Economist.com Cities Guide: Berlin Briefing - July 2005

News this month

A hot topic

The legacy of the cold war was a hot subject in early July, when workers dismantled a makeshift memorial next to Checkpoint Charlie, the former east-west crossing-point. The memorial, created in 2004 by Alexandra Hildebrandt (owner of the nearby Checkpoint Charlie Museum), was dedicated to those killed trying to cross the East German border. Consisting of a field of wooden crosses and a rebuilt section of the Berlin Wall, it proved a popular attraction, with many viewing it as a needed tribute to suffering under communism.

But the memorial stood on land owned by BAG, a Hamm-based bank, which demanded that Mrs Hildebrandt either pay rent or raise the €35.6m ($43m) purchase price. So Berlin's courts ordered the demolition. About 200 protesters, many of whom had spent time in East German jails, braved a rainy morning to obstruct the process, with several chaining themselves to the crosses. All is not lost: shortly before the removal, the city-state's government voted to build a monument to the wall's victims near the Brandenburg Gate. But Berlin's bankruptcy means this is unlikely to happen in the near future.

Poor show

Berlin played host to one of the “Live8” rock concerts on July 2nd, organised to draw attention to poverty in Africa on the eve of the G8 summit in Scotland. On a sunny afternoon, some 150,000 Berliners turned out to the concert along the Strasse des 17 Juni in front of the Brandenburg Gate. But the event was marred by a row between the city-state's government and Marek Lieberberg, the concert's organiser, in the weeks leading up to it.

Mr Lieberberg claims that Berlin did little to promote the event, and that the venue resembled a “soup kitchen line”. He had originally asked that the concert be held on the grassy meadow in front of the Reichstag, the seat of Germany's federal parliament, but authorities declined, wary that the crowd would damage the lawn's sensitive sprinkler system. Germany's corporate sector also offered little support—with the exception of ARD, the television station that broadcast the concert, not a single local sponsor came forward. Even Klaus Wowereit, Berlin's fun-loving mayor, failed to attend. The unseemly dispute (which found local media backing Mr Lieberberg) had the effect of distracting attention from the concert's altruistic remit.

Looking left

Berlin is prickling with politics as parties gear up for federal elections, expected on September 18th pending approval of both Horst Köhler, Germany's president, and the Constitutional Court. Polls are predicting victory for the Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, over the ruling Social Democrat (SPD)-Green coalition under Gerhard Schröder, Germany's chancellor.

A new political party is also getting attention: the Democratic Left-PDS, a loose alliance between the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), heirs to East Germany's communists, and a west-based left-wing party. It has particular appeal in Berlin, where the city-state is now governed by a SPD-PDS coalition, and a state election is due in 2006. Some regard it as a future force in Berlin state politics, but first it will have to overcome tensions already visible between its populist national leadership and Berlin's pragmatic PDS leaders. Klaus Wowereit, Berlin's SPD mayor, has stressed that he is ruling in partnership with the PDS, not the new alliance—for now, at least. The alliance may have attracted enough support to influence the election result—one recent poll gave it 11%.

Bank on it

Berlin's banking sector is facing a shake-up. The city-state's government is preparing to auction off its publicly owned savings bank, the Berliner Sparkasse. The sale was mandated by European Union regulators as part of a 2001 bail-out package in response to the city's bankruptcy. The bank, with 1.9m customers, is a lucrative prize: in 2004, it made a profit of €60m ($72.4m). But the sale is strongly opposed by the Landesgesellschaft (the body that oversees the state-owned banking sector), which is vowing to stave off privatisation by buying the bank itself.

Private banks, such as Deutsche Bank, are also eager to acquire Sparkasse. Some hope such a move would help to put an end to the fear of privatisation harboured by many Germans. Although the deadline for the auction is not until late 2007, the debate is heating up as players jostle for position. In the meantime, state-owned banks across Germany face another blow to their status: on July 19th, they will have to give up a perk they have enjoyed for over 50 years: state guarantees on their debts.

An icon departs

After 12 years teaching at the city's University of the Arts, Vivienne Westwood, a British fashion designer, is leaving the German capital. But she is departing in style: on July 2nd she hosted a send-off party at Tempelhof Airport, attended by 1,500 people and featuring a show of her students' creations.

Ms Westwood originally made her name in London in the 1970s, designing provocative outfits for the Sex Pistols, a punk band. Her wares then included bondage gear, spiked dog collars and clothes covered in safety pins. The 64-year-old designer, who still sports bright-orange hair, moved to Berlin in 1993 and has frequently praised the city's energy and artistic scene.

Catch if you can

August 2005

Goya: Prophet of the Modern

Until October 3rd 2005

This exhibition promises to be Berlin's art event of the year. After ten years of negotiations with the Prado Museum in Madrid and various other museums and collectors around the world, this is the first show of works by Francisco de Goya (1746-1828) in the German-speaking world. Expect crowds when you view this astounding collection of 80 paintings and 60 etchings and lithographs by the Spanish artist, whom many describe as the father of modern art.

Bright, early canvases, such as “The Parasol” (pictured), and tapestry “cartoons” begin the promenade, which wends towards the gloomier works Goya created at the end of his life, when he was tormented by nightmares, pessimism and illness. Spain's war and Goya's madness infuse these later works with a still-shocking darkness.

Old National Gallery, Bodestrasse 1-3, Museuminsel, Berlin-Mitte. Tel: +49 (30) 266 3669. See the exhibition's website. Queues are long. They can be avoided by purchasing a VIP ticket for €30. Normal tickets cost €10.

More from the Berlin cultural calendar