#446: Tax problem for clubs, memorial for murdered CDU politician, U9 fire
Expanded powers for the Berlin police
Dear 20 Percent
Alles hat ein Ende, nur die Wurst hat zwei, Everything has an end, only the sausage has two. Eighteen-year-old techno club Renate says it will be closing after an 86-hour New Year’s Party. Its lease is finally running out.
And, as Tagesspiegel reports, another unforeseen factor has arisen that could threaten to speed up Berlin’s Clubsterben (club death): the latest reform of Germany’s property tax.
The new property tax rates are based on a reevaluation of the land these businesses are located on. Higher tax bills are usually passed on by landlords to tenants, including clubs, beer gardens and other small businesses. Jockel beer garten in Kreuzberg’s tax bill has risen from €4,000 to €35,000 per year. Berghain now has to pay €90,000, up from €20,000 — while at riverside spot YAAM, the tax has risen by an unbelievable 1300% to €213,000. It’s hard to see how YAAM could afford that.
Opposition Grüne and Linke politicians are demanding a reform of the tax to protect businesses. The CDU-SPD city government, on the other hand, says it will look into “whether and to what extent compensation can be achieved through targeted subsidies.” Destroy something with a new tax then create more paperwork to try to save that something — what could be more German?
More news below!
Maurice
🧠Save the date: Wednesday, December 10 is the second 20% Berlin News Quiz at Electric Social in Mitte — hosted by yours truly. Test your knowledge of Berlin politics, current affairs, culture and trivia. It’s free but please register in advance!
And thanks to Electric Social for sponsoring this edition of 20% Berlin!
U9 fire
“The U9 is disrupted because of a destructive event,” the announcement went while I was navigating the U-Bahn on Saturday. The “destructive event” turned out to be a fire near the line’s Schloßstraße station on Friday. Damage to the cable ducts is so extensive that the U9 line between Bundesplatz and Rathaus Steglitz will probably remain closed for several weeks. Replacement bus service is running between Berliner Straße and Feuerbachstraße every five minutes.
Statue of murdered CDU politician
On Tuesday morning, artist-activists from the “Center for Political Beauty” erected a bronze statue of the assassinated CDU politician Walter Lübcke in front of the party’s Berlin HQ. Lübcke was murdered outside of his own home in Hesse in 2019. Right-wing extremist and AfD supporter Stephan E. shot Lübcke in the head at close range and was motivated by a hatred of the politician’s pro-refugee stance. “The CDU must not forget those who stood in the way of right-wing extremism,” the activists said in a video — and “renew the firewall to the AfD”, implying they shouldn’t even think about cooperating with them since it was the conservatives who enabled Hitler’s rise to power in 1933. Don’t you just love Germany?
More police surveillance
On Thursday, Berlin’s parliament is expected to pass a wide-ranging update of the legislation regulating the police department. Measures include:
Permitting surveillance cameras in high-crime areas such as Alexanderplatz and Görlitzer Park.
More powers to use drones for surveillance.
Waiting 72 hours to delete video footage from BVG (public transport) cameras instead of 48 hours — to be able collect evidence longer.
Greater powers to monitor chats.
Berlin’s data protection officer Meike Kamp, says the new police powers go too far. Kamp says part of the new regulation allowing police data to be used for AI training is unconstitutional. Until now, police couldn’t use data collected for a specific purpose for another purpose. Kamp also worries about public surveillance: “At some point, we’ll reach a point where it will be no longer possible to move around anonymously in Mitte.”
🍺 🥨 Germany-wide news 🥨 🍺
🇵🇱 Germany and Poland hold annual talks in Berlin
🗣️ AfD expels youth member accused of Hitler-like speech
🚨 Bundeswehr ammunition stolen
🎥 Babylon Berlin wraps fifth-season shoot
🎮 Berlin Apartment video game released
Events this week, curated by The Next Day Berlin
🎭 Dragana Bulut: Remake
Wed 03.12 – Sun 07.12. Duration: Two hours. In EN. Sophiensæle, Mitte. €10–25
Yugoslav youth brigades once built roads and railways together. Bulut restages that collective labor as participatory performance - you’re not watching, you’re an extra in a film that only exists if everyone shows up. Jugo-nostalgia as choreography, socialist memory as material.
🎺 LEISURE
Thursday, 04.12, 8 pm. Astra Kulturhaus, Friedrichshain. €34
Leisure, Auckland’s soul-electronic collective going full live band mode. Strings, brass, vocals - no loops, no shortcuts. Warm, slow-burning grooves. Perfect Thursday wind-down.
📻 Refuge Worldwide Winter Hangout
Saturday, 06.12, 12 pm – 10 pm. Niemetzstrasse 1, Neukölln. Free.
Refuge Worldwide opens its home for the day with ten hours of radio featuring an art exhibition by Fett Burger and a market curated by Nomansland. Glühwein and kids are welcome. Berlin winter done right. Bring-your-own-dish dinner at 6 pm.
🪩 FINAL ROUND w/ Robert Johnson
Saturday, 06.12, 11 pm - 8 am. Renate, Friedrichshain. €21
Renate’s lease is up. Robert Johnson takes the three floors for one final night. Playing: Ata, Wareika (live), dOP (live), Lauer, Margaux Gazur. This is how Berlin says goodbye to one of the last ones.
Factoid
🎁 Two times this month, Berlin becomes a normal big city, as least in one respect: Two Sundays will be Verkaufsoffenesonntage (“shopping Sundays”) to give people more time to finish their Christmas shopping. On December 7 and 21, normal shops will be permitted to open their doors from 1pm to 6pm — but are not required to. Normally, only gas stations, pharmacies, flower shops, bakeries, newsagents and shops in train stations, airports and bus terminals are allowed to open on public holidays and Sundays. Under the “Berlin shopping times law”, the city can decide to allow stores to open on up to 8 Sundays per year.
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Whether you’re planning a company Christmas party, a team night, or just looking for something different with friends, we’ve got the perfect mix of nostalgia and nightlife.
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I wonder how the property tax changes affect Kleingärten? I assume that their land is ‘less worthy,’ which touches on a particular unfairness of this tax change: supposedly it is precisely the institutions that are being taxed which give the area its value in the first place.
What is going on with that video?? Is that seriously the statue, or is it some weird parody? Sorry, my German still isn't strong enough to penetrate this. If it's seriously CDU, they are really leaning into the Hitler imagery to try to challenge the AFD? But they are voting with them even this week?