#473: Bookstore banned, Tesla hates unions, landlord fines

It's International Women's Day

Opulence and the Mecklenburg Western Pomerania parliament. Photo: Heipl Berlin

Hey 20 Percent,

I travel a lot as a comedian and this winter I’ve been combining it with little overnight trips with my wife, and discovering some nearby gems that, although far from unknown, were unexplored by me.

Schwerin: This city a little over two hours north by regional train has my favorite German castle (known colloquially as the “paper mache castle” because much of the interior isn’t as high-quality as it seems) and a quaint old town. Lake Schwerin borders both the castle and the town and gives the place a nautical feel.

Görlitz: We all know this place from Wes Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel and it’s a historical gem because it was undisturbed in more than just the two world wars. As everyone there likes to tell you, it has 4,000 protected historical sites, compared to something like just 1,500 in Berlin.

But it’s fascinating not only because of the undisturbed historical urban development, but also because once you leave the historic old town, you’re met with equal parts historic preservation and decaying East German tristesse — you know, how Berlin used to look.

I assume our readers are good at Google (or AI) so I’ll leave the rest to you. I’m currently in the birthplace of Germany’s auto industry — Zwickau, Saxony. Not much to report so far except for the omnipresence of horse meat.

Have a great International Women’s Day Sunday!

Andrew

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Bookstores banned — yes, banned

Imagine being afraid of a … checks notes … bookstore. A Prenzlauer Berg book peddler is suing German cultural commissioner Wolfram Weimer (independent) for excluding it as well as two other stores from the annual booksellers’ prize, according to RBB24. The zur schwankenden Weltkugel (the wobbling earth) store as well as the Rote Straße (Red Street) in Göttingen and Bremen’s The Golden Shop were all excluded from the competition by the commissioner because he, according to Spiegel, believed the leftist shops were extremist and not worthy of potential government support. The award is given annually by a jury in Weimer’s office and brings prize money of up to €25,000. Although independent, Weimer was a conservative journalist and publisher before becoming Germany’s biggest cultural bureaucrat and apparent opponent to freedom of speech.

Tresor layoffs

Layoffs at a … checks notes … Berlin club? Über-Berlin night spot Tresor has cut 8 of its 14 coatcheck workers loose and replaced them with free lockers to offset inflation, according to Groove magazine. The club’s Betriebsrat (works council, a sort of HR by the employees for the employees) was part of the process. It helped find 6 employees jobs elsewhere in the former powerplant and is supporting those let go in their job search. The lockers are opened with Handys, apparently, and make it easier for clubbers to get their stuff during their stay.

Landlords fined but not fined

And even when Berlin enforces laws it then finds a way to not enforce them (you thought I was going to check my notes again, didn’t you?). The city-state has fined Berlin landlords a total €12.4 million for improper use of their residential properties but has only collected a third of the fines, according to Tagesspiegel (paywall). The districts say they lack the personnel to enforce the fines and have so far only collected €4.2 million. The fines stem from a 2014 anti-AirBnB law that prohibits landlords from renting flats as anything but flats — or just leaving them empty. But loopholes (short-term, furnished rentals) have flourished and enforcement has been lax. Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg has levvied the most fines — €5.1 million, though they’ve only collected €1.6 million.

Tesla keeps union at bay

And what would a 20 Percent be without a news item on … checks previous issues … Tesla? Union IG Metall failed to gain a majority on the carmaker’s works council during a vote that ended Wednesday, limiting its influence at the carmaker’s plant southeast of Berlin, according to taz. Germany’s biggest union won just 13 of 37 seats on the panel, which represents worker interests. IG Metall has a majority on the works council of all other major German carmakers. Elon himself apparently rallied against the union and a German rapper even joined the battle to try to keep union influence at a minimum at Tesla’s only European factory.

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🍺 🥨 Germany-wide news 🥨 🍺

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⛪ The Cologne cathedral will cost you

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Factoid

Sunday is International Women’s Day! Leftist politician Clara Zetkin organized Germany’s first International Women’s Day in 1911, following a similar event in 1907 in New York. Both were tied to suffrage and socialist politics. Berlin declared it a holiday in 2019 — one of only two German states to elevate it to that level. The day hit the big time in the East Germany and has luckily spread since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Demonstrations planned for Sunday include a 10,000-strong march from Oranienplatz to the Roten Rathaus at 11.30, sponsored by union Verdi, and the traditional bike ride protest starting at Mariannenplatz at noon.

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The discussion about inaccessibility in Berlin continues with a note from reader Matteo Galli:

Let’s remember that a cafe in Mitte went the extra mile to forbid prams to the point they added a pole at the entrance to make it impossible to enter. They have plenty of space considering they are expensive and not too crowded.

But my wife had to leave once while it was raining outside because she was not welcomed there with our son and his pram.

Editor’s Note: It was The Barn. Maybe it still is — I never go there for exactly this reason.

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