Economist.com Cities Guide: Berlin Briefing - November 2005

News this month

Tough at the top

Germany's inconclusive federal election result in September continues to dominate Berlin's political scene. Real progress came on November 11th when, after eight weeks of tense negotiations, the main parties officially agreed to form a grand coalition government. The deal between the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), the former ruling party, and the centre-right Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union alliance (CDU/CSU) is subject to ratification in a vote in the Bundestag, Germany's parliament, on November 22nd. It is widely expected that Angela Merkel, the CDU leader will become Germany's first woman chancellor, heading the first grand coalition government in the country since the 1960s.

The process has taken its toll on the SPD. On October 31st, Franz Müntefering, the party's chairman, announced his resignation after the party's left wing refused to back his choice of a centrist general secretary. The SPD moved fast to undo the damage, announcing within 24 hours that Matthias Platzeck, the premier of the eastern state of Brandenburg, would take over as party head. The news was welcomed by the CDU/CSU, as Mr Platzeck is a self-described centrist with an interest in economic reform. Commentators are cautiously optimistic about his ability to work with Mrs Merkel, and to restore the health of his own party.

Good on paper

Foreign investors made inroads into Berlin's newspaper scene in October, when an Anglo-American consortium, headed by David Montgomery, an Irish businessman, took over the Berliner Verlag, a local publishing group. The company's stable includes several Berlin mainstays—the Berliner Zeitung and the Berliner Kurier, both daily newspapers, and Tip, a bi-weekly listings magazine.

As the first-ever purchase of German newspapers by a foreign firm, the move has been controversial in Berlin. Critics complain that it represents an Anglo-Saxon neo-liberal triumph over Germany's traditional small-business model. Leftist politicians have attacked the deal, while Berliner Verlag employees, worried about job cuts, demonstrated outside the company's central Berlin headquarters. Germany's highly fragmented newspaper market boasts over 300 independent titles; to the dismay of some locals, Berliner Verlag's new owners intend to buy more papers and consolidate them.

A trying time

In the largest German terrorist trial to date, a court in Dusseldorf in late October convicted four Arab men of planning attacks on Jewish sites in Germany. According to the evidence presented, Berlin's Jewish Museum was among the intended targets of the four, who were members of al-Tawhid, a Palestinian organisation. The men were given prison sentences ranging between five and eight years. The presiding judge was highly critical of Germany’s immigration authorities, who allowed two of the men to enter the country and receive social-welfare payments under false identities.

Most of the evidence came from a fifth member of al-Tawhid, who admitted to plotting the attacks after the men were arrested in April 2002, and described links with al-Qaeda. In return, he got a reduced sentence in 2003; he has since been released into Germany’s witness-protection programme.

Fear of flying

Fear about avian influenza appears to have caused a run on anti-flu vaccines in Germany. Twice as many Germans intend to get vaccinated this year compared with last year, because of fear of the disease, according to Europressedienst, a Bonn-based news agency. This is despite the fact that the drugs immunise against only regular strains of flu. This has caused tension in Berlin, where vaccine supplies for this winter ran out in October. The German government has warned against panic, but has ordered that all poultry be caged until December 15th, when the migration of potentially infected wild birds over Germany will be past.

Government spokesmen and health officials have called for more selective distribution of the vaccines, because they are concerned that people at high risk of contracting the disease will not have access to immunisation fast enough. Every year in Germany between 5,000 and 8,000 people die of influenza; around 23m Germans, mainly those over 60 or with chronic illnesses, are categorised as high risk.

Play ball

Berlin is enthusiastically gearing up for the football World Cup, which Germany will host in June 2006. The latest plan involves the transformation of the huge communist-era television tower at Alexanderplatz, the city's highest structure. Deutsche Telekom, the tower's owners, have announced that from December until the tournament, the 32-metre-wide globe high up the tower will be covered in coloured foil to resemble a massive football. As the sphere contains a restaurant and a viewing platform, the wrapping will need to be wind-proof, fire-resistant and transparent.

The news has been welcomed by Klaus Wowereit, the city-state's party-loving mayor. Always keen to boost Berlin, he sees the sky-high scheme as a good way to create excitement in the run-up to the tournament. For Deutsche Telekom, the move is a nifty bit of marketing: the globe, 200 metres up the 368-metre tower, is visible from all over flat Berlin, and the tower's wrapping will be magenta, the company's trademark colour.

Catch if you can

November 2005

Roman Vishniac’s Berlin

Until February 5th 2006

With its rich displays and ground-breaking architecture, Berlin’s Jewish Museum is always worth visiting. But this temporary show makes a visit essential. Roman Vishniac, a Russian-born biologist who lived in Berlin during the 1920s and 1930s, is renowned for his photographs of the Jewish communities of eastern Europe, taken in the mid- to late-1930s. But many of his pictures of Berlin, taken during the two decades he lived here, did not emerge until after his death in 1990. This exhibit includes 90 of these photographs.

The Berlin Vishniac first captures is a warm and lively place, with bustling streets, loving families and cheery bars and shops. Having fled the Soviet Union, he was clearly fond of his adopted city. But his later photographs of life under the Nazis, taken to publicise the plight of the Jews here, bear witness to what stirred him to move to Paris in 1939. Much of the Berlin world Vishniac captured has vanished, giving some inkling of the scale of the city's loss.

Jewish Museum Berlin, Lindenstrasse 9-14, 10969 Berlin-Kreuzberg. Tel: +49 (30) 2599-3300. The museum's website has more information.

More from the Berlin cultural calendar