royal orchestra’s work online as compensation for alleged superiors is exemplified by their han- after such an extended period of reorganiza- migrant background,” although many of the WORLD STAGE Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam – decreasing CD sales. dling of orchestra managers. When Franz tion, the orchestra now wants to return its family stories are so complex that there is no one of the best orchestras in the world, it With every change of conductor came a Xaver Ohnesorg tried to implement some focus to its core business – interpretation. simple answer to the typical “background” also sets new directions in terms of art, music change of direction. And, while other orches- of his own ideas, he was shown the door; And if the Berlin Philharmonic aims to question. Is Germany, by definition, a land policy and organization for orchestras the tras have a board, organizations and cultural when Pamela Rosenberg tried the same, she remain attractive to top young performers, of immigration? No one at the Gorki asks The Gorki is reaching a young, international audience with world over. that includes appropriate that question any more. The interesting That made the choice a pay for the musicians. The thing now is to examine how migration is its “post-migrant theater” | By Jan Kepp rather tense affair. Plenty members are paid well changing the country and the people who of conductors had thrown but, in an international live here. their hats into the ring comparison, not exceed- One good example is The Situation, a as a recognition of the further develop- as it happens each day in their schools In the 2013/14 season, the team was – Christian Thielemann, ingly so, and certainly sold-out hit of the past season. Israeli direc- ment they will share. They describe their and workplaces, sports clubs and on the invited to give up grubby old Naunynstraße Andris Nelsons, Gus- not in light of their work- tor Yael Ronen used actors of different work as “post-migrant theater,” that is, streets – anywhere that language, cultural and assume the artistic direction of the tavo Dudamel, Riccardo load. They rehearse a new backgrounds to develop a collage of scenes theater in which someone’s origin has no or religious differences clash and must be relatively stylish Maxim Gorki Theater, Chailly, Daniel Baren- program every week and depicting what it would be like if the Arab- significance. Yet the Gorki is nevertheless negotiated. just off . Many feared boim – but none seemed perform it in studio qual- that their switch from the creative chaos predestined to succeed Sir ity for the Digital Con- of the experimental scene to the limelight Simon Rattle. cert Hall. There is hope of a big theater would put an end to their The Berlin Philharmon- that a federal government progressive ideas. It turned out to be just ic’s principle conductor must not only be officials tasked with finding a new conductor, was more or less neutralized. Even Simon takeover of the orchestra will mean better the opposite – by the end of the first season, an outstanding musician and artist, he must at the Berlin Philharmonic it is the musi- Rattle seemed more like an enforcer of major financing. However, even though Minister also have a vision of the greater meaning of cians themselves who make the choice. This organizational changes begun in 2002, the of Culture Monika Grütters supported such music in today’s world. In the 1920s and democratic constitution was born early on in transformation of the Berlin Philharmonic a move before she took office, she now calls PICTURE ALLIANCE/DPA-ZENTRALBILD 1930s, Wilhelm Furtwängler continued the the orchestra’s history. In 1882 members of Orchestra from a subordinate department it wishful thinking. It may well be that the 19th-century modus of conceiving music as a the Bilseschen Kapelle rejected the poor pay in the city’s administration of culture to the new capital agreement between Berlin and the “Life stories metaphysical art. His successor Herbert von and conditions dealt out by the orchestra’s Berlin Philharmonic Foundation, or the essen- federal government – which includes a federal Karajan saw music as a product to be distrib- founder and conductor, Benjamin Bilse, and tial co-financing of the orchestra by sponsors. provision for Berlin’s cultural institutions as collide in the uted around the world via new technologies formed their own group. Even then there Only seldom did Rattle make a strong artis- of 2018 – will benefit the Philharmonic, even big city, where – from stereo recording, to video, to digital could not have been outright rebellion against tic impression; his hewing to the orchestra’s if in the official takeover falls through. recordings – in ever-better quality. However, autocratic orchestral directors, and certainly basic German-Austrian repertoire produced it’s impossible to Claudio Abbado considered music the art of not against Hans von Bülow, the Berlin only a scant few groundbreaking interpreta- arts and sought productive ties between Ber- Philharmonic’s first significant principal con- tions. Sparks of genius were more likely to keep the others out behind walls Quasselstrippe and fences.” [ˈkvasəlˌʃtʀɪpə] Blabbermouth

That schmuck walking down the Gorki was named theater of the year by the street on his cell with the renowned arts journal Theater heute. an earpiece They repeated their success at the end of What would it be like if the Arab-Israeli conflict came to play out in Berlin? Orit Nahmias (left) and Karim Daoud (right) get into it in the 2015/16 season – and The Situation was Yael Ronen’s award-winning The Situation on the Gorki stage. chosen as play of the year. Cynics were quick to say that the awards GARBAGEMEN Israeli conflict came from a continent away a place where experience, perception and But the audiences streaming into the reflected little more than a compulsion to be to play out in Berlin. The protagonists come discourse – products of the complex bundle Gorki are not just young, they’re interna- politically correct, when in fact the Gorki No, it wasn’t the Chinese Terracotta War- riors. It was the Trash People (right) built from Israel, Palestine, Syria – and Berlin- of issues surrounding migration – may be tional. Sure, the plays have English sub- had created a theater experience that was by Cologne artist HA Schult. There they Neukölln. Their life stories, the worlds they discussed and reflected upon. This manifests titles, but the performances are so fasci- not intellectually far removed from social stood at the beginning of August in the inhabit, their opinions and their hopes, as itself not as stories about “the others,” but nating to people from London, Paris and realities. Laughter and tears, joy and anger sand of a constuction pit at Schinkelplatz, well as their prejudices and wounds, collide as something that emerges from the heart Rome because they are not about exclu- – the audience reactions provoked there can where a luxury apartment building is set in the big city, where it is impossible to keep of society, from within ourselves. What sively German issues, but rather world- only rarely be achieved with Schiller, Goethe to be built. HA Schult’s figures, transport- the others out behind walls and fences. This audiences witness on the Gorki stage is encompassing subjects almost anyone can and Lessing, no matter how many relavent ed around the world in 20 shipping con- is where they meet, and this is where they what people are experiencing every day in relate to. truths their work may offer. tainers, have already stood on Moscow’s Red Square, before the Pyramids of Giza must face one another, no matter how hard Germany’s cities and towns – and increas- Berlin’s regular theatergoers – and theater It could be said that today’s Gorki has and on the Great Wall of China. The Trash it is. On stage it is riotously funny, then ingly its countryside. critics – know the Gorki well, of course. achieved what the great playwright and People didn’t last long in the Arctic. The terribly sad. And sometimes, it is simply This is probably why, compared to other When in 2008 the Langhoff-Hillje col- director, Bertolt Brecht, attempted with his wind blew them over. sobering. Berlin playhouses, so many young people laboration, in a small, “off-off-Broadway” epic theater – to greet the spectators in their Who said integration was easy? Or a pro- choose to visit this theater, which sits just theater in Kreuzberg, began examining comfort zone and bombard them with their The artist is using his figures – made of cess that ever comes to an end? The Gorki behind architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s and staging migrant themes, the projects own questions, and ultimately seek answers discarded packaging, soda cans and plas- tic – to increase awareness of environmen- management team, including co-directors Neue Wache. The Gorki is reaching large and performances were soon recommended to these questions. But that’s something tal pollution. “My generation has made our Shermin Langhoff and Jens Hillje, know numbers of teenagers and young adults by insiders, at a time when contemporary every person must do for themselves. world into a garbage planet,” says Schult. from their own experiences that integration who would otherwise only seldom see German drama had otherwise seemed to requires openness on both sides, as well theater, if at all. Here they find reality have lost its imagination. PA/OBS/HA SCHULT-MUSEUM/MAJA HITIJ SCHULT-MUSEUM/MAJA PA/OBS/HA “Garbage lives longer than we do.” 24 2016 2016 25

 Sankt-Nimmerleins-Tag  Tourismus [zaŋktˈnɪmɐlaɪ̯nsˌtaːk] [tuˈʀɪsmʊs] A day that never comes Bright lights, big city Tourism The grand opening of When people Berlin’s new airport A city reads: Two Berlin novels from the early 1930s are German bestsellers once more. from Kreuzberg eat out in Mitte The stories they tell could hardly be more relevant today | By Lutz Lichtenberger INFINITY POOL

hen Hans Fallada’s novel For the first time today we can read scenes wanted,” while the contented flash “Do not Tergit’s Berlin, as opposed to Fallada’s, is Little Man, What Now? was from the stimulating nightlife of Berlin. The disturb.” And there are telephones allowing a city of stars and starlets, of high society Berliners could soon be swimming in the center of the city. © BROCREATIVE / SHUTTERSTOCK published in 1932, the book Roaring Twenties are in their twilight, yet patrons to call any other table in the hall: and their expensive clubs, yet it tells no less Who could say ‘no’? | By Jonathan Lutes soon became a bestseller. It there are still all sorts of parties, opportuni- “And if talking was not their thing, they can about a city and its society in which the tellsW the story of Johannes Pinneberg and his ties for sexual debauchery and degeneration, write a letter and send it on by pneumatic reader can recognize the German capital wife Lämmchen. Pinneberg, a salesman in a esoterically infused nudism and, of course, post.” Mobile phones, texting, Tinder – it’s of 2016 on every page. Even Tergit shows t would be a win-win-win for Berlin. If the Spree; pedestrians visiting some of the world’s Parzinger’s concerns: there center of Berlin, it would be hard to point to clothing shop, loses his job amid a spiraling prostitution. hard to really call them new. people constantly on the phone and, when initiative called Flussbad – which trans- premier museums would have direct access to is “no causal relationship any greater example of it than the Prussian financial crisis and proceeds to navigate his While in retrospect this sort of selectiveness There were already quite a few modern they do meet up, asserting that they had actu- lates to “river bath” in English – clears its the water along two broad stretches of stone between swimming Cultural Heritage Foundation’s new Hum- social decline with all its attendant fears, can be understood, even allegedly harmless management techniques back in the early ally wanted to call for quite some time. Art remaining bureaucratic hurdles, it would stairs; and the city would be set a fine example and partying.” When boldt Forum and its reconstruction of the old hopes, humiliations and minor triumphs. The episodes were scratched. Our hero, Herr Pin- 1930s. Workflow in department stores was scene denizens crave attention, businessmen Inot only enhance the city’s already flush tour- of an ecologically minded civic reclamation Jan Edler, who is also Prussian cas- troll for the quick buck and culture in general ism portfolio, it would also send an important of a disused industrial landscape. This is just a founding member and tle’s façade. is marked by the triumph of superficiality environmental message, encourage Berliners to the sort of thing Germany has championed. chairman of the management Edler also over earnestness. Everything must move at indulge in perhaps the healthiest sport there is, Just have a look at the depleted mines of the board of the Flussbad pointed out breakneck speed; no party can be missed. and provide recreation for all ages in literally Ruhr Valley and all of the heralded, smartly Berlin Asso- the irony of Uniting both books is the charm they lend the exact center of Berlin. designed parks and recreational facilities that ciation, the Parzinger’s Berlin, in each case depicted as a true city of Flussbad Berlin is a project aiming to create have replaced them. organiza- complaints © WILLINGER / ©ARCHIV PAYSAN © the world. It is the short, historical moment an 800-meter swimming pool in the left arm But Flussbad has met some resistance, voiced tion tasked with directing about top- of a metropolis that seems to have defied the of the Spree – known as the Spree Canal – as most loudly in a 2015 opinion piece in the the ongoing development less bathers consequences of World War I to become a it flows around . Although on Berlin daily newspaper Der Tagesspiegel by of the project as well when it is so city that has finally arrived, just before the most days the water in the river is plenty clean Hermann Parzinger, president of the Prus- as generating politi- Nazis destroy the German capital and the enough for healthy swimming, the Spree, like sian Cultural Heritage Foundation. Parzing- cal consensus, was common that works Cold War divides it for 40 years. Does the most of Germany’s waterways, is the recep- er’s organization oversees most of Museum later asked of antiquity housed reading public’s renewed enthusiasm for tacle for sewage system overflow after the sort Island’s renowned cultural institutions directly in an inter- view if in the island’s muse- books from 1930s Berlin betray a city on of heavy rain that happens 20 or 30 times a adjacent to the proposed pool, which he he could enumer- ums show more than just naked tops. the verge of once again becoming a pulsat- year. To ensure that the pool would be open believes will be a magnet for loud, immodest ate the arguments Of greatest concern to Edler, however, is ing cosmopolis? regardless of wastewater flooding, around 300 revelers who will besmirch the august image posed against his group’s what he considers to be argument number meters of the canal upriver of the swimming of his foundation’s sphere of influence. project, he reckoned there are 2.5. 2.5. He deems it not a full-fledged third area would be transformed into a natural Tim Edler, who along with his brother The first is the idea that the swimming facil- argument against Flussbad because it is an filtration system using reeds and gravel. Jan is co-CEO of realities:united, the group ity could endanger Museum Island’s 17-year- unspoken grievance: the “wrong” sort of The arguments in favor of Flussbad abound: of architects and artists behind the concep- old status as a Unesco Heritage Site. Parzinger people will frequent the bath. He detects the venture would renaturate and purify the tion of Flussbad, had a succinct response to considers the integrity of the river’s current unpronounced, perhaps subconscious elitism Mobile phones, texting, Tinder – it’s hard to really call them new. This photo was first published in Curt Moreck’s Der Führer durch das wall – which would be partially replaced in certain people’s desire to reserve Museum lasterhafte Berlin (The guide to immoral Berlin) from 1931. Taken from the book Berlin 1920 – 1950. Sounds of an Era. by the broad stone stairs allowing bathers Island for money-toting tourists and those access to the swimming area – to be part of Berliners inclined to a very specific sort of reader can already sense the looming disaster. neberg, is a Charlie Chaplin fan and dreams optimized, Pinneberg had sales quotas to Hans Fallada’s Little Man, what now?, the island’s masterplan conceived by Karl culture. City coffers rely heavily on the wal- More than 80 years later, Berlin’s Aufbau of being stranded on an island as in Robinson meet while most all employees were forced translated by Susan Bennett, Friedrich Schinkel, the 19th-century Prussian lets of tourists from all over the world, and

Verlag is combing through the archives and Crusoe. These passages read as something to endure motivational clichés regurgitated is available from Melville House Books. WWW.FLUSSBAD-BERLIN.DE architect and city planner who had a hand in no one is arguing that that should change. once again examining Fallada’s entire oeuvre. ranging from illuminating to simply amus- by company personnel officers. It is the shorter, 1932 version, yet still designing quite a few of the buildings consti- Yet it is hard to imagine how drawing even Even the blustering political climate can highly recommended. tuting the heritage site and who is more or more people to the city center to swim in seem shockingly familiar. Herr Lauterberg, less considered Berlin’s god of architecture for what is currently a disused canal, but would “Uniting these books is the charm Pinneberg’s colleague, is “German, trustwor- his contributions to neoclassicism and gothic become a state-of-the-art nature reclamation thy and an enemy of Jews, taxes, foreigners, revival in the city. According to the Flussbad site, would decrease tourist revenue and not they lend Berlin, in each case reparations, pinkos and commies.” He also Association’s research, however, the existing have the exact opposite effect. has “a horror, a genuine fear of women.” The renowned publishing house wall was built as recently as 1937, and would Despite all the points in favor of Flussbad, depicted as a true city of the world.” The literature critic Ulrich Gutmair endeav- New York Review of Books Classics generally need to be reconstructed every 100 it is possible that its future could ultimately ored to translate this characterization into has secured the rights to Gabriele Tergit’s years. Another of Edler’s rebuttals involves rest on one factor alone: The front door of The original version of Fallada’s 1947 book ing, provoking wonder at why the original today’s terms: “The right-wing populist is Käsebier erobert den Kurfürstendamm. the countless incursions the stone bank has German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s apart- Every Man Dies Alone was discovered just editors thought to remove them. German, trustworthy and an enemy of Mus- The English translation is due to endured over the years to accommodate com- ment building (she chooses not to live in the five years ago. It recounts the story of a Berlin More charged, of course, are the political lims, taxes, the EU, Brussels bureaucrats, appear between 2018 and 2020. mercial boat traffic. The assertion that the housing allotted to the country’s head of couple whose son dies on the front, prompt- redactions. At one point Pinneberg muses to socialists and filthy, lefty 68ers. And of current wall is somehow sacred seems hard government) would lie not 10 meters from ing them to engage in an exceedingly danger- himself: “You must be somewhat daft if you course he’s against all that gender nonsense.” to defend. the west edge of the pool. She has yet to ous act of resistance against Hitler. The book switch to the Nazis and think that anything The second item on Edler’s list harks back weigh in publicly on Flussbad, but her love enjoyed spectacular success in Israel, the at all would change by killing off the Jews.” to Parzinger’s disdain for the feared partying of swimming, or lack thereof, could make US and Europe before being revisited with Pinneberg also refers to his Jewish bosses as by the city’s hoi polloi and a perceived notion all the difference. enthusiasm by readers in Germany. “swell guys,” but without this characteriza- Even Gabriele Tergit’s 1931 novel Käsebier Marko Paysan that the swimming area would contribute to a And this second scouring of the archive is tion readers of the shortened version could erobert den Kurfürstendamm (Käsebier con- Berlin (1920 – 1950) Berlin 2018: One of the largest pools in the world – and one of the prettiest. process of disneyfication on the island. While also bearing fruit. The archivists have found easily think Pinneberg felt quite differently. quers the Kurfürstendamm), released by the Sounds of an Era such a process is indeed underway in the Fallada’s original manuscript of Little Man, His wife Lämmchen, initially docile yet same publisher as was Fallada’s Little Man, What Now?, which has survived all these progressively more purposeful, ultimately tells of a vibrant Berlin in which Käsebier A visual and musical tribute to the years and is not only one-third longer, but becomes a communist in the original manu- is hyped up as a pop singer for a season. tumultuous decades from 1920 to 1950. Photographs, illustrations, the rediscovered portions pack a significant script, yet not in the 1932 version. Journalists, concert managers, real estate playbills, advertisements – over 250 punch. Fallada’s Little Man was (and still is) well speculators – everyone is orchestrating their images of never-before published German literature professor Carsten worth reading in the 1932 version, which grand or small-time schemes to join the gold material from private archives Gansel, who took part in the reexamination provided the source for the, thus far, only rush flooding the entertainment industry. capture the atmosphere of the time. of the archive, acted as editor for the new English translation. Fallada, a thrilling story- And there are already tangible signs that it version. In his attempts to surmise why the teller, was highly adept at capturing in print cannot last much longer. publisher, one with indubitable anti-Nazi the fullness of life, often creating a feeling of Tergit was Jewish and as a court reporter in leanings, would choose to publish the book striking currency for today’s readers. the 1920s covered the often arraigned Joseph That may also be one of the reasons why Restaurant Bar only in abbreviated form, Gansel ultimately Goebbels and his fellow Berlin Nazis. Her Restaurant Bar credits the tense political climate of 1932. the book is selling so well again in 2016. At Käsebier was a big hit; not two years later,

With this is mind, both the literary and one point the author describes a visit to the however, she was forced to flee Germany as German and English 348 pages political history of the book holds even more dance hall where each table has a different Hitler took power. As is the case with Falla- including 3 CDs earbooks, 2016 interest. It begs the question: What back then illuminated sign that pops up when pressing da’s novels, the current republication of this Schlüterstraße 33 / Ecke Mommsenstraße • 10629 Berlin • Tel. +49 (0)30 / 54 71 05 90 was considered unfit to print? a button. The lonely souls signal “Dancer book could not have come at a better time.

Schlüterstraße 33 / Ecke Mommsenstraße ⋅ 10629 Berlin ⋅ Tel. +49 (0)30 / 54 71 05 90 ⋅ www.adnan-berlin.de Schlüterstraße 33 / Ecke Mommsenstraße ⋅ 10629 Berlin ⋅ Tel. +49 (0)30 / 54 71 05 90 ⋅ www.adnan-berlin.de 26 2016 2016 27

  Unsinn [ˈʊnzɪn] Is Berlin burning? Nonsense Licensed to grill The Reichstag went up in flames in 1933. The Nazis portrayed the crime as the work of a Paying more than Can a barbeque course help outsiders warm to every Berliner’s favorite rite of summer? 500 euros rent single perpetrator. A new book reexamines the enduring controversy | By Robert Normen The Berlin Times correspondent Klaus Grimberg found out

t was the day that changed everything. On captivates to this day. Wolfram Pyta, the author 2016), which is actually more expansive than motive: The SA felt that the National-Socialist Feb. 28, 1933, the Reichstag burst into of a 1000-page biography of Hitler published in the English original. revolution did not go far enough and its lead- flames, rendering the building unusable. 2015, calls it history’s million-dollar question. The book’s 600-plus pages go into extensive ers surrounding Ernst Röhm did not want to Vorfreude Later the same night Hitler, Göring and Van der Lubbe as the lone culprit? It couldn’t historical detail on all traces and clues, ulti- work together with the Reich’s President Paul [ˈfoːɐ̯ˌfʀɔɪ̯də] IGoebbels all appeared at the scene of the crime, be true and most did not want it to be true. mately presenting two different verdicts, each von Hindenburg and the remaining bourgeois Anticipation where the Communists were quickly deter- There have been countless efforts to confirm supported by ample evidence. member of the government. They exhibited mined to be the culprits. The next morning the that the National Socialists were indeed the Hett’s pyrotechnical analyses lead him to the no self-restraint, with hopes that Hitler would “Welcome to Berlin. The local same conclusion was reached by the Völkische true arsonists, yet in the first few decades after conclusion that, although it is undeniable that make their troops into the new – official – army. temperature is…” Beobachter, a Nazi-party propaganda newspa- per: “Communists Set Fire to Reichstag”. The perpetrator was quickly apprehended. Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutch anarchist, was arrested at the scene and accused of the setting the blaze. PICTURE ALLIANCE/AP IMAGES The consequences were devastating. The PICTURE-ALLIANCE/AKG-IMAGES © -MISHA / FOTOLIA Nazi propaganda machine cleverly exploited the arson, inflating the act into an attempted ’m not a big fan of barbeques. All that who refuse to use gas or electricity can have ent types of barbeque were gathered under masters imparted one last – perhaps most Communist coup. hot, sweaty work to get the charcoal perfect, glowing coals within 20 minutes, a gigantic exhaust hood. It soon became important – lesson. If you do it wrong, you Hitler had only been in office for four weeks. glowing, just to nibble a few wrinkled thanks to a chimney-like funnel over the clear that you can get a lot of things right can ruin well-barbequed meat just when it’s His power had not yet bloated into the totali- sausages an hour later. I’d never seen the barbeque. No blow- with these modern- ready to serve. Something like an Argentine tarianism it would soon become. The arson Ipoint of dragging myself over the coals like ing or fanning, no barbeque-age appli- rump steak needs to rest to be cut properly; could not have played into his hands any better that. I tried to take it with a grain of salt, but methylated spirits! ances. But you can otherwise, all your effort will be for naught. than it did. For all intents and purposes, it was my doubts were eating me up inside. Was I Use the time to pre- also get a lot wrong. Even the chicken can either be mauled with the true beginning of the Third Reich. just a wet blanket? A barbeque course would pare the ingredients! WWW.SCHOELZEL.NET Too much or too poultry scissors, or carved with a few deft Just a few days later, on March 5, Reichstag be just the trick to see if I could take the heat. We sliced, chopped little heat, browning strokes so that the meat almost falls from the elections were held – the final time that more Night and day. After the arson the Nazis suspended basic rights and rode the wave of dismay over the attack. The evening began as I had skeptically and ground. We too long or not long bone – little tricks for a great result. than one party would appear on the ballot. imagined. There were 25 participants but even talked a enough, taking the The feast that appeared on the buffet was Hitler’s NSDAP increased its vote total by more war, the thesis that van der Lubbe acted alone van der Lubbe started several small fires in the But a year later in June, 1934, Hitler killed only a handful of them women. Barbeque bit. Grillmasters food off too soon or enough to make anyone forget the charred than 10 percentage points over the previous became widely accepted among historians dis- Reichstag, these could not have been adequate off the SA leadership in the brutal “Night of is a man’s world. But within ten minutes, Marcus and Mano too late – there are a old sausages and shoe-leather steaks of the election, gaining a plurality of 43.9 percent. inclined to publicly entertain bold theories. In to ultimately cause such a powerful blaze. The the Long Knives,” an event in which the extent my first fear went up in a puff of smoke: we not only know how few basic rules and past. It was delicious. And it was particularly One day after the arson the Reichstag Fire 1964 the left-leaning news magazine Der Spie- lone-culprit theory is simply no longer tenable. of the violence shocked even those harboring wouldn’t be talking turkey – or sausages, for to wield the tongs, a whole lot of spe- enjoyable for the two chefs’ love of their craft, Decree had been issued for the “protection of gel declared: “There is nothing left to dispute The second conjecture was that a cadre of sympathy for the National-Socialist movement. that matter. The menu included sandwiches they’re good with cial tips. It’s impos- and their subtlety – they didn’t once mention the people and the state.” Basic rights were about the Reichstag fire.” men from the SA, the paramilitary wing of the This more or less marked the end of any further with camembert and smoked salmon, pasta knives, too. In a sible to remember the brand of equipment they use, although suspended; dissidents and the left were seized by But now a book has been published that reex- Nazi party, committed the arson in consulta- semblance of domestic opposition to the Nazis. and vegetables cooked in a wok, salt-crusted few seconds they it all in one go, but the barbeque academy just happens to be Hitler’s henchmen with no fear of interference amines all aspects of the case, and puts forward tion with Goebbels, yet without the knowledge Would the course of the history of the Third potatoes and apricot pudding with almonds. can dismember a everyone can take a located in the Weber flagship store. To me, from the police. some ideas highly worthy of consideration. or approval of Hitler. Hett presents not only Reich have been any different had the Reichstag All cooked on the barbeque. Somewhere in bell pepper without recipe booklet home. that’s one more reason to award the full five Not three weeks later, and still riding the With Burning the Reichstag. An Investigation pyrotechnical arguments to support this theory, not gone up in smoke? In any event, Carter between, there was meat – a pork roast in scattering a single The important thing stars. Will I now become a grandmaster of wave of dismay over the attack, the Reichstag into the Third Reich’s Mystery (Oxford Uni- but an historically plausible derivation as well. Hett’s considerable dismantling of the theory an herb marinade and beer-can chicken. It seed. I was amazed. now was to watch, the grill? Maybe not. I realized in those four approved the notorious Enabling Act, officially versity Press, 2014), Benjamin Carter Hett, a He is able to distinguish patterns of violent of van der Lubbe as the lone culprit goes a long all sounded good enough to eat. Then it was and enjoy ourselves hours that good barbeque is a culinary art, giving Hitler nearly unlimited power. Canadian historian with German roots, has provocations in a series of SA actions from way towards dismissing the theory that Hitler’s Fast forward another ten minutes and I time to start cook- along the way. not just a summer hobby. In the decades following the war the heated embarked on a “reopening of the proceedings,” the time before the seizure of power: beatings reign could have been founded on a fluke. The was in a state of amazement at the bless- ing. Gas, electric, Awarding five stars: Klaus Grimberg Before eating, debate over the Reichstag fire was waged not a phrase that serves as the subtitle for the book’s on Kurfürstendamm at the 1931 Jewish New case has been reopened. ings of modern barbeque technology. Those charcoal – differ- though, the grill- only among historians, but by the public at German translation (Der Reichstagsbrand. Year celebration, acts of arson and attacks large as well. Indeed, the 1933 whodunit still Wiederaufnahme eines Verfahrens, Rowohlt, by SA troops in Königsberg in 1932. And the IHRE LIEBLINGSPLÄTZE 22 x in Deutschland

www.porta.de • 22 x in Deutschland • Demnächst auch in Berlin www.grothgruppe.de 28 2016 2016 29

 Wohltätigkeit Xenokratie  [voːlˈtɛːtɪçkaɪ̯t] [ksenokʀaˈtiː] Philanthropy Xenocracy, rule by a foreign power Leaving your Multi-culturalism returnables on the street IT TAKES TWO Daydream believers

A language that needs no words, surmounting all barriers. Today’s Berlin is the world tango capital after Buenos Aires | By Ralf Sartori

STUDIOCANAL GMBH n a tight embrace and seemingly lost to the many top-notch tango musicians from the Argentine embassy to support a wealth of to the 19th century. It has the era’s high aik sits lost in thought in a National treasure – Wolfgang Herrndorf’s aloud: “The world is bad, and people are world, couples glide over the dance floor Rio de la Plata was Astor Piazzolla, the tango cultural events. ceilings, stucco, patchy old mirrors, chan- classroom in Berlin’s east- bad. Trust nobody, don’t go with strang- in graceful arabesques. All around them tango’s great reviver. There was no danc- If you want to tango in Berlin, you will be deliers and traces of shrapnel damage from ern district of Marzahn. The bestselling novel Tschick debuts on the big screen. ers, and so on, and so on. That’s what my sit elegantly dressed men and women, ing as yet, but with the rediscovery of the spoilt for choice, and the level is outstanding. World War II. shy 14-year-old, who iden- Two boys set out for the journey of a lifetime parents said. That’s what my teachers said. Ilifting their glasses of red wine now and then music, a small but colorful, non-commercial In Kreuzberg’s Max und Moritz the danc- Today’s Berlin tango scene is so big that Mtifies as a boring coward, fails to notice And that’s what the television says, too. to take a tiny sip. They then cast their gaze subculture was born. ers fly over the 60 square meters of finely you can hardly speak of just one tango that the teacher has called on him. He’s By Jonas Jacoby When you watch the news? People are bad. around the room, sometimes catching anoth- After the fall of the Wall, the tango took aged oak parquet, matching the ambience community. Every musical and dance taste daydreaming of Tatjana Cosic, the “most When you watch Spiegel TV? People are er’s eye and nodding almost imperceptibly. all of Berlin by storm. In 1993 Michael of a time-honored back room; this venue is catered to. Compared to other European beautiful girl in the world” who sits two found only in great works of art. No reader, repeat, the horribly kitschy, yet heartbreak- bad. And it seems like they’re not wrong; Such is the assignation for proposing to dance. Rühl, for many years the tango DJ and – which also has a bar – bears witness to cities, Berlin can make justifiable claim to rows behind him but doesn’t even know age 14, 44 or 84, is spared from its charm. ingly beautiful piano piece called “Ballade people are about 99 percent bad. But the he exists. Wolfgang Herrndorf’s book Tschick pour Adeline,” by Richard Clayderman. funny thing is: on our trip Tschick and I He would probably carry on in his own appeared in 2010, found only a few friendly It is a journey through an unknown almost only came across the 1 percent that little world if not for the new student that critics in German newspapers, won not country, the sparsely populated East Ger- weren’t bad.” showed up in his class that day: Andrej a single literary prize, yet gained enough many, famous now as much for its declin- The spirit of tender human kindness that Tschichatschow, a.k.a. Tschick, a “Jewish media attention to become an absolute dar- ing infrastructure as for its “flourishing permeates the book is also conveyed through gypsy” received by the other kids with a ling of the public. The book has since sold landscapes” – a turn of phrase coined just the film, whose depiction of life is bound mixture of suspicion and hostility. When over one million copies and been translated after the fall of the Wall by Helmut Kohl, to provoke both laugher and tears. And asked to introduce himself to his class- into 24 languages. (Tschick was published in a politically charged speech to inspire these feelings become all the more intense, mates, Tschick delivers his speech in a slow in English under the title Why we took the the vote for reunification. and explicable, upon learning Wolfgang and peculiar German, wearing tattered car, while the French and Italian versions The two runaways encounter unusual and Herrndorf’s own story. When Tschick was shoes and carrying a plastic bag in lieu of took the apt title Goodbye Berlin.) lovable characters along the way. They are finally published, Herrndorf had been suffer- a satchel. But Tschick has a way of being At the end of September ing from a malignant brain untouchable, even for the class bullies who the long-awaited film hit tumor for some time. He was “If you want to tango in Berlin try to provoke him. And on his first math German cinemas and went literally writing for his life, you will be spoilt for choice. test he’s the only one to get an A. straight to the top of the which he put an end to in No spoiler alert: The two outsiders, the charts. Director Fatih Akin August 2013 when he was quiet Maik and audacious Tschick, are and his superb cast trans- just 48 years old.

The level is outstanding.” GMBH/R.BAJO STUDIOCANAL fer this story to the silver As a remedy for this grief, screen with indubitable suc- read the book again, and cess. The film is becoming an see the film as well. At a instant classic. junkyard Maik and Tschik After showing up at Tat- make friends with a fellow STEFFI ROSSDEUTSCHER © STEFFI jana Cosic’s birthday, Maik traveler, a young woman, and Tschik steal an old Isa, a mythical creature who Lada and drive out of Berlin becomes Maik’s new love. for points south. They’ve The three teenagers decide packed frozen pizzas that to meet again in 50 years. they try to thaw using a Only those equipped with Wolfgang Herrndorf cigarette lighter, and some Modern family – Maik, Isa and Tschick a supernatural store of con- the only classmates not to be invited to canned food, but no opener. Tschick behind invited to lunch by a eco-hippie woman and ventionality can withstand be taken in by Tatjana’s birthday party. Nonetheless, the wheel is a disaster waiting to happen, so her five kids, and to earn your dessert you this masterpiece. All others will be mesmer- together they set off to join the festivities. it’s only a matter of time before the boys, have to correctly answer a quiz question ized by this journey, and long to climb in The story’s point of departure is all too who look and are far too young to drive, ask by the mother, like: Who was the first the car alongside Maik and Tschick and Isa familiar: A girl and two very different are spotted by other travelers and reported federal president of Germany? Maik and and experience friendship and the world, PICTURE ALLIANCE/DPA Buenos Aires in Berlin: Open Air Tango in the middle of Berlin across from the (Oct.1 and Oct. 3: 4 – 8 p.m., Oct. 2 all night long). boys, an adventure into the unknown, to the cops. To elude the police, Maik and Tschik are given a melon as a parting gift. today, tomorrow and again in 50 years. the coming of age, first love and deep, Tschik go off road, at one point crossing a Around the end of their trip, Maik, The tango is sensual, romantic – and no organizer of the Berlin tango festival, and many decades and epochs in the city’s lively having the highest standard of dancing. inviolable friendship. But what comes next cornfield in broad daylight. All the while whose mother is an alcoholic and father is longer the preserve of the Argentines. We Jessica Serrano-Buch greeted visitors to history. Here, too, there are tables bordering There are reportedly tens of thousands of is told with the fluid freshness and color they have the car’s only cassette playing on having an affair with his secretary, ponders are not in Buenos Aires, after all, or Mon- the first milonga at the Roter Salon. “This the dance floor, from which you can watch active tangoists in Berlin, although they have tevideo. This is the Roter Salon at Berlin’s location is the most impressive to me,” says the action from close quarters. The front never been officially counted. And through- Volksbühne, where the scene’s aficionados Rühl, who noticed that more and more room offers a bar, replete with food for out the year tango enthusiasts the world THE SPIRIT OF LOU GEHRIG LIVES ON meet every Wednesday for a milonga in theater people began showing up. And as hungry dancers and their spectators. over come here to speak the language that The sixth gala for the initiative Hilfe für ALS- Prof. Dr. Karl Max Einhäupl (left), the German capital’s most traditional and for those who hailed from the motherland The Tango Loft provides a tasteful and needs no words, the deeply sensitive, physi- kranke Menschen (aid for sufferers of ALS) chairman of the board of directors of atmospheric tango spot. The classic theater of the tango? “Argentine professionals like poetic tango parlor with fin de siècle flair, cal dialogue that surmounts all language MARC DARCHINGER took place in Berlin on Sept. 19 and brought Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, salon, with its bar, small tables, sofas and Juan Carlos Copes and his daughter, Pepito as well as inviting armchairs and sofas for barriers – the tango. in €393,800 for the Charité hospital’s thanked Dr. Martin Herrenknecht (right), outpatient clinic and research facility focus- founder and CEO of Herrenknecht AG, red velvet curtains, recalls tango establish- Avellaneda, Raúl Bravo, Gustavo Naveira, aficionados who come to watch, gossip, ing on the treatment of amyotrophic lateral for an extraordinary donation that has ments of . It is first rate, as is Roberto Herrera and Vanina Bilous – they dance and put in some practice. It is also sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehring’s enabled the establishment of a five-year the blend of patrons – the cream of Berlin’s all danced at the Roter Salon,” Rühl remi- a location for visitors to the city to meet Ralf Sartori is an editor and disease). Works were donated by renowned fellowship for fundamental ALS research tango schools and studios. nisces. Even the esteemed conductor Hora- people on the weekend – in a relaxed but publisher of the Tango Global series artists such as Markus Lüpertz, Candida at the Charité. The position is occupied by The renaissance of Berlin tango is thanks cio Salgán, who died in August 2016, stimulating tango marathon. It is also a of books; the first three volumes Höfer and Udo Lindenberg. 120 guests from the doctor and research scientist to immigrants who fled military dictatorships visited the Roter Salon. great venue for beginners and intermedi- go into detail on the historical and the worlds of politics, finance and culture Christopher Secker, who presented in Uruguay and Argentina, as well as to a Today’s Berlin is the world tango capital ate tangueros to find new dance partners contemporary life of the tango in opened their purse to bid at the auction or his research project to the guests. to donate to specific projects, such as the Guests in attendance included patron handful of Berlin enthusiasts. It all began with after Buenos Aires, not least because the for the evening. Berlin. preliminary stages of research initiatives, in- Gerhard Schröder (Ex-German chancellor), Horizonte Festival 1982, celebrating Latin two cities are connected by a close twinning Not to be missed is Clärchens Ballhaus, a novative technologies for ALS care or clinic Dr. Jürgen Großmann and Detlef Prinz American literature and music. Among the partnership, providing a framework for the magnificent, elegant ballroom dating back appointments for international patients. (founder of the ALS initiative). 30 2016 2016 31

airytales are quite rare in real life. In linked to US billionaire Phil Anschutz’s plans planning to team up with Finnish investor  sports, however, they are not uncom- to build a multifunctional arena in Berlin. Harry Harkimo to build an arena in Spandau mon. One such fable was written over Anschutz needed the Eisbären, who were to in far-away southwest Berlin. But there simply Yogamatte the past two decades by Eisbären play a key role in his plans for the arena, and wasn’t justifiable demand for two large-scale Berlin,F the premiere ice hockey club from the he paid a total of 11 million Deutschmarks arenas in Berlin. Harkimo soon left for Ham- [ˈjoːɡaˈmatə] capital of Germany. While the Wall was still (roughly €5.5 million) to acquire the team. burg and in 2002 the Capitals disappeared Yoga mat standing, the club led a niche existence as an Soon after that, Anschutz also paid off all from the German hockey landscape. East German team called SC Dynamo Berlin. the club’s debts, which amounted to roughly This meant there was nothing standing in the SOCIAL CLIMBING Fashion accessory Truth be told, the only reason it survived back seven million Deutschmarks. Towards the end way of the Eisbären making a name for them- then was thanks to backing from the Ministry of the 1990s, the success of the team reflected selves next to Berlin’s other major sports clubs, for State Security (Stasi) under Erich Mielke this high-risk financial gamble, and Eisbären such as Hertha BSC (soccer) and ALBA Berlin plus additional support from the local police. managing director Martin Müller came up (basketball). In 2005 the Eisbären climbed Together with Dynamo Weißwasser, the team with a new slogan, “SOS – Sieg oder Sibirien,” their way to the top of the German league, War remnants become a climber’s paradise | By Sarah Burmester played in the smallest league in the world. loosely translated as “victory or bust.” While winning the first of what would become seven When the Wall came down, and just before the team had expensive stars on its roster – championship cups in the DEL. In 2008 they German reunification on October 3, 1990, including NHL legend Thomas Steen from moved from the Wellblechpalast into the new arena at Ostbahnhof (known as O2 World hen people often ask the height of my highest of people hang out to climb, including hipsters, students and until 2015 and Mercedes-Benz Arena ever

climb, I usually try to smile, for the sport of © PARWEZ those living on the fringes of society. since). From then on, the Eisbären began rock climbing does not necessarily involve Situated between the skateboarding hall and the Cassiopeia playing for audiences of around 14,000 per mountains. It’s about rock or other climbable club, Der Kegel is a fixed address for climbers. Since 2006 Miracle on ice game. Today’s club is no longer a small, local features,W of which today’s Berlin boasts quite a few. I’ve been bouldering gyms have appeared all over Berlin. Bouldering team; it has become one of the best teams in climbing now for over 20 years, but never have I actually entails climbing at low heights without a rope, but with the country and taken up its spot as a major scaled a proper mountain. The length or height of my climbs large cushioned mats beneath to preventing injuries after Berlin’s Eisbären once enjoyed the support of the East German secret police. player in the hearts of Berliners. Slowly but is of rather little interest to me. a fall. This discipline uses a minimal number of moves to The team has long since established itself as a major player in the hearts surely, over the past several years the club Berlin offers climbing, but not for mountaineers. Rock distill rock climbing down to its bare essence: spanning your has increasingly attracted not only fans from climbers in the city have many places to cavort: in small arms between holds, testing the limits of what you are able of Berliners on both sides of the former Wall | By Michael Lachmann the East, but also from the West – and some industrial outlets, public parks, and sometimes on ruins of to grip, figuring out how to move your body into the next former Berlin Capitals fans, to boot. old World War II bunkers right in the heart of Berlin – a position. All at once you feel like a kid on a playground and Dynamo made its debut in West Germany’s Sweden – they were still playing in a rundown Although it has already been three years reminder of the city’s turbulent past. a competitive athlete in a professional arena. federal league. For this ice hockey team from arena that seated only 4,695 fans, the so-called since their last championship, the Eisbären In the discipline we call sport climbing today, it is the Before moving to Berlin, I had studied at the University of the district of Hohenschönhausen on the Wellblechpalast, or “corrugated tin palace,” are still hip today. Among the spectators in specific moves that dictate the lure and difficulty of a route, Sheffield in northern England, where rock climbing is rather east side of Berlin, it was the beginning of an in the outlying district of Hohenschönhausen. the arena, you’ll find an unemployed -lock not the scale of the rock. The smaller and further apart the prevalent due to the area’s ample amount of natural rock. adventure marked by many adversities, most If the Eisbären were to become profitable, this smith standing next to a middle-class busi- holds for hands and feet, the more we’re challenged. We use of which were financial. Indeed, situation would have to change. The Anschutz ness manager, along with suited-up lawyers bolts, but only to clip in the rope that saves us from hitting the the club often found itself on the deal came just in time. cheering beside wide-eyed tourists. Sixty-two ground were we to fall. This particular game of anti-gravity “We distill rock verge of collapse. As one staff The deal to buy the Eisbären, in combina- years after the team was founded, the Eisbären needs no real rock, just any wall with holds or features large climbing down to its member from that era recalls: tion with the funds the club received from the have become a Berlin-wide event. From small enough for gripping. Climbers sometimes hang from just a few “We had no idea what we City of Berlin for the arena at Ostbahnhof, Stasi club to large-scale capitalist enterprise – fingers and perform gymnastic feats to reach the next hold, bare essence.” were getting into. If we’d indirectly sealed the fate of their city rivals, sounds like a fairytale, but it isn’t. occasionally with room only for the very tips of their fingers, known what kind of prob- the Berlin Capitals. The management team and with toes fixed on edges as slim as a credit card. Just like Climbers were everywhere to be found. Upon arriving in lems we were about to face, at the Charlottenburg-based club had been gymnasts, climbers use chalk (magnesia, actually) to dry their Berlin I found myself among a small group of freaks han- we never would have attempted sweaty hands and prevent slipping from angled handholds. kering to climb. The city’s lack of much natural rock meant it in the first place. As it was, we Thus, even though Berlin does not offer amazing rock faces, that Berlin’s climbing scene was rather small, and grew much just jumped right in.” climbers – as well as mountaineers in search of training and slower than in places where outdoor rock climbing had a Not only did Eisbären Berlin – as the leisure – soon found places to play in the city, such as The tradition. The capital of Germany now sports about eight club began calling itself in 1992 – Bunker, a World War II Flakturm in Humboldthain Park proper indoor climbing walls (with more underway), while suffer from a severe lack of funds that was developed for climbing after 1989, and Der Kegel, ten years ago there were but two. after the fall of the Wall, they also a cone-shaped bunker at RAW Area on Revaler Straße in Having left Berlin, I sometimes return to the city to work found themselves in last place Friedrichshain. The latter, formerly used to protect railway as a route-setter, that is, putting up routes or “problems” – in Germany’s professional workers from allied bombs, was discovered in 2004 by the boulderers’ terms for climbs – on artificial climbing walls. hockey league known as climber and wall artist, Lake. He and a group of like-minded Looking at the city now, I marvel at how it has blossomed FOTOLIA/ KAPONA the Bundesliga (as of climbing friends would later use drills and hammers to create as a climbing destination. And its climbing scene is indeed 1994, the Deutsche structures in the heavy concrete. In addition to these drilled unique; with all its gyms, open-air towers, bunkers and the Eishockey Liga, or pockets, there are now plastic climbing holds along the faces scads of scalers that now live here, the city’s climbers are DEL). In other of the bunker, allowing enthusiasts to scale its walls and turn far from grim mountain men, but rather a playful bunch of words, the club these war ruins into a sort of climbing zoo. people using the free spirit of mountain climbers to create a lived a truly futile exis- Ten years ago Der Kegel was one of Berlin’s funky installa- vibrant urban culture that embraces freedom of movement tence in the shadow of its cross-town rivals at tions that popped up to fill urban wasteland with the vibrant, and creativity to define their personal limits. I am both proud BSC Preußen. It was rich against poor, West offbeat life that now makes this city so special. While the and grateful to have been summoned back to Berlin, a city against East. However, that all changed after past ten years have seen a good number of new, designated that offers no mountains, yet with a burgeoning climbing the 1995 Bosman Ruling, which freed up pro- indoor climbing walls, which are still growing in popularity, scene that rises higher with every passing year. fessional athletes in Europe to move to other Der Kegel’s offering of climbs on all sides of the bunker, rain- clubs when their contracts were up. From that Like a kid on a playground, like a competitive athlete in protected outdoor bouldering as well as indoor bouldering point on, the DEL allowed its hockey teams an arena: Sarah Burmester have enabled it to remain one of the places an eclectic mix to take advantage of an unlimited number of players from other EU states. The Eisbären seized the opportunity and brought over play- ers with European roots from Canada and the INFO / SERVICE MY RECOMMENDATIONS US, thus marking the beginning of the rise to fame of the Eisbären. In the 1996/97 season Der Kegel Bright Site the team was able to beat the Berlin Capitals – Der Kegel, a unique location with outdoor climbing on Indoor bouldering gym including a garden with outdoor Curious to try some rock climbing? a bunker as well as indoor and outdoor bouldering. walls: classes, tricky and playful bouldering, and a beer the new name of the old West Berlin team BSC Give it shot. Visit one of the many indoor gyms, take Experience the alternative energy and hipster scene of garden in Schöneberg. Preußen – in the championship quarterfinals. an introductory course, climb as far as you like and the RAW Area on Revaler Straße in Friedrichshain. www.boulder-project.de In 1998 the one-time underdogs even made as high as you can. It will soon become obvious why www.derkegel.de climbing is such a hit; apart from the reward you it as far as second place in the league. Lorenz DAV-Kletterzentrum Berlin feel upon performing a very basic human move- Funk, Eisbären manager at the time, put it Boulderklub Kreuzberg Rope climbing in Berlin-Mitte under the auspices of the ment while battling your mind as it tells you to step quite succinctly: “We went from the outhouse One of the latest and best additions to the Berlin German Alpine Association. Visiting more than three down and give up, the sight of you dancing on the to the penthouse.” bouldering landscape. Beginners and advanced climbers times requires membership. wall and executing all the peculiar moves climbing join forces to celebrate vertical movement in Kreuzberg. www.kletterzentrum.dav-berlin.de But the Eisbären didn’t stop there; after sur- requires will entertain onlookers. Arriving at the top, Zukunft www.boulderklub.de passing their cross-city rivals in the standings, never mind the safety rope, is always a gratifying [ˈʦuːˌkʊnft] Final note they outdid them financially as well. The turn- experience – one that leaves your arms empty and Berta Block Berliner Unterwelten in Humboldthain Park offers your heart pounding. With all its different levels of Future ing point came in 1999 with a simple announce- Indoor bouldering gym with extensive training facilities, guided tours inside Berlin’s largest climbable bunker. physical and mental fitness, climbing in Berlin has a ment issued by United Sports Management yoga classes and a friendly atmosphere in Pankow. If you’re lucky, you’ll see climbers scramble past the challenge in store for everyone. Open borders, AG: “We bought the Eisbären today.” USM The even serve tasty cake. windows you’re peering out! free day-care, was a 100-percent subsidiary of the Anschutz www.bertablock.de www.berliner-unterwelten.de/ world peace Group, and the deal to buy the team was 32 2016

 Come to Berlin with your children. One day they’ll be here anyway.

www.be.berlin.de