#346: 100 new Germans per day, Lunch for needy in Neukölln, Godless Berlin

It's the economy stupid

Lucia Christmas market (which closed Sunday). Photo: Thomas Ernst

Dear 20 Percent,

This year, Christmas is overshadowed by the horrendous attack on the Magdeburg christmas market, in which 5 people were killed and 200 injured. It’s as bleak as it gets.

For Berliners, the attack brought back memories of December 2016, when a man drove a truck into Berlin’s Breitscheidplatz christmas market, pointlessly killing 13 people.

After the Magdeburg attack, Berlin immediately stepped up security at all Christmas markets.

The atrocious crime could have a huge impact on the German elections in February — with political parties of various stripes falling over themselves to come up with quick fixes to prevent future attacks.

Nonetheless, I hope that you all get some well-earned down time over the holiday. Don’t forget to stock up on food: Most supermarkets close at 1pm today (Tuesday, December 24th). The 25th and 26th are also public holidays. The usual handful of supermarkets at train stations will be open for most of that period. Here’s our list of what’s open when nothing’s open.

Some local news, mostly not so depressing, below.

Happy Holidays!

Maurice

100 new Germans per day

Berlin’s central naturalization office, the Einbürgerungsbehörde, has been completing an average of 100 naturalizations per day, according to RBB. Since it opened last January — replacing 12 individual district offices — the agency says it’s ramped up efficiency, successfully processing 21,000 applications for German citizenship. It even overshot its target of 20,000. And, a rarity in Berlin, the Einbürgerungsbehörde’s process is digital from start to finish. Department head Wiebke Gramm has upped the target for 2025 to 40,000.

Massive X-mas lunch in Neukölln

Schlager singer and Berlin legend Frank Zander hosted his annual Christmas charity get-together for homeless and other disadvantaged people at the Estrel Hotel in Neukölln on Saturday, following a five-year break, thanks to corona and personal health issues. Celebritities and politicians served a menu of goose, dumplings and red cabbage to 2,500 people. Zander, 82, grew up in Neukölln and began organising the Christmas lunch in 1995. He also wrote the schmaltzy Hertha football song, Nur Nach Hause!

Berlin’s resilient economy

Trouncing the general sense of gloom in the country, Berlin’s economy is set to outperform Germany as a whole this year. The city state’s GDP probably grew by 1.3%, according to the state-owned Investitionsbank Berlin (IBB). Their forecast for 2025 is 1.5% growth - nothing to write home about but in the context of growing unemployment and plant closures elsewhere in Germany, Berlin’s doing pretty well, thanks to a healthy services sector, said local economy minister Franziska Giffey (SPD). The number of unfilled positions rose to 21,433 in November, suggesting a robust employment market.

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🍺 🥨 Germany-wide news 🥨 🍺

🗳️ Magdeburg attack could impact elections

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👧Dortmund kid sleeps in front of kindergarten

Factoid

It’s Christmas, so I thought it would be fun to take a brief look at Berliners’ religious beliefs. Despite German concerns about privacy, the state has detailed stats on whether people are either Lutheran (11.7%) or Catholic (6.9%) since you’re supposed to declare that at your first Anmeldung. Officially, 81.4% belong to another or no faith. Stats on other religions are more vague. However, researchers estimate that 8-10% of Berliners are Muslim, 0.5%-1% Jewish.

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