#445: New Years party after all, illegal fireworks, useless Ausländerbehörde
How to get a Stolperstein
Hey 20 Percent,
Feodora Rosin was murdered in 1943 in Auschweitz by the Nazis, who also killed her daughter and ex-husband. The last place she lived in Berlin? My building in Prenzlauer Berg.
I’ve always admired the Stolperstein (stumbling block) project by Berlin artist Gunter Demning and years ago looked into how they are installed. People have to know about a victim of the Nazis as well as their final address before deportation. They can then organize funding (€120 per brass block) and ask the foundation to create and lay one.
The Stolperstein foundation does the rest.
Historic phone books are the easiest way to find out who lived in your building in the 1930s and ‘40s. You then have to make assumptions about their name and then cross-reference with Nazi records. Most of it is online and the Stolperstein website links to the various resources.
Foundation researchers help confirm everything.
I stumbled in my research for over a decade because our Straße was renamed by East Germany and, even more cumbersome, renumbered. I never managed to find out which library had old maps (with street numbers) and then go there.
The digitization of old maps simplified my search last spring, which is when I found out about Feodora and the fate of the rest of her family.
Our building will get a Stolperstein remembering her in March.
As always, have a good weekend.
Andrew
Party on NYE after all
Does this sound sketchy to anyone else? Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) and economy senator (and former mayor) Franziska Giffey (SPD) earlier this month announced a New Years Party at the Brandenburg Gate that will include a 7-minute firework show, which will be broadcast on German public TV, as well as a DJ set. The 20,000 tickets for the event will be given away sometime next month. Berlin is funding the party to the tune of €590,000, mostly for security, according to RBB24. HOWEVER, Wegner this summer cancelled the traditional show, which included high caliber pop stars and paid entry, saying Berlin shouldn’t subsidize a holiday party at Brandenburg Gate. But now they are? The difference? The traditional show was organized by a private event company and now it’s Berlin’s own event organizer putting the thing together. Sounds like Wegner either had a beef with the event company or is somehow profiting from this new arrangement or — and this is certainly a possibility — he’s just a massive hypocrite.
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Do I complain about the Ausländerbehörde too much? I get it — the influx of foreigners and refugees coupled with the new dual citizenship law has pushed them to the brink. But they still feel heartless, uncaring and sometimes mean. The taz newspaper applies plenty of pressure and now says the department is facing more lawsuits for inaction than ever before — 1,997 people have filed suit against the agency so far this year for taking too long on naturalization applications. That’s up from just 65 in 2022. And then there’s the fact that it’s impossible to get an appointment or any kind of information from them — a problem for foreigners trying to plan their lives. I think the New Years party is important for Berlin’s image but I’d rather the money went toward a functioning Ausländerbehörde (official name: Landesamt für Einwanderung) than another DJ set.
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Thank you cops. Keep going!
Oh fireworks? Berlin cops this week made three major seizures of illegal fireworks that illustrate the problem with Germany’s fireworks fetish — it’s out of hand. Early this week cops found 30 boxes of illegal fireworks as well as 50 starter pistols in a Lichtenberg apartment after a man was threatened by the resident, according to RBB24. And, on Tuesday, they seized more than 800 kgs of fireworks and equipment to make explosives during raids in four different Bezirke. And, on Thursday, Berlin and Brandenburg cops stopped a truck on the A111 Autobahn with 1.3 tonnes (ONE POINT THREE TONNES) of illegal fireworks. Someone saw the vehicle being loaded in Oranienburg and called the cops. Will we notice a dip in fireworks usage on Berlin’s streets this NYE? Probably not,
🍺 🥨 Germany-wide news 🥨 🍺
🥊 7 violent left-wingers on trial in Dresden
👨🚀 German astronaut slated for moon mission
👴 Merz avoides mutiny over pension plan
🥦 Legal to light a spliff in the English Garden (in Munich)
Factoid
That typical doo-DOO-doo door closing sound on the S-Bahn — a G, B and a G for the musicians among us — was invented in East Berlin in 1986 and adopted city-wide after reunification. But, it will soon disappear thanks to European Union guidelines, which mandate uniform sounds across Europe to help the visually impaired. But, older public transport cars with other sounds can keep their original tones until they’re scrapped, which means we’ll have the sound until at least 2030, when Berlin’s current fleet should be replaced. But even once they’re gone we’ll still have Paul Kalkbrenner’s 2008 hit, “Train” (see above).
🔗 🔗 🔗 Useful links 🔗 🔗 🔗
🎙️The 20% Berlin Podcast on Spotify
Count me among the longtime admirers of the Stolperstein project. Somewhere on YouTube there’s a video highlighting the process of crafting the memorial blocks and the incredibly beautiful and sensitive placement of the individual stones. Remember and honor the taken; gratitude to the stewards who help perpetuate their memory. Never forget.
When we moved into our Prenzlauerberg apartment, the floors were a mess. We managed to replace one of them, and the (from near the border with Poland) floor guys showed us that there was a large hiding space, about 4 cubic meters, that had been near where the heating stove would have been. Which absolutely made me think of Maus. I hope someone only hid their possessions and didn't have to live there. The rest of the floor was full of what I thought was earth (which I assumed was for sound and/or fire damping) but I've since been told was coke (spent coal) which is why old apartments in Berlin are so dusty.