Berlin “a city condemned forever to becoming and never to be”, Karl Scheffler.
After having many professional and personal conversion, reading the newspaper websites I have come to the conclusion that Berlin is going down hill fast. The title of this series was inspired by a chat with a media colleague who has lived in the German capital for many years.
The “Poor but Sexy” mantra from former mayor Klaus Wowereit became a famous slogan for a capital finding its place in the world after decades of division. Today, the slogan would be “Let the Berliner Beware”.
As a city, Berlin has always been a place of fascination, contempt and dread, imbedded in the German Psyche for a desire to have a weltstadt or world city in the same league of Paris or London. The race, again, to compete with both crashed many times. The latest contest to join the big leagues happened from 2000 to 2015, but fell short again. The harsh reality is an 892 square km area on the brink of chaos, not governed but clumsily managed, driving towards cliff.
A place with 3.9 million inhabitants where everything turned upside down in a blink of an eye. The metro system’s school house glue is loosening. The housing crisis is getting worse. The gentrification wars are heating up. Crime is at a point the police asking for special powers. Inflation is high. Berlin’s famous decadent nightlife scene is struggling.
I decided to write these features as a series. The problems are too big for one. Berlin is no longer the place resting on a past relaxed reputation. The weaknesses of a metropolis with more problems than solutions. A population that thinks having a coffee and cake at an overpriced bakery will make the bad news magically go away for an entitled tomorrow to be the same as a pleasant yesterday.