#480: 📈Jobs up, 📉butter down, explosion, Syrian visitor

Berliners turning to GoFundMe for help with housing costs

Mar 31, 2026

Dear 20 Percent,

Because it’s Easter, this coming Friday and Monday are public holidays, which means closed shops Friday, Sunday and Monday. If you do need to get groceries on those days, here’s our guide to what’s open when nothing’s open.

Last week, I sadly had to cancel my pub quiz due to sickness… but I’ll be back with a fresh 20% Berlin News Quiz at Electric Social near Alexanderplatz in two weeks, on Wedesday, April 15th. 🎟️Get your tickets🎟️

Our new Syrian friend…

Syrian president and ex-Al-Qaeda member Ahmed al-Sharaa was in town Monday — visiting Chancellor Merz and other big shot politicians. Merz has a twin agenda: getting as many Syrian refugees to return to their homeland — and drumming up some business for German firms that could be involved in rebuilding Syria after that country’s devastating civil war. Protesters voiced outrage over the meeting and its agenda in several demonstrations: Refugee advocacy organisation Berliner Flüchtlingsrat, held a protest in Tiergarten under the slogan “No deportation deals with human rights abusers”. Meanwhile, a group of demonstrators at Hauptbahnhof expressed support for al-Sharaa.

Machete-Nazis

About 15 years ago, a skinhead chased me down the street with a machete after a minor dispute related to his SUV. Terrifying experience. Enough about me. Last week, two 19-year-olds were being verbally harrassed by two men outside leftwing bar Supamolly in Friedrichshain when one of the men pulled out a machete and hit both young people. The woman suffered a serious cut in her arm and had to be hospitalised. In case you were wondering whether they were really neo-Nazis: The suspects shouted “Sieg Heil!” before disappearing. Recent years have seen a resurgence of neo-Nazi violence in “left-wing” neighbourhoods, taz reports.

Explosion in Schöneberg

A hobbyist bombmaker or what? An explosion in a fourth floor apartment in Schöneberg triggered a fire in the entire building on Monday — making it largely uninhabitable. Rear parts of the building could collapse, say authorities. Social services have been tasked with finding new accommodations for affected residents. The cops are investigating on suspicion of aggravated arson.

Jobs up, butter down

Unemployment fell in March. According to the latest official stats, 224,081 people were registered unemployed in the city, 2,800 fewer than in February. The jobless rate fell by 0.1 percentage points to 10.5%, up from 10.2% at the same time last year. Meanwhile, according to the Berlin-Brandenburg Statistics Office, the inflation rate nudged up to 2.5% in March up from 2% in February— thanks to rising petrol prices, thanks to Trump’s Iran war. Silver lining: Butter is 22.9% cheaper than a year ago.

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Events this week, curated by The Next Day Berlin

🖼️ Marlow Moss: Creating Space
Opening: Wednesday, 01.04, from 6 pm. Georg Kolbe Museum, Sensburger Allee 25, Westend. €8.
First major show in Germany. Born Marjorie, he lived as Marlow. He was queer, Jewish, a constructivist. Influenced Mondrian, was credited as his follower. History is catching up.

🪩 Experimental Broadcast
Friday, 03.04, 11:30 pm – 7 am. Fitzroy, Holzmarktstr. 15, Mitte. €15
Grime-rooted night built on raw textures featuring Renata, Sara Persico, rubbishhh, Miri Malek, AMMNEJAH. The party moves through breakbeat, d&b and footwork.

🎺BIXIGA 70 *live
Saturday, 04.04, 7:30 pm – 11 pm. Gretchen, Obentrautstr. 19–21, Kreuzberg. €28
São Paulo big band translating afrobeat, cumbia, funk and spiritual jazz into a sweating, horn-heavy live show. Collective composition, polyrhythmic precision. Seven albums deep and still untouchable on stage. 🎧 Vapor

🎸 Hexvessel + Aluk Todolo + Nihil Nihil
Monday, 06.04, 8 pm – 1 am. Urban Spree, Revaler Str. 99, Friedrichshain. €25
Finnish occult folk meets French avant black metal noise. Hexvessel's nature mysticism and Aluk Todolo's hypnotic, repetitive intensity make for a rare double bill. Nihil Nihil returns to Berlin after a decade. Not for everyone.

🍺 🥨 Germany-wide news 🥨 🍺

✈️ Merz: Most Syrian refugees will return home within three years

😨 Germany grapples with decline fears

🚘 Speed limit? Nein, danke!

🚒 Fire rips through German nightclub

🐋 Humpback whale still stranded

Factoid

Another indicator that the city’s housing market is seriously dyfunctional: According to data from crowdfunding platform GoFundMe analysed by Tagesspiegel, the number of campaigns posted by Berliners seeking financial help with housing costs has doubled over the last two years. A third of all Berlin-based GoFundMe appeals are linked to keywords like “rent”, “utility charges”, “homeless”, “eviction” and “housing shortage”. Tagesspiegel identifed 1,073 such campaigns that raised a total of €722,945 in 2025, up from €576,302 in 2024 and €266,163 in 2023. Meanwhile, a separate analysis of the housing market found that a third of flats on offer are being rented for a whopping €21.50 / square metre (“cold”, before side costs). High time the city government stepped in and did something to get some more housing built.

Finally: the prediction markets have discovered Berlin’s local election in September and seem to believe mayor Kai Wegner’s CDU will win. Betting verboten in Germany, btw.