#393: Catholic landlord fined, overcrowded Olympic stadium, no dogs at Tegel

Museum Island turns 200!

May 30, 2025

What Berlin feels like today. Empty. Photo: Dennis Jarvis

Dear 20 Percent,

I’ve ended up in corporate offices for various reasons over the past year or two and I’m always surprised how empty they are — vast expanses of unused monitors and empty desks.

“Not everyone has returned to the office yet,” someone always says, as someone else with a giant courier bag for a briefcase exits a meeting room and heads home to complete the day remotely.

“I don’t think they’re coming back,” I say in what feels like dialogue from a horror movie. You can always tell whoever I’m talking to is heading home as soon as whatever we’re doing together is over.

That’s how Berlin felt this morning during my run — weirdly empty. Though, in this case, pretty sure everyone will be back by Monday.

If you got or took a long weekend — enjoy. The Jesus holidays are (nearly) over. Summer will be here any minute.

Andrew

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👂 Episode 13 of our podcast is out! We talk about issues close to Maurice’s heart like sitting down to pee and cybersecurity. We were a little late this week because of technical issues that I’m still hammering out.

What would Jesus do?

Offices aren’t the only thing empty in Berlin — Neukölln fined real estate developer Petruswerk €75,000 earlier this month because 15 luxury apartments in its new Ruth Hochhaus high-rise in the southern suburb remain empty, according to RBB24. The borough had repeatedy warned the owner, which used to be the real estate wing of Berlin’s Catholic archbishop and is still linked to the church. Petruswerk said the borough is just being petty — just 15 out of 601 new apartments remain empty. Part of the problem is the price tag — the apartments go for between €19 and €28 per square meter, depending on how high they are.

Keep dogs away

By comparison, Tegeler See, the lake in the same-named neighborhood, is over-crowded with blue algae and officials are warning dog owners to keep their pooches away from the water — it’s lethal to pets and at least one dog has died this year, according to RBB24. No other lakes in Berlin are currently dangerous but please keep an eye out!

Lines are just a thing in Berlin now

It was also apparently too crowded last Saturday when minor league soccer team Arminia Bielefeld faced VfB Stuttgart (which plays in Germany’s top Bundesliga league) in the Deutsche Fußball Bund (DFB) cup in Berlin. Arminia fans complained of dangerous over-crowding and long lines at the south gate to the Olympic stadium before the match and the DFB is now investigating the problems. Officials in Berlin have been unsympathetic — the problem, which even led to lifting children over fences to escape the crush of bodies, was exacerbated by fans not realizing they could have used any gate, not just the vistors’ entrance.

🍺 🥨 Germany-wide news 🥨 🍺

🛂 Cabinet approves removal of fast-track citizenship

👮 Four VW mangers guilty in Dieselgate fraud

🔪 Syrian refugee halted Hamburg knife attack

Factoid

Ye Olde Museum in 1885. Photo: Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz

Museum Island is turning 200 years old this weekend and is celebrating with an open-air concert, special tours and a €14 day-ticket for the museums on the island on Saturday and Sunday: the Altes Museum, Neues Museum, Alte Nationalgalerie, Bode-Museum and the James Simon Gallery. The Pergamon is also on the island but is all-but closed for rennovations. The cornerstone of the Altes Museum was laid in 1825 and the museum (Berlin’s oldest) opened in 1830. The island was also home to Kölln, one of two villages that became the city-state we now call home.

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