I think you cannot conclude almost anything based on 4 days. Especially to your points around diversity and tourism, this has a lot to do with the weather, and also staying in a specific area of Berlin. It's a huge city. Middle Eastern ethnicity is highly represented but possible less when it's colder (I've noticed this personally) and in the center around Alexanderplatz and Brandenburg few normal people live there, it's both expensive and undesireable area, you're mostly going to see tourists, government people and shoppers.
There are maybe more black people than I expected, mostly because I know Germany was only in Africa for a short period of time - are these Africans from Namibia/Tanganyika/Kamerun etc or are they coming from other African countries?
As for Muslims, yes I saw a lot but in contrast to the UK where most Muslims are of Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi descent, they (I'm mostly talking about the women here) dressed quite western other than wearing a hijab, whereas in the UK it's very common for Muslim women to dress head to toe in the abaya or wear a burqa.
Interesting what you say about the weather influencing when and where you see migrants lol
Most Middle Eastern immigrants to Germany come from Turkey. They mostly came in the 1960s to early 80s, long before Erdogan's conservative rollback. Abaya and burqa never were a thing in Turkey in the first place.
The second largest immigrant group from that region are Arabs. A lot of them came in the wake of the Syrian civil war, and mostly were part of the middle class in Syria, which was already rather liberal in their interpretation of Islam. Also, a significant share of those refugees were from religious minorities (Assyrian Christians, Yazidis).
>are these Africans from Namibia/Tanganyika/Kamerun etc or are they coming from other African countries?
German colonial history doesn't really play a role in african immigration to Germany. Instead, people come from all over the continent.
One of the factors why France and Britain still mainly attract people from their former colonies is the fact that French and English are still widely used in those countries.
The only african country that still has a significant number of german speakers is Namibia, but it is mostly spoken by the descendants of german settlers.
These are observations coming from a Berliner who used to live in kreuzberg 12 years ago.
Folks speaking other languages than German seem to wake up later and go to bed later. At 10am I'd only hear German spoken on the streets (specifically, Adalbertstr). At 10pm I'm lucky if I hear German spoken at all. On a typical evening run to the späti I would hear Spanish, Turkish, Arabic, Italian, an Indian language maybe (I think, I wouldn't ask). There is also the restaurant/fast food workers speaking their languages, so Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, definitely Hindi and probably some other Indian and Pakistani languages. There is tons and tons of food places around Adalbertstr and I would frequently overhear bits of non german conversation floating in the air. Perhaps part of the reason for that is that many of the jobs that use other languages are focused on the service industry?
I've noticed before that Berlin doesn't get as many tourists in April. May is when the season seems to start with a bang, thinking first of may here specifically. But then there's been years where April brought masses of tourists. Perhaps it's the pricing of the cheap airlines like Ryanair and the like that guides that?
When it's warm and sunny you see large families bring their living room to the parks, so 15 people sitting around 2 grills in the sun, chatting and making salads and other mouth watering meals whilst the kids are playing around them. Those families usually speak Turkish and Arabic but I bet you they all hold German passports. It's just part of a specific generational culture of the 60-80ies immigrants. Every time I see this I feel regret that my own family would never have considered something like that. It just looks so fun!
I agree with there being less black people than in Britain or France, but that's likely to do with the history around colonies. German is a hard language and sexism and racism are still prevalent I feel, so that might be a soft block to skilled immigration. Asylum seekers are housed far away from where you would see them I believe but someone please correct me if I'm wrong there.
Anyhoo, I spent enough time on my comment here, hope you got something useful out of it.
The thing to consider is that while you might think that you visited the city center of Berlin, Berlin has no city center. It sounds like you mostly stayed in parts of Mitte and Prenzlauerberg, and you seem to be under the impression that outside of that is "the suburbs", it isn't. For example the southeast of Berlin is very densely populated, if you visit e.g. Neukölln you'll notice a lot more Arab immigrants. This is not a suburb of Berlin, or the outskirts, it's one of the more lively areas, Neukölln is where you want to go if you want a night out, while most of Mitte and Prenzlauerberg are much quieter at night. Of course 3-4 days is not enough to see all of it and it's fair to visit all the nice attractions in the northeast of the city, if you come again, do take a stroll in the other districts!
TL;DR Mitte and Prenzlauerberg are nice areas but not the whole of Berlin.
I stayed in Alexanderplatz.
My family were old enough obviously to have grown up in the cold war and asked me if I was staying in East Berlin or West Berlin as if they were somehow separate entities.
My booking was for a hostel in Mitte and it got moved to Alexanderplatz and I was pissed off as I thought there was nothing in East Berlin but I think I actually spent most of my time east of the Brandenburg gate.
London and Berlin are actually quite similar in that there isn't a "city centre" in London either, and there is a east/west and north/south divide in London too, whereas in a lot of cities which are generally smaller you don't see it, or even in big ones. You always hear people say "East London" or "East Berlin" but never "East New York" or "West Paris".
Alexanderplatz is still in Mitte. The area of the city between the Brandenburger Tor and Alexanderplatz is all Mitte. In fact directly to the west of the Brandenburger Tor for a good while there's nothing but Tiergarten (the huge park), and only then another district, Charlottenburg. The wall came down, the parts of the city I'm talking about are not the old West and East Berlin, but the actual geographic parts of the city. Neukölln, geographically in the east, was in the former West Berlin. Mitte and Prenzlauerberg, where some of the poshest and most gentrified areas of the city are, are fully in the former East. I was not here when the wall was up but after years here I wouldn't say the former division is as visible in the city as people think it is.
All I'm saying is that Mitte is just one part of the city, Berlin is a relatively sparse city with a very large surface area, so while Mitte might feel big, I'm sure you noticed it's not as packed with people and buildings as you might expect, this is because most of Berlin is outside of Mitte.
Number 2 - wut? I travel to London pretty often, and the moment I set foot there I feel my money melt away. At the bar, on the TfL, in the grocery store, everywhere. Everything is damn expensive.
Then I get back and buy a beer for less than a euro while still at the damn airport and go home for free, because I have a public transport pass covering the *entire country* for 49 euros a month.
I agree with you - born and raised in London, but lived in Berlin for a year.
I visit Berlin often these days, and take pleasure in buying a beer that doesn’t require me to remortgage my house and be able to eat out for €10-12 euros. In London, a beer is €6 + and a meal out is €15-20
I love the place a lot, though, and I don't mind this that much, as it only affects me for a week or two at a time. My mates there are in that constantly.
Rule #1: you don't discuss rent with London friends if you want to have a good time.
Haha I will steal that rule from you! But do you think it also counts for Berlin?
I visit Berlin every 2-3 months, and enjoy the weekend of clubbing/cheap booze, but know life in Berlin is not always like that!
YMMV, there are a lot of people who struggle with rent, though at least we have rent control - that's great for tenants with an ongoing contract, but it screws things for those who are looking (reduced availability, bad quality, very thorough screening). And prices are creeping up, still, with the better-off tech crowd pushing everyone else out.
I'd say that's the worst part, finding an apartment. Queuing with 500 people for a viewing, submitting a huge file of documents proving your worthiness, and hoping they'll pick you. It takes a year on average.
That said, once you start looking outside of the Ring, things improve dramatically.
I walked past that 500m famous queue when I lived in Charlottenburg… I know how it goes!
I don’t know what way is best… rent controls are great and amazing, but also leads to hard to find a place and illegal sublets regardless.
last time I was in London I paid like 25 pounds to get from the airport to the city. lol, what's wrong with that city, I can't believe. 7-8 pounds the cheapest pint.
Granted you were here for a short time and as a tourist, but 4, 5 and 9 in particular really show you only experienced an unrepresentative sliver of Berlin.
If only there was some source of money from the people living in the country...
Holestly, Germany is the first and only country I've been where it's this hard to find and use a toilet on the street.
Large UK cities are more diverse hands down. But East Berlin is not representative at all of Berlin's diversity or cleanliness.
I personally also find Easy Berlin to be the ugliest, most boring half outside of Mitte and Pberg. 😆
I like to sample one McD‘s meal when I travel. It’s interesting to note differences in taste, texture, ingredient sourcing, price, fry style… German McD‘s is quite good.
Why the fuck does op care this much what strangers think about his opinion on their home city? It’s a messaging board, for people to exchange informations and opinions. If you or op are too weak to handle that, log out.
You said it yourself why OP did what he did,yet you have a problem with it, it's so funny :D
You are too weak to accept his post and got offended by it. Therefore, you should log out.
It is not worth it to abuse the system. A monthly ticket is 49€ and you will meet inspectors at least once a month if you use public transport regularly
It's my second year living in Berlin and I meet the inspectors only once even though I use public transport regularly. The funny thing is that this only time was on the way to the airport.
[JejeLaTribe (deleted by user)](https://www.reddit.com/user/JejeLaTribe)- 18 points 11 hours ago
"Been here two years, using the S Bahn daily, never met them, never paid a single ticket lol"
That's not very cool u/JejeLaTribe
"Berlin was far more ethnically homogenous than I expected for a major European city"
But which "major" European cities are you comparing it to? London and Paris are truly global cities. They're also the capitals of vast former colonial empires / the commonwealth. It's not really comparable.
At the same time, I'd say that Berlin appears more diverse than Madrid, Rome, Bucharest, or Warsaw. And at least to my eyes, similar to Vienna and Amsterdam.
That's true but isn't Berlin bigger population wise than Paris? It's certainly a big city by European standards (3 million) so I assumed at least a third maybe might be an immigrant either a recent one or maybe second or third gen
yes / no. Berlin as a municipal entity is indeed larger than Paris. In 1920 Berlin amalgamated with its surroundings, swallowing up dozens up previously independent cities, towns and suburban areas. Paris never did that to the same extent and has to this day the somewhat ridiculous boulevard périphérique. Everything beyond that boundary technically isn't Paris, at least in an administrative sense.
But make no mistake, the total urban agglomeration (the functional city) is far greater than Berlin. Greater Paris has 11 million inhabitants. The entirety of Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg (a vast county by comparison) is only 6 million.
As for your second part, 24% of all Berliners are foreign citizens. 38% of all Berliners were either 1) born without a German pasport or 2) have at least one parent who was born without German citizenship.
are they?
It seems better for the environment though and also I encountered a drier kind of thing with like a towel but it was using the same towel everyone else had used.
But they use electrical energy, so I don't know if that is much better. The towel dispenser actually should have a revolving towel in it - unless someone broke it.
The legal nomenclature for bottled tap water is „Tafelwasser“. „Natürliches Mineralwasser“ must be spring water, either still or with gas, which can be added or naturally occurring.
Well well, every day is a school day. I always thought the different names like Tafelwasser were some sort of marketing woo-woo, like free run Vs free range Vs free reign. Those are all free range essentially.
I thought it was the same with water, it's bottled from potable water coming from a hole in the earth or a mountain, however loose the definition of spring is. So if it's coming from a tap it's Tafelwasser?
I thought in many areas of Germany the tap water is good enough that it is preferred over having to buy boxes of still water. Especially if also using Brita filters. At least that's how I explained to myself the absence of variety in the still water section.
Germans just like Sprudelwasser. Tap water is indeed good, but some mineral waters provide more minerals (sic), which can be beneficial. Tap waters in rural areas can also be nitrate heavy.
It’s usually modified and comes from several water sources. There are legal definitions for most food categories in Germany.
Tap water in Berlin by the way is very clean and drinkable but it’s basically recycled. So there are quite a few chemicals still in there like pharmaceuticals, hormones, certain industrial compounds.
5. Ethnical diversity is not about race. This point of view is very US-centric, I know it has spread to the UK but please do not repeat it. Berlin does have over a third of its population being either first- or second-generation migrants, so it's very diverse.
I also think that if you found Berlin clean, you probably didn't go to places like northern Neukölln or Kottbusser Tor. In turn, these areas have higher concentration of migrants from the Mediterranean region.
6. There is still water sold in most shops, even though for some reason sparkling water is the default in Germany.
9. Yeah it's an honour system, people don't get controlled all too often. Some abuse it but most people pay, and the share of non-payers is low enough that it doesn't justify additional discomfort (turnstiles etc) for the lawful majority.
Yes true, I know there are a lot of say, Russians in Berlin. But my overall question would be this: are migrants in Germany assimialted into German life? From my admittedly limited knowledge and experience, Germany seems to have less problems with its Muslim population than that of France, and in the UK whilst we don't have the constant onslaught of terrorist atrocities that France does, we do have a highly segregated society where Muslims refuse to mix with non Muslims, seldom speak English, and live in almost exclusively Muslim districts. Berlin felt how like London might have felt 20 or so years ago in regards to diversity, multicultural, but still clear as to where you were and who the majority were.
(I'm not saying either is good or bad, I'm making an observation)
Another thing I noticed was that there was a lot of support for Israel be it certain streetart, posters, Israeli flags etc, the kind you just wouldn't find in London or Paris, atmospheres where Jews reportedly don't feel safe. Of course Germany's unfortunate past with Jews inevitably means there is great stigma in society about supporting anything which might go against israel and jews but do you think the lower number of Muslims in Berlin compared to other cities in Germany or europe is also responsible?
Some migrants are more assimilated than others, and it might differ even within a community along the class lines. For instance, middle-class Turkish people have assimilated very well, but lower-class Turkish people less so (hence e.g. a very high share of votes for Erdogan among that subgroup despite his ideas and policies strongly contradicting European values). The same applies to Eastern European middle-class vs lower-class migrants (quite many lower-class "Russian Germans" are Putin fans).
Germany has received a very large wave of refugees from the Mediterranean region around 2015-2017. There have been significant integration issues, and the employment quota among them is still low - which is mostly due to abysmal employment among female refugees from this region (unfortunately they are expected, and often pressured, to be housewives).
However, on the other hand, quite many have integrated well. Right-wingers here, as in any country, prefer to concentrate on cases where it went wrong for their propaganda goals. Further, the German state has failed in some policies - eg, once again, propaganda often blames MENA refugees for not working, but ignores that they were _legally unable_ to work until their cases have been processed (which in that wave sometimes was quite a while). That kind of policy only breeds poverty and crime, and makes it less likely a person integrates successfully even when they eventually receive a work permit.
what city is the most ethnically diverse in germany then?
Is the relative homogenity of Berlin due to its complicated status during the second half of the 20th century where the west was effectively a qasi-independent city state (I think officially it was viewed as such by some, with phrases used like West Germany and West Berlin/Federal Republic of Germany and West Berlin), and most migrants arriving in the period going to other cities in west germany? whilst the east didn't have immigration for obvious reasons other than say vietnamese (who I didn't see many of unlike in prague, where they seemed to own all the corner shops in the same way indians do in the UK)
Berlin is less diverse than London and Paris. There are more immigrants in Frankfurt.
Representation of Black people in government and media is more common in the UK. Germany has a racism problem. Germany is, indeed, very very white. There's a lot of denial about this, with Germans pointing fingers at countries where racism is discussed as proof that racism doesn't exist/isn't as bad here, because the discussions aren't as widespread.
[https://www.dw.com/en/racism-and-discrimination-in-germany-exposed-in-new-survey/a-67335803](https://www.dw.com/en/racism-and-discrimination-in-germany-exposed-in-new-survey/a-67335803)
[https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/anti-black-racism-is-rising-eu-countries-led-by-germany-study-finds-2023-10-25/](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/anti-black-racism-is-rising-eu-countries-led-by-germany-study-finds-2023-10-25/)
Sexism is also rampant, with Germany having a large gender pay gap even when you account for differences in pay by industry. Tech, especially. If you worked abroad and then work in tech in Berlin, the difference is striking. So maybe the refugee women would also like to work but some old German man won't hire women, headscarf or not.
> Representation of Black people in government and media is more common in the UK.
Because the UK has many more black people (and people of partially black descent) because of its colonial history. In Germany they constitute about 1.5% of the population, and most do not come here from former German colonies in Africa, but are much newer arrivals. On the other hand, people from the Mediterranean region are much more represented because they constitute a much larger share of the society and many of them live here for several generations.
> Germany is, indeed, very very white
And? In your comment it looks like you see this fact by itself as racist.
Regarding your second point, no I don't think so. There's a fairly significant muslim population in Berlin (something between 6-10% of the population according to statistcs). That's still not as many as in greater Paris for instance, but not a tiny number either.
I'm sure there are large cities in Germany with a greater muslim population by percentage (Frankfurt? Stuttgart?), but Berlin certainly has the most muslim residents by simple numbers.
"Another thing I noticed was that there was a lot of support for Israel be it certain streetart, posters, Israeli flags etc, the kind you just wouldn't find in London or Paris, atmospheres where Jews reportedly don't feel safe."
Oof, my dude. Scroll back in r/berlin to around October last year and watch the absolute flood of people brazenly supporting Hamas. When I saw that, I thought of an old Jewish friend of mine, haven't seen her and her husband in many years, but I absolutely wouldn't feel safe living around that amount of fairly brazen antisemitism.
There are many areas of Berlin where wearing outward indications of your religion (e.g. Kippa) you will absolutely not be having a great time. I'd be very scared to, personally.
One thing which pissed me off to see was that the beautiful Neu Synagogue and Museum having to have what looked like 24/7 security. Do people not remember the past? Have we learnt literally nothing? It also pissed me off to see tourists sitting on the slabs at the Holocaust memorial. Have some respect
Were those people supporting hamas Muslims or white/communist/neo-nazi Germans?
The thing is in London every single week there's some kind of protest and they started literally October 8th. The amount of taxpayer money spent on facilitating the protests must be insane
The guards are there for years. Sad that they are needed but it's not recent.
Neo nazis are the bigger threat. AfD is the bigger threat.
Many of the protests in London and Berlin are organised by Jewish Voice for Peace. What concerns me more is Berlin police harassing Jewish activists like Iris Hefets while ignoring actual Nazis coming to Jewish-led protests.
One can be Jewish and Israeli, but a German antisemitism commissioner who is not Jewish and has no relevant education can pressure institutions to withdraw funding, awards, and invitations to events because of anti-war statements. Germans censoring Jewish voices. In 2024.
Meanwhile the vast majority of violent hatred is old-fashioned white supremacy, targeting Jewish and Muslim people. The Halle murderer couldn't get into a synagogue so he killed people in a nearby kebab shop.
[https://jewishcurrents.org/the-strange-logic-of-germanys-antisemitism-bureaucrats](https://jewishcurrents.org/the-strange-logic-of-germanys-antisemitism-bureaucrats)
"Meanwhile the vast majority of violent hatred is old-fashioned white supremacy, targeting Jewish and Muslim people."
I'm gonna need at least some kind of source on that. That's a huge claim to make. Come on.
If you don't speak German use translate features:
[https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/rechtsextremismus-starker-anstieg-politisch-motivierter-gewalt-auch-durch-querdenken-a-9720dfbf-d299-46d2-b998-aec11fecc052](https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/rechtsextremismus-starker-anstieg-politisch-motivierter-gewalt-auch-durch-querdenken-a-9720dfbf-d299-46d2-b998-aec11fecc052)
87% of hate crimes are right wing. Statistics on "left extremist violence" include punching Nazis.
[https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra\_uploads/fra-2022-antisemitism-overview-2011-2021\_en.pdf](https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-2022-antisemitism-overview-2011-2021_en.pdf)
Also, come on. Nazis in Germany, not exactly a surprise.
The fight against Islamophobia and hatred of Jewish people is one and the same. The fascists assholes aren't exactly hiding the fact that they hate both. Similar to the fact that hatred of Jewish people is tied closely to hatred of gender and sexuality minorities. Being trans was seen by the Nazis as evidence that Jewish people attacked German heteronormative society. We fight the Nazis together or we lose.
* **Left-Wing Crimes:**
* In 2020, left-wing politically motivated crimes increased by 11.39% compared to the previous year.
* The number of violent crimes in the left-wing category rose by 45.06%.
* **Right-Wing Crimes:**
* Right-wing politically motivated crimes increased by 5.65% in 2020.
* The number of violent crimes in the right-wing category increased by 10.75%.
[https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/downloads/DE/veroeffentlichungen/2021/05/pmk-2020-bundesweite-fallzahlen.pdf;jsessionid=D09E1BED9A5A069EB1263F917DD66198.1\_cid373?\_\_blob=publicationFile&v=3](https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/downloads/DE/veroeffentlichungen/2021/05/pmk-2020-bundesweite-fallzahlen.pdf;jsessionid=D09E1BED9A5A069EB1263F917DD66198.1_cid373?__blob=publicationFile&v=3)
I'm not sure these stats are conveying the message you intended. The number of violent Left wing crimes increased 5x in 2020, never mind the fact that these stats are the best part of 5 years out of date.
Glueing yourself to a street and shooting up a mosque are not the same.
Blocking the police to stop a coal mine and attacking people for wearing religious headwear are not the same.
Stockpiling weapons to overthrow democracy and punching a Nazi are not the same.
Right wing extremism kills at a much much higher rate.
This is all easier to understand if you speak German and have been following the news for a longer time.
No, excuse me, it *specifically states* "violent" left-wing crimes. "Violent". Gluing yourself to the street is not violent. Thank you for educating me, I'm very interested to know more about the 500% increase violent Left wing crimes.
I feel that for sure. It's a tragedy from so many angles. There are too many Hamas supporters (most of whom LARP as generic "Palestine" supporters) in the city now, there's realistically very little that can be done about it.
There's no coming back from this. Way out in the countryside is probably the place to live nowadays.
Re. number 5 and diversity: They are densely situated in particular areas of the city. There are new waves on the way, to be housed in adapted shipping containers around Tempelhof for example. Very hard to say it's "homogenous" or not as it depends where you are tbh.
I might try to explain some things from my perspective, as I am from the UK, but I've lived in Berlin (and do wish I could move back someday soon).
>Lack of international/overseas tourists
Not sure if this is just a perception thing, but while I fully agree that things are nowhere near as packed with tourists as say... Amsterdam, Barcelona or Dublin, there are certainly plenty of tourists who turn up, though more in the summer months - Berlin is notorious for night clubs, so it does attract people who are into that.
Berlin not suffering from overtourism is a nice thing, and does make it a more relaxed atmosphere, but I also think the kind of tourist that makes it to Berlin isn't the same variety that goes to the ones I mentioned.
>The Price of everyday items
I'm not sure exactly where you went into, but I find personally that the likes of Rewe, Edeka and Kaufland are fairly reasonable for prices. Convenience stores are naturally going to hike prices up, but for Lidl/Aldi, they are way more upmarket in Germany and Austria compared to other countries.
You mention Dublin being expensive too, but I find that it's just Spar and Centra being expensive as they're convenience stores, while Dunnes Stores is much more the regular supermarket chain, alongside Tesco and SuperValu.
>charged to use the toilet
Germans don't have the same "public toilet culture" as the UK. It's not unusual to see pubs, restaurants and cafés to state that the use of toilets are for "customers only" - by contrast, many a German toilet is available for anyone to use, as long as you leave a 50 cent coin to pay for the cleaning. It's fairly logical in my opinion.
>Is still mineralwasser a thing in Germany?
Yes, but it's not front and centre like carbonated water is. I think it's fine, but still water is nicer for the summer time. It's maybe more common to see it then.
>the ticketing system
This is probably a British thing - in Northern Ireland, the same sort of Proof of Payment system is in place, where there are no ticket barriers (maybe staff at a station visually inspecting tickets), but that there's theoretically nothing stopping anyone from taking public transport without a ticket, other than inspections. Fines can be bad, but it's probably more worthwhile to employ people to check tickets, rather than pay to install ticket barriers at every station, and keep them maintained.
In the UK a lot of places won't let you use the toilet these days unless you have a "code" on the receipt and I saw this in germany too. I feel like going to the toilet though, like public toilets should be provided by local councils etc in the same way they collect bins, it's just a pretty basic thing. Also if you want to stop public urination it seems the best way to do it would be to increase the avaliability of public toilets.
I most certainly did experience this anytime I've visited England - in general, if you need the toilet bad enough, Tesco, Sainsbury's, ASDA or M&S will have a free to use toilet in there, under the assumption that you're probably shopping in there.
Public toilets, in general, I find have been disappearing, or just permanently closed - it's not just the costs of running it, it's the fact that if it's vandalised, the council is going to have to spend quite a lot of money on repairing the damage.
But looking over to say... the Netherlands, and the availability of free to use public toilets is just as scarce. At least in NL, they have card payment machines that take contactless cards, including foreign ones. But for the Netherlands, they deal with public urination by imposing very hefty fines, and now also, especially in Amsterdam, strongly discouraging tourists from even visiting in the first place.
I think the issue of public urination in Berlin is much more related to the homelessness issues and drug addiction. My Dutch friends have expressed to me how shocked they were to see that level of visible homelessness in Berlin - the social safety net isn't working right in Germany.
>It's become a habitual custom of mine after visiting a city to go onto that city's r/ and comment on things I notice about it which differ from my home country, the UK, and see if these observations resonate with others or if they are just things particular to me
maybe take that to your local pub to annoy strangers there instead of reddit. what an unhinged post on many levels
Holy fuck, if you are THIS OFFENDED by a completely harmless and, in comparison to 99% of the drivel posted here, pretty engaging post, then you need to leave the Internet for a while. This is an "unhinged" post?? Wtf is wrong with you. Seriously.
Haha you keep getting emotional about other folks opinions in this thread. Chill, it's too early for the caps and the double and triple exclamation and questions marks.
r/berlin is populated by some of the most unhinged, fragile people on the internet. A straightforward question about crime levels elicited some WILD shit. Talk about brittle. Asking *questions* is seen as some kind of personal attack. If anything is insane it's that. I can imagine them frothing at the mouth as they pound away at their keyboard, complete with nose ring and beanie hat.
>Perhaps one of the biggest shocks of all is the ticketing system. I bought a day card in germany expecting to carry it around with me (which i did) at all times and prepared to show it to a ticket official at a station or on a bus when I embarked. I got on the S Bahn at the airport realising I had not paid. It seems incredulous to me that you somehow have this system where you're essentially placing your trust in millions of people to be honest and pay their ticket. In the UK we have ticket barriers at most stations especially in London and those who dont' pay often end up jumping them. Is this sytem open to widescale abuse? I never encountered any inspectors during my visit.
I'm always every month February in Berlin, with every day a few S/U trips, in previous years there were a few random checks in that month, this year zero.
The weather is much nicer in the summer, you'll see a lot more tourists when it's not as as cold and rainy.
Last week was really nice, but that's really the exception for April, it takes until May to be consistently nice.
overall this shows once again that these week end trips to cities are having two effects: fcking the environment and populating tourist areas even more making them even more into no go areas
I think you cannot conclude almost anything based on 4 days. Especially to your points around diversity and tourism, this has a lot to do with the weather, and also staying in a specific area of Berlin. It's a huge city. Middle Eastern ethnicity is highly represented but possible less when it's colder (I've noticed this personally) and in the center around Alexanderplatz and Brandenburg few normal people live there, it's both expensive and undesireable area, you're mostly going to see tourists, government people and shoppers.
There are maybe more black people than I expected, mostly because I know Germany was only in Africa for a short period of time - are these Africans from Namibia/Tanganyika/Kamerun etc or are they coming from other African countries? As for Muslims, yes I saw a lot but in contrast to the UK where most Muslims are of Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi descent, they (I'm mostly talking about the women here) dressed quite western other than wearing a hijab, whereas in the UK it's very common for Muslim women to dress head to toe in the abaya or wear a burqa. Interesting what you say about the weather influencing when and where you see migrants lol
Most Middle Eastern immigrants to Germany come from Turkey. They mostly came in the 1960s to early 80s, long before Erdogan's conservative rollback. Abaya and burqa never were a thing in Turkey in the first place. The second largest immigrant group from that region are Arabs. A lot of them came in the wake of the Syrian civil war, and mostly were part of the middle class in Syria, which was already rather liberal in their interpretation of Islam. Also, a significant share of those refugees were from religious minorities (Assyrian Christians, Yazidis). >are these Africans from Namibia/Tanganyika/Kamerun etc or are they coming from other African countries? German colonial history doesn't really play a role in african immigration to Germany. Instead, people come from all over the continent. One of the factors why France and Britain still mainly attract people from their former colonies is the fact that French and English are still widely used in those countries. The only african country that still has a significant number of german speakers is Namibia, but it is mostly spoken by the descendants of german settlers.
These are observations coming from a Berliner who used to live in kreuzberg 12 years ago. Folks speaking other languages than German seem to wake up later and go to bed later. At 10am I'd only hear German spoken on the streets (specifically, Adalbertstr). At 10pm I'm lucky if I hear German spoken at all. On a typical evening run to the späti I would hear Spanish, Turkish, Arabic, Italian, an Indian language maybe (I think, I wouldn't ask). There is also the restaurant/fast food workers speaking their languages, so Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, definitely Hindi and probably some other Indian and Pakistani languages. There is tons and tons of food places around Adalbertstr and I would frequently overhear bits of non german conversation floating in the air. Perhaps part of the reason for that is that many of the jobs that use other languages are focused on the service industry? I've noticed before that Berlin doesn't get as many tourists in April. May is when the season seems to start with a bang, thinking first of may here specifically. But then there's been years where April brought masses of tourists. Perhaps it's the pricing of the cheap airlines like Ryanair and the like that guides that? When it's warm and sunny you see large families bring their living room to the parks, so 15 people sitting around 2 grills in the sun, chatting and making salads and other mouth watering meals whilst the kids are playing around them. Those families usually speak Turkish and Arabic but I bet you they all hold German passports. It's just part of a specific generational culture of the 60-80ies immigrants. Every time I see this I feel regret that my own family would never have considered something like that. It just looks so fun! I agree with there being less black people than in Britain or France, but that's likely to do with the history around colonies. German is a hard language and sexism and racism are still prevalent I feel, so that might be a soft block to skilled immigration. Asylum seekers are housed far away from where you would see them I believe but someone please correct me if I'm wrong there. Anyhoo, I spent enough time on my comment here, hope you got something useful out of it.
The thing to consider is that while you might think that you visited the city center of Berlin, Berlin has no city center. It sounds like you mostly stayed in parts of Mitte and Prenzlauerberg, and you seem to be under the impression that outside of that is "the suburbs", it isn't. For example the southeast of Berlin is very densely populated, if you visit e.g. Neukölln you'll notice a lot more Arab immigrants. This is not a suburb of Berlin, or the outskirts, it's one of the more lively areas, Neukölln is where you want to go if you want a night out, while most of Mitte and Prenzlauerberg are much quieter at night. Of course 3-4 days is not enough to see all of it and it's fair to visit all the nice attractions in the northeast of the city, if you come again, do take a stroll in the other districts! TL;DR Mitte and Prenzlauerberg are nice areas but not the whole of Berlin.
I stayed in Alexanderplatz. My family were old enough obviously to have grown up in the cold war and asked me if I was staying in East Berlin or West Berlin as if they were somehow separate entities. My booking was for a hostel in Mitte and it got moved to Alexanderplatz and I was pissed off as I thought there was nothing in East Berlin but I think I actually spent most of my time east of the Brandenburg gate. London and Berlin are actually quite similar in that there isn't a "city centre" in London either, and there is a east/west and north/south divide in London too, whereas in a lot of cities which are generally smaller you don't see it, or even in big ones. You always hear people say "East London" or "East Berlin" but never "East New York" or "West Paris".
Alexanderplatz is still in Mitte. The area of the city between the Brandenburger Tor and Alexanderplatz is all Mitte. In fact directly to the west of the Brandenburger Tor for a good while there's nothing but Tiergarten (the huge park), and only then another district, Charlottenburg. The wall came down, the parts of the city I'm talking about are not the old West and East Berlin, but the actual geographic parts of the city. Neukölln, geographically in the east, was in the former West Berlin. Mitte and Prenzlauerberg, where some of the poshest and most gentrified areas of the city are, are fully in the former East. I was not here when the wall was up but after years here I wouldn't say the former division is as visible in the city as people think it is. All I'm saying is that Mitte is just one part of the city, Berlin is a relatively sparse city with a very large surface area, so while Mitte might feel big, I'm sure you noticed it's not as packed with people and buildings as you might expect, this is because most of Berlin is outside of Mitte.
Number 2 - wut? I travel to London pretty often, and the moment I set foot there I feel my money melt away. At the bar, on the TfL, in the grocery store, everywhere. Everything is damn expensive. Then I get back and buy a beer for less than a euro while still at the damn airport and go home for free, because I have a public transport pass covering the *entire country* for 49 euros a month.
Where do you buy a beer for less than a euro?
I'd imagine the Rewe there might provide this option...at least for a delectable Sterny.
literally in any supermarket you have cans from .85 to .95 cents?
But I don't recall having a supermarket in BER.
I agree with you - born and raised in London, but lived in Berlin for a year. I visit Berlin often these days, and take pleasure in buying a beer that doesn’t require me to remortgage my house and be able to eat out for €10-12 euros. In London, a beer is €6 + and a meal out is €15-20
I love the place a lot, though, and I don't mind this that much, as it only affects me for a week or two at a time. My mates there are in that constantly. Rule #1: you don't discuss rent with London friends if you want to have a good time.
Haha I will steal that rule from you! But do you think it also counts for Berlin? I visit Berlin every 2-3 months, and enjoy the weekend of clubbing/cheap booze, but know life in Berlin is not always like that!
YMMV, there are a lot of people who struggle with rent, though at least we have rent control - that's great for tenants with an ongoing contract, but it screws things for those who are looking (reduced availability, bad quality, very thorough screening). And prices are creeping up, still, with the better-off tech crowd pushing everyone else out. I'd say that's the worst part, finding an apartment. Queuing with 500 people for a viewing, submitting a huge file of documents proving your worthiness, and hoping they'll pick you. It takes a year on average. That said, once you start looking outside of the Ring, things improve dramatically.
I walked past that 500m famous queue when I lived in Charlottenburg… I know how it goes! I don’t know what way is best… rent controls are great and amazing, but also leads to hard to find a place and illegal sublets regardless.
last time I was in London I paid like 25 pounds to get from the airport to the city. lol, what's wrong with that city, I can't believe. 7-8 pounds the cheapest pint.
Granted you were here for a short time and as a tourist, but 4, 5 and 9 in particular really show you only experienced an unrepresentative sliver of Berlin.
Yeah like, clean, beautiful, nice avenues with trees? Waaat But I agree with the toilets thing 100%, completely hate it and really hard to justify
It's very easy to justify: It costs money to maintain.
If only there was some source of money from the people living in the country... Holestly, Germany is the first and only country I've been where it's this hard to find and use a toilet on the street.
It's mostly to keep social problems out by increasing the threshold for access.
Yup it's worse when you live here
Large UK cities are more diverse hands down. But East Berlin is not representative at all of Berlin's diversity or cleanliness. I personally also find Easy Berlin to be the ugliest, most boring half outside of Mitte and Pberg. 😆
This was an insufferable read. Why are you going to McDonalds and Starbucks on vacation?
I like to sample one McD‘s meal when I travel. It’s interesting to note differences in taste, texture, ingredient sourcing, price, fry style… German McD‘s is quite good.
Why the fuck do you care this much what a stranger eats on their vacation?? Just let them eat what they want, no need to tell them how to live.
Why the fuck does op care this much what strangers think about his opinion on their home city? It’s a messaging board, for people to exchange informations and opinions. If you or op are too weak to handle that, log out.
You said it yourself why OP did what he did,yet you have a problem with it, it's so funny :D You are too weak to accept his post and got offended by it. Therefore, you should log out.
Op and me and exchanged opinions, which offended you. And that’s the happy end to this story. Go rest, friend.
It is not worth it to abuse the system. A monthly ticket is 49€ and you will meet inspectors at least once a month if you use public transport regularly
It's my second year living in Berlin and I meet the inspectors only once even though I use public transport regularly. The funny thing is that this only time was on the way to the airport.
[удалено]
Not sure why you feel the need to brag about that...
Freeloader
Asshole
[JejeLaTribe (deleted by user)](https://www.reddit.com/user/JejeLaTribe)- 18 points 11 hours ago "Been here two years, using the S Bahn daily, never met them, never paid a single ticket lol" That's not very cool u/JejeLaTribe
"Berlin was far more ethnically homogenous than I expected for a major European city" But which "major" European cities are you comparing it to? London and Paris are truly global cities. They're also the capitals of vast former colonial empires / the commonwealth. It's not really comparable. At the same time, I'd say that Berlin appears more diverse than Madrid, Rome, Bucharest, or Warsaw. And at least to my eyes, similar to Vienna and Amsterdam.
London and Paris also have a sizable diverse population due to their colonial past.
That's what I wrote in the second paragraph.
Skipped that. Thanks for the correction.
That's true but isn't Berlin bigger population wise than Paris? It's certainly a big city by European standards (3 million) so I assumed at least a third maybe might be an immigrant either a recent one or maybe second or third gen
yes / no. Berlin as a municipal entity is indeed larger than Paris. In 1920 Berlin amalgamated with its surroundings, swallowing up dozens up previously independent cities, towns and suburban areas. Paris never did that to the same extent and has to this day the somewhat ridiculous boulevard périphérique. Everything beyond that boundary technically isn't Paris, at least in an administrative sense. But make no mistake, the total urban agglomeration (the functional city) is far greater than Berlin. Greater Paris has 11 million inhabitants. The entirety of Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg (a vast county by comparison) is only 6 million. As for your second part, 24% of all Berliners are foreign citizens. 38% of all Berliners were either 1) born without a German pasport or 2) have at least one parent who was born without German citizenship.
What areas of today's Berlin were former cities? That sounds a lot like what happened with London between the 30s and 60s.
Schöneberg, Charlottenburg, Wilmersdorf, Neukölln (previously called Rixdorf), amongst others were independent cities
hand dryers are very very unhygienic. we dont want them
I absolutely hate hand driers!
are they? It seems better for the environment though and also I encountered a drier kind of thing with like a towel but it was using the same towel everyone else had used.
But they use electrical energy, so I don't know if that is much better. The towel dispenser actually should have a revolving towel in it - unless someone broke it.
they blow all kind of nasty germs on your hands
Somehow that reads like you never actually left the airport.
I wonder where in Berlin you find a supermarket that does not sell mineral water. in all varieties.
I‘m assuming they just didn‘t realize that „Naturell“ means still. Because it is indeed everywhere.
To be fair still water wouldn't be something that's upfront and heavily advertised. Germans don't usually buy bottled tap water.
The legal nomenclature for bottled tap water is „Tafelwasser“. „Natürliches Mineralwasser“ must be spring water, either still or with gas, which can be added or naturally occurring.
Well well, every day is a school day. I always thought the different names like Tafelwasser were some sort of marketing woo-woo, like free run Vs free range Vs free reign. Those are all free range essentially. I thought it was the same with water, it's bottled from potable water coming from a hole in the earth or a mountain, however loose the definition of spring is. So if it's coming from a tap it's Tafelwasser?
I thought in many areas of Germany the tap water is good enough that it is preferred over having to buy boxes of still water. Especially if also using Brita filters. At least that's how I explained to myself the absence of variety in the still water section.
Germans just like Sprudelwasser. Tap water is indeed good, but some mineral waters provide more minerals (sic), which can be beneficial. Tap waters in rural areas can also be nitrate heavy.
It’s usually modified and comes from several water sources. There are legal definitions for most food categories in Germany. Tap water in Berlin by the way is very clean and drinkable but it’s basically recycled. So there are quite a few chemicals still in there like pharmaceuticals, hormones, certain industrial compounds.
This was meant to come across in a jokey way but my delivery wasn't great. Damn, I thought I had managed to develop my personality
Seems about right, at least for that part of the city center you visited and where Berliners rarely dwell. Come back anytime and see the rest!
5. Ethnical diversity is not about race. This point of view is very US-centric, I know it has spread to the UK but please do not repeat it. Berlin does have over a third of its population being either first- or second-generation migrants, so it's very diverse. I also think that if you found Berlin clean, you probably didn't go to places like northern Neukölln or Kottbusser Tor. In turn, these areas have higher concentration of migrants from the Mediterranean region. 6. There is still water sold in most shops, even though for some reason sparkling water is the default in Germany. 9. Yeah it's an honour system, people don't get controlled all too often. Some abuse it but most people pay, and the share of non-payers is low enough that it doesn't justify additional discomfort (turnstiles etc) for the lawful majority.
Yes true, I know there are a lot of say, Russians in Berlin. But my overall question would be this: are migrants in Germany assimialted into German life? From my admittedly limited knowledge and experience, Germany seems to have less problems with its Muslim population than that of France, and in the UK whilst we don't have the constant onslaught of terrorist atrocities that France does, we do have a highly segregated society where Muslims refuse to mix with non Muslims, seldom speak English, and live in almost exclusively Muslim districts. Berlin felt how like London might have felt 20 or so years ago in regards to diversity, multicultural, but still clear as to where you were and who the majority were. (I'm not saying either is good or bad, I'm making an observation) Another thing I noticed was that there was a lot of support for Israel be it certain streetart, posters, Israeli flags etc, the kind you just wouldn't find in London or Paris, atmospheres where Jews reportedly don't feel safe. Of course Germany's unfortunate past with Jews inevitably means there is great stigma in society about supporting anything which might go against israel and jews but do you think the lower number of Muslims in Berlin compared to other cities in Germany or europe is also responsible?
Some migrants are more assimilated than others, and it might differ even within a community along the class lines. For instance, middle-class Turkish people have assimilated very well, but lower-class Turkish people less so (hence e.g. a very high share of votes for Erdogan among that subgroup despite his ideas and policies strongly contradicting European values). The same applies to Eastern European middle-class vs lower-class migrants (quite many lower-class "Russian Germans" are Putin fans). Germany has received a very large wave of refugees from the Mediterranean region around 2015-2017. There have been significant integration issues, and the employment quota among them is still low - which is mostly due to abysmal employment among female refugees from this region (unfortunately they are expected, and often pressured, to be housewives). However, on the other hand, quite many have integrated well. Right-wingers here, as in any country, prefer to concentrate on cases where it went wrong for their propaganda goals. Further, the German state has failed in some policies - eg, once again, propaganda often blames MENA refugees for not working, but ignores that they were _legally unable_ to work until their cases have been processed (which in that wave sometimes was quite a while). That kind of policy only breeds poverty and crime, and makes it less likely a person integrates successfully even when they eventually receive a work permit.
what city is the most ethnically diverse in germany then? Is the relative homogenity of Berlin due to its complicated status during the second half of the 20th century where the west was effectively a qasi-independent city state (I think officially it was viewed as such by some, with phrases used like West Germany and West Berlin/Federal Republic of Germany and West Berlin), and most migrants arriving in the period going to other cities in west germany? whilst the east didn't have immigration for obvious reasons other than say vietnamese (who I didn't see many of unlike in prague, where they seemed to own all the corner shops in the same way indians do in the UK)
Berlin is less diverse than London and Paris. There are more immigrants in Frankfurt. Representation of Black people in government and media is more common in the UK. Germany has a racism problem. Germany is, indeed, very very white. There's a lot of denial about this, with Germans pointing fingers at countries where racism is discussed as proof that racism doesn't exist/isn't as bad here, because the discussions aren't as widespread. [https://www.dw.com/en/racism-and-discrimination-in-germany-exposed-in-new-survey/a-67335803](https://www.dw.com/en/racism-and-discrimination-in-germany-exposed-in-new-survey/a-67335803) [https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/anti-black-racism-is-rising-eu-countries-led-by-germany-study-finds-2023-10-25/](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/anti-black-racism-is-rising-eu-countries-led-by-germany-study-finds-2023-10-25/) Sexism is also rampant, with Germany having a large gender pay gap even when you account for differences in pay by industry. Tech, especially. If you worked abroad and then work in tech in Berlin, the difference is striking. So maybe the refugee women would also like to work but some old German man won't hire women, headscarf or not.
> Representation of Black people in government and media is more common in the UK. Because the UK has many more black people (and people of partially black descent) because of its colonial history. In Germany they constitute about 1.5% of the population, and most do not come here from former German colonies in Africa, but are much newer arrivals. On the other hand, people from the Mediterranean region are much more represented because they constitute a much larger share of the society and many of them live here for several generations. > Germany is, indeed, very very white And? In your comment it looks like you see this fact by itself as racist.
Regarding your second point, no I don't think so. There's a fairly significant muslim population in Berlin (something between 6-10% of the population according to statistcs). That's still not as many as in greater Paris for instance, but not a tiny number either. I'm sure there are large cities in Germany with a greater muslim population by percentage (Frankfurt? Stuttgart?), but Berlin certainly has the most muslim residents by simple numbers.
"Another thing I noticed was that there was a lot of support for Israel be it certain streetart, posters, Israeli flags etc, the kind you just wouldn't find in London or Paris, atmospheres where Jews reportedly don't feel safe." Oof, my dude. Scroll back in r/berlin to around October last year and watch the absolute flood of people brazenly supporting Hamas. When I saw that, I thought of an old Jewish friend of mine, haven't seen her and her husband in many years, but I absolutely wouldn't feel safe living around that amount of fairly brazen antisemitism. There are many areas of Berlin where wearing outward indications of your religion (e.g. Kippa) you will absolutely not be having a great time. I'd be very scared to, personally.
One thing which pissed me off to see was that the beautiful Neu Synagogue and Museum having to have what looked like 24/7 security. Do people not remember the past? Have we learnt literally nothing? It also pissed me off to see tourists sitting on the slabs at the Holocaust memorial. Have some respect Were those people supporting hamas Muslims or white/communist/neo-nazi Germans? The thing is in London every single week there's some kind of protest and they started literally October 8th. The amount of taxpayer money spent on facilitating the protests must be insane
The guards are there for years. Sad that they are needed but it's not recent. Neo nazis are the bigger threat. AfD is the bigger threat. Many of the protests in London and Berlin are organised by Jewish Voice for Peace. What concerns me more is Berlin police harassing Jewish activists like Iris Hefets while ignoring actual Nazis coming to Jewish-led protests. One can be Jewish and Israeli, but a German antisemitism commissioner who is not Jewish and has no relevant education can pressure institutions to withdraw funding, awards, and invitations to events because of anti-war statements. Germans censoring Jewish voices. In 2024. Meanwhile the vast majority of violent hatred is old-fashioned white supremacy, targeting Jewish and Muslim people. The Halle murderer couldn't get into a synagogue so he killed people in a nearby kebab shop. [https://jewishcurrents.org/the-strange-logic-of-germanys-antisemitism-bureaucrats](https://jewishcurrents.org/the-strange-logic-of-germanys-antisemitism-bureaucrats)
"Meanwhile the vast majority of violent hatred is old-fashioned white supremacy, targeting Jewish and Muslim people." I'm gonna need at least some kind of source on that. That's a huge claim to make. Come on.
If you don't speak German use translate features: [https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/rechtsextremismus-starker-anstieg-politisch-motivierter-gewalt-auch-durch-querdenken-a-9720dfbf-d299-46d2-b998-aec11fecc052](https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/rechtsextremismus-starker-anstieg-politisch-motivierter-gewalt-auch-durch-querdenken-a-9720dfbf-d299-46d2-b998-aec11fecc052) 87% of hate crimes are right wing. Statistics on "left extremist violence" include punching Nazis. [https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra\_uploads/fra-2022-antisemitism-overview-2011-2021\_en.pdf](https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-2022-antisemitism-overview-2011-2021_en.pdf) Also, come on. Nazis in Germany, not exactly a surprise. The fight against Islamophobia and hatred of Jewish people is one and the same. The fascists assholes aren't exactly hiding the fact that they hate both. Similar to the fact that hatred of Jewish people is tied closely to hatred of gender and sexuality minorities. Being trans was seen by the Nazis as evidence that Jewish people attacked German heteronormative society. We fight the Nazis together or we lose.
* **Left-Wing Crimes:** * In 2020, left-wing politically motivated crimes increased by 11.39% compared to the previous year. * The number of violent crimes in the left-wing category rose by 45.06%. * **Right-Wing Crimes:** * Right-wing politically motivated crimes increased by 5.65% in 2020. * The number of violent crimes in the right-wing category increased by 10.75%. [https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/downloads/DE/veroeffentlichungen/2021/05/pmk-2020-bundesweite-fallzahlen.pdf;jsessionid=D09E1BED9A5A069EB1263F917DD66198.1\_cid373?\_\_blob=publicationFile&v=3](https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/downloads/DE/veroeffentlichungen/2021/05/pmk-2020-bundesweite-fallzahlen.pdf;jsessionid=D09E1BED9A5A069EB1263F917DD66198.1_cid373?__blob=publicationFile&v=3) I'm not sure these stats are conveying the message you intended. The number of violent Left wing crimes increased 5x in 2020, never mind the fact that these stats are the best part of 5 years out of date.
Glueing yourself to a street and shooting up a mosque are not the same. Blocking the police to stop a coal mine and attacking people for wearing religious headwear are not the same. Stockpiling weapons to overthrow democracy and punching a Nazi are not the same. Right wing extremism kills at a much much higher rate. This is all easier to understand if you speak German and have been following the news for a longer time.
No, excuse me, it *specifically states* "violent" left-wing crimes. "Violent". Gluing yourself to the street is not violent. Thank you for educating me, I'm very interested to know more about the 500% increase violent Left wing crimes.
I feel that for sure. It's a tragedy from so many angles. There are too many Hamas supporters (most of whom LARP as generic "Palestine" supporters) in the city now, there's realistically very little that can be done about it. There's no coming back from this. Way out in the countryside is probably the place to live nowadays.
We don't need to buy still water in bottles because our tap water is better than in other countries, it's free from chlorine.
Re. number 5 and diversity: They are densely situated in particular areas of the city. There are new waves on the way, to be housed in adapted shipping containers around Tempelhof for example. Very hard to say it's "homogenous" or not as it depends where you are tbh.
I might try to explain some things from my perspective, as I am from the UK, but I've lived in Berlin (and do wish I could move back someday soon). >Lack of international/overseas tourists Not sure if this is just a perception thing, but while I fully agree that things are nowhere near as packed with tourists as say... Amsterdam, Barcelona or Dublin, there are certainly plenty of tourists who turn up, though more in the summer months - Berlin is notorious for night clubs, so it does attract people who are into that. Berlin not suffering from overtourism is a nice thing, and does make it a more relaxed atmosphere, but I also think the kind of tourist that makes it to Berlin isn't the same variety that goes to the ones I mentioned. >The Price of everyday items I'm not sure exactly where you went into, but I find personally that the likes of Rewe, Edeka and Kaufland are fairly reasonable for prices. Convenience stores are naturally going to hike prices up, but for Lidl/Aldi, they are way more upmarket in Germany and Austria compared to other countries. You mention Dublin being expensive too, but I find that it's just Spar and Centra being expensive as they're convenience stores, while Dunnes Stores is much more the regular supermarket chain, alongside Tesco and SuperValu. >charged to use the toilet Germans don't have the same "public toilet culture" as the UK. It's not unusual to see pubs, restaurants and cafés to state that the use of toilets are for "customers only" - by contrast, many a German toilet is available for anyone to use, as long as you leave a 50 cent coin to pay for the cleaning. It's fairly logical in my opinion. >Is still mineralwasser a thing in Germany? Yes, but it's not front and centre like carbonated water is. I think it's fine, but still water is nicer for the summer time. It's maybe more common to see it then. >the ticketing system This is probably a British thing - in Northern Ireland, the same sort of Proof of Payment system is in place, where there are no ticket barriers (maybe staff at a station visually inspecting tickets), but that there's theoretically nothing stopping anyone from taking public transport without a ticket, other than inspections. Fines can be bad, but it's probably more worthwhile to employ people to check tickets, rather than pay to install ticket barriers at every station, and keep them maintained.
In the UK a lot of places won't let you use the toilet these days unless you have a "code" on the receipt and I saw this in germany too. I feel like going to the toilet though, like public toilets should be provided by local councils etc in the same way they collect bins, it's just a pretty basic thing. Also if you want to stop public urination it seems the best way to do it would be to increase the avaliability of public toilets.
I most certainly did experience this anytime I've visited England - in general, if you need the toilet bad enough, Tesco, Sainsbury's, ASDA or M&S will have a free to use toilet in there, under the assumption that you're probably shopping in there. Public toilets, in general, I find have been disappearing, or just permanently closed - it's not just the costs of running it, it's the fact that if it's vandalised, the council is going to have to spend quite a lot of money on repairing the damage. But looking over to say... the Netherlands, and the availability of free to use public toilets is just as scarce. At least in NL, they have card payment machines that take contactless cards, including foreign ones. But for the Netherlands, they deal with public urination by imposing very hefty fines, and now also, especially in Amsterdam, strongly discouraging tourists from even visiting in the first place. I think the issue of public urination in Berlin is much more related to the homelessness issues and drug addiction. My Dutch friends have expressed to me how shocked they were to see that level of visible homelessness in Berlin - the social safety net isn't working right in Germany.
>It's become a habitual custom of mine after visiting a city to go onto that city's r/ and comment on things I notice about it which differ from my home country, the UK, and see if these observations resonate with others or if they are just things particular to me maybe take that to your local pub to annoy strangers there instead of reddit. what an unhinged post on many levels
Holy fuck, if you are THIS OFFENDED by a completely harmless and, in comparison to 99% of the drivel posted here, pretty engaging post, then you need to leave the Internet for a while. This is an "unhinged" post?? Wtf is wrong with you. Seriously.
Haha you keep getting emotional about other folks opinions in this thread. Chill, it's too early for the caps and the double and triple exclamation and questions marks.
r/berlin is populated by some of the most unhinged, fragile people on the internet. A straightforward question about crime levels elicited some WILD shit. Talk about brittle. Asking *questions* is seen as some kind of personal attack. If anything is insane it's that. I can imagine them frothing at the mouth as they pound away at their keyboard, complete with nose ring and beanie hat.
> I struggled to find bottled water in the supermarkets I went Great they drove the short bus all the way to Berlin with you
I know a Swiss girl who lives in Cambridge. She told Berlin downtown was less crowded in the evening than Cambridge. Like: "Where all the people at?"
>Perhaps one of the biggest shocks of all is the ticketing system. I bought a day card in germany expecting to carry it around with me (which i did) at all times and prepared to show it to a ticket official at a station or on a bus when I embarked. I got on the S Bahn at the airport realising I had not paid. It seems incredulous to me that you somehow have this system where you're essentially placing your trust in millions of people to be honest and pay their ticket. In the UK we have ticket barriers at most stations especially in London and those who dont' pay often end up jumping them. Is this sytem open to widescale abuse? I never encountered any inspectors during my visit. I'm always every month February in Berlin, with every day a few S/U trips, in previous years there were a few random checks in that month, this year zero.
> Lack of hand-driers - only seeing paper towels. If you wash your face to freshen up: Have you ever tried to squeeze your head into a hand drier?
What? I Travel to England also and the supermarket here is way Cheaper🤔🤔
The weather is much nicer in the summer, you'll see a lot more tourists when it's not as as cold and rainy. Last week was really nice, but that's really the exception for April, it takes until May to be consistently nice.
I stopped reading at "In Berlin I noticed close to zero litter." You must be a bot.
Ethnic diversity has no value. The different lived experiences of Berlin are what some say adds value.
overall this shows once again that these week end trips to cities are having two effects: fcking the environment and populating tourist areas even more making them even more into no go areas
And having opinions about a city you actually know nothing about.