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OCTOBER 2017

The Berlin Wall stood for 10,315 days. It’s been almost 10,315 days since it collapsed. Berlin has finally caught up to history – and is now defining the future.

SHUTTERSTOCK, MONTAGE: BT 2 2017

 IMAGO/PHOTOTHEK IMAGO/STPP, MONTAGE: BT MONTAGE: IMAGO/STPP,

EURO VISION GROWN ON CONCRETE The citizens’ movement Pulse of Europe Large murals created by street artists speaks up and signals its opposition to inhabit the empty lots and exposed populists and nationalists. In Berlin, they façades left behind by WWII. meet once a month at Gendarmenmarkt. Johanna Trapp reveals some of the stories Peter H. Koepf spoke with activists. behind the walls. /page 16 /page 6 SHUTTERSTOCK IMAGO/SEELIGER EDITORIAL Most people – even most Berliners – are un- aware of a unique and fast approaching Wall anniversary. Not the “Day of German Unity” on October 3rd, 2017, which marks the 27th anniversary of the country’s official reunifica- tion. Nope, the one after that. On August 13, 1961, the GDR began erecting the Wall, and on November 9th, 1989 – that most wonder- SQUARE ONE ful night exactly 10,315 days later – the Wall COMING BACK Berlin’s storied Alexanderplatz in the came tumbling down. And now, believe it or It all started with a tweet: “Chocolate middle of Berlin has seen better days. The not, the time is coming when the Wall will have pudding, 19 cents. See you in Berlin!” city wants to make the large square more been down as long as it was up. Now a steadily growing number of Israelis attractive. Tong-Jin Smith reports about Is it really possible? Yes, it is. The Berlin Times are moving to the city. Some are even the latest plans. /page 8 did the calculations and determined that on opening up great new restaurants. Franziska February 5th, 2018, Berlin will have lived free Knupper checked out the dishes and the of the Wall for as many days as it was forced people preparing them. /page 18 to bear it. Berliners are fond of commenting on how time flies, and these days, “all of Berlin is in a blur.” Is there anything that hasn’t happened in this new, free and united city? Where darkness once reigned, today there is light. Where the Wall once stood, today people literally dance REINHARD KAUFHOLD IMAGO/RÜDIGER WÖLK IMAGO/RÜDIGER and sing. Once poor and completely drained of industry, Berlin has now emerged as a cre- ative hub for young people aiming to try new things, launch startups, forge their own paths and develop ideas that improve our world. In this issue, we invite you to read about peo- ple demonstrating in favor of something – in this case, Europe – as well as a young man who collects money just to pass it on to oth- HUMANE CAPITAL ers. We visit new restaurants where patrons BORN IN THE GDR Even entrepreneurs and conservative are treated to food quite unlike the typical Ber- André Kubiczek writes novels about the economists have advocated for the lin dishes of Currywurst, Döner and Eisbein. former East Germany like no one else. introduction of a basic income. We also take a look at a neighboring capital He spoke to The Berlin Times about But Michael Bohmeyer has actually done it. city that’s revamping its historical core. And, unification, his youthful idealism and his His crowdfunding organization gave finally, we’ll speak to a courageous Berliner daughter’s take on the Wall. /page 22 100 people 1,000 euros per month who founded a mosque where women and for one year. Is he crazy? Benjamin Walter men can preach and pray together. met the man. /page 10 As usual, it appears that Berlin is more than living up to its reputation as a city in which anything – and everything – is possible.

Detlef Prinz Publisher SOEREN STACHE MAURIZIO GAMBARINI MAURIZIO

IMPRESSUM The Berlin Times is an international registered trademark of Times Media GmbH. EQUAL RIGHTS All rights reserved. REBUILD, RELOAD This edition has been produced in cooperation with Seyran Ateş founded Berlin’s first mosque DIE WELT and Berlin Partner for Business and Technology. The basketball club Alba Berlin has where women can preach to men.Why did Publisher & liable for editorial content: Detlef Prinz celebrated legendary wins over the past she do it? Felizia Merten found the true Printed in Germany by Pressedruck Potsdam GmbH 25 years. But the latest season was the answer: Because it’s 2017. /page 14 Friedrich-Engels-Straße 24, 14473 Potsdam worst in its history. Some young guns and © Times Media GmbH, Tempelhofer Ufer 23 – 24, 10963 Berlin, Germany. a sly old fox from Spain are raising hopes www.times-media.de among hoops aficionados again, writes Horst Schneider. /page 30 2017 3

t’s a popular misconception that Euro- The EU must be a community of solidar-  pean integration was originally an ity; this applies, for example, to the support economic project that only developed for southern EU members in migration into a political union as a result of the policy, including the fair distribution of ref- Imachinations of shrewd Eurocrats. In fact, ugees. One of Europe’s foremost values is the opposite is true. From the outset, the the willingness to engage in dialogue, which EU was a political project and, particularly is why we Germans should be open to the No new walls! in the eyes of its founding fathers, a com- proposals made by the reform-oriented munity of values, that is, a union based on French president, Emmanuel Macron, with the values of human dignity, democracy, regard to the remodeling of the Eurozone. The reflexes of the Cold War will not help us the rule of law, freedom, tolerance and We should enter into a serious exchange the principles of dialogue, solidarity and with the goal of reaching an agreement. By Sigmar Gabriel subsidiarity. One element of such a reform is the Today, this community of values is being transformation of the European Stabil- challenged by a discourse that focuses on ity Mechanism (ESM) into a European national self-centeredness and a process of Monetary Fund (EWF). Solidarity should, walling-off. This approach is championed however, be closely linked with the values or us Germans, the year 1989 is and on. And now of all times, we are sud- by both right and left-wing populists. They of fiscal stability and subsidiarity: - Euro inextricably linked with images denly no longer able to rely on some of see the EU as having failed and often propa- bonds and other instruments that override of singing and laughing people our partners. Who would have thought gate a return to the nation-state, thereby market mechanisms are misguided incen- climbing on to the Berlin Wall, that Turkey, with which we have so eagerly invoking doomsday scenarios. tives that would result in renewed crises Fcelebrating the fall of the Wall and the many ties, would become one of our most Often these forces look with admiration and thus repeatedly to a weakening of the end of the Cold War. We see people who complicated partners 12 years after the to the authoritarian path tread by Vladimir community of solidarity. We also need have overcome fear. These images show start of EU accession talks? Putin’s Russia – one that recalls the logic of more dialogue in the EU between East and an unshakeable optimism and courage, These are merely some aspects of a those 19th century powers for whom the West. This includes more respect for unique which inspired people across the globe. highly alarming image of a world in right of smaller states to self-determination national characteristics and sensitivities. I felt the same way myself. disorder. And how do we react to this? was of no consequence. However, we must draw a clear line where At that time which moved the world, We use the reflexes of the Cold War. We all know where the logic of 19th the separation of powers and the freedom I have to admit that I had an even more We react with fear and timidity rather century nationalism ultimately led us. The of the press – two cornerstones of democ- wonderful experience – the birth of my than with courage, commitment and horrific carnage of that era stands in stark racy – come under attack. oldest daughter. She was born at the very confidence. contrast to the 70 years of peace enjoyed At the same time, the EU must always set moment when the people on the other We are at the threshold of a new arms by the countries that, over time, joined the a course for the future: on the one hand, by side of the Iron Curtain were finally able race. In China, India, Latin America, the European integration project, today’s Euro- adapting the labor market to digitization to dream again of a time of peace. When United States, Russia, Europe, Africa – pean Union. Outside of this zone of peace, and on the other by fostering a more active Saskia was born, I thought that she might everywhere you look, people are only grow up in the most peaceful world there talking about armament. But one thing had ever been. is certain – our world will not become My youngest daughter was born 29 safer if all countries arm themselves years later. I felt just as joyful about her to the teeth. That is the geostrategical A word on Europe birth as I did with my first child. But over thinking of the 20th century – a strategy the past 29 years, the world has gone in a based on fear. very different direction than we expected Naturally, we need to pay attention to The EU should be proud of its values back then. In 2017, we see that we have our defenses. But if we turn our world managed to preserve peace in Europe, to into a powder keg, we should not be By Hans-Gert Pöttering work together and to communicate with surprised if it only takes a spark for it each other for an entire generation. But to explode. there was war in Europe, for example, in common European foreign and security the past years have shown that unfor - Isolation is the second type of reaction the Balkans in the 1990s and today’s war- policy that can shape international policy tunately we are not living in the most to the new complexity. International like situation in Eastern Ukraine. and global standards based on European peaceful world ever, but rather in what agreements are being revoked, inter- And yet, today, calling attention to the values. is perhaps a more complex world than at national organizations bypassed, walls EU’s extraordinary record of peace is no First, we need a proactive trade policy. any other time. Moreover, the optimism rebuilt and anything foreign vilified. longer sufficient. Indeed, in order to secure The future of the transatlantic free-trade of reunification has vanished, although Threats and insults are prevalent, and a promising future, the EU must sway its agreement is uncertain, which means the EU we need this spirit more than ever today. those who think differently are bullied citizens by providing solutions to current should work even harder on treaties with I have been other countries German for- that share our eign minister values, such as for just over Sigmar Gabriel is Vice Chancellor Hans-Gert Pöttering has been Chair- Canada, Japan, and Foreign Minister of Germany. seven months. man of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Mexico and He has been a member of the since 2010. He served as President Since the day the Mercosur German Bundestag since 2005. of the European Parliament from 2007 I took office, I He served one term as Minister to 2009. He led the European People’s member states. have been con- President of Lower Saxony. Party from 1999 to 2007. Second, we fronted with need a common one crisis after European for- another. Not a eign policy with day passes without new information and oppressed even in their own coun - and future challenges: in times of political, joint representation in the most important about crises and conflicts. And the news tries. This, too, is a cowardly – and mis - economic and technological transforma- global institutions. is rarely good. There is the war in Syria guided – reaction to the new complexity tion, Europe must stand for security and Third, we need a European Security and that has traumatized an entire genera- in the world. justice. The EU must also play an active Defense Union that has integrated Euro- tion; famine and food crises in Africa This cannot be the way forward. What role in designing the future. In the course pean (military) forces and a joint defense that threaten the lives of hundreds of we need instead are the courage and of pursuing these goals, European values fund designed to foster research and skills thousands of people; the conflict in East- optimism of the era of the fall of the are by no means an obstacle; they are our development. In addition, the EU needs – ern Ukraine that has raised the question Berlin Wall and the reunification of Ger- most important foundation. now more than ever – a capable defense of war and peace once again in the many and Europe. We need to tackle the In concrete terms, the EU should invest policy that enables it to live up to its heart of Europe; millions of people all problems of the world rather than hiding more in safeguarding its external borders: responsibility to protect when faced with over the world who have to flee their away and arming ourselves. as a community governed by the rule of crimes against humanity in the European homes because they do not have even Firstly, we need to launch a new trend law, it must guarantee control over entry neighborhood. the bare minimum needed to survive; towards global disarmament. We should into and exit from the EU. For this reason, Fourth, the EU should provide reform- the situation in Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq invest our energy, money and knowledge the European Border and Coast Guard minded countries in its immediate neighbor- and Venezuela; the insanity in North in new disarmament initiatives rather Agency adopted at the end of 2016 should hood, for example in Africa, with stronger Korea, where Kim Jong-un is blackmail- than new arms technologies. Even in be developed further and swiftly established support in their efforts to democratize and ing the world with a nuclear bomb; and the worst phases of the Cold War, we as an EU entry authority. At the same modernize. This includes a much stronger problems such as climate change and managed to do this when Ronald Reagan time, however, the EU must uphold its opening-up of European markets. international terrorism, which transcend and Mikhail Gorbachev negotiated the own values and remain open to vulnerable In the long term, it is European values national borders. The list could go on INF Treaty on eliminating intermediate- asylum seekers and refugees. themselves that will be our most important

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The Wall divided Berlin for more than 28 years – or 10,315 days. But it’s also been 10,315 days since it came down. Wearing the weight of the past and reveling in its present glory, the city is coming into its own BREAKING EVEN By Frank Hofmann

ebruary 5th, 2018. It’s quite pos- characteristic gray appearance. However, The Wall memorial regularly comes in synthesis. He argued that the end of the sible this date will come and go in the late 1980s, there were simply no at number two on the list of most-visited conflict between East and West meant that without anyone taking notice, even funds available to complete the necessary contemporary museums in the city, with all would be right with the world again. in Berlin. And yet, this date is renovations. Indeed, the GDR was at its the Topography of Terror on the former Many disagreed with him at the time. And Fparticularly important to the once-divided end both economically and morally; the Gestapo site on Niederkirchner Straße at today, in a world that must grapple with city of almost 4 million inhabitants. This aged leadership of the East German work- number one. Also on that list is the pri- a right-wing populist in the White House, date tells a special story, one of growing ers’ and peasants’ state proved ineffective vately run Wall Museum at Checkpoint dangerous and illiberal leaders in Warsaw together, of hope, but also of a younger gen- in responding to the reforms underway in Charlie, which regularly attracts around and Budapest, the frustrations that led to eration who no longer cares exactly where the Soviet Union. 800,000 visitors each year. The former Brexit, liberal Europe is forced to address the Wall once stood and whether they’re Mikhail Gorbachev’s policies of Per- Wehrmacht soldier Rainer Hildebrandt once again issues many believed to have in the former West Berlin or the new East estroika and Glasnost were ushering in founded the museum on October 19th, been long settled. This comes as a surprise Berlin. On February 5th, 2018, Berlin will changes that extended all the way to free 1962, right after the Wall was built, as a to a lot of people in the West. have seen as many days – 10,315 to be pre- speech. The idea was to engage in discus- way of making personal amends, but mostly Indeed, nationalism presents a challenge to cise – without the Wall as it had to endure sions that would help save socialism and as a protest against the concrete border. the project of European integration and to the dreary eyesore. It had been erected by reduce the ever-growing number of GDR This was where international guests had to the dream that the continent would finally be Socialist Unity Party (SED) leader Walter citizens applying to leave across the increas- make their way to “their” border crossing unified in peace under the rule of law after Ulbricht, Erich Honecker and others who ingly permeable Wall. The GDR was a at Checkpoint Charlie if they wanted to years of division symbolized by the Wall. sought to cut off West Berlin but instead pressure cooker waiting to explode. get through the very Wall that East Berlin- It is suddenly clear that EU governments ended up building a prison wall around These and many other historical aspects ers found so prohibitive they would go to have come up short in the more than two their GDR co-citizens. It took 10,315 days are on display today along Bernauer Straße tremendous lengths to overcome it. At the post-Wall decades. Indeed, they are guilty from the day it was built on August 13th, of having under-integrated the continent 1961 until that happy night of November and missing a great opportunity to further 9th, 1989 to reunite the divided city. And “Parents show their unify Europe. “We have to want this new soon, on February 5th, 2018, the Wall will Europe,” says Lech Walesa, former leader of have been gone for exactly 10,315 days. children what it was the Solidarność movement in Poland, which Today, hundreds of tourists and school emerged as the Wall was beginning its down- groups visit the one-kilometer open-air like when the city ward crumble. But why hasn’t the joy at Berlin Wall museum and memorial on seeing the Berlin Wall fall led to the creation Bernauer Straße every day to reflect on the was divided.” of an order able to prevent a re-emergence horrors of the former border. Parents show of nationalism? How could it come to this? their children what it was like when the and in the Tränenpalast Musum at S-Bahn- Wall Museum, visitors can see small cars After the Wall came down, Karl Popper’s city was divided by this brick-and-cement hof Friedrichstraße, where the focus is on with secret hiding places, special ladders notion of an open society became popular monster with its armored barriers and firing the past. On Friedrichstraße, for example, and even flying devices people used in trying in the countries of Central and Eastern orders that forced friends and families to visitors can walk through the former pass- to make it over the border. Today, a section Europe; these were the principles guiding live parallel lives for almost three decades. port check-in counters where all West Ger- of the Wall stands in the corner; visitors the transformation of Poland and Hungary It was an era in which the East German mans visiting East Berlin experienced late can walk right up to it and touch it here, at from socialism to a market economy. In this regime tried to live out its dream of social- 20th-century German totalitarianism in the memorial on Bernauer Straße. In other era, Berlin became the cultural symbol of ist modernism in those pre-fab apartment the form of the rough treatment by a GDR words, the once mighty Berlin Wall, which this transformation into a continent divided buildings – “Plattenbauten” – found near border guard before having to exchange inspired fear and anguish in so many people, no more. In 1990, in the space of only a the TV Tower on Alexanderplatz and all the their Deustchmarks for Ostmarks. is now no more than a museum piece. few months, in the eastern part of the city, way to Lichtenberg and Marzahn. It was Visitors to Berlin are still fascinated by the And yet, the events in Europe that led to roughly 120 mostly empty homes were occu- a life lived according to the party member city’s history. Today, however, there is no the erection of the wall – perhaps the most pied. Artists and existentialists joined hobby book of the SED; indeed, no other city in need for fear. These days, the only negative famous manifestation of the Cold War – are philosophers from all over the world and East Germany had as many Plattenbauten vibes along the former Wall arise when the once again on the agenda. Indeed, 28 years young West Berliners who didn’t want to pay in such a small area. popular lookout platform at the Bernauer after the fall of the Wall – and 56 years any rent – and they all began experimenting Erich Honecker was the SED Central Straße memorial has to be closed again for after the Wall was built – the jingoism that with new ways of living. Committee Secretary responsible for secu- staircase renovations. But no worries, visi- led to the Holocaust and two catastrophic The Tacheles art center on Oranienburger rity matters at the time and thus for “Opera- tors just have to cross the street to see the world wars in the 20th century has reared Straße became an icon of this development. tion Rose,” that is, the construction of the old East German border tower and a few its ugly head again. One night, in a cloak-and-dagger operation, Wall. Honecker would go on to become remaining sections of the Wall to experience In 1992, Francis Fukuyama cheerfully Russian artists rammed two Mig jets into General Secretary of the SED Central Com- that eerie sensation of finding oneself on a announced in his book The End of His- the ground of the inner courtyard, without mittee and head of the GDR in 1971, at film set. The open-air Wall memorial remains tory, that the fall of the Iron Curtain thinking about whether they were allowed which point he continued to tend to his one of the city’s most popular spots: 976,000 signaled the achievement of the moment to do it or not. In Berlin, art was able to do concrete wall. After that, a new generation people visited in 2016, and it’s possible that described by the great German philosopher anything it wanted; here, “everything goes” was born and the Wall started to take on its that number will reach one million in 2017. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel as the final was a lived credo. 2017 5



STEPHANIE PILICK/DPA

Only a couple of years later, when offi- hours of the morning and spilling out on who are giving 19th century answers to Berlin, a city that suffered for years under a cials began arguing that the jets were in to Potsdamer Platz next door. After the 21st century questions. Today, Berlin has dictatorship of concrete? Berlin prides itself violation of the War Weapons Control Wall came down, the city also had twice lived without the Wall for 28 years. The on all the new Berliners who live here today Act, the artists soon had to pack up their as many theaters and operas as any major city has caught up to the other great Euro- because they loathe the Orbáns, Kaczyns- bags. At the time, the state often resorted city would need; and yet it was precisely pean capitals and is mentioned in the same kis and Trumps of the world. Let’s show to obscure laws when confronted with this situation that gave Berlin the opportu- breath as London and Paris. Isn’t it time them what we’ve learned in the 28 years such unique and overwhelming challenges. nity to assert its cultural hegemony in the we took on the political challenges of our we’ve lived without the barrier referred to Indeed, who wants to have to call out German-speaking world. day? What city is better positioned to most by Willy Brandt as the “Schandmauer” or people illegally drawing electricity in a At the same time, Auguststraße in Berlin- effectively oppose authoritarianism than “Wall of Shame.” city where every second household had Mitte began attracting a flush of artists had to resort to such methods in the wake thanks to a unique policy set up by the of a collapsed GDR economy? Instead of district of Mitte’s Public Housing Asso- that, it was much more important that ciation – one for which other cities envy someone had one of those beloved pump Berlin to this day. Acknowledging that it showers that could – at least briefly – warm would take years for courts to process the you up in those old, cold and coal-heated re-transfer claims of previous homeown- apartments. ers – which included many Jewish families Back then, every day felt like the week- worldwide – policymakers offered artists end, especially in Berlin-Mitte, where DJs one-year rental contracts and required dropped their beats for free in any number them to pay electricity and heating costs only. The advantage to this was that the homes were prevented from deteriorating “Isn’t it time any further. Gallery owners soon moved in and made exhibition spaces out of the we took on the studios. By the time U.S. President Bill Clinton visited the city to give a speech that political challenges many hoped would top John F. Kennedy’s famous “Ich bin ein Berliner,” anything of our day?” was possible in Berlin. Addressing Berliners gathered at the of run-down candlelit buildings. Contrary Brandenburg Gate in July 1994, Clinton to what you might have heard, people said: “We stand together where Europe’s at the time were playing more than just heart was cut in half and we celebrate electronic music; it was rock, pop, techno, unity.” This is speech writing at its best. house and basically anything a couple of “We stand where crude walls of concrete speakers would amplify. In addition to the separated mother from child, and we meet Life’s greatest experiences don’t Tacheles, another hotspot of Berlin’s alter- as one family. We stand where those who happen in the conference room. native culture was the “Eimer” in a build- sought a new life instead found death. And ing at Rosenthaler Straße 68. You could we rejoice in renewal.” Clinton soothed The new Panamera Sport Turismo. also enjoy music and a beer in basements Berlin’s wounded soul, especially in the on Steinstraße and Tucholskystraße. By West. “Berliners, you have won your long that time, Dimitri Hegemann had already struggle. You have proved that no wall founded Tresor, the world’s most famous can forever contain the mighty power of Fuel consumption (in l/100 km) urban 13.1–12.9 · extra urban 7.4–7.3 · combined 9.5–9.4 ; club, on Leipziger Straße. The Love Parade freedom.” CO₂ emissions combined 217–215 g/km was growing larger every year and Berlin Back then, this sounded a bit ridicu- was constantly abuzz. It was as if the city lous to those fresh young Berliners who’d were trying to forget the gravity of its own turned jetfighters into art and those DJs former division by dancing it off as quickly who were starting to make well-paid jobs as possible. out of their hobby. “Berlin is free” was In the Berlin Senate, Urban Development Clinton’s cliffhanger sentence, but young Director Hans Stimmann worked for six people in the city had figured that out years starting in 1991 at erasing Berlin’s years before. division architecturally. Building cranes And yet, more than two decades later, and jackhammers soon greeted the club- this speech rings out like a challenge, espe- goers emerging from Tresor in the wee cially in light of the right-wing populists

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abi Bertin is an 18-year-old from  When listening to women like Bertin and Berlin-Marzahn. Her mother is the Hungarian man who spoke of curtailed Polish, her father is German, and free speech in his country, Hahn learned that she just completed her university Euro vision “what happens in Poland and Hungary is entranceG exams. In August, Bertin stood up relevant to me, too.” on Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin and gave an Pulse of Europe is a citizens’ movement where She now calls on Europe’s politicians to impassioned speech expressing her wor- develop a common future vision for Europe, ries about the nationalistic tones emanating members of a silent majority speak up. one that is more democratic, social and just. from Poland. Two weeks later, she traveled Peter H. Koepf met with activists in Berlin Citizens should have more of a say, and to Poland to celebrate her sister’s wedding. the European Parliament should have more “Without the EU, I wouldn’t be here,” she democratic oversight vis-a-vis the Coun- said. Many Europeans only pay attention to too bureaucratic, but now she’s “learned “Democracy in Poland is at stake.” The gov- cil and Commission. The EU should serve the EU when things go wrong, for example, that we have common European values.” ernment has radically transformed Poland, the people, not corporate interests. Europe when bureaucracy gets carried away or fails At each Sunday gathering, she would hear where press freedoms, assembly rights and the must do more to deepen and expand social to create a binding refugee policy. At such old people tell stories about the war and separation of powers are under attack. But the inclusion. moments, the EU is seen as an anonymous, young people talk about their experiences on people have begun to rise up in protest. “This Julia Hahn’s vision involves a United States bureaucratic, anything-but-heartwarming Erasmus exchanges abroad. “At that point is not the moment for the other European of Europe. This is a name that’s being spoken institution. Indeed, people tend to overlook I realized we’re connected by a great idea,” countries to leave Poland alone. We all ben- more often again these days, even in academic the positive sides of the EU, such as the she says, pointing to things like the rule of efited from the Solidarność movement decades circles, without garnering loud guffaws. In freedom to travel, 70 years of peace, and law, human rights protections and gender ago. Now it’s our turn to show solidarity with 2016, in a book titled Why Europe Must prosperity for a larger number of people, etc. equality. “Many of us only recognize how them.” Poland belongs to Europe, and Europe Become a Republic. A Political Utopia, Ulrike At the moment, individual EU states are good we have it once we travel to a country has an opportunity to strengthen civil society Guérot criticizes the EU for its democratic causing the most stress: the British voted to where that’s not the case.” both in Poland and in Europe: “Politicians deficits, unequal social standards and its leave, the leaders of Hungary and Poland On August 6, Hahn listened intently when can do a lot, but in the end, it’s up to us, the “race-to-the-bottom tax competition.” The are behaving in strikingly nationalistic ways, Gabi Bertin spoke at Gendarmenmarkt: people of the world, to make a difference.” founder of the European Democracy Lab in and France came close to electing a president Berlin argues that the euro has brought “a who wanted to leave the EU, which would shift in the costs of the political-economic have been the death knell for the decades-old system from the economy to citizens.” Busi- economic and political union. ness and industry were given the euro, she

All this, plus the election of Donald Trump, SCHOELZEL ANDREAS notes, “without any remuneration in the caused Julia Hahn, a 35-year-old Berlin- form of a European fiscal and social union.” based scientist, to do something, “a with- This is what Guérot calls the “decisive birth drawal into nationalism is not a sustainable defect of the euro.” response,” she said to herself. But the idea Guérot wants to change this in fundamen- of joining a political party also didn’t inspire tal ways. Incidentally, the common market her: “Political parties lack an emotional comprises much more than just free trade. side,” she argues. She wanted to get involved For example, it offers protection against dis- in civil society, so when she heard about crimination. Indeed, no country is currently Pulse of Europe, she contacted Sabine and allowed to provide companies from other Daniel Röder. EU countries less favorable conditions than The Röders’ Pulse of Europe demonstrated companies based in their own country. for the first time in January in Frankfurt am This year marks the 60th anniversary of Main. Since then, there have been offshoots the Treaties of Rome and the creation of in 98 German and 37 other European cities. the European Community. Public opinion In Berlin, Hahn met up with a dozen regarding the EU will most likely be domi- other men and women to found the city’s nated by complaints about bureaucracy, even local chapter.What unites them is the con- though the EU’s success stories are equally viction that the continent is home to more as compelling. Case in point: In just 60 years pro-Europeans than anti-Europeans. They economic output in the EU’s founding states believe a silent majority of people want a has more than tripled, even when adjusted united Europe and don’t consider an “ever for inflation – something other global regions closer union” to be an obsolete idea. Indeed, can only dream of. Yet many Europeans fail the goal of Pulse of Europe is to make the to connect the mental dots between their EU even better. prosperity, the common market and open “My work with the group has changed borders. my feeling about Europe,” says Hahn. “I Julia Hahn wants more Europe rather than would never have walked around with an less, which is why her group congregates EU flag before. Now I’ve got one hanging on every first Sunday of the month on Gendar- my balcony.” For her, Europe used to seem Demonstrating in favor of something: Julia Hahn (left) and Gabi Bertin (right). menmarkt.

No new walls! A word on Europe continued from p. 3 continued from p. 3 range and shorter-range nuclear missiles countries naturally also have a responsi- bargaining chip. Indeed, in the coming pursuing value-oriented policies will we able in 1986. Shouldn’t a similar thing be bility to help make our world sustainable decades, it is possible that European to maintain our global interests in the long possible today as well? and peaceful. Only through dialogue, countries will lose ground in terms of term. We also need people to be able to reliable treaties and strong international demographics and economic and political In a conflict-ridden world in which some participate more in the world, both in organizations will we be able to bring power. What must remain the normative governments lock up and even eliminate economic and social terms. Only when order to this chaotic world once again. force of a value-based EU. For this reason, opponents – where exploitation and corrup- we ensure that the world’s poorest people All of this requires courage because it too, the EU must defend itself vigorously tion are commonplace in many countries – have a share in prosperity will we solve means we have to seek dialogue, work against attacks – from both within and the EU is indeed no Elysian Field. However, the problems that pose a threat to security together and accept compromises. It also without – on its values of human dignity, it remains an unprecedented success project. and stability worldwide. requires optimism because such negotia- freedom, democracy, the rule of law and The EU continues to be a model for many However, we also need greater par- tions do not have a certain outcome and pluralism. reformers and democrats, especially in the ticipation in international politics. This it can take years before they bear fruit. In In an era in which other representatives European neighborhood – for example, in includes fairer global trade and better reg- the trench warfare of domestic politics, of the West speak more of deals than of Ukraine, Moldavia or Tunisia – but also ulations on globalization. It also means this notion is harder to sell than rearma - values, the EU has an even greater obli- across the globe. In spite of all its shortcom- that we need to ensure that countries and ment and isolation. But one thing is clear gation to express its values; not only for ings, the EU should be proud of its values and regions which were not seen as important – the reflexes of the Cold War will not itself, but for the entire “free West,” as not back down from defending them. It owes enough after the end of World War II help us. We need to be courageous again we used to call it, and for the world as this not only to EU citizens, but to everyone have a greater say in the United Nations. and tear down walls rather than building a whole. Our values do not contradict who fights for the same values in their own The other side of the coin is that these new ones out of fear. our interests. On the contrary, only by neighborhoods and worldwide. A CLASS OF THEIR OWN. “No other ships today can match the high standards set by MS EUROPA and MS EUROPA 2 and their crews.” Douglas Ward, Berlitz Cruise Guide

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 SQUARE ONE

Berlin’s Alexanderplatz is ever in the making Coming soon: luxury residential living By Tong-Jin Smith in Berlin’s urbane center. HINES CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS HINES CORPORATE

lexanderplatz, the famous and In the race for Berlin’s first residential sky- On the other side of Alexa, Dutch inves- urban space, a place Berliners and visitors infamous central square in Ber- scraper, competition is welling across the street tor Dekor Vastgoed has begun building yet alike will enjoy and where one might con- lin-Mitte was named for Czar on the corner of Grunerstraße and Alexander- another residential high-rise. Not quite as sider taking an after-dinner walk. “One Alexander after his visit to Berlin straße, where Russian developer MonArch high, but no less expensive than its neigh- key aspect will undoubtedly be how we Ain 1805. It was used for military parades and plans to erect another 150-meter high-rise bors, Grandaire will be 20 stories of condo- decide to regulate traffic in the future,” farmers’ markets until the end of the 19th designed by Berlin-based architects Ortner & miniums starting at 4,800 euros per square says Carola Bluhm, chairwoman of the century. Almost one hundred years later, Ortner. According to its marketer, Bewocon, meter. Connected to the tower will be a parliamentary group Die Linke in the Berlin it was the site of peaceful demonstrations Alexander Tower will sport a three-story 12-story apartment building with about 100 city parliament. “Alexanderplatz itself may during the downfall of the East German one day become less commercial and offer regime. Today, the “Alex” – as Berliners more sojourn quality, but we need to talk call it – is a landmark and commercial “Can Alexanderplatz become a more about the multi-lane streets surrounding it.” center lined with shops and eateries, train Making the plaza more accessible and walk- and tram stations, the TV tower and the welcoming urban space?” able is one of ten principles established for Park Inn hotel. It’s a meeting point, a stage the further development of Alexanderplatz for street artists and musicians, a tourist shopping mall – in direct competition to neigh- rental units – something the city needs more and its surroundings in a yearlong public attraction and traffic junction – and some boring Alexa – and an in-house private movie than luxury condos for the international jet dialogue process with more than 10,000 might say an eyesore. theatre and fitness club topped by 32 floors of set. The architecture is less eccentric and citizen participants. People do not generally come here to luxury apartments. Prices are expected to start more in tune with the Bauhaus idea that Among the postulated guidelines are also spend their lunch break or enjoy an after- at about 5,000 euros per square meter and “form follows function”; it is a building the need to create a connection to the his- noon stroll with the kids. Quite to the apartment sizes will be upwards of 30 square Berliners can relate to with more ease. tory of the city center, opening the space in contrary, for Berliners Alexanderplatz is meters, with penthouses offering a breathtak- But the question remains as to how Alex- front of City Hall south of the TV tower a throughway, a hub to change from train ing view of the Berlin skyline. anderplatz can become a more welcoming for democratic political debate, and ensur- to subway or to rush from a department ing that Berlin’s center is firmly established store to the Alexa mall on the other side of as a place for art and culture. “We have Grunerstraße. In a sense, the Alex of today PARWEZ the unique situation here that nearly all is an evolution of the place Alfred Döblin of the current residential buildings and describes in his 1928 novel Berlin Alex- many of the commercial spaces surrounding anderplatz, where his protagonist Franz Alexanderplatz, reaching all the way down Biberkopf encounters hustle and bustle, to the old town center in Nikolaiviertel, clamor and chaos, prostitution and crime. belong to the city’s public housing society Commerce now reigns supreme and has WBM,” explains Manfred Kühne, director replaced the once rough yet charming social- for urban development in Berlin’s Senate ity of the pre-war years and the GDR. Department for Urban Development and And critics fear that things will not Housing. “This opens the opportunity to improve once the international developers, give more cultural and social institutions who purchased properties along the edges affordable spaces instead of focusing on of the square, bring to life what was laid achieving the highest possible rent by giving out in a master plan in 1993. Identifying preference to fast-food restaurants and other Alexanderplatz as a high-rise location in a highly commercial chains.” city otherwise dominated by buildings with This idea was echoed by a civil society a maximum height of 22 meters, the master initiative formed to rescue and develop the plan has been an object of heated political ruins of Haus der Statistik, one of several debate and still waits to be realized. But buildings constructed in the 1970s for the with Berlin’s massive population growth GDR regime. Contrary to its sisters – Haus and soaring property prices, developers are des Lehrers, Haus des Reisens, Haus der seizing the moment. Elektroindustrie, Haus des Berliner Ver- The American real estate investment lags and Kongresshaus – the large building firm, Hines, is set to build Alexanderplatz complex along Otto-Braun-Straße north of Residential on the northeast corner of the Alexanderplatz was abandoned in 2008, square. Designed by star architect Frank prior to which it had been used by federal Gehry, plans for Berlin’s first residential government agencies for almost a decade. skyscraper were introduced to the public The other former GDR showpieces lining in 2013. The structure’s sculptural design the streets around Alexanderplatz were made headlines, prompting Regula Lüscher, converted into modern office spaces and Berlin’s chief building director, to say: “On partially declared heritage sites, protecting the one hand, Gehry’s design has an expres- them from alteration and demolition. How- sive form and an unusual, eccentric, new ever, Haus der Statistik, which has remained shape for this location. And yet, its façade federal property, has been more or less emits a pleasant sense of calm. In addition, abandoned, and is now crumbling – a fact the design fits well into its surroundings and that has infuriated Berliners and provoked conveys well the aspect of Metropolitan public debate, especially in the wake of a living.” However, realization of this 150- growing housing shortage and the refugee meter tower has been halted by concerns crisis of 2015. regarding possible damages to the subway But change is in sight. In an agreement tunnel below. With preparations now com- between Berlin and the federal government, pleted, construction is scheduled to begin the city will purchase Haus der Statistik at soon to meet the planned 2019 deadline. To be continued: Haus der Statistik in need of renovation. market value. “Negotiations are well under 2017 9

 FRANKONIA In the heart of historical Berlin: the new Bertelsmann Stiftung offices.

BIG NAME MOVE way,” says Ephraim Gothe, deputy district to allot to which type of usage and who will The Bertelsmann Stiftung is the latest in a In November 2016, the Bundestag mayor and the person responsible for urban develop the old or build new structures in long list of organizations to make a move to officially signed off on the funds for a full development in Mitte. The Berlin Senate has place of the ruins we see today,” says Gothe, Berlin. In early September, property devel- reconstruction of Schinkel’s Bauakademie. set aside 80 million euros for the purchase and who plans to set up an air-inflated tent on oper Frankonia Eurobau announced that redevelopment of the building complex. “I am the parking lot behind Haus der Statistik the Stiftung– a leading non-partisan operat- The new Bertelsman Stiftung building was happy to say that there is consensus among during the upcoming winter, offering heated ing foundation and the largest of its kind designed by renowned Spanish architect the district of Mitte, the Senate Department shelter to Berlin’s homeless. “The city already in Germany – had acquired almost 2,000 Rafael Moneo and will also house restau- for Urban Development and Housing, and the owns that piece of land and marking it with square meters of commercial space in a rants and high-end apartments in addition civil society initiative as to how the building a social institution, even a temporary one, new office complex currently being built on to offices. will be developed.” Should the purchase be sets a tone.” Berlin’s historical Schinkelplatz. A purchase finalized in 2017, he expects planning to move “Our hope is to set an example that will price was not disclosed. The Stiftung is “Our new space in Berlin will help us forward rather quickly. radiate beyond Haus der Statistik itself,” adds scheduled to take up residence in the space further intensify our partnerships and In its coalition agreement the current Berlin Manfred Kühne, referring to the democratic at the southern end of the complex in 2019. cooperative activities in the capital,” says government envisions a mixed usage for the planning process and its outcome. “Our ambi- Liz Mohn, Vice Chair of the Bertelsmann 40,000 square meters, providing space for tion is to make this the nucleus of a new devel- The Stiftung’s new offices are found in Stiftung’s Executive Board. At its new of- administrative, cultural, social and educa- opment for Mitte and to increase the quality of the heart of historical Berlin between fices, the foundation is especially inter- tional purposes as well as apartments for Alexanderplatz by curtailing its current, radi- the Friedrichswerder Church and the ested in fostering exchange with leading people from all walks of life, including new- cally capitalistic agenda.” This should include Bauakademie (Building Academy), both figures drawn from the worlds of science, comers to the city. The public will participate rethinking the entire program that is the Alex designed by eminent German architect academia, civil society, business and in the planning and development. “It is a – attracting countless visitors all throughout Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841). politics. BT matter17-08-30_008_ID17064_eAz_Gotthard_Berlin of deciding how much space we want the year, Times_247,8x180_RZcd and then rejecting them.

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Humane capital Michael Bohmeyer founded an organization that has given more than 100 people 1,000 euros a month for one year – no strings attached, no questions asked. What effect has that had on the recipients? By Benjamin Walter

ichael Bohmeyer was fed up automated labor and putting them into a do not reflect the true value they have for a factor,” Bohmeyer happily reports, “and with the rat race. Follow- fund to finance basic income, so that the greater society,” Bohmeyer says, explaining he managed to stop taking pills for the first ing several years as an IT gulf between rich and poor ceases to keep that real market wages for undesirable work time in his life.” One man who had been administrator and startup growing. will be achieved only once no one can be jobless for years found work, because at the Mmanager, he jumped ship in 2013, at age And yet, unconditional basic income has forced to do it anymore. Toilets will still be interview, instead of confessing he needed a 29. Instead of netting 3,000 euros monthly, had a bad reputation. Someone sitting at cleaned and old people cared for when these job to survive, he could say, “I have money he had to get by on a monthly 1,000-euro a cash register, or sweeping the street, or kinds of work are compensated according and would like to work here.” share of profits. “Funnily enough, it made cleaning toilets asks who would do such to their real market value. Freedom from duress and insecurity is me much freer, healthier and more cre- unattractive work in the future. Others To date, My Basic Income has given more something the 20 employees of the orga- ative,” says the native Berliner. “I had better sitting in a beer garden might wonder who than 100 people the good fortune of having nization also enjoy. All are paid according relationships and became a better father.” would bring them their refills. their number chosen. Did they all stop to their individual needs. “We do not ask That was because he received money Why is resistance so strong to a system working? Far from it. Only three recipients what I’m worth on the market. What we for free. No conditions, no pressure, no that would give people “the freedom to say quit their jobs, one of them a call center ask is, ‘What do I need to keep my mind obligation to work and, as a result, no wor- at ease so that I can work?’” No one earns ries. Soon something remarkable happened. fewer than 10 euros an hour. The highest “Within me I felt a new, irresistible drive hourly wage is just under 30 euros. Full-time to create, a new interest in the world.” It “The dams are going to staffers earn between 1,430 and 2,300 euros then dawned on Bohmeyer that receiving monthly. “That’s not me,” Bohmeyer says money without binding obligations could burst anyway, so we better with a wink. The most modest one of all is help liberate others as well. He wanted to 27-year-old Melanie Schichan. 1,430 euros find out, so he set up My Basic Income, a learn to swim instead of suffice for her and her two cats. She can non-profit organization that crowdfunds afford gym membership and insurance, and basic incomes of 1,000 euros a month for trying to build new dams.” even puts a little money aside each month. those interested in receiving them – for one “I don’t earn much here. But I have a cool year, with no strings attached. workplace, great coworkers and security, The idea of a basic income for all is noth- no”? “In a society in which one person’s loss employee who has since enrolled at a univer- because I won’t be told, ‘Get lost. We don’t ing new. In his 1983 book Paths to Paradise, is another’s gain and everything is based on sity. Five became self-employed. Many are need you any more,’” she says. The only André Gorz sketched out the concept as competition, there is zero trust,” Bohmeyer relieved, suffer less from stress and feel less downside is the economics degree she’s something all people are entitled to, rather says. Yet basic income offers relief precisely bulldozed in life because the pressure and been earning. “It’s so nice here that I can’t than as remuneration for some kind of to those who suffer under the performance fear of unemployment have eased. “One manage to finish my degree.” work in the usual sense. It draws on the principle and do the dirty, unpleasant work, chronically ill person stopped having epi- What objections could there be to a guar- wealth of society, “which results from the he adds. “Present-day wages for those jobs sodes once survival anxiety was no longer anteed basic income for all? For those who productive forces of society altogether, not would gladly make do with 1,000 euros a the accumulation of individual labor. The month as well as those who earn a wage, principle of ‘each according to his perfor- PRIVATE salary or fees – in a nutshell, everyone mance’ is no longer valid. It must now be from beggars to billionaires? Of course, replaced by the principle of ‘each according this income would be taxed like any other, to his needs’ – in the words of Marx in his meaning that “earners” would keep less. Critique of the Gotha Program.” Gorz calls Also, high incomes would have to be levied it social wages, social income or the social at higher rates. “I think it’s fine to accu- dividend. For “production of the neces- mulate wealth through work,” Bohmeyer sities,” Gorz calculated 20,000 hours of says. “But that shouldn’t be at the expense labor per lifetime. That equals 10 years of of others. And I would like to be able to full-time work, 20 years of part-time work stop at any point and still have enough to or 40 years of working ten hours per week. survive as a human.” Indeed, the moment may have arrived to There already exists something approach- try out an alternative to working 9-to-5. ing basic income, namely social welfare pay- “Digitization holds enormous opportuni- ments. But receiving this kind of support ties, but will lead to job losses,” Bohmeyer is tied to coercion and obligations. That predicts. Today, the vulnerabilities of labor demands time and energy while inhibiting exploited by companies like Uber cause creativity and, incidentally, family planning. a lot of anger, he says. But even those In Western societies, those who work long jobs will vanish as more and more cars hours – and earn handsomely – have no time become self-driving. Germany alone will for children. Meanwhile, it’s especially hard see 800,000 jobs lost for full-time drivers, for welfare recipients to raise three children, Bohmeyer says. because assistance in Germany is allocated per Wherever machines perform tasks better family, not per capita. Thus, more kids means and cheaper, humans become obsolete. less money to go around, which worsens the Unemployment results from the flawed allo- compulsion to find work. cation of labor. The consequences include Yet every kind of family would benefit from more welfare recipients, fewer available basic income. If Bohmeyer’s concept of basic jobs, yet more pressure to work. That income were implemented, a couple with three makes people sick. children would receive 5,000 euros monthly – “The dams are going to burst anyway,” with good reason. “Raising three children is Bohmeyer says, “so why not learn to swim a full-time job,” he points out. Wouldn’t that instead of trying to build new dams.” He “They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” be something? Germans might actually start recommends harnessing the profits from Andy Warhol having children again. D d ie lan Nr.1 in Deutsch

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 FOODIE FANTASIES

For many years now, food startups from Berlin have been among Germany’s most successful new companies. Today, even large corporations from outside the food industry are investing in the sector By Bastian Brauns

e believe in a world that priori- in search of nutrition sourced from places toothpaste, the idea was to make it possible and that food delivery services such as Hel- tizes food again.” This is how beyond conventional supermarkets and res- for Nu3 online customers to find the product loFresh ultimately began in response to this the founders of the gourmet taurants. that best reflects their lifestyle and overall demand. Indeed, he says, “All players in the online shop “Gegessen wird Jan-Frieder Damm is head of the new food- philosophy, whether this involves weight loss, field want to facilitate the process of buying immer”W describe their mission. Founded tech division at the Association of German organic food, sports or health. “Back then, we and preparing food.” in 2015, the Berlin-based startup promises Startups (Bundesverband der deutschen found out that the idea of functional nutri- But Sünderhauf also knows that many its customers quality products, pleasur- Startups). “The market for food startups tion was becoming increasingly important. people still associate healthy food with a able eating experiences and fair relation- has definitively exploded,” he argues. Just People want to live longer and stay healthier,” severe lack of enjoyment: “Of course, a ships with producers. Items offered include organic pasta with an extra-fine touch of truffle, spicy tuna fish mousse, popcorn with Malabar pepper and sea salt, and cold-brew coffee with a hint of licorice. Another way to describe the company’s approach might be: “The unusual is our normal.” “Gegessen wird immer,” which can be loosely translated as “everyone needs to eat” SHUTTERSTOCK/FOXYS FOREST MANUFACTURE FOREST SHUTTERSTOCK/FOXYS or “there’s always eating going on,” is only one of a growing number of Berlin food start- ups that are becoming increasingly important for the capital city’s economy. Two other startups that are better-known but not as high-end are HelloFresh and Marley Spoon. These two also deliver food with a concept; customers order so-called Kochboxes (cook- ing boxes) that contain all the ingredients they need to cook a meal at home without having to come up with their own recipe or go shopping themselves. The Rocket Internet startup HelloFresh is so successful that it’s already set up shop in nine countries on three continents. Experts estimate its value at several billion euros and the company is expected to go public soon. But the undisputed champion in the field is Delivery Hero. Rocket Internet also owns a large share of that company, which had the largest German IPO in 2017. Among the other well-known food delivery services are Lieferheld, Pizza.de and Foodora. But it’s not just online delivery services that are flourishing in Berlin. Several other food Not pictured: Pizza, cake and ice cream. startups are developing the know-how and tech solutions that all major companies are a few years ago, investors and corporations says Sünderhauf. Today, Nu3 is active in 24 healthy snack is never going to taste like looking for, and many are even developing were still belittling the goals and ideas of countries and Europe’s leading provider of a chocolate donut,” he admits. Fat and entirely new food products. This is a fascinat- these young companies. “Today, however, so-called intelligent nutrition. At the moment, sugar happen to be flavor carriers, and yet ing trend, especially as the food sector was food has become sexy, whether its new customers can select from a growing assort- “after ten consecutive days eating chocolate long considered to be dominated by global products or innovative services.” Damm even ment of roughly 6,500 articles and also get donuts, they won’t taste particularly good corporations like Nestlé, Unilever, Kraft, manages his own food startup, the Berlin- free advice from ecotrophologists, sports either.” Coca Cola and Pepsi. based Daizu GmbH, which has developed a scientists and physicians. Until recently, Nu3 had distributed its There are a number of reasons why young counterproduct to energy drinks; his “sleep. Sünderhauf confirms that people’s interest products exclusively online and via their Berlin companies in the food sector are enjoy- ink, the natural sleeping aid” is designed to in a healthy lifestyle and in organic, sustain- shop on Amazon. But now you’ll find Nu3 ing tremendous success. For example, the allow people to sleep better. With his promise able nutrition is on the rise: “With all the products on the recently launched online name and the much-lauded concept behind of a healthy drink and deeper sleep, Damm black sheep on the market, we wanted to marketplaces belonging to the Rewe super- “Gegessen wird immer” already reveal why and his colleagues are eager to combine be a provider that works with customers in market chain. “We plan to be on real-life more and more investors are drawn to food two customer top trends, that is, improved a transparent and honest way. We wanted supermarket shelves soon, as well. We’ve startups. Human beings need to eat and drink sleep and health-conscious nutrition, both to offer only those products that have been already made it in France, but Germany will several times every day, and this promises a of which have the same goal of achieving a proven to have a high quality and impact.” have to wait until the beginning of 2018,” stabile sales market. However, the crucial better quality of life. As Sünderhauf notes, thousands of studies says Sünderhauf. This, too, is evidence that aspect is that people now want to consume Robert Sünderhauf also sought to profit have already shown that “if we want to major corporations are eager to profit from very special products: organic, regional, sea- from food-industry trends. Back in 2011, become healthier and live longer, we need new food trends and ideas. “It’s interesting sonal, vegan or simply new and innovative he joined with two colleagues to found the enough sleep, healthy food and low levels for companies because they can try out food. These are the most common charac- company Nu3. From chia seeds, coconut oil of stress.” He argues that these factors are the startups without investing enormous teristics attracting more and more people and protein bars to creatine, bath salts and becoming increasingly important to people amounts themselves,” says Sünderhof. 2017 13



Some of the industry’s largest food com- and drug stores like dm, right next to company network Techstars to develop a Metro to its customers in Berlin and Munich panies are indeed getting involved today. long-standing product made by Katjes. The mentoring and accelerator program designed within a few hours. For example, Oetker is investing in food gummy bear company has now invested in to foster tech startups in creating innovative In light of all of these developments, Robert startups, with the recently founded deliv- the Berlin porridge startup Haferkater and new solutions for the industry. Metro wants Sünderhauf from Nu3 is certain: “We’re still ery service Kuchenfreunde now inviting taken over 10 percent of that young com- not only to deliver food, but also to help at the beginning of an extremely exciting customers to order fresh cakes and pies. development.” In his view, though in its Oetker also invested in Atlantic Food Labs, infancy, food-sector digitization is already the new Berlin holding company owned by causing major shifts within the industry. It’s entrepreneur and business angel Christophe “People want to consume therefor not surprising that Berlin – of all Maire. Atlantic Food Labs invests in food very special products: cities – is becoming a hub for this develop- startups and helps them grow; media com- ment, as hardly a weekend goes by without pany ProSiebenSat.1. is one of their most organic, regional, seasonal, a hummus, kebab, coffee or beer festival recent investors. here. Indeed, in the past several years, food Large and established names are taking a vegan or simply new an and drinks once considered to border on fresh new look at the industry, for example “fast food” have now morphed into full- the gummy bear company Katjes increased innovative food.” day recreational and nutritional happenings, its share in the vegan food manufacturer especially in larger German cities. Thousands Veganz this year. Like Nu3, Veganz always pany. Porridge, which bears the unfortunate millions of medium-sized restaurants across of visitors seek out these events to enjoy focused on their own innovative products; German name “Haferschleim,” is set to be Europe achieve digital transformation and food and drinks, but also for inspiration and however, they faced certain challenges sell- the next big thing in food. profit thereby as a service provider. Metro enjoyment. The competition is great, says ing them in purely vegan supermarkets. Metro, once Germany’s largest trade and has even begun cooperating with a com- Sünderhauf: “But it’s the perfect way for Today, Veganz products can be found on retail group, is now investing so heavily in petitor of Amazon Fresh; the food delivery food startups to test how well their products the shelves of large supermarkets like Rewe the food sector that it is joining with the U.S. service getnow.de delivers fresh food from actually reach their target groups.”

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Because it’s 2017 The liberal Muslim activist Seyran Ateş has founded Berlin’s first mosque where women can preach to men | By Felizia Merten

n the beginning were the words: “In the cites human rights and freedom of worship And many Islamic functionaries don’t like worship for men and women. “Islam forbids name of the merciful and compassion- among its tenets, the point is not to oppose that one bit,” she says. The response to the physical contact between men and women ate God who created humanity in His conservative and traditional mosques and opening of the Ibn Rushd Goethe Mosque during prayer. This violates the foundations endless variety, society must help shape associations. “We want to work together could hardly have been more polarized. of Islamic law,” its assessment concluded. Ithe coexistence of people of the Islamic faith with these associations against Islamist Berlin Mayor Michael Müller, along with The Turkish religious authority Diyanet in Germany according to the articles of the terror and towards a more democratic and parties spanning the city’s political establish- not only accuses the Ibn Rushd Goethe Universal Declaration of Human Rights of enlightened Islam,” Ateş says. ment, has welcomed the project. Alongside Mosque of undermining Islam; it also alleges the United Nations and the constitution of It was with this in mind that the founders plans for an Institute for Islamic Theology at that the project is not even a mosque, but the Federal Republic of Germany.” named the mosque after the Arab philoso- Berlin’s Humboldt University and the House rather a group run by Fethullah Gülen, the This is how the Ibn Rushd Goethe Mosque, pher Ibn Rushd (1126–1198). Also known by of One, where Muslims, Christians and Jews man Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan newly opened in an annex of the St. John’s the Latinized name Averroes, Ibn Rushd was can soon worship together, the Ibn Rushdi accuses of having staged a coup attempt Church in Berlin’s Moabit neighborhood, a polymath and progressive thinker whose Goethe Mosque fits in perfectly with efforts in Turkey last year. The effects of these welcomes its visitors. This former theater writings united faith with reason. This is to establish the German capital as a center official condemnations have been harass- space above the youth center is where a lib- precisely what Ateş hopes to achieve as well: of liberal Islamic life. ment and death threats against Ateş and her eral and democratic Islam has been preached a reasoned and historically attuned recep- The positive reactions were joined by congregation and, consequently, heightened and practiced since mid-June of this year. tion of the Quran and the traditions of Islam vehement condemnations, however, espe- police protection for her. Yet Ateş remains Although alongside cially from abroad. Dar al-Ifta, an Egyptian undaunted and has vowed to push ahead Berlin is peaceful government institu- with her project of a liberal Islam oppos- already “On the air and dialogue tion with wide- ing extremism of every kind. “There are home to with other ranging astonishingly many Muslims worldwide at least 75 in prayer, she refuses religions. doctrinal who have been wishing for a liberal registered Johann authority and enlightened Islam that is free mosques, to leave Islam in the Wolf- in Islam, of prejudice, but remain silent out the open- hands of radicals or gang von has crit- of fear. I want to give these people ing of this Goethe icized a voice,” she says. For the future, house of terrorists.” (1748– the Seyran Ateş hopes for many more worship 1832), mosque such places of worship, and good garnered an extraordinary amount of atten- probably Germany’s greatest writer, set an for its news is already on the horizon. A tion. In the Ibn Rushd Goethe Mosque, men example for this respectful dialogue and was practice cofounder of the Ibn Rushd Goethe and women pray side by side. Homosexuals therefore selected as the mosque’s second of joint Mosque, the Islamic scholar Abdel- are welcome. Women can be prayer leaders patron. Goethe’s collection of poems West- Hakim Ourghi, has announced or imams; they need not wear headscarves. Eastern Divan, inspired by the Persian poet plans to establish another liberal In addition to members of all Muslim sects, Hafez, includes the famous quote: “He who mosque in Freiburg, in Ger- Christians, Jews and atheists are likewise knows himself and others well / No longer many’s southwest. welcome. “This mosque should be a home may ignore: / Occident and Orient / Dwell for all those who feel alienated by the tra- separately no more.” DPA/SOEREN STACHE ditional, conservative and patriarchal struc- Ateş and her new congrega- tures of Islam,” says the mosque’s founder, tion have found support and Seyran Ateş. The Turkish-born 54-year-old approval around the world. feminist and human rights activist is a “Our project is recognized as lawyer by training, not an Islamic scholar. a project of peace,” she says. In Germany she is has no equal as a liberal The liberal stance of the Muslim woman and is a frequent guest on Ibn Rushd Goethe Mosque prime-time talk shows, where she raises her is hardly a novelty. Compa- voice both eloquently and combatively. On rable projects already exist the air and in prayer, she refuses to leave in Germany and the UK Islam in the hands of radicals or terrorists. (the Inclusive Mosque), Ateş saw the need for the project during the US and in Switzerland her tenure as a member of the German (the Offene Moschee Sch- Islam Conference, a forum for dialogue weiz). Other congrega- between the German state and the Muslim tions allow women to communities in the country, from 2006 to lead prayers or become 2009. She watched as conservative Muslim imams. In the women’s associations imposed their interpretation of mosques of China, this Islam and its practice on the forum. “They has been a reality for Seyran Ateş divided the world into halal and haram – 300 years. Europe’s Islamic and non-Islamic. There was no room first mosque for for liberal views,” Ateş says. By 2009 the women, the Miriam idea of a liberal mosque had become a top Mosque, opened priority for her. “I wanted to stand up and its doors in 2016 do something against Islamist terror and in Copenhagen. But the misogyny in Islam,” she adds. Together Seyran Ateş knows with other founding members using their why her mosque is so own money and donations, Ateş made her controversial. “We’re idea reality, establishing the mosque as a making a revolution and charitable enterprise under German law. For publicly exposing abuses. the Ibn Rushd Goethe congregation, which That makes us visible. SOME OF THE BEST GERMAN AMBASSADORS WORK ON THE STREETS.

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PK o1_247,8x370 02.indd 1 06/09/17 09:46 1 2 3

7 GROWN ON CONCRETE

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1 Zillestraße 98-100, inner courtyard. Artist: Gert Neuhaus, 1979 | 2 Ritterstraße 12. Artist: Jadore Tong, alias S.Y.R.U.S, 2014 | 3 Skalitzer Straße/Oranienstraße 195. Artist: Victor Ash, 2007 | 4 Frobenstraße/Schwerinstraße. Artist: Shepard Fairey, 2017 | 5 Alvenslenestraße/Potsdamer Straße. Artist: Vhils, 2011 | 6 Mehringplatz. Artist: Shepard Fairy, 2014 | 7 Turiner Straße 7, Artist: Kwast, 2017 Oranienstraße/Manteuffelstraße. Artist: ROA, 2011 | 8 Neheimer Straße 2-6. Artists: Collin van der Sluijs and Super A, 2016 | 9 Prinzenallee/Badstraße. Artist: Artistgruppe Graco, 2013 | 10 Bernauer Straße/Strelitzer Straße. Artist: Marcus Haas, installed by XI-Design (Die Dixons), Size Two and Mario Mankey, 2016 | 11 Mehringplatz. Artist: Don John, 2014 | 12 Falckensteinstraße 41. Artist: BLU, 2007 | 13 Lützowstraße/Kluckstraße 23. Artist: Nomad Clan, 2017 | Wollankstraße 20. Contractor: Mario Kwast, installed by Irma Peña, 2012 | Book: Norbert and Melanie Martins: Hauswände statt Leinwände – Berliner Wandbilder (Walls not Canvases – Berlin Murals), c. 300 color photos, hardcover, 29.90 euros. 4 5

GROWN ON CONCRETE

Large murals inhabit exposed façades left behind by World War II bombs By Johanna Trapp and Andreas Schoelzel (photos)

his image is more than a mural,” in 1929 when he painted the interior walls of 8 says Norbert Martins, “it’s a monu- the National Palace in Mexico City. In 1933 ment.” The work of art he’s referring he was invited to create a mural in Rockefeller to is located in the multicultural, Center in New York City, but a scandal ensued working-classT district of Wedding and portrays when people noticed that his Man at the Cross- three brothers next to the words “gewachsen roads contained portraits of Lenin, Marx, auf Beton” (grown on concrete). Two of the Engels and Trotsky. men, Jérôme and Kevin-Prince Boateng, play Germany discovered street art in the 1970s. soccer in the world’s biggest stadiums and are In 1971 the city of Bremen commissioned venerated by the youth of Berlin. No one would destitute artists to paint public buildings and think of removing this monument, even though civilian bunkers. In 1975 the movement reached it violates public law; indeed, the mural also the “frontier town” of West Berlin, where happens to be an advertisement for a sports there were still countless vacant lots destroyed shoe company and has yet to receive official by WWII bombs; the exposed walls over- approval from the district, probably because no looking these spaces offered naked, bare and such application has been sub- ugly canvases. Across from mitted. In other words, if the the Tiergarten S-Bahn station, rules were taken seriously, the Ben Wagin and three colleagues three Boateng brothers would painted the city’s first mural, have to go. Weltbaum – Grün ist Leben Norbert Martins knows the (World Tree – Green is Life), a story behind these images like clarion call for environmental no other. He has published preservation. Wagin thereby a book on Berlin’s street-art also helped protect the house jungle and takes tourists on from a scheduled demolition. regular guided tours. Roughly Today, however, it looks like 750 such murals have been the Weltbaum’s time has come, created since 1975 and he has as there are current plans to photographed them all. Some- build offices and a hotel on 13 times he was even there when the site. The building contrac- they were made. tor can even point to the fact Gert Neuhaus’ Zipper was created in 1979 that back in the 1970s Wagin admitted the on an exposed brick wall zipping up a fin de painting was not a work of art, and thus it is siècle façade. As Martins explains, Neuhaus not protected. would have liked to have shown more fin The Berlin Senate then sponsored competi- de siècle and less exposed brick; in fact, the tions for “Kunst am Bau” (Art on Buildings) original idea was to have the brick visible only and “Farbe im Stadtbild” (Color in the Urban above the zipper, with the rest of the wall in Landscape). House squatters also made use of a beautiful turn-of-the-century look. But that façades for illegal protest images and slogans. would have cost three times as much and was As the empty lots began disappearing, so, too, simply too expensive for the client. did many of these murals. But new paintings are At the time, a mural like Zipper would still being created today. Indeed, local housing have cost 20,000 deutschmarks and the paint associations recently discovered that homes would have been applied by brush. Today, with attractive murals are easier to rent out. artists earn less and can work much faster Last year, a new work at the Wall Memo- with spray cans. rial along Bernauer Straße caused many heads Kosmonaut/Astronaut by Victor ASH was to turn. Martins was one of the people who created in 2007 and also harbors a secret you was not crazy about the image of a raw piece can only discover in the dark. While visit- of meat being sliced by a knife: “When I first ing the site at night, the artist noticed that a saw it, I was shocked,” he says. “How can nearby spotlight casts the shadow of a flagpole you paint something like that?” But when he onto the wall. These days, at night, the hand looked closer, he saw the dates 1961–1989 of the astronaut stretches in the direction of and the outline of Berlin’s districts. Now a fan the shadow as if trying to grab hold of it. of the piece, Martins says: “Only here, at this Murals were first painted in Mexico. Frida site, is it possible to paint such a provocative Kahlo’s husband, Diego Rivera, became famous and disturbing image.”

1 Zillestraße 98-100, inner courtyard. Artist: Gert Neuhaus, 1979 | 2 Ritterstraße 12. Artist: Jadore Tong, alias S.Y.R.U.S, 2014 | 3 Skalitzer Straße/Oranienstraße 195. Artist: Victor Ash, 2007 | 4 Frobenstraße/Schwerinstraße. Artist: Shepard Fairey, 2017 | 5 Alvenslenestraße/Potsdamer Straße. Artist: Vhils, 2011 | 6 Mehringplatz. Artist: Shepard Fairy, 2014 | 7 Turiner Straße 7, Artist: Kwast, 2017 Oranienstraße/Manteuffelstraße. Artist: ROA, 2011 | 8 Neheimer Straße 2-6. Artists: Collin van der Sluijs and Super A, 2016 | 9 Prinzenallee/Badstraße. Artist: Artistgruppe Graco, 2013 | 10 Bernauer Straße/Strelitzer Straße. Artist: Marcus Haas, installed by XI-Design (Die Dixons), Size Two and Mario Mankey, 2016 | 11 Mehringplatz. Artist: Don John, 2014 | 12 Falckensteinstraße 41. Artist: BLU, 2007 | 13 Lützowstraße/Kluckstraße 23. Artist: Nomad Clan, 2017 | Wollankstraße 20. Contractor: Mario Kwast, installed by Irma Peña, 2012 | Book: Norbert and Melanie Martins: Hauswände statt Leinwände – Berliner Wandbilder (Walls not Canvases – Berlin Murals), c. 300 color photos, hardcover, 29.90 euros. 18 2017

 IT’S ALL IN THE PUDDING

How the price of a chocolate dessert is fueling an influx of young Israeli restaurateurs who now feed locals’ appetite for hummus By Franziska Knupper

ere it not for the war, a strip of coastline. The language spoke tion in the Holy Land and around 12,000 economic nor political. “We came here for Berlin would never have at Yafo in Berlin is a mixture of English to 20,000 Israelis currently reside here. the music,” explains Doron. Their Gordon happened.” She delivers and Hebrew. But it’s more shouted than The exact number is not known, as most Café is thus a bistro as well as a record this sentence almost casu- spoken, more hustled than strolled. Sud- of the expats possess a European if not store, a result of the duo’s interest in meld- Wally, followed by a smile outlined by denly, the sound of cheering and clinking German passport. The reasons for the ing personal passion with cultural identity. red lipstick.“My cousin was killed, my glasses. One of the bartenders is celebrat- migration of young Israelis cover a broad The sound of a drill blasts from behind Nir. brother was drafted and I was certain ing their birthday and arak – the Israeli spectrum; like Shani, several were flee- “We’re renovating at the moment. We’re we would all die. I was constantly drunk variant of ouzo – is being handed around. ing conflict in their native land. Others making the café into a restaurant serving for three straight months and just totally Shani is in constant motion, passing on come for economic purposes. The cost of modern, Middle Eastern cuisine. out of it. I couldn’t wait to get of there orders and seating tables while persistently living in Israel has risen sharply over the If you think about it, what actually is somehow.” It was summer 2014 when nipping at her glass of red wine. Now and past decade. During a three-month-long Israeli food?” This question is indeed Shani packed her bags in Tel Aviv and again she eyes the plates in the hands of tent protest in 2011, younger generations a difficult one to answer. The national moved to Germany to live with her then- the waiters. “It’s important for me that the denounced the exorbitant rental prices in meals have their roots in Morocco, Leba- boyfriend Felix. In her home country on food is well presented. It has to look nice Israel’s largest cities. And three years ago, non and Spain, Poland, Russia and Roma- the Mediterranean, Operation Protec- enough for me to want to eat it.” a Facebook post by a young Israeli from nia. Nir’s mother comes from Yemen. PER MEURLING, BERLIN FOOD STORIES, WWW.BERLINFOODSTORIES.COM PER MEURLING, BERLIN FOOD STORIES,

A hands-on experience: Yafo is drawing Berliners to its tables with feasts for the eyes, ears and Shani Ahiel (middle) and Felix Offermann (right) founded Yafo in 2014. the stomach. Located on Gormannstraße 17b, Yafo is open Tuesday – Sunday, 12am-12pm. Pictured here with a friend. tive Edge was wreaking havoc between Baked eggplant, cauliflower in lemon Berlin made quite a stir. “Chocolate pud- “I often call her to ask about meals we Israel and Gaza. In Berlin, Shani waited juice and sesame sauce with garlic seems ding, 19 cents. See you in Berlin!” wrote had when we were kids. And then I cook with trepidation for the verdict from the to appeal to Berliners; indeed Israeli food is the 25-year-old. The entry quickly had them here.” Israel has long been a country municipal authorities on whether her ascendant in the German capital. Mugrabi almost one million hits. “Olim L’Berlin” of immigration, in the culinary sense as application for a restaurant license would in Kreuzberg, Gordon in Neukölln and (Hebrew for “Let us ascend to Berlin”), well. Falafel from Egypt, gefilte fish from be approved. Kanaan in Prenzlauer Berg – the arrival as the sudden mass migration came to Poland and shakshouka – eggs poached Three years later. The boyfriend is no of Israelis in Berlin was accompanied by be known, would culminate in the Israeli in tomato sauce – from North Africa. But more, but the restaurant – Yafo, in Berlin- chickpeas and balls of falafel. Benedict Finance Minister Yair Lapid labeling the it’s the question of chickpea supremacy Mitte – is jam-packed. “Yafo” is Hebrew Berlin on Uhlandstraße has an all-day initiator of the chocolate-pudding scandal that has caused the most culinary strife for “beauty” and also the name of the Israeli breakfast and Hummus & Friends “anti-Zionist.” between Israelis and their Arab neigh- Arab quarter of Tel Aviv separated from in Mitte is 100 percent kosher. Berlin is For Doron Eisenberg and Nir Ivenizki, bors over the past several decades. Who the Jewish center of town by cliffs and popular among the youngest adult genera- the reason for moving to Berlin was neither invented hummus? 2017 19



Who was first to cook the legume in its “Shruna,” or neighborhood, is critical, says Doron. It’s a safety net that own stock to make msabbaha? Did the softens the arrival in a foreign country and helps lessen the anonymity of Israelis literally assimilate a central element a large city. Shani agrees: “In Germany, the independence and freedom of Arab cuisine? of the individual are primary. I respect that. But in Israel you experience Shani would like to liberate Middle East- more of a community feeling. And I miss that here.” ern cuisine from cultural and geographical borders. “The main thing is good olive oil, lots of vegetables, the right spices. Everything has to be fresh. For me, that is Israeli cui- sine.” She still can’t believe she has to teach Germans to eat with their hands, she says, laughing, her black curls bobbing up and down. Hanging on the wall is a portrait of her grandmother – a smiling face wrapped in a white headscarf. Her head is tilting, as is her smile. Shani also has roots in Yemen. “You can really tell. She’s so caring, and always loud.” It’s a close-knit group; Berlin’s Israeli community is tightly networked, and not just in terms of food. As luck would have it, Shani lives right across from Gordon Café. In her black leather jacket and sunglasses

she leaves her building and waves across the JENS KALAENE (2) street. “Guten Morgen!” answers Doron, in German. Most newcomers over the last five Tel Aviv natives Nir Ivenizki (l) and Doron Eisenberg (r) years have settled in Neukölln. Suddenly, in their cafe-meets-record store “Gordon” in Berlin-Neukölln. within a radius of four kilometers from These two DJ-restaurateurs offer tasty Israeli food and vinyl from Sonnenallee to Kottbusser Tor, Hebrew can their record label Legotek. The Gordon Café in Neukölln’s Schillerkiez (Allerstraße 11) is open Wednesday – Monday, 11am-6pm. again be heard on the streets of Berlin. The

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Postcard of the Zerbst castle from 1934. Catherine in the countryside The small town of Zerbst in Sachsen-Anhalt is looking to attract fans of the Russian empress and rebuild its once-splendid Baroque castle By Christine Keilholz

t the old palace residence in Zerbst, the future is already on PICTURE ALLIANCE / ARKIVI display. Transparencies mimick-

ing wood panels hang on the KEILHOLZ CHRISTINE inherit the small principality Asalon walls and, although it’s hard to see, of Zerbst with its large castle and 20,000 even the floor is made of paper. Dirk Her- subjects, most of whom were farmers. Agri- rmann, an Internet entrepreneur and chair- culture was one of the few livelihoods here man of the Schloss Zerbst Association, asks along the small rivers near the mid-section visitors not to walk on the “floor,” because of the Elbe. And yet, the family managed to his team would have to wash off their shoe build their castle without going into debt like marks. Herrmann used his own low-tech many other local Baroque princes. methods to bring a more Baroque feeling Of course, the ruins today are nothing to the interior of the palace ruin, printing compared to the splendor that greeted visi- images of other interiors in the appropriate tors in 1745 as they arrived in Zerbst to sizes on its walls. For visitors, it feels like celebrate the wedding of Prince Christian they are walking into a pre-war photo. August’s eldest daughter to the Russian The tiled stove that forms the centerpiece heir in faraway St. Petersburg. Indeed, the of a small room rings hollow and is actually prince spared no dime organizing a gigantic a fake. So, too, are the fireplaces, ancestral fireworks display. portraits and theater seats bought at online Back then, the site was built in a grand auctions and set up here for the visitors style that included a riding hall, stables and who’ve started coming in droves. “When seven orangeries. From 1681 on, the princes people come in and there’s something to hired architects and builders from all over see,” says Herrmann, “they’re more likely Europe to build an ambitious palace at the to leave a donation.” Fake fireplaces, real princesses: “When people come in and there’s something to see, edge of the city where previously only a Zerbst is a small village of 24,000 resi- they’re more likely to leave a donation.” musty old water castle had stood. With the dents in the federal state of Sachsen-Anhalt, advent of the Baroque era came an addi- just 130 kilometers outside of Berlin. Very tional lush garden complex and a settlement few have heard of it, but history buffs will of craftsmen that served the court. recognize the name; indeed, Princess Sophie It’s easy to imagine the tomboy princess Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst – reading and riding horseback here in the otherwise known as Empress Catherine the “Of course, the ruins 18th century. In her memoirs, however, the Great – spent a number of years in Zerbst later empress noted that her mother also before leaving for Russia in 1744 to marry today are nothing compared to made her kiss the hems of the high-society the man who would become Peter III. ladies who came to visit. Sophie’s mother In April 1945, shortly before the end of the splendor that greeted visitors never felt entirely comfortable in the Anhalt World War II, the palace was bombed and countryside, but it was her relations to the burned to the ground. After that, the ruin fell in 1745.” Swedish royal family of Holstein-Gottorf victim to the destructive policies of the GDR that facilitated her daughter’s marriage to leadership. The west wing was demolished the Grand Duke. upon orders from the ruling SED party, and In the course of the 1990s, what was left the rest of the castle grounds stood aban- of Zerbst castle fell into the hands of the doned for decades. Abandoned for decades: Zerbst castle. city and the guardianship of the associa- Fifteen years ago, when Herrmann and tion. Its 267 members, who come from all friends first formed their association, the over the world, are united by their interest only thing they had were exterior walls. WIKIPEDIA in the location, the Baroque era and the Since then, 1.2 million euros have flowed reconstruction of the castle. into the palace reconstruction, mostly into Today, the bulk of the work is being new concrete ceiling slabs. done with the simplest of means. Instead of In the Baroque era, Saxony-Anhalt was expensive windows, they’re having to do not exactly a hotspot of European politics. with batten frames and Plexiglass panes. The area comprised four small principali- Once upon a time, the private rooms were ties wedged between the more prominent decked out with the finest elements. In fact, Electorates of Saxony and Brandenburg. If Sophie’s mother wrote her letters in a cedar you wanted to be someone, you had to hire writing cabinet clad with silver fittings and yourself out. expensive mirrors on the walls. This is exactly what Christian August von Sophie herself only lived here for a brief Anhalt-Zerbst did. As a second son born time from 1742 to 1744. But Herrmann is into the House of Ascania, he had no hopes eager for this famous historical figure to help of inheriting and instead pursued a career foster Zerbst’s links to the East. As he says, in the Prussian army. The gruff soldier his plans for castle visitors are carried out was eventually named Governor of Stettin, with an “eye on the Russians.” For now, he where his oldest daughter, Sophie, was born could still use a bit of publicity. Plus a lot of in 1729. Only later did Christian August wall transparencies.

22 2017

 PARWEZ

Berlin Times: Mr. Kubiczek, do you know what February 5th, 2018 is? André Kubiczek: (laughs) No.

10,315 – do these numbers mean anything to you? Not yet.

On February 5th, 2018, 10,315 days will have passed since the Berlin Wall fell – after it had stood for 10,315 days. Then it has been gone exactly as long as it was in place.

Yes. Is that a special date? Absolutely.

For you, personally, as well? Not the February day itself, because I never would have known that without you having mentioned it. But it’s comparable to the date that marked the day when we’d lived longer in a unified Germany than in the DDR. And that was when I was 40 years old.

“The good thing was that our military service was cut short as a result of the fall of the Wall. You were 20 years old when the Wall fell. What kind of It would have lasted through summer, but we were all out by the end of January,” says André Kubiczek. memories do you have of that night or the next day? I actually didn’t entirely realize the Wall was falling, because I was in the military at the time. I was fulfilling my military service, which was marked by the same rou- tine: Get up, go about your duties. I was at a helicopter airfield in Thuringia, in the tower, and I gave the weather “A slightly reports and recorded the flights. The shift was over at 6 p.m., then there was a little television, and we’d go to bed at 8:00 p.m. In fact, I have no conscious memory of November 9th. I only realized what was happening the absurd situation” next morning, when I heard it on the radio – or rather, I realized it in a theoretical sense. I think the people in Berlin and Potsdam, who could go directly over and see, André Kubiczek is one of Germany’s most original were the ones to really realize it. That was an exceptional and successful contemporary writers whose moment. For us, everything went on normally. novels continue to evoke the GDR era. Even on November 10th? He spoke with The Berlin Times about his Yes. You couldn’t feel any euphoria there. And the mili- tary service started right up again. The routine. Obviously, experiences following the fall of the Berlin Wall, we listened to the radio and in the evening saw the images the state of German unity, and his daughter, for on TV. But even then, it wasn’t really so emotional. Theo- retically, it was great, but it didn’t really hit home emo- whom the Wall is simply not a big deal tionally, because we were still in the barracks and couldn’t leave. (He laughs.) A slightly absurd situation.

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André Kubiczek’s 2016 André Kubiczek spoke critically acclaimed novel, with The Berlin Times’ “A Sketch of Summer,” Lutz Lichtenberger was shortlisted for the German Book Prize. In it, he tells of a young boy who experiences friend- ship, first love and a feel- ing of freedom during a few weeks in 1985, de- picting a youth in the GDR beyond ideology or resis- tance.

When did you notice for the first time that something had Is it still even useful to think about the “state of German Has the West to date failed to understand the changed, that something was now different here? unity,” then? East properly? In the army, things eventually changed a great deal, and Who knows? At that time, that was my thoroughly That’s a question asked primarily by those whose very suddenly. Within a few weeks, people were all at youthful idealism. But 28 years later? It was probably profession it is to interpret history. They always see once allowed to wear beards, and everyone left the SED inevitable. Maybe unification could have been postponed the East differently, as something bad. And as our (the GDR’s communist party), all the officers. A certain a little, but what would have been gained by that? current conditions become more precarious, anarchy took over. We heard from other military units the image of the East has to be depicted in more that soldiers’ unions had been formed, such as the Feliks Has something also been lost with the demise of the GDR? gloomy terms, which has a clear function. But those Dzierzynski guard regiment in Berlin. Only we were still in Yes, of course. But it’s already been so long, and the who talk without having to perform a function the barracks, and we obviously couldn’t keep going out. awareness of a certain loss is weakening. At some point, understand each other quite well. There is, of course, The good thing was that our military service was cut short it will disappear completely, and then there will be no also a certain stubborn attitude, which is, however, as a result. It would have lasted through summer, but we more sense of loss. It will simply be ironed out by time. actually more present among the older East German were all out by the end of January. generation. Is there then nothing of the GDR left – aside from the Was that the first gift of the new era? Ampelmännchen (the characteristic Berlin pedestrian Do you often have to answer these questions about the Yes. It was very liberating, but more in a kind of theo- traffic signals)? East, about East German phenomena? You seem to have retical sense. It’s funny, I was asked these questions in 2002 too, when been given the role of spokesman for the East. Is it time my first novel was published. At that time, I had much for this to end? To draw on the words of Willy Brandt, would you say faster answers ready. I would have complained that Yes, but it’s happening less and less. It’s simply sinking that what belongs together has grown together? there’s no more solidarity. Now the questions stump me into history. It doesn’t really mean much to today’s That’s a question I would have answered entirely a little. I have to think about it a little longer. These children anymore. I see that with my own daughter. differently back then than I do today. Then, when domestic German sensitivities no longer seem as relevant When I explain to her that the Wall used to be here, and the Wall had fallen, I said: No, the two don’t belong today. how it came about and how it ended, then I see that the together. My view was more in line with civil-rights story doesn’t do much to grab her emotionally. activists like Bündnis 90, who later joined into a party Is there still “Ostalgie,” or nostalgia for the East? with the Greens, who said: We want to try this third Absolutely. I also don’t see anything objectionable in Could one say that the soon-to-be reached 10,315 days way, an open democratic socialism with press freedom that. It’s simply a nostalgic feeling for a past time, which will mark a certain turning point? and individual rights, instead of immediately throwing hardly means for the system of the GDR. It’s really just a I think that certainly a lot of time has passed. But yes, ourselves at the economically strong West. nostalgia for a time when we were younger. you could say that this will mark a turning point.

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 2 ELECTROBICS / MORNING PEOPLE 3 As some Berliners return from a night of dancing, BERLIN OPEN others are just setting out. Indeed, in Berlin, the party 1 capital of Germany, you never really can tell. And now STAGE HOG HEAVEN there’s something they call “pre-work parties.” Morn- In a neighborhood filled with singles looking for a ing grumps, for instance, can head to Morning Glo- match, there’s one place where two, three or more are ryville to dance away their sleepiness before work. encouraged to play. Dozens of times each night at the Singing can be immensely liberating. But doing so in The trend is a London export; Morning Gloryville has unpretentious bar known as Schmittz, as many as 20 front of a large audience requires a certain amount of been touring the world since 2013, filling “night” clubs regulars and tourists alike crowd around a ping pong courage that not everybody has. Joe Hatchiban (43, where partyers forego alcohol and beer in favor of vi- table. Those without paddles use their hands and ev- aka Gareth Lennon) helps people channel their inner tamin smoothies and espresso, and sometimes even eryone from ambitious amateurs to highly inebriated prima donna. Since 2009, the Irishman has been orga- yoga and a massage. It’s a party breakfast from half pros literally run circles around the table, each taking nizing karaoke sessions every Sunday at the open-air past seven to half past eight, with no negative reper- his or her turn to lob, slice or slam. There are no teams stage in Mauerpark. When the weather cooperates, cussions for the gainfully employed. The worst-case in this ultimate game of singles, and whoever misses a he rides his very special bicycle – tricked out with a scenario is a muscle cramp around noon. return is out. Little by little, the number dwindles until powerful sound machine – to the Prenzlauer Berg only two weary competitors remain. After a final, con- park to host a music party for tourists and locals alike. ventional rally, there’s one euphoric winner and a round Whether it’s Frank Sinatra, contemporary pop or folk of applause, at which point the champion raps his pad- music, Hatchiban’s CD collection has almost anything dle on the table to summon another bout. Love all! you could want. All you need to bring is the guts to get up and sing. STEP12 PROGRAM 5 FALL GUYS

Since May 2009, Alexanderplatz in Berlin-Mitte has 4 been home to the so-called Base Flyer, a high-speed PURPLE REIGN grid winch system that is one of the fastest in the world and the only such contraption in Europe. Amateur dare- devils are tethered to a special construction cantile- Weeds squeeze their way between the concrete stairs of the old stands in Mommsen Stadium, built in Charlotten- vered over the roof of the Park Inn Hotel and descend burg in 1930. “Let’s go, TeBe!“ – some 100 loyal fans, all dressed in purple and white, cheer on their team: Tennis 125 meters in about 12 seconds – reaching a free-fall Borussia Berlin, a so-so team in the 6th tier of Germany’s vast professional soccer system. Founded in1902 as velocity of 90 meters per second – before returning Berliner Tennis- und Ping-Pong-Gesellschaft Borussia, TeBe made it to the 1st league for two seasons in the 1970s, safely to solid ground. The technology was originally but now its opponents bear names such as Optik Rathenow and SV Lichtenberg. While their glory days may be used in the stunt industry. Event organizer Jochen over, that doesn’t seem to bother the stalwart fans that flock to Mommsen Stadium. More than perhaps any other Schweizer then developed it further to give average in Germany, this 15,000-seat venue has a reputation of being explicitly free of racism and homophobia, a fact that joes a chance to experience freefall in the middle of countless locals value and reward with their attendance. In the words of Nils, an avid long-term fan: “You can watch the city. Berliners are falling fast for this new pastime top-notch soccer on Sky TV, but nothing compares to the feeling and the atmosphere in the stadium.” offering thrill-seekers a unique view of the TV Tower. 2017 25

 6 IVAN THE REDEEMER

Tempelhofer Feld, east entrance. If a red Opel Corsa is parked at the corner of Herrfurthstraße around lunchtime, Ivan must be nearby. The 76-year-old is there almost every summer day collecting empty bottles and cans. He sports a goatee, a straw hat and tinted pilot goggles. “A lot of people see only the money when they see the bottles,” 7 KAFFEEKLATSCH WITH PELLE AND CARUSO he says with a Slavic accent. Ivan came to Germany from Croatia 40 years ago. He speaks slowly, choosing his words with care: “I see a tremendous amount of time and work: waiting for bottles, picking up bottles, packing bottles in bags, returning the bottles.” And he’s been doing it for eight years. On good days he collects 100 euros, Pelle and Caruso are her most important employees: on bad days only 5. Ivan donates a portion of his income to young people with disabilities. For him, it’s not about “They couldn’t be lazier, but they always show up,” pocketing the money: “My reward, my profit, is making people smile.” says a laughing Andrea Kollmorgen. Their place of “work” is Pee Pees Katzencafé, a fixture in Neukölln since 2013. Pelle and Caruso are cats, European Shorthairs. They jump over the tables, zip through the café – “they do whatever they want!” Back in the day, her Katzencafé was the first of its kind in Ber- 8 9 lin. Andrea wears a white T-shirt with cats on it, and VINTAGE KREUZBERG DÉJEUNER SUR L’HERBE everything else here also revolves around cats. On the walls: pictures of cats. On the stools: cat-styled cushions. On the tables: cat-shaped salt shakers. The Viktoria Park is a green oasis in the middle of Kreuz- Saturday, noon. The sun glimmers over Preußen Park place is literally purring: “You’re lucky to get a seat. berg; it’s also home to Berlin’s oldest vineyard. In this in Wilmersdorf. Colorful umbrellas begin popping up Lots of tourists come here. I’m often the only person case the “yard” half of “vineyard” is fitting: The es- across the wide expanse of lawn as the air fills with the speaking German.” But no matter, cuddling and me- tablishment comprises a small garden with just 400 delightful scent of food. Every weekend, weather per- owing are understood the world over. vines. Wine from Kreuzberg is neither a fad nor a sign mitting, Berliners swarm the park to savor specialties of the Swabian invasion. The vines were planted in the from Thailand. Since the 1990s, Thais, mainly women, 1960s, and this particular plot of land in Viktoria Park have met up in Preußen Park to prepare native treats was used to cultivate wine from the 15th to the 18th on camping stoves: roasted noodles, stuffed dump- century. The vineyard, administratively speaking, is lings, fried insects and much more. In the early days, part of the borough of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, is the park was simply a meeting place for Thai women tended to and harvested by volunteers, by hand and to chat and cook as an extended family. But then came without a tractor. Kreuzberg wine is not officially for the curious and the hungry, eager to offer the women sale; it can only be acquired at the borough authority a few marks for a taste of whatever was producing in exchange for a donation. Kreuzberger Riesling and that marvelous aroma. Today, Thai Park is no longer Pinot Noir go well with typical Kreuzberg fast food an insider tip; indeed, it gets a mention in most Berlin 10 like sushi and Döner. While it’s a loyal companion for travel guides. “At home I’d get bored,” says one of the KNIGHT WATCH passing the finer hours of each day, storing the wine women. “I simply love to cook” – and you can taste it! long term with hopes of increasing its market value is not recommended. Forget everything you learned in history books about the fall of the Berlin Wall. The truth is, David Hassel- hoff brought down the wall single-handedly in 1989. It was the TV lifeguard from Baltimore, Maryland, who liberated millions from the gloom of communism. For almost two years, the Circus Hostel on Weinberg- … for becoming a Berliner sweg has been home to a David Hasselhoff Museum that pays homage to the only true hero of German Reunification. Hidden away between a storage space and the boiler room in the building’s cellar, visitors will find an almost 7-meter-long hallway featuring a Bay- watch display case, a Knight Rider shrine and a brick from the Berlin Wall protected beneath a see-through plastic bell. And everything has been autographed, because “The Hoff” has already been here in person. Breathe in the smell of freedom! Where history – may- be more like “his story” – comes alive! 11 DOING A LINE

People that buy Döner kebabs simply can’t wait more than a few minutes to fill the hole in their stomachs. There’s a reason they call it fast food, after all. The ex- ception to the rule is on Mehringdamm in Kreuzberg, 12 at Mustafa’s Gemüse-Kebap. The line for this snack THE WEIGHT OF HISTORY booth stretches almost a hundred meters, day and night. And no wonder: it’s listed in every Berlin travel guide. But why? The booth – truth be told – is rather It’s a total of 14 meters high and reaches almost 18 shabby, and the Döner tastes no better than else- meters into the earth. Diameter: 21 meters. Weight: where. It all comes down to a certain ad agency. In 12 tons. The Schwerbelastungskörper (German for 2007 Mustafa’s was their first client. The agency built “heavy load-bearing body”) is solid, physical proof a clever, interactive website for the Döner joint and of the megalomania to which the National Socialists shot a catchy ad clip. From that point on, Mustafa’s succumbed. This massive chunk of concrete was creat- Gemüse-Kebap was as famous as could be. And the ed to simulate the physical load of a gigantic triumphal fee for the advertisers? Free kebabs for the rest of arch – three times the size of the famous arch in Paris their lives. Whether they have to wait in line with all – which the Nazis had dreamed up to bear the names of the other customers is not known. all the German soldiers who had fallen in World War I. It was scheduled to be built here at the southern end of the north-south axis of Germania, the name given to Hitler’s architectural remodeling of the Reich’s capital. The curious can now inspect the Schwer- 1 – 12 belastungskörper from an observation deck that also provides a terrific view over the city, still thankfully Written by Arne Siegmund called Berlin. 26 2017

n late 1937, Joseph Goebbels made an entry in his diary that almost reads like  satire: “I’m giving the Führer 12 Mickey

Mouse films. He’s very happy about it,” PICTURE ALLIANCE/AKG-IMAGES Iwrote the Propaganda Minister of the Third Reich. Some historians have referred to 1937 as the “normal year” of the Nazi era. The previ- ous year had been distinguished by the suc- cess of the Berlin Olympics, the shiny facade of the games blinding the outside world. In 1938, on the other hand, preparations for war began with the “Anschluss” of Austria and the entry of German troops into the Sudetenland, while the November pogrom marked an escalation in the expulsion and persecution of Jewish citizens. There could be no further doubt about the brutal character of the regime. In 2017, Berlin is looking back at this ostensibly normal year with an historically insightful exhibition at the Märkisches Museum, titled “Berlin 1937. In the Shadow of Tomorrow.” In hindsight, everyday life in the Berlin of 1937 was marked by an almost convincing show of prosperity and liberalism. At the same time, this social serenity was teeter- ing on the edge of an illiberal abyss. After they came to power in 1933, the Nazis used barely checked violence to eliminate their known enemies. Any remaining resistance groups were exposed in 1934 and 1935, their members sentenced to draconian pun- ishments in political show trials. By the end of the year there were “only” 7,750 people in concentration camps – which as yet bore very little resemblance to the extermination Sign of the times: Children have climbed on the monument of the Prussian General Field factories of the 1940s. The very next year, Marshal Schwerin to catch a glimpse of the parade for Hitler’s birthday on April 20, 1937. the number of prisoners quadrupled and would increase even more dramatically in the years of Nazi rule prior to the beginning sentatives who were responsible to greater war years. The population had more or less of the Second World War, describing the or lesser degrees.” He denied the brutal per- gotten used to the control exerted by Nazi extent of compliance between the population secution and suppression of his opponents, institutions. “When measured against what and the regime leadership. It was Hitler’s saying that there had been “absolutely no happened prior to 1936 or what was to come triumphs in the realm of foreign policy that destruction of property” and claiming that in 1938 and in the war,” writes historian particularly boosted his popularity. he had unleashed “perhaps the first revolu- Björn Weigel, the year 1937 “was culturally With the country’s 1933 exit from the tion in which not so much as a window pane even relatively liberal by Nazi standards.” League of Nations, the predecessor to the was broken.” The historian Peter Steinbach, American film productions were by no United Nations, the people and their Führer one of the foremost scholars on resistance to means forbidden in 1937 and still pulled felt themselves free of international con- the Third Reich, commented on the speech, big audiences in Berlin cinemas. The swing straints. The Saar Referendum of 1935, the saying that today we would simply refer to star Teddy Stauffer, whose song “Goody remilitarization of the Rhineland in 1936, these as “alternative facts.” Goody” was the summer hit of the Olympic the annexation of Austria in 1938 – they The philologist Victor Klemperer, who sur- year, was still able to perform, and jazz music all contributed to a sense of sovereignty vived Nazism as a Protestant convert of Jewish was expressly permitted by the Propaganda regained and heritage, was a Ministry – for the time being. By the time strengthened the sensitive observer war broke out, the style denounced as “negro regime. “Everyday life was of the seismo- music” was nowhere to be heard. In 1937, In Grüttner’s graphic, increas- The fake news of the past the of news fake The An exhibition in Berlin’s Märkisches Museum shows the Janus-faced normality of day-to-day life in the city before outbreak war By Robert Normen Jews could still join the Reich Chamber of summation, marked by an almost ingly menacing Culture, the precondition for any form of the de facto shifts of the era. artistic or cultural production. And they were annulment of convincing show In his renowned still allowed to visit theaters and cinemas. the hated Ver- diary he wrote: In some senses, Berlin represented an sailles Treaty, of liberalism.” “No one, whether exception in the German Reich. Hundreds perceived as inside or outside, of Jewish businesses were given up by their a national humiliation within Germany, can fathom the true mood of the people – owners or sold under pressure, either direct inspired a sense of enthusiasm that tran- probably, no, certainly there is no general or indirect. Jewish industrialists placed their scended political, social and sectarian bound- true mood, but always only moods of several hopes in the Reich’s Minister of Economics, aries. This was Hitler’s “Make Germany groups – one dominates, and the mass is apa- Hjalmar Schacht, who was considered rela- great again” program, or the “restoration thetic or is subject to changing influences.” tively moderate (and was pardoned in the of German honor” as the Führer himself Viewing the “normal” year of 1937 sharp- Nuremberg Trials in 1946). As late as 1937, called it. ens our historic understanding for the thin ice 168 new Jewish-owned companies appeared It was only in later years that the full extent of civilization in the urban society. “In this on Berlin’s commercial register. of the violence inherent in the Third Reich retrospective Berlin appears at once highly Hitler and his retinue enjoyed a high level revealed itself in all its brutality. And yet, modern, festive, forward-looking and full of popularity among broad sections of the in 1937, the signs pointing to a particularly of dramatic shifts. Jews, avant-garde art, public. German journalist Götz Aly’s descrip- disturbing approach to and understanding of communists, social democrats and a few tion of National Socialism as a “dictatorship the law were already clear and present. In a others are disappearing from public view, of consent with consistent majority appeal” Reichstag address which offered a verdict on and women were less often seen smoking,” may have been rejected by renowned his- the previous four years of government, the as Jens Bisky writes about the exhibition torians, who point to declining compliance Reich Chancellor spoke of a revolution “of in the Süddeutsche Zeitung. With acute among the German population as the war mighty proportions” that had taken place sensitivity, “Berlin 1937: In the Shadow began, but for the year 1937, Aly’s thesis is in Germany. He claimed that this “German of Tomorrow” shows how deceptive the shockingly correct. revolution” had been “almost completely surface cultural composure of a city and its In his standard 2015 work Brandstifter und bloodless,” crudely trivializing the upheavals society can be. Without wagging its finger, Biedermänner (Eng. Arsonists and Philis- as a “restructuring” that had overridden the it offers a message that is also instructive for tines), Michael Grüttner writes about the six “supporters of the old order and the repre- the present day. 1937 2017 27

otsdam’s new, old town center seems  across the Alter Markt. The gallery’s second a bit like an historic dollhouse. The show – From Hopper to Rothko. America’s city palace of the Prussian kings was Road to Modern Art – will continue until

rebuilt here between 2010 and 2014, © MUSEUM BARBERINI HELGE MUNDT, early October 2017. Like its predecessor, it bringingP a touch of glamor and glory back to has again enticed visitors from near and far the heart of this ancient seat of royalty. Rebuilt to flock to the Brandenburg capital’s new with its original proportions and faithfully temple of culture. recreated façades, the palace has housed the The current exhibition offers insights into Brandenburg state parliament since its comple- the Phillips Collection, which was established tion. It replaces the historic palace, which was by art critic and patron Duncan Phillips damaged during the war and left in ruins. The (1886 – 1966), scion of a wealthy business socialist GDR government decided to blow it family in Washington, D.C., in 1921. Well up and tear it down in 1960 to free up space before the Museum of Modern Art (1929) for more ‘modern’ urban planning. and Whitney Museum of American Art (1931) The GDR’s rigid incursions into Potsdam’s were founded, Phillips focused on American center are gradually being erased and the new art from the late 19th century to the mid-20th palace is a first step towards reclaiming the century. Based around central themes such as city’s historic center. Since its construction, landscapes, cities, portraits and abstracts, the there has been further development on the exhibition shows how North American artists south side of the Alter Markt square and increasingly freed themselves from European along the nearby branch of the Havel River The new Barbarini Museum nestles up to Potsdam’s historic cityscape. models and pursued their own independent called the Alte Fahrt. By the start of this year, St. Nicolai church in the background was built in 1830. artistic paths. As Abstract Expressionism three new buildings modeled on historic ones emerged after 1945, New York City began destroyed during or after the war had been to replace the old European art centers as the completed – the Barberini Palace, Noacksches world’s capital of art. Haus and Palazzo Pompei. These replicas Oddly enough, these insights into changing offer a visual impression of how the heart notions of art across the Atlantic correspond of Potsdam’s urban landscape might have Potsdam’s Platz with impressions of the new gallery building looked at the end of Frederick the Great’s reign and its surroundings. Just as American artists (1740–1788). Nevertheless, these buildings rediscovered and reinterpreted landscapes and are modern reproductions – without a patina, Berlin’s Museum Island gets a rival cities, the Barberini Palace exemplifies changes without stories, without souls. By Klaus Grimberg to public spaces in the past, present and future. The only GDR-era relic left on the square is People will ultimately decide for themselves the former Teacher Training Institute, built in whether Potsdam’s apparent return to its the 1970s and now a veritable “foreign body.” Prussian roots is acceptable. Even a dollhouse Local communist party leaders created a new eventually gets a few scratches and scrapes, status quo with this long concrete building, which recalls exquisite art collection in early 2012. This sparked a bitter and with them its own story. the architecture of Mies van der Rohe. The building cut row among Potsdam’s inhabitants and in the town council Those in charge at Museum Barberini are evidently across historic streets to accentuate the Alter Markt as the about how much of the GDR past should be retained in the well aware of the dichotomies between tradition, socialist center of a socialist city, one in which allusions to Prus- urban landscape. Disputes between the city’s new residents modernity and the advent of a new era. One focus of its sian and German history would play only a minor role. In and those who want to preserve the GDR’s legacy continue program will be an examination of East German art in the today’s Potsdam, traces of the GDR are being effaced. At to smolder today. Plattner, meanwhile, has withdrawn his highly anticipated exhibition, Behind the Mask. Artists in the end of the year, this once imposing symbol of the “work- offer and now plans to build a gallery on a property he the GDR, which opens at the end of October. It addresses ers’ and farmers’ state” will be demolished and new build- owns on Jungfernsee Lake. the ways in which artists in the GDR saw and critically ings with historic facades will pop up along the old street Things then took an unexpected turn. Plattner agreed viewed themselves, walking a fine line between being spaces, replacing those destroyed during World War II. to get involved as a partner and investor in rebuilding role models and seeking retreat, between state-mandated Another relic of the gloomily glamorous Modernism of the Barberini Palace on Alter Markt square, just a stone’s collectivism and creative individuality. One highlight of real-world socialism is the former Interhotel Potsdam, now throw from Hotel Mercure. The modern gallery building, the exhibition will be a series of large-format paintings a Hotel Mercure. This 17-story prefab high-rise was once which replicates the original structure’s proportions, was based around the motto “When Communists Dream,” a prime location in Potsdam, where party functionaries, built in just less than two years. On January 20 of this which once hung in East Berlin’s monumental Palace of international celebrities and vacationing East German loy- year, it was opened to great acclaim as Museum Barberini. the Republic, also demolished in 2008. And so the story alists all stayed. The hotel’s days seemed numbered when Potsdam now has a new destination for tourists and art comes full circle, from demolition to reconstruction and Hasso Plattner, the Potsdam-born founder of software giant lovers. The opening exhibition – Impressionism. The back again to demolition, with all the accompanying points SAP, offered the city a new building on the site to house his Art of Landscape – had long lines of visitors stretching of view that transform over the course of time.

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 Davai, Davai, Rabotai In 1953, GDR citizens still held a grudge against the Soviet Union because the USSR kept dismantling industrial facilities and increasing work quotas – which led to the uprising | By Leonid Mletschin

hen East German leaders Germany – many of which deteriorated in “All at once, people who wander through In the autumn of 1946, people were starv- returned home from Moscow the snow and the rain.” the endless ruins suddenly begin to disap- ing there too. In October 1946, the first rep- in September 1953, they came On June 1, 1946 the Moscow party boss, pear – into some hole leading to the base- resentative of the interior minister, Colonel bearing a bag full of gifts. In Georgy Popov, complained to First Deputy ment,” noted German author Ernst Jünger, General Ivan Serov, suggested to Stalin that additionW to having forgiven its German Premier Lavrentiy Beria that factories in the who had once glorified Germany’s decision “excess food” from Germany should be ally’s debts, the Union of Soviet Socialist city of Moscow had received 45,336 units to go to war. “The people seem crippled, taken away. He reported that 150,000 tons Republics (USSR) had agreed to transfer of equipment taken as war spoils, but that even if they have healthy arms and legs [...] of grain, 250,000 tons of sugar and some ownership of 33 jointly-run businesses to much of it remained untouched and that air- The modest food stamp rations are halved 400,000 tons of potatoes could be sent to the the German Democratic Republic (GDR), plane manufacturers, for example, had put every month. That’s a death sentence for Soviet Union. Stalin ordered that Comrade pledged financial support through a major to use only some 8,763 of 11,700 machinery many who are just getting by – particularly Serov should be given his personal thanks loan and promised comprehensive food units received. The same pattern was evi- for children, the aged, and refugees. If you for the report. deliveries. Most importantly, however, the dent in the automotive and electrotechnical believe the international newspapers, many But over time, the attitude toward Ger- Soviet government had relinquished its repa- industries. In some cases, he noted, negli- around the world look at this starvation many and the Germans changed. At a ration claims for the damage suffered during gence had rendered the equipment no longer with approval.” request from the White House, the former the war – an act that marked a fundamental usable. Despite these efficiency problems, The aversion to all things German at the U.S. President Herbert Hoover presented change in Soviet policy towards Germany. the broad spectrum of German machinery time cannot be underestimated. Along the a report on the situation in Germany in The issue of reparations was nothing new. brought to the Danish-German 1946. The report indicated that the eco- After Germany’s defeat in World War I, USSR proved border, Ameri- nomic reconstruction of Germany would then- British Prime Minister David Lloyd nonetheless key “By the summer of can soldiers put be the key to saving the continent. “The George declared he would search Germany’s to advancing 1946, food rations for up signs saying: entire economy of Europe,” Hoover wrote, pockets “for the uttermost farthing.” The Soviet industry. “You are now “is interwoven with the German economy French, whose enmity for the Germans The mili- Germans were less than leaving the civi- by the traditional exchange of raw materi- ran even deeper, loudly demanded com- tary historian lized world.” als and finished products. The economic pensation for the destruction the war had Mikhail Zem- 1,000 calories per day.” Things were strength of Europe cannot be restored with- brought upon them: “The Germans must be iryaga wrote even worse in out the rebuilding of Germany.” punished! Make them pay for what they’ve that “the reparations not only contributed to the East. Reporting to Stalin on May 16, General Lucius Clay, the head of the done!” Reparations were set at 132 billion the reconstruction of the USSR’s destroyed 1946, Minister of Internal Affairs Sergei U.S. military administration in Germany, Goldmarks. Germany’s fleet, and all of the economy, they provided the impetus for Kruglov stated: “According to reports of made the suggestion to release the German country’s foreign cash reserves were seized; technical progress in Soviet industry. The the representative of the Ministry of Internal economy from the burden of occupation. He patents were even revoked. The famous rebuilding of the country’s economic poten- Affairs and the Ministry of State Security of said it should get back on its feet – then the aspirin made by Bayer became American. tial was usually explained solely by the great the USSR for East Prussia, Comrade Trofi- Germans would be able to look after them- After World War II, Josef Stalin, Harry ‘urge to create’ of the Soviet people. But mov, two people were arrested in Königs- selves. In May 1946, the General ended all Truman and Winston Churchill met in the where were the entire factories, the valu- berg for selling human meat.” Supplies for reparations taken from the American zone. summer of 1945 in Potsdam to hammer out able industrial equipment and materials the German population in the territory of Soviet foreign minister Molotov reminded a reparations deal. Whereas Truman advo- from Germany, Romania, Hungary, and East Prussia were unsatisfactorily organized, the Western powers that the Soviet Union cated allowing each victorious power access other enemy nations, which poured out of he said, and, “As a result of malnutrition had been promised reparations of 10 billion to the resources in the zone it occupied, hundreds of thousands of rail trucks in a among the German population, their ability dollars. For that reason, he said, the repa- Moscow bristled at the thought. In addi- great wave over the whole Soviet Union?” to work is considerably reduced, and the rations could not be drawn only from the tion to having suffered the greatest number Once entire factories had been removed, number of deaths is rising, as is crime.” Soviet zone, but from all of Germany. The of casualties, the Soviets’ zone of occupa- German workers were faced with job losses The USSR could not feed the Americans countered that they tion – eastern Germany – featured limited and starvation began setting in. By the Germans. were helping the German resources and underdeveloped industry. summer of 1946, food rations for Germans Ultimately, the three powers agreed that were less than 1000 calories per day. Black- the USSR would receive an additional one- market dealers and those who served the fourth of the industrial equipment located occupying powers were among the KEYSTONE PICTURES USA in the U.S., British and French zones and lucky few with access to the means decided to divide up Germany’s naval and of survival. merchant fleets equally. Entire factories were shipped out of the country. Combing Germany’s scientific insti- tutions, the allies took everything of inter- est. Indeed, the Western countries, like the USSR, were eager to get their hands on the legacy of German science and technology. In the USSR, individual ministries drew up lists of German factories of interest to them. A group of experts were tasked with selecting the equipment in Germany to be dismantled and taken to the USSR. From May to July 1945, some 300,000 rail cars were filled with the confiscated goods and transported to the east for use in Russian aviation and missile production. However, this valuable equipment was not effectively used and in some cases, simply lost. As an American diplomat working in the USSR noted: “Foreigners who traveled from Berlin to Moscow by train reported that along the entire route, the stations were cluttered with machines taken from Riots in the streets: In 1953, laborers in East Berlin revolted against their socialist rulers. 2017 29

population and delivering food to their and more comprehensive use for the academic - REPORT DPA But the people, many of whom had learned zone, but that if reparations were continued, potential of Germany.” The idea arose to  some Russian words, soon interpreted the all this would go to the Soviet Union. In rebuild the factories on German soil to export German abbreviation for the country – DDR other words, the US would refuse to pump finished products. That was more - advan – their own way: Davai, davai, rabotai (chop, money into the German economy if Moscow tageous. One quarter of East Germany’s chop - work!). Many East Germans were cer- pumped it out again. industrial production went to the USSR. In tain that the Russians were taking everything On February 23, 1948, representatives East Germany, some two hundred engineer- out of their country and that this was why the of the United States, Britain and France ing offices with highly-qualified German “GDR” was doing so badly. The mayor of met in London. They agreed to conjoin engineers worked for the Soviet economy. Berlin (and future German chancellor) Willy their three zones of occupation, to carry But transporting things away was easier. Brandt wrote of the reparations paid by the out a currency reform and to include this In the apparatus of the Soviet military “Eastern zone”: “You get the impression that western part of Germany in the Marshall administration, departments were formed the people there lost the war more than the Plan – i.e., to rebuild its economy. This is for the delivery of heavy-industry equip- Germans in the west of the country.” how the division of Germany – which was to ment, for the delivery of machine tools In June 1953, events occurred in Berlin last for four decades – began. The creation and tools for the delivery of trucks and and other East German cities which were of two German states was, of course, not a agricultural machinery, for the delivery of to shake the country to its very foundations. natural result of economic differences, but cable products and fittings, and a depart- The workers rose up against their socialist of political differences between those who ment for materials. The Committee for rulers - and against the reparations. The mili- had recently been allies. Physical Culture and Sport dismantled Dismantling the industrial state: A turbine at tary leadership declared a state of emergency The Soviet Union’s leading representatives public baths and transported them off to the Gendorf power plant is moving east. in the East German capital. made no pretense of dropping their demand the USSR. The Lenin Library ordered books “In the night before June 17,” wrote the for reparations. But with the disappearance of and manuscripts. The organs of the East German state also head of the USSR High Commission in entire factories, workers had no wages. They The Soviet Union also exploited ura- copied Soviet policy. They implemented Germany, Vladimir Zemyonow, “I was blamed this on the German communists. nium ore deposits in the Erzgebirge region forced collectivization, they oppressed small woken by the noise of tank units moving In December 1946, the Secretary of the of Saxony. The public company Wismut tradespeople, they raised the work quotas in into the city. By morning our troops held Central Committee, Alexei Kusnetsov, said mined uranium ore for the USSR. Approxi- workplaces – and the prices. This situation the city up to the Brandenburg Gate. The at a meeting of the Secretariat: “It is not easy mately 60 percent of the Soviet nuclear came to a head in April 1952 as a result of infantry was supported by self-propelled for us to get Germans fully and completely on industry’s total demand for uranium was the order from Moscow to create an army guns. There were more gun barrels than our side, at least in the part of Germany that met by East Germany. Half a million Ger- and defense industry – for which East Ger- trees in the forest.” is in our sphere of influence. It is a fact that mans were employed in uranium mining. many had no money. During the revolt in Berlin, 125 people lost we have taken a great deal of reparation from The miners lived behind barbed wire and In the fall of 1952, the magnitude of East their lives and 48 were shot after being tried Germany and that this has had an effect on the attempts to flee were punished. Wismut’s Germany’s economic problems became obvi- by Soviet courts. Thousands received prison living standards of the German population. security staff was provided by the Soviet ous. Yet Moscow still insisted on repara- sentences of varying length. The situation We have dismantled and removed factories in secret police force. No one was interested tions. Politburo member and deputy chair- led to a revision of Soviet policy towards which more than two million people worked. in health and there was virtually no protec- man of the East German Council of Minis- Germany. Moscow stepped back from its Now they are not working. The policy of the tion against the radiation. The hard work, ters, Heinrich Rau, rebuked his colleagues reparation demands. From this point on, English and Americans regarding the removal poor pay, and the brutality of the Soviet in the government: “We are getting behind the most important task was to keep East of equipment is different.” overseers created fertile ground for constant in meeting our most important reparation Germany as part of the eastern bloc. This The USSR Academy of Sciences urged “in disaffection among the miners, for strikes commitments. Decisive measures are neces- is when transports began moving in the the interest of our country, to find a planned and unrest. sary to put this situation right.” other direction.

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f you ask a basketball fan about Financially, Alba had weathered the Alba Berlin’s best season in the disastrous season surprisingly well and team’s 28-year history, you’ll get even managed a modest raise to its differing replies. For many, their budget. But the duo in charge agreed I1995 breakthrough in winning the there would be no tampering with Korac Cup (a competition approximat- Alba’s player development philoso- ing the Europa League in soccer) was the phy. “We don’t want to buy finished pinnacle. The young Albatrosses led by players. We want to spot those with Sasa Obradovic and Teoman Alibegovic potential and cultivate them into top- started out as crass outsiders in the Euro- flight players,” Baldi says, encapsulating pean tournament dominated by Spanish Alba’s abiding principles that he pledges and Italian clubs, yet raised their game will receive even more emphasis in the from one round to the next, and sealed coming season. the deal against Stefanel Milan before That was precisely why Baldi found a capacity crowd of 10,000 in Berlin’s his new general manager Ojeda last Deutschlandhalle arena. Six months ear- season in Spain, a country that sets high lier, Alba had played its first Korac Cup standards in terms of both results and match in a small venue in Berlin with youth development in European bas- 600 fans in attendance. ketball. Much of the credit for Spain’s Hoops aficionados from the -east rise to preeminence in the past 50 years ern half of the reunified city came to goes to Alejandro Garcia Reneses, who appreciate Alba when the club moved as coach of the national team as well into a new arena directly at the former as various top clubs, including FC Bar- Berlin Wall – Max Schmeling Halle – celona, Joventut Badalona and Ojeda’s and proceeded to win seven national hometown team Gran Canaria, had championships in a row. The team a legendary knack for finding young under coach Svetislav Pešić also turned talent and nurturing it into world-class heads in the sport’s premier European proficiency. Today, many of Reneses’ tournament, the EuroLeague. In 1997– protégés play in the NBA. Pau Gasol, 98, led by Wendell Alexis and Henrik Kristaps Porziņģis and Ricky Rubio Rödl, Alba played a stellar regular have been picks number three, four season, almost reaching the EuroLe- and five respectively in the annual ague final four. Alas, Alba lost in the NBA draft. quarterfinals to AEK Athens despite “Working with talents and follow- having home court advantage. To this ing their development is a great joy for day, no German club has come closer me,” said “Aito,” as he is known in to winning European basketball’s most Spain, in 2016 upon announcing his coveted trophy. resignation after two outstanding sea- The Albatrosses also earned global sons with Gran Canaria. “If I were 35 I respect three years ago by defeating the would have extended my contract, but reigning NBA champion San Antonio now I’m almost 70.” Yet it was exactly Spurs. As an exhibition match in the such a coach that Ojeda was searching “NBA Global Games” preseason series, for at Alba, so perhaps it was only a the event was anything but a showdown. matter of time before he knocked on Yet Lady Gaga, 14,500 other fans in Reneses’ door. Alba’s general manager Berlin’s O2 World arena and one mil- immediately sensed that, following a lion TV viewers watched in amaze- year of downtime, the Spanish legend ment as Alba won 94-93. A team from was itching to get back in the game. He Germany’s Bundesliga had stunned the agreed to take the coaching job at Alba NBA champions, and Jamel McLean’s Berlin, his first-ever job outside Spain. buzzer beater became YouTube’s hottest The surprise comeback made headlines basketball clip for a month. across Europe. Alba forgot its troubles While there’s no shortage of highlights and once-exasperated fans again began or fodder for debates over Alba’s great- securing season tickets. The new coach est season, there can be no argument has already managed to attract interest- over the team’s absolute lowlight. Alba’s ing players, including American Luke worst season was without question its Sikma, Lithuanian Marius Grigonis and most recent one. 2016–17 began with the young Serbian talent Stefan Peno. problems in assembling a potent squad The preseason buzz has reached such and progressed with clear signs that the proportions that, in introducing the new players and the new, young head coach coach to the media, Alba President Axel were not clicking. Then came the injuries Schweitzer felt compelled to warn that, and the coach’s dismissal shortly before “even with this renowned coach we are the playoffs. Alba went down in the GOT NEXT not going to win every match. Even Aito first round three games to one against cannot walk on water.” Bayern Munich: a forgettable ending to He won’t have to. Following last sea- a desolate season. son’s disappointments, Alba fans would To get the club back on its feet, Presi- be content if the team could once again dent Marco Baldi and general manager Alba Berlin kicks off the new season with some live up to its old club motto: “With body Himar Ojeda pressed the reset button. young guns and a sly old fox and soul.” By Horst Schneider 2017 31

 daylight, they lie idle like lions in the cycle, therefore I am … the enemy. midday heat. Come dusk, they strike. And And if you, too, ride your bike on the those riding without a light must bear all streets of Berlin, welcome to the club; consequences alone. you must have a streak of masochism, When the light turns green, it would be- Ior a death wish. foolish to trust that predators approach In the eyes of everyone else in traffic, we ing from left or right will heed their own are public enemy number one. Without traffic signal. Cross the road briskly and exception and without a previous record. attentively, for any hint of serenity or In this city, every day of the year, it’s coolness in its prey enrages the beast, often open season on cyclists, the insulted and prompting an immediate strike. abused. The most effective way to hunt Occasionally one will find the brute them is in a moving metal box. Some feigning disinterest within a column of Race against predators only want to play, say, by its own species, at a stoplight, perhaps. giving cyclists a puff of exhaust to savor Should you consider slipping between or brushing closely past their elbows and it and the car idling in front, beware: It feet. For other predators, however, the will likely veer to the right, closing the the machine only good cyclist is a dead one. Having to trap. Forgetting one’s proper upbringing follow a cyclist, or travel alongside one, is always a mistake, for argument and Natural selection on the streets of Berlin is enough to turn them into feral beasts. curse words are senseless, not to mention In these urban savannas, cyclists find out dangerous. The creature behind the wheel- By Peter Zehner what a wildebeest or gazelle must feel as is always in the right, and frequently pro a cheetah nears. tracts its middle finger in triumph. - The hunting methods of the armored The beasts also reveal their effective predators may not be civilized, but they ness at high speed. Having spotted their are sophisticated. quarry they give chase, overtaking them Some lie in wait along the edges of bike on the left and finally subduing them with paths, concealed behind the high walls of a sudden lurch to the right. Escaping with their private property, out of which they a leap onto the sidewalk presents its own- strike without warning, like snakes as a risks, as one may draw the ire and aggres mouse scurries past. sion of pedestrians and dogs. Another effective ploy is the chameleon One should always bear in mind that trick: The box stands motionless at the cyclists are the most reviled beings on side of the road, only to flick its heavy this city’s roads. Why else would 20 cops metallic tongue sideways just as a cyclist patrol the center of Berlin on bikes. To rides past without sufficient clearance. protect cyclists, you may think? No, to And woe to those expecting to encounter punish them should they cross on a red only bikes on bicycle paths. The beasts light or stray onto the sidewalk. delight in setting their traps there. During

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