Berlin Notes

Sunday, November 1, 2009

A reader, Ken, sent in the following question by e-mail:

Hi, my friend is currently trying to do an assignment regarding Berlin and got a question asking what is the reason that Berlin has some serious rivals as the nation's primary city.
I have tried to search through the net but I can't really find 'reasons' other than assuming that other states have tourism sites and other specific aspects like Frankfurt as the city of banks. I hope that you can help in this matter. Thanks before hand.

I think there are two sets of historical factors at play here.

Firstly, Germany as a nation is quite recent (the first modern German nation state wasn't founded until 1870) and as such it consists of many regions with their own strong identities and political and economical traditions. For example, Frankfurt was always a centre of banking even in the middle ages. So following the establishment of Germany with Berlin as its capital, even though it was the nation's largest city it was still in some respects competing with other large cities such as Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Leipzig etc., something other European capitals such as Paris or London didn't face to the same extent.

Secondly, the division of Berlin after the Second World War effectively put an end to Berlin's status as the dominant economic and political city within Germany. While it remained nominally the capital of both East and West Germany, few western German businesses were willing to remain in West Berlin due to the uncertain political situation and the costs of getting goods and materials in and out, and many relocated to other areas of Germany. Siemens is one example which comes to mind. Meanwhile the economy of East Berlin was always a bit of a joke, though it was by far and away the "richest" city within the German Democratic Republic.

Following reunification, while government has returned to Berlin, few of the businesses once based there have moved back, so much of Germany's "strength" is spread about over its regions, rather than concentrated in the capital city.

I hope that helps to answer your question!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Germany takes its public holidays seriously: they're "celebrated" on the day they fall on (no postponement to the following Monday etc.), and - with certain exceptions - all shops are closed.

Note that public holidays in Germany differ somewhat between federal states (Bundesländer), and some of the more Catholic states have extra holidays.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Following the sudden 39 hour U-Bahn, bus and tram strike last Friday and Saturday, little progress has been made in negotiations between the public transport workers' union Verdi and public transport operator BVG. Verdi has however announced that no strikes or other industrial action will take place before Monday, February 11th.

The strike last week was haevily criticised by public transport users due to the short notice given - many commuters were caught out on Friday morning and had to make alternative travel arrangements. It looks like further strikes will not be quite as disruptive; Monday, February 11 and Tuesday, February 12 are likely dates for the next round of industrial action.

Note that services run by Deutsche Bahn - particularly the S-Bahn network and regional trains are not affected by this round of industrial action, although in the event of any strikes they will be more crowded than usual.

On Friday and Saturday a bus shuttle service was in operation between Tegel Airport and Alexanderplatz via Hauptbahnhof replacing the TXL airport bus. It's likely this service will be operated during any future strikes, providing a reliable public transport connection to Tegel.

Schönefeld Airport| is mainly served by the S-Bahn and Regionalbahn|regional trains, meaning access from there to the centre of Berlin will not be disrupted by any BVG strikes.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

From midight Friday until 3pm Saturday, the BVG - Berlin's public transport system - will not be running due to strike action.

All U-Bahn and Tram services are affected. A few bus lines run by private companies on behalf of the BVG will run as usual, but these are mostly in the suburbs.

The TXL bus service from Tegel Airport to Hauptbahnhof will be operating at 10 minute intervals.

The S-Bahn and Regionalbahn services operated by Deutsche Bahn will not be affected and are running as normal. The S-Bahn will be running more frequent services.

Taxis will be hard to get and traffic jams can be expected.

Monday, December 31, 2007

Germany takes its public holidays seriously: they're "celebrated" on the day they fall on (no postponement to the following Monday etc.), and - with certain exceptions - all shops are closed.

Note that public holidays in Germany differ somewhat between federal states (Bundesländer), and some of the more Catholic states have extra holidays.

2009 Public Holidays in Berlin

Friday, November 23, 2007

Berlin is a huge city, and if you're not familiar with it, it's not always easy to judge what a certain area's "character" might be like. Viewed from the streets, some districts can look quite attractive, but this isn't always a reflection of the social structure behind the fassades. The city government has just released a "Social Development Status Atlas" (Entwicklungsindikator Soziale Stadtentwicklung, pictured right) which provides an easy-to-understand overview of where's hot, and where's not quite so hot

Monday, November 19, 2007

One thing you won't find in the works of Roger Melis, Martin Roemers and Walter Vogel are clichés. Their works, depicting different aspects of working life in the post-war Germanies, go on show today at the Willy-Brandt-Haus, headquarters of Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD), under the title "Arbeit und Alltag 1951-1992" ("Work and Everyday Life 1951-1992")

Monday, November 19, 2007

Winter is slowly arriving in Berlin - the last few days have seen the odd flurry of snow (quite unusual for November), and some of it has settled in Knut's enclosure. Click here for pictures.

Friday, November 16, 2007

The body charged with marketing Berlin's surplus real estate, the Liegenschaftfonds, has just announced that the Amerika-Haus next to Zoo Station is up for sale.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Germany is a nation of renters - and animal owners. With over 8 million cats and 5 million dogs, the issue of keeping pets in rented apartments is a frequent source of conflict between renters and landlords (and quite often the neighours too). Standard German rental contracts include a clause which specifically allows only small birds and aquarium fish: for any other kind of pet, whether hamsters or alligators, the landlord's explicit permission is necessary.

The standard text (§8 No. 4 of the standard rental contract) is as follows:

"jede Tierhaltung, insbesondere von Hunden und Katzen, mit Ausnahme von Ziervögeln und Zierfischen, … der Zustimmung des Vermieters"