A base flying Santa? From the Park Inn Hotel on Alexanderplatz?
That creeps me out for some reason.
He sees you when you’re sleeping (in room 842)
He knows when you’re awake
He knows if you’ve been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake!
Tag Archives: Berlin
Bad German Historian Woman Points Out Trümmerfrau Myth
… Every time another memorial goes up in the “rubble woman’s” honor, German politicians look to what former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl said in Munich in 2005. The rubble-clearing women in the aftermath of WWII are “a symbol of the German people’s wish to rebuild and of their powers of survival,” he said, adding that the Munich monument “commemorates the large number of women who volunteered to clear the ruins.”
Wrong, says historian Leonie Treber. Neither was there a great number of women, nor did most of them volunteer to clear the rubble, the researcher says. “The Trümmerfrau is a German legend.”
Yet it wasn’t just the women who were reserved when it came to clearing the war debris; men weren’t crazy about the task, either. In the eyes of the Germans, it was anything but honorable for people to show their “willingness to rebuild.” In fact, most Germans regarded clearing rubble as punishment – and for a reason.
During the war, the Nazis made soldiers, the Hitler Youth, forced laborers, prisoners of war and concentration camp prisoners clear the bombed cities after Allied air raids. In 1945, after the end of the war, prisoners of war and former members of the NSDAP Nazi party took their place. When that turned out to be insufficient, the population was asked to help – on a voluntary basis in the West, but usually against their will in the Soviet occupation zone.
Gorillas Rock
In Berlin Zoological Garden. With gorilla rocks.
That’s why I always wear a football helmet whenever I go to talk to the animals there.
Grand Opening For Klaus Wowereit International Airport Now Planned For 2018
Planning for the big party has run into a number of problems and cost-overruns that have made the postponement necessary, party planners announced today.
At least the party’s delay coincides with the latest delay for the completion of Berlin’s not-so-new-anymore-soon-to-be-new airport. The only problem here now is that the building permit runs out in 2016.
Party Klaus himself could not be reached for comment but is sure to attend the party if still alive, albeit no longer as mayor and El Architect Grande of Berlin.
“I leave voluntarily and I am proud of my contribution to the positive development of this city.”
Why Germans Are Desperate To Ignore A Dangerous World?
Desperate? I think determined is the better word. Why? Because they can. And this is just what Germans do. It’s never been any different here (not in our lifetimes).
Imagine being born and raised in a place that is cut off from the rest of that yucky world “out there,” just like your parents before you. In an amusement park kind of way, I mean. You know, kind of like Disneyland? Only they call it Deutschland instead.
I spoke about the relative weakness of NATO, about the failures of European foreign policy, about Russia’s use of money and disinformation to divide Europe and the United States. The crowd and the other panelists nodded—and then almost immediately changed the subject. Instead of NATO, the German audience wanted to discuss genetically modified food and chickens washed in chlorinated water.
“When I think of politics I think about my neighborhood, street lights and construction permits.”
Anti-Semites, Pogroms, Nazis…
Racists, shylocks, Asryans, faschists, subhumans, Untermenschen… Did I say anti-Semites?
And Goodwin’s Law, of course. Sheesh. This “endless Hitler vocabulary” ain’t never gonna end. I guess that’s why they call it endless. No class, these guys.
Sheen and Blumenthal had been invited by other parliamentary members of the Left party, Thalheim said. Gysi canceled the meeting because of their “radical” views on Israeli settlement policies, he said.
Well There Was No More Wall To Take
So we’ll just steal the balloon stands from last night’s show!
They’re going like hotcakes, folks. Or they went like hotcakes, I should say, before the organizers had a chance to clear all of the 7000 away. And the first ones have shown up on eBay, for crying out loud.
Die Ballon-Halter der Lichtgrenze werden offenbar zum Sammlerobjekt. Einige verschwanden nach der Aktion zum 25. Jahrestag des Mauerfalls noch in der Nacht. Der erste war bei Ebay aufgetaucht.
This Wall Is My Wall
This wall is your wall,
From Mountain View, California,
To Seoul, Korea,
From Buenos Aires,
To the island of Langeland,
This wall was made for you and me.
German Of The Day: Der Elende Rest
That means “the miserable remnants” and that’s what singer-songwriter and former East German dissident Wolf Biermann just called SED leftovers the Left Party today at a ceremony commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall. To their faces. In the Reichstag itself.
Somebody’s got to remind folks about this now and then. Not that anybody here cares…
“Eure Sprüche, die habt ihr drauf … ihr müsst mir gar nichts erzählen.”
Let There Be Wall
I mean Lichtgrenze.
The LICHTGRENZE is the light installation along the former path of the wall through the city center. It will trace the division of the city over a stretch of approximately 12 kilometers and with thousands of illuminated balloons as an impressive installation in Berlin from 8 to 9 November, 2014. At once emotional, poetic, and serious, this installation remembers the recent historical event, the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989.
Observing Hermann 