Trying to make sense of the German election

If you happen to be in Germany at the moment you will no doubt be aware that an election is imminent. Wherever you look there is an election poster. The placards are everywhere, literally everywhere. There are around 200,000 posters in Berlin alone.  

Satirical party "Die Partei" and the Linke

Now if you spend most of your time in a child friendly, environmentally friendly, organic loving, tolerant, multicultural neighbourhood like Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin, you might be mistaken in thinking that this election is business as usual. Wherever you look you see SPD (social democrats), Grüne (greens) and Linke (left) placards. There are a few CDU (centre right) posters and even fewer FDP (free democrats, i.e. free-enterprise, pro-business) ones. But if you look closer you will spot some very disturbing AfD (extreme right) posters, some ridiculous ones of Die Partei (a satirical party) and many other smaller parties, such as the Pirates, the Marxist–Leninist Party or the Ecological Democratic Party. 

Workers of all nations, unite!

The truth is that in Germany the SPD is expected to get only 22% of the vote. Frau Merkel's party is expected to gain just under 40%, while the openly racist, anti-immigrant, anti-EU and anti-islam AfD could become the third biggest party, with a 10% share of the vote.

Martin Schulz. Time for what? 

Let's start with the SPD.

Martin Schulz was initially hailed as the candidate that could seriously challenge Angela Merkel, but now nobody in Germany expects him to win. Is it because his ideas are too similar to Merkel's or because nobody knows what he stands for? Or is it simply because nobody can challenge Mutti Merkel?

Mutti

This brings me to Angela Merkel.

I still struggle to comprehend why so many Germans love Angela Merkel. Even traditional SPD voters are considering voting for her. I assume its is because she is seen as a reasonable and sensible figure who will grant stability and prosperity. After all, the message is clear: "Successful for Germany" and "For a Germany in which we live well and gladly". Even my five-year-old wants Angela Merkel to win because in his words "she's done some good things and made some good decisions". Although he could't give me any concrete examples, it made me wonder where he'd heard such statements. In the Kindergarten? At the playground? From his German family members?  

AfD not so popular in Prenzlauer Berg

Finally, the AfD: where do I start? Has anyone seen the posters? How can they be allowed to voice such racist slogans? All their posters are nationalist and in bad taste, but the worst one in my opinion shows a pregnant woman with the slogan: "New Germans? We'll make them ourselves." This party is expected to enter the German Parliament and could be the third biggest party in Germany on Sunday. This is a scary prospect. I sincerely hope that once again (as has happened in recent elections elsewhere) the opinion polls are wrong.

Craft beer, vegetables and shipping containers at Gleisdreieck park

BRLO BRWHOUSE: a unique venue for craft beer

It was the last Sunday of the Berlinale: a fairly bright, albeit windy, day in February. After our first film at Zoo Palast we had a gap of a couple of hours before our next one at the Berlinale Palast, around Potsdamer Platz. So my husband and I decided to go for a stroll in the Gleisdreieck park. 

Gleisdreieck in German means triangular junction. At the end of the second world war, the railway area around Gleisdreieck became a wasteland. Over the years a rich vegetation developed. Thanks to strong public involvement, the abandoned area was successfully converted into a park, which opened in 2013, and has since become a very popular spot for Berliners. 

As we looked for somewhere for a bite to eat and to take shelter from the wind, we stumbled upon a rather odd but interesting looking construction. From the outside all we could see was a series of dark grey containers stacked on top of each other and a rather large white writing. Intrigued, we decided to have a peek inside. 

We were immediately greeted by an enthusiastic waiter and we decided to stay: we had found a true gem. It turned out that BRLO BRWHOUSE (the name of the place) is a brewery and restaurant with a great selection of craft beers, as well as tasty and innovative veggie dishes. Whether fermented, smoked, pickled or salted, the vegetable is the star of the menu at Brlo. For those who cannot live without meat, there is also a selection of regional meats, which are cooked in the smoker.

Core beers, new creations and selected others

The actual brewery is separated from the restaurant area by a glass window and a large panel where the beers are listed. The regular beers (or Stammbiere in German) are Helles, Pale Ale, German IPA, Porter, Berliner Weisse. The bar also stocks many new creations, as well as beers selected from local and international breweries. The house beer is priced at €3 for a small one and €4.5 for half a litre. The €15 menu includes a vegetable main, a side dish and something "on top" (for example "dried and puffed vegetables", "mixed pickles" or "German Kimchi"). 

The unpronounceable name BRLO is the old Slavic word for Berlin. Brlo is the brainchild of three friends with a passion for craft beer. Initially conceived as a brewery, BRLO BRWHOUSE is currently home to a brewery, restaurant, bar and beer garden. (When I visited the place last February the beer garden was still under construction).

The venue is unique: it is made of 38 shipping containers and, as indicated on the website, "the modular nature of the structure means it can be quickly disassembled and reconstructed anywhere in the world". As it so often happens in Berlin, the current location is temporary so a new home will soon be needed. Make sure you get there before it's too late!

A bracelet in memory of your origins

From vintage buttons to Zeit Magazine.

It all began in 2011 with the idea of selling jewellery to raise money for the Tsunami relief fund in Japan. Kerstin, a young German architect with a passion for art and design, started creating necklaces using vintage buttons and colourful microbeads. She founded primaofficina together with her friend Jana. The handcrafted jewellery displayed in a boutique in the Mitte neighbourhood of Berlin caught the attention of a journalist, who published a picture of one of these necklaces in Zeit Magazine.

World Cup fever 

The two working mothers had little time to invest in their business; they needed someone to support and promote primaofficina with fresh ideas. Inspired by the football World Cup of 2014, Kerstin's husband Fernando came up with a simple new product that was attractive not only to female customers: a bracelet for football fans. The bracelets were available to buy online and the very first order came from a Greek girl living in New York.  Even after the end of the World Cup, the requests from the competing countries continued, along with enquiries from countries that had not participated in the football tournament. The majority of these were from Central & South America and Eastern Europe. 

A bracelet in memory of your origins

Syria special edition

During the following year Fernando was surprised by the growing demand: there were many requests for bracelets representing African countries. As the demand for more nationalities grew, he decided to include all countries from Africa, Asia, and Oceania. The new collection initially conceived as a symbol for football fans worldwide soon acquired a whole new meaning: cultural identity, roots or nostalgia. Fernando decided to call the collection "In memory of your origins". 

The biggest request is for Syrian and Palestinian bracelets 

Palestine 

What is interesting to note is that although half of the sales are to the US, the requests are not for US bracelets; a clear sign that the US is a country of immigrants. The majority of the demand is for Latin American, African, Middle Eastern and Eastern European countries. Perhaps not surprisingly, these days the biggest request by far is for Syrian bracelets, followed by Palestinian bracelets. In Eastern Europe, most of the sales are to Ukraine and Albania. Fernando, an Italian national living in Berlin, says “This has nothing to do with nationalism, rather with nostalgia for one's roots and the awareness of living a new life experience in another country”.

As this story shows, today the concept of cultural identity is alive more than ever.

The bracelets are available to buy online on DaWanda and Etsy.

Jewellery carefully crafted by hand