🔫♨️#506: Hitler bunker, kids at Islamist demo, new stuff in July, illegal streamer sentenced
A new neighbourhood in Mitte
Dear 20 Percent,
The warmest temperature ever recorded in Berlin was 39.9°C in Tempelhof on Saturday. My weather app said 41°C at some point but who’s counting at that point?
My family and everyone else flocked to bodies of water to cool off. Tragically, two men drowned in swimming accidents, one in the Jungfernheide lake, one in Tempelhof harbour on the Teltow canal.
Infrastructure took a hit. Tram lines 12 and M10 were unable to travel down Bernauer Straße towards Hauptbahnhof because tar in the track bed had softened.
At least the cops put their water canon to good use.
More news below!
Maurice
from our sponsor
Waiting on your residence permit or citizenship application?
You don’t have to.
Get a free case assessment and find out what your options are.
New stuff in July
From 1 July, the Elster app offers pre-filled, “one-click” tax returns for single, childless employees and pensioners.
21 million retired folks get a 4.24% pension increase.
Bürgergeld is being renamed Grundsicherung. Benefit stays the same. Stricter rules and sanctions for no-shows, however.
The government’s temporary fuel discount in reaction to the Iran war runs out.
Anti-Temu tax: €3 flat tariff per product category now applies to orders under €150 from non-EU countries aka China.
Kiosks, gas stations, and small retailers must accept used e-cigarettes for free; no purchase required.
Source: rbb24
Movie2k money launderer sentenced
A Leipzig court sentenced a 44-year-old Berlin real estate agent (and childhood friend of one of the guys behind illegal streaming site Movie2k) to 10 months probation for money laundering. Proceeds from the site were reportedly laundered through purchases of property and crypto. In 2024, the state of Saxony confiscated 50,000 Bitcoins from Movie2k’s ex-operators and sold them for €2.64 billion. Fun fact: Movie2k was shut down in 2013. It’s taken this long to bust these dudes.
Tied-up kids at Islamist demo?
On Saturday afternoon, in near-40°C heat, 600 people took part in a Shia Ashura Day march at Gendarmenmarkt in Mitte. Children tied together with ropes were seen walking in the scorching heat, while the adults carried Iranian and Lebanese flags. Berlin’s Interior Affairs Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) said: “Bringing children to demonstrations in extreme heat has nothing to do with freedom of speech but is a threat to child welfare.” According to a spokesman for the demo, the kids were reenacting the historic capture of women and children after the Battle of Karbala in 680 CE. According to the police, officers quickly banned the children’s participation.
Flats vs. Hitler bunker?
Berlin wants to build flats and offices on the last remaining slabs of concrete left over from a bunker in Hitler’s former Neue Reichskanzelei building. Some Berliners are not amused. “Tearing down one of the last remnants of the Nazi power centre is utter madness these days,” says Dietmar Arnold, chairman of Berliner Unterwelten, a non-profit that preserves historic bunkers. City housing minister Christian Gaebler (SPD) countered: “We won’t stand in the way of new housing construction just to preserve a bunker that might even become a place of pilgrimage.”
Deutsche Bank closes Mitte art space
After nearly 30 years, Deutsche Bank is closing its PalaisPopulaire art venue on Unter den Linden. The bank says it wants to focus on supporting young artists and strengthening partnerships with other institutions. A farewell festival is planned for November. Deutsche Bank launched its Deutsche Guggenheim space just down the road in 1997 but the Guggenheim Foundation pulled out of that project in 2012, maybe sensing that Berlin was never going to be a big art city. That institution later morphed into its current form.
Events this week, curated by The Next Day Berlin
🔊 Berlin–Lagos: Emeka Ogboh's Danfotronics
Thursday 02.07 · 4 pm to 10 pm · Neue Nationalgalerie, Potsdamer Straße 50 · free
Emeka Ogboh converted a yellow Danfo bus from Lagos into a working PA sculpture, parked at the Neue. Live sets to inaugurate the system: KMRU, Jessica Ekomane, Carmen Villain, Ghostpoet and Obaro Ejimiwe. Heads up: the museum's free Thursdays are now first Thursday of the month only
🎤 Mark Leckey: Batter My ❤️ 3-Personed G0D
Friday · 8 pm, doors 7:30 pm · Julia Stoschek Foundation, Leipziger Straße 60 · free · exhibition “Enter Thru Medieval Wounds” through 05.07 Last weekend of “Enter Thru Medieval Wounds”, the closing show of JSF’s Berlin space. Leckey returns Friday with a new talk, performance and screening moving from medieval apocalyptic vision to high-dimensional cloud space, passing through Hip Gnosis, the Cybernetic Sublime, the Y2K Bug and the Cloud of Unknowing.
⏰ 48 Stunden Neukölln
Friday - Sunday · outdoor events until 10 pm, indoor until midnight · across Neukölln · free
The annual neighborhood art festival turns studios, bars, Spätis, empty shops, and parks across Neukölln into temporary exhibition spaces. Visual art, installation, performance, film, digital, sound. Better navigated as a drift than a checklist: pick a corner and walk. Full programme and map on the site.
😅 Jackies Open Air Party
Friday 03.07 · 5 pm to 6 am · Else, An den Treptowers 10 · from €24.20
First Berlin edition of Jackies, the Barcelona house brand founded in 2017. Open air at Else from late afternoon into the night with Ross From Friends (dj set), DJ Boring, Jamie 3:26, Spencer Parker, Piem, jiyun kim and lizaliza.
🛒 Free Topo Design Bag with Workshop
Saturday · 3 pm to 6 pm, HeiplBerlin, Danziger Straße 57 · free Design retailer HeiplBerlin is teaming up with US outdoor goods maker Topo Design for Fashion Week. Personalize your own Topo accessory bag — the first 30 participants get one free. Food, drinks and of course shop HeiplBerlin’s execellent assortmment of German and international design.
🍺 🥨 Germany-wide news 🥨 🍺
😢 Six adults killed in shooting at youth welfare facility in Stade
🔥 Germany news: New heat record at 41.7°C broken for second consecutive day
❄️ Why Germans don’t have air conditioning
🏭 Israeli weapons firm planning production site in Berlin
⚖️ German lawyers: Ban on far-right AfD ‘likely successful’
⚽ Paraguay stun Germany on penalities
Factoid
The reconstruction of Mitte’s Molkenmarkt neighbourhood (wiped out by the war) is taking shape. The winners of the architectural competition have been announced. A handfull of offices will be used to recreate an old-town vibe in that empty spot behind city hall. A state housing company is ploughing €245 million into the project, which includes 220 new apartments.
sponsored
Meet Cristina Carrillo
Cristina Carrillo was born in Madrid, Spain, and has since lived across Finland, Peru, Ireland, and Germany, with Berlin her current home. Growing up surrounded by the rhythms of city life, she developed a deep sensitivity to everyday moments — morning light through leaves, the shimmer of water, the particular way a city wakes up. Her work blends impressionism with the observational instincts of street photography, using light and shadow to reveal the stories hiding in plain sight.
To see more of her art, please visit Floor 2 of Museum For A Rainy Day, a free download for iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets.
🔗 🔗 🔗 Useful links 🔗 🔗 🔗
🎙️The 20% Berlin Podcast on Spotify