Berlin News in English Media

Activists occupy 9 vacant Berlin buildings in rent protest

Washington Post / Associated Press — Sunday, 20. May 2018

"Berlin police say activists protesting rising rents and gentrification in the German capital have occupied nine vacant buildings. The dpa ..."

Berlin’s club community to stage protest rave against far-right march

Resident Advisor / Carlos Hawthorn — Friday, 18. May 2018

"Reclaim Club Culture, a leftwing collective of Berlin-based clubs and parties, is spearheading plans to stage a protest rave during a far-right march on ..."

Berlin responds to crayfish plague: If you can’t beat them, eat them

Reuters — Monday, 07. May 2018

"To halt the invasion, the Berlin government has licensed a local business to fish the 15 cm (6 inch) crustaceans, which carry infections that native crayfish are not resistant to, out of the ponds in public parks that they have taken over. The license runs until the end of the year, and some 1,600 crayfish have ..."

Shared bikes take over Berlin

Handelsblatt Global Edition / Grace Dobush — Sunday, 06. May 2018

"The number of shared bikes has risen by 75 percent since last year, and last week China's biggest bike-sharing company, ofo, released 2,000 bicycles onto the streets of Berlin, bringing the total of shared bicycles in the capital to more than 18,000 from eight companies, per Handelsblatt research."

Day in the Life: Berlin

NYU Washington Square News / Leo Tulchin — Wednesday, 02. May 2018

"Berlin is a wonderful sprawl. Wide open plazas, enormous public parks and adorable European bike lanes take the place of skyscrapers, concrete and traffic. Everything is achingly beautiful because it's Europe, yet remains practical because it's Germany. Imagine the Renaissance masters taking time off ..."

Berlin: An Art Scene and a City in Flux

New York Times / Scott Reyburn — Tuesday, 01. May 2018

"“We choose what is intense, even if we don't like it,” said Jonas Burgert, an artist based in Berlin, pausing, bemused, in front of a stainless steel buffet unit spouting luridly pigmented water on the gallery floor. Mr. Burgert is one of seven Berlin artists who organized “Ngoro Ngoro II,” a four-day ..."

The Myth That Reagan Ended the Cold War With a Single Speech

History / Sarah Pruitt — Tuesday, 01. May 2018

"On June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan stood just 100 yards away from the concrete barrier dividing East and West Berlin and uttered some of the most unforgettable words of his presidency: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” By the time Reagan traveled to Berlin, Germany, to commemorate the ..."

Germany to fund museum investigations into provenance of colonial-era artefacts

Art Newspaper / Catherine Hickley — Monday, 30. April 2018

"Savoy complained of a lack of attention to provenance research in the preparations for the new institution, which will house Berlin's non-European collections. She is now advising the French president Emmanuel Macron on how to carry out his pledge to return artefacts of African heritage in French ..."

9 Highlights from Gallery Weekend Berlin

Artsy / Emily McDermott — Monday, 30. April 2018

"An influx of both art-world power players and newcomers to Berlin recently descended for the 14th edition of the city's Gallery Weekend. The official program included 47 galleries, from established spaces like Sprüth Magers and König Galerie to younger locations like Klemm's, with countless project ..."

A Guide to the Weird and Wacky in Berlin

New York Times / David Farley — Tuesday, 24. April 2018

"The Brandenburg Gate and the Fernsehturm, the erstwhile East Berlin TV tower, are icons of the German capital, not to mention what's left of the wall. Visitors flock to the Pergamon Museum, the Alte Nationalgalerie and Checkpoint Charlie. Even the famed anything-goes techno club Berghain ..."

The Berlin paradox: Striving for equitable urbanization without gentrification

Handelsblatt Global Edition / Grace Dobush — Monday, 09. April 2018

"“Poor but sexy” is how Klaus Wowereit, a proudly gay former mayor of Berlin, once described his city. The attribute stuck, even as Berlin kept becoming a more global and cosmopolitan city. The kind of laissez-faire lifestyle you can have with a small budget in Berlin hasn't been possible in New York for ..."

Why the writing’s on the wall for Berlin’s murals

The Guardian / Philip Oltermann — Monday, 02. April 2018

"Tourists heading to Berlin for a culture fix this spring will not have to pay an entrance fee to a gallery to view the German capital's best-kept art secret. On the corner of Kurfürstenstrasse and Budapester Strasse, just across from the Berlin aquarium, visitors can admire a rarely seen black and white work ..."

Nazis destroyed this Berlin synagogue. A Muslim politician and a Jewish leader want to rebuild it.

Washington Post — Sunday, 01. April 2018

"Along a narrow canal in one of Berlin's largest Turkish and Muslim neighborhoods sits a synagogue's ghost — the site of a worship hall that was largely destroyed by the Nazis on the November night in 1938 known as Kristallnacht. Eighty years later, a Palestinian-born German politician and ..."

The end of the line for Berlin’s historic public amenities

Handelsblatt Global Edition / Karl Grünberg — Saturday, 31. March 2018

"The man approaches the phone booth in central Berlin. But he doesn't put any money into the slot, nor does he dial any numbers. He simply lifts the receiver in this lone booth, still standing on Kastanien Allee, one of Berlin's most fashionable streets in the trendy suburb of Prenzlauer Berg. He listens for ..."

Four Operas in Berlin Bring the Drama Down to Human Size

New York Times / Micaela Baranello — Friday, 30. March 2018

"For sheer quantity of opera, few cities can rival Berlin, which has three major companies to serve a population of 3.5 million. The current season is even more eventful than usual: The Staatsoper, which tends to attract the most star singers of the three, has returned to its newly renovated ..."

Students celebrate 70th anniversary of Berlin Airlift

The Auburn Plainsman / Stephen Lanzi — Friday, 30. March 2018

"Paul Harris, professor of political science and associate director of Prestigious National Scholarships, was invited by the German Honor's Society and the department of foreign language to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift. Harris has spent over two decades teaching in both ..."

Berlin to ignore vote on city airport’s future

Washington Post / Associated Press — Tuesday, 27. March 2018

"Berlin's city government says it doesn't plan to honor the result of a referendum in which a majority voted to keep open the German capital's Tegel Airport, even after its much-delayed new international airport opens. Some 56 percent of Berliners voted in September's non-binding referendum ..."

Berlin relaxes AirBnB restrictions

The Business Times — Friday, 23. March 2018

"Authorities in the German capital Berlin decided Thursday to soften one of Europe's strictest regimes for short-term rental firms such as Airbnb, allowing private individuals to rent out their main home without time limitations. The new rule will come into effect on May 1. The news comes after the ..."

Berlin to drop Airbnb ‘ban’ on renting out main homes

The Local Germany — Friday, 23. March 2018

"The news comes after the Berlin administrative court confirmed in several rulings that home sharing does not impact the local housing market. A May 2016 ruling had clamped down on the practice, allowing home owners to only renting out one room via specialised web portals such as Airbnb or Wimdu, ..."

Hartmut Dorgerloh nominated to head Berlin’s Humboldt Forum

Art Newspaper / Catherine Hickley — Wednesday, 21. March 2018

"German Culture Minister Monika Grütters says she will propose Hartmut Dorgerloh as the future director of the Humboldt Forum, scheduled to open at the end of next year in Berlin's reconstructed royal palace. Dorgerloh, 55, has managed the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation since 2002."

Berlin housing market continue expanding with two-digit pace

Finance Appraise / Angelina Nieves — Wednesday, 21. March 2018

"Germany had not government almost five months but this was not felt on the Berlin property market. Last year Berlin housing prices rose by an average of 12.7% per square meter, according to data from the real estate agency First Citiz. Thus, the tendency for significant price increases in recent years ..."

Berlin Art Week moves dates: Two art fairs will open at Tempelhof

Art Newspaper — Tuesday, 20. March 2018

"Berlin Art Week has changed its dates to 26-30 September, shifting two weeks later than its former mid-September slot. Negotiations for the new timeline began after news that the sophomore edition of Art Berlin—a reboot of the former Art Berlin Contemporary (abc) fair in partnership with Art Cologne but ..."

Porsche Celebrates 70 Years Of Sports Cars With Special Berlin Exhibition

Carscoops — Tuesday, 20. March 2018

"The exhibit is being held at Drive, the Volkswagen Group forum that opened in Berlin just a few years ago. It's open seven days a week from 10 am to 8 pm, and admission is free of charge. It's just one of several special activities that Porsche has planned for this anniversary year. There'll be another ..."

Top Lufthansa boss says new Berlin airport will probably never open

Irish Times / Derek Scally — Tuesday, 20. March 2018

"Berlin's cursed international airport is almost six years late, and, according to a leading Lufthansa executive, will probably never open. Thorsten Dirks, a Lufthansa board member and head of its EuroWings budget subsidiary, told a closed-door event in Bavaria: “My prognosis: the thing will be torn down ..."

Berlin mayor backs ‘basic income’ to tackle capital’s unemployment

The Local Germany — Tuesday, 20. March 2018

"The Social Democrat (SPD) politician told the Berliner Morgenpost that he wants to see an overhaul of the welfare system, with Hartz IV to be replaced by a “solidary basic income” model. Hartz IV was one of the biggest components of the major labour market reform ..."

Inside an enormous abandoned airport in Berlin that’s coming back to life (Video / VR)

Washington Post / Luisa Beck, Rick Noack, Joyce Lee — Saturday, 17. March 2018

"As rents rise in many of the world's major cities, it's almost unheard of to find any unused space. But in the heart of Berlin sits an empty area so massive that it's the size of an entire country. Tempelhof Field was once the world's largest airport, the same size as the principality of Monaco …"

‘In Berlin’s housing market people are getting mad, getting scared’

The Local Germany / Emily Manthei — Thursday, 15. March 2018

"Ryan was experiencing something first hand that has become a central social issue in Berlin in recent years: an overheated rental market is making it lucrative for landlords to try and push out long-term tenants in order to charge new tenants much higher rents ..."

Berlin Contends With Street Names of a Brutal, Overlooked Past

CityLab / Feargus O'Sullivan — Tuesday, 13. March 2018

"Take a stroll through Berlin's Afrikanisches Viertel neighborhood and you'd quickly recognize it for what it is—an unremarkable, pleasantly humdrum working-class area like you could find anywhere in the city. Solid gray interwar tenements flank tree-lined streets ..."

How a German Art Collective Is Antagonizing Far-Right Politicians With Guerrilla Works

artnet News / Kate Brown — Monday, 12. March 2018

"But in recent times, factions within the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party have called for citizens to stop atoning so much for the crimes of Nazis, with AfD politician Björn Höcke going so far as to call Berlin's Holocaust Memorial a “monument of shame.” ..."

‘Never Again’: Fighting Hate in a Changing Germany With Tours of Nazi Camps

New York Times / Katrin Bennholdm — Sunday, 11. March 2018

"When Jakob Hetzelein, a history teacher in a working-class district of northeastern Berlin, decided to take his students to Sachsenhausen, a short suburban train ride from the German capital, he was not sure how it would go down. His lessons on Nazi Germany had met muted enthusiasm ..."

Mayor of tough Berlin district among new German ministers

Washington Post / Associated Press — Friday, 09. March 2018

"Germany's center-left Social Democrats announced Friday they're nominating the mayor of one of Berlin's toughest districts among six ministers the party will have in the country's next government. Franziska Giffey is considered a rising star within the party …"

Berlin’s LGBTQ refugee center a haven for those fleeing civil war, homophobia

NBCNews.com / Finbarr Toesland — Friday, 09. March 2018

"Berlin is different; you feel as if there is no going back,” Hassino told NBC News. Only two months after he submitted his asylum request, it was approved. Fortunately for Hassino, he arrived in Berlin in 2014, just before the European refugee crisis began to overwhelm the city's bureaucracy ..."

Venues announced for tenth Berlin Biennale

Art Newspaper — Friday, 09. March 2018

"The tenth Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art announced its venues at the annual press conference of the Federal Cultural Foundation (Kulturstiftung des Bundes), its main funding body, on Wednesday evening. Titled after the Tina Turner song from 1985, We don't need another hero, the Biennale will ..."

US billionaire Warren Buffett to buy Berlin’s priciest real estate

The Local Germany — Tuesday, 06. March 2018

"Rubina Real Estate works with foreign investors to secure high price apartments in the Berlin market. The company buys properties in the most expensive parts of Mitte, Köpernick and Zehlendorf, reported the Berliner Zeitung on Tuesday …"

A glimpse into Berlin’s eco fashion scene

University at Buffalo - The Spectrum / Elizabeth Roth — Monday, 05. March 2018

"The third annual Ethical Fashion Show Berlin took place Jan. 16-18 at the former Kraftwerk power plant, now a vibrant and energetic venue for exhibits and events. It involved over 120 vendors and a catwalk finale with 25 models wearing the hottest ethical styles …"

Things Learned At: CTM in Berlin

The Quietus / Tristan Bath — Friday, 02. March 2018

"Berlin's ever-ambitious CTM festival tackles this head-on. The festival's them this year: Turmoil. It's a striking choice of wording, fostering a sense of chaos, hardship and suffering that 'disruption' and 'disorder' don't quite hit. It's also an artistically fruitful concept ..."

Berlin and Brandenburg boasted most hours of sun this winter

The Local Germany / DPA — Thursday, 01. March 2018

"In February, Berlin and Brandenburg logged a historically high number of sunny hours, despite the bitter cold temperatures. Brandenburg's bright days led it to boast a winter temperature above the average of previous years, of 1.8C compared to 0.1C …"

Berlin film festival 2018 roundup

The Guardian / Jonathan Romney — Sunday, 25. February 2018

"Berlin 2018 has been a tricky one. It's the penultimate year for Dieter Kosslick, festival director since 2001, and questions are hanging in the air following last November's letter in which 79 German film-makers called for a post-Kosslick overhaul of the fest, so that it can compete ..."

How David Bowie’s Berlin period inspired Duncan Jones’ sci-fi film Mute

EW.com (blog) / Clark Collis — Tuesday, 20. February 2018

"David Bowie famously spent a portion of the '70s recording in Berlin — and that period left a lasting impression on the late rock superstar's director son, Duncan Jones, who has made the German city the setting for his new Netflix science fiction film …"

Police suspect bank robbers after internet cut in 40000 Berlin homes

The Local Germany — Monday, 19. February 2018

"Berlin authorities are investigating whether the shutdown has anything to do with an attempted bank robbery in the area. In a neighbourhood between the three Berlin districts, Schmargendorf, robbers possibly tried to immobilize the communications network ..."

Babylon Berlin Is the Best Historical Drama on Netflix

GQ Magazine / Lincoln Michel — Saturday, 17. February 2018

"The Roaring Twenties didn't only roar in Jay Gatsby's New York. In the gap between world wars, Berlin of the Weimar Republic epitomized the excess, uncertainty, artistic exploration, and sexual experimentation of the era. This was the Berlin of Fritz Lang and Bauhaus, and also the Berlin of political ..."

Gay Life Flourished in Berlin Before Nazis Snuffed it Out

Advocate.com / Oliver Hilmes — Thursday, 15. February 2018

"Last year, close to 13 million people visited Berlin, twice the number of annual visitors recorded 10 years previously. The city is positively bursting at the seams. Not many years ago, a vast number of Berlin apartments stood empty ..."

Germany’s controversial rent control law works after all (at least in central Berlin)

The Local Germany — Wednesday, 14. February 2018

"Research published by a leading economic institute on Wednesday shows that the much lamented rent control law has had some effect in slowing down the pace of rental increases …"

German ‘Indiana Jones’ rediscovers forgotten section of the Berlin Wall almost 30 years after …

Daily Mail / Alex Green For Mailonline — Tuesday, 13. February 2018

"A German 'Indiana Jones' found a forgotten stretch of the Berlin Wall almost 30 years after almost off of it was demolished. Christian Bormann, 37, stumbled across the historic remains in 1999, 10 years after most of the structure …"

Berlin start-up bringing a 70s icon back

Handelsblatt Global Edition — Sunday, 11. February 2018

"The place looks like your typical Berlin start-up. A factory floor, complete with a vintage leather sofa and a DJ booth, collectible, retro cameras on the shelves and Polaroids everywhere. The latter show pictures of the Berlin sky, the plants on the office shelves and snapshots of hip, young guests at a ..."