#448: Housing buyback not happening, LAP coffee closure, Helmut Kohl gets a street
The strange story of Camp David, an East German success story.
Hey 20 Percent,
Yes, I’m working from the co-working area at my local mall today. As you can see, es weihnachtet! It’s Christmassing!
I can’t keep my eyes off of the boomer dude opposite me. He has an awesome mullet right out of 1992. But his choice of clothing also fascinates me more: it’s all Camp David
Camp David wear is invariably splattered with buzzwords related to America, aviation, sailing, preppiness, affluence. Tommy Hilfiger on East German steroids.
What’s best about Camp David is its original story. It was founded by three brothers just outside Berlin in 1997, less than a decade after the fall of the Wall. Its branding is built up around ex-US President Bill Clinton and his family. The parent company is called Clinton Großhandels-GmbH. Their women’s label, Soccx, is named after the Clintons’ cat Socks. In 2000, they created a franchise system and called it Chelsea. And of course Camp David is named after the presidential retreat in Maryland. While Camp David isn’t a megacorp, it’s quite the East German success story, with hundreds of stores in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
Those were different times. Back then, it seems (to me at least), there was an optimism about transatlantic relations that has evaporated for the most part. These days it’s hard to figure out what the brand aligns with exactly. Given its East German origins, it’s perhaps not all too surprising that Clinton is also still operating in Russia, despite the mass exodus of big Western brands and the sanctions imposed on the country since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Best,
Maurice
🎤 Hey, we’d love to see you at the 20% Berlin News Quiz tomorrow night. It’s free!
Housing buyback debate stuck in committees
Remember the Expropriate Deutsches Wohnen campaign? In a 2021 referendum Berliners voted in favour of a referendum saying the city should buy back about 220,000 appartments from large corporate landlords. Most of the these flats were once city-owned but privatised by previous cash-strapped administrations. The CDU-SPD coalition under mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) are opposed to the buyback plan — and say it would be illegal anyway. Wegner has been accused of deliberately delaying the process. Campaigners favour expropriation because they believe the state could keep rents affordable. Opponents say forced expropriation at below-market prices could result in poorly maintained buildings and a loss of investor faith in Berlin. Meanwhile, check to see if your rent is too high here (in English).
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This year, hundreds found their new flat — thanks to a little help.
Get The Flat has helped people all over Berlin land long-term apartments without the stress. They search for listings and message landlords — all while you focus on life.
If you’ve been thinking about getting help, now’s a great time. And if you were part of this year’s success stories — thank you for trusting us.
LAP closing Kreuzberg shop (for now)
Today’s storm in a coffee cup: Vandalism appears to have led the upstart coffee chain to close its Falckensteinstraße shop, though perhaps only temporarily. A leftwing group calling itself LapCoffeeScheiße declared victory: “We are currently seeing very clear signs that LAP is going down the drain.” LAP CEO Ralph Hage told Tagesspiegel (paywall) that “the temporary winter closure has absolutely nothing to do with vandalism”. LAP’s crime in the eyes of the activists: investment by venture capitalists and cheap, quite good coffee. Great chocolate croissants, too. Funny how they’re targetting a small local chain rather than actual multinational megacorps like McDonalds and Amazon, also present in the neighbourhood. 🙄
Uber über Berlin
Speaking of megacorps that only old-school taxi drivers get worked up by, Uber released its Uber Atlas for Germany. According to the company, Berghain and Sisyphos were the number 1 and 2 destinations over the past year. One Berliner used the app 1,150 times in the time period. The longest Uber trip originating in Berlin ended in Minderlittgen, a village near Luxembourg, 680 km from the capital. Berlin is Uber’s largest German market, with 2 million rides completed.
🍺 🥨 Germany-wide news 🥨 🍺
🗣️ Germany rejects Trump administration criticism
🪖 Young Germans protest new military service programme
🚀 Germany installs Israeli-made missile defence system
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New year, new laws, and higher prices. These are the big changes I noticed while preparing All About Berlin‘s guides and tools for 2026:
- 💺 More expensive public transit: €63 Deutschland Ticket, €4 AB ticket, €5 ABC ticket
- 🍽️ Reduced VAT in cafés and restaurants: previously 19%, now 7%
- 💶 Higher minimum wage: previously €12.82, now €13.90 per hour
- 👷♀️ Higher minimum salary for Blue Cards: previously €48,300, now €50,700
- 👨💻 Higher income requirement for freelance visas and student visas (no exact amount yet).
- 🩹 More expensive health insurance; the starkest price hike in years. Use my health insurance calculator to see the new prices. Ask my health insurance expert if switching to another insurance makes sense.
Events this week, curated by The Next Day Berlin
💥 Revolver. The comedy show with a bang Friday, 12.12, 8 pm. Wowsville, Ohlauer Straße 33, Kreuzberg. €10 Bang! Bang! Now in its eighth year of hilarity, Revolver is Berlin’s English comedy show that takes place at Wowsville, a punk rock bar in Kreuzberg. Revolver features 6-8 funny people from all over planet Earth and is hosted by Indian comic Rohit Bhatia.
🎸 Moonbow I
Friday, 12.12, 7 pm. Morphine Raum, Kreuzberg. €13
Live recording session: four sets, vintage speakers, tape rolling. Jungstötter brings shadowy art rock that owes something to Scott Walker and Nick Cave. Clothing, Leng Seong, and Frog Portal (Sin Maldita + Uxile) fill the rest - expect ambient, experimental, edges that don’t smooth out.
📚 Xmas Book Market
Saturday, 14.12, 2 pm – 8 pm. EECLECTIC, Lindenstr. 91, Kreuzberg.
Zines, small press books, readings, no algorithmic recommendations, soup, Glühwein. Sort your gift list here
💿 Sonic Matters V – Independent Label Market
Sunday, 14.12, 2–7 pm. Silent green Kuppelhalle, Wedding. Free
Berlin independent labels selling experimental vinyl, tapes, and CDs - musique concrète, noise, electronica, new music. Fifth edition. Browse, buy, and have a coffee (or wine) at MARS in between.
🫒 At The Table x Sfera: A Holiday Feast
Sunday, 14.12, 7:30 - 10 pm. Sfera, Kreuzberg. €55
Four plant-based courses built around Palestinian and Italian olive oil. Producers present, zines with recipes and supplier links, gifts to take home - organic oil, preserved vegetables, labane. This year’s Palestinian harvest is the lowest in decades.
Factoid
Berlin politicians love to rename a street in line with their their political affiliations. For example, in 2008 Green-run Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg renamed a part of Kochstraße Rudi-Dutschke-Straße, after the 1960s student leader. Now that we have a CDU mayor, conservatives get some streets: Next year Hofjägerallee in Tiergarten will be christiansed Helmut-Kohl-Allee, Tagesspiegel reports. For the youngsters, Helmut Kohl (CDU) was German chancellor from 1982 to 1998 and the driving force behind the rapid unification of East and West Germany in 1990 as well as ardent supporter of European integration. His reputation was blemished by a party financing scandal in the 1990s.
🔗 🔗 🔗 Useful links 🔗 🔗 🔗
🎙️The 20% Berlin Podcast on Spotify
I agree that vandalizing coffee shops isn’t cool, but the founder is also being kinda douchy, threatening law suits on independent bookshops in Berlin.
https://epaper.tagesspiegel.de/index.html?articleId=doc83gkghbqjpevhmuj2to&app=tsp&media_id=3777189012818130960_63220881693&media_author_id=63220881693&ranking_info_token=GCA3NWRlYjk0NjZlNTY0YTNhODdkYTA3YTczMTQ3ZDY2ZSXg1K0JFdgEFpCE5pINGBMzNzc3MTg5MDEyODE4MTMwOTYwKANydmEA&utm_source=ig_text_feed_timeline
When we first moved to Berlin in 2017, I was very confused by all of the teenagers I saw wearing "NASA" branded clothing. I thought at the time, "Wow. Germans really like the American space program?" I later learned that it was just a line of clothing from H & M.
I was equally confused by the Camp David brand, but never knew until now the story behind it.