#333: Berlin Wall crumbles, 'Squat' resisting eviction, Suing landlords
The big news was national (and international) this week
Hey 20 Percent!
What a week.
Regardless of how you feel about the outcome, a day on which Donald Trump was re-elected US president by a surprise landslide and German chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) fired finance minister Christian Lindner (FDP), effectively ending the current German government, is historic.
Germany’s September 2025 federal election, which I had hoped to take part in as a brand new German, will likely be moved up to March, which at first sounds like a disaster considering how well the far-right AfD did during the state elections this summer.
But the timing may be fortuitous — Germans are more risk-averse than your grandmother and in times of crisis (now, basically) are likely to seek out safe oases. They’ll probably vote for the two traditional parties, the center-left SPD and conservative CDU, rather than take a gamble on a fringe party to vent frustration.
A Thursday poll backs up that assertion with the CDU getting 34% and the SPD 16%, possibly enough to form what is known as a “Grand Coalition”, the most common government in Angela Merkel’s (CDU) 16-year reign. And like with Merkel, the CDU would propose the chancellor, the weaselly investment banker and politician Friedrich Merz.
After a week like that we need a party and luckily Berlin is throwing one — to celebrate the anniversary of the Wall’s demise.
Have a good weekend,
Andrew
It’s been 35 years? Really?
Berlin Friday and Saturday is celebrating the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall back before many of you were born and I was in college. The peak of the festivities is a concert Saturday at 9pm at five different former Wall sites in central Berlin. About a gazillion different, sometimes random, events are also commemorating what was ultimately the end of East Germany. You were going to party anyway this weekend, maybe stop by an exhibition or concert to honor that peaceful revolution.
Should they stay or should they go
The antagonistic owner of the Köpi squat (officially it’s no longer a squat) is hoping to evict the current residents but has run into an unsympathetic judge, according to taz. The owner, investment group Statezia GmbH, says the building is structurally unsound and presents an immediate risk to the residents, who have a lease through 2037. But a Berlin judge Wednesday said in court he thought the eviction was just an attempt to get the renters out — Statezia evicted a related permanent camping site adjacent to the building in October 2021 and is working to develop it. An empty turn-of-the-previous-century Altbau would make the development easier and more profitable. Before you email to say, “BuT pRoPeRtY rIgHtS”, squats have played a central role in contemporary Berlin, and especially Kreuzberg, and the lifeblood of big cities is a diverse group of lifestyles. Köpi is the perfect symbol — people have lived there for decades while just next door, a luxury flat development has been but a concrete skeleton since the 2007(!) financial crisis.
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Apartments are apartments are apartments
Speaking of flats — some districts are doing more to fight perennially empty flats or the conversion of living quarters into commercial real estate (hello AirBnB?) than others. Tempelhof-Schöneberg, the champion, last year filed 1,139 suits against landlords improperly using residential property and Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf 1,027, according to Morgenpost. Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain (home to Köpi above) did relatively little — just 266 lawsuits. But Steglitz-Zehlendorf even less with 78 last year and just 8 so far this year. The suits are based on the 2014 Zweckentfremdungsverbot (alternative usage prohibition), which was passed as apartments were converted en masse for AirBnB listings. The law can also be used to force landlords to rent out empty real estate (about 40,000 apartments, or 2% of the stock, are vacant in Berlin, usually because of construction or renter transition).
🍺 🥨 Germany-wide news 🥨 🍺
🇩🇪 Why did Germany’s government collapse?
😠 8 Neo-Nazis nabbed in latest takeover fantasy
🪖 2025 Ukraine aid safe despite government collapse
✈️ Russian attack on DHL plane may have been mayhem test
📯📯 Postkutsche 📯📯
Reader Laurie writes:
An Evening of Music and Giving with the Berlin Acabellas
On December 1st, experience an unforgettable night of music with the Berlin Acabellas at St. Thomas Church in Kreuzberg. This talented women’s choir, known for their vibrant harmonies and international repertoire, will be joined by the Cellotic Soundtrack Ensemble and other musical guests to create a unique mix of choral and orchestral sounds. Proceeds will help support Terre des Femmes, a non-profit championing women’s rights worldwide. Join us for an evening of beautiful music and a chance to make a positive impact! Get your tickets on Eventbrite here!
Factoid
The dramatic fall of the Berlin Wall on the evening of November 9, 1989 was a mistake. Sort of. East German politician Günter Schabowski was announcing new travel rules passed by his government that would grant East Germans unfettered travel into West Germany. They were to go into effect November 10 but Günter apparently hadn’t been informed. When a reporter asked when the new rules would come into effect he said, “They will come into effect, as far as I know … now, immediately”. And West and East Germans sprinted to the border, ushering in the changes that now mean you can’t find a new apartment.
🔗Useful links🔗
Regarding the collapse of the government, what happened to the €60 billion that the Constitutional Court annuled in 2023?
Although we may never know for sure, it seems like having this money available may have generated less divisions in the coalition's budget negotiations.
https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-top-court-annuls-move-to-repurpose-covid-funding/a-67403848
As far as I understand, that was indeed the point of contention. With Trump in, Scholtz wanted to declare Ukraine a sufficient crisis to do deficit spending and the FDP refused. The court in 2023 refused to call the climate crisis the right kind fo crisis, which on the one hand cf https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/113/486/077/682/140/377/original/69321078b6a8ed76.png from https://mastodon.green/@peterdutoit/113486080248403396 but on the other hand, the governments of the world have never before been this far in debt (as a proportion of GDP) which means international finance may have WAY too much influence, so maybe Germany is a better place to live (though see the Microsoft note the previous issue...)