#352: Flixbus crash, Ryanair + Wayfair cuts, student housing from hell
What the hell is 'biodeutsch?'
Dear 20 Percent,
One of the quirkier joys of January in Germany is the announcement of the Unwort des Jahres, the “unword” of the previous year. The point of the annual unword is to point out “discriminatory, stigmatizing, euphemizing, misleading or inhumane use of language”.
The 2024 winner is biodeutsch, a dodgy term that’s been circulating for a the few years that is used to describe Germans who don’t come from immigrant families (or, as the Germans say, “with an immigration background”).
According to the jury that went through 3,600 suggestions sent in by people, the term biodeutsch encourages a “division into supposedly ‘real’ Germans and second-class Germans”. The use of the word, they say, is a form of “everyday racism”.
I think they’re right. While biodeutsch has been popularised by far-right trolls, centre-left journalists also use it to poke fun at boring old “regular” Germans, like this article in a leftwing paper that muses in a snarky tone about “biodeutsch suburban mums” setting food norms. To be honest, I’ve probably casually dropped the word a few times in this newsletter.
It’s clearly divisive. In a time when the AfD is polling at 22% and the CDU is promising to strip dual nationals who commit serious crimes of their German passports — a few weeks before an important national election — we might as well stop using such words.
What do ya’ll feel about biodeutsch?
Some news below.
Maurice
P.S. A million thanks to sponsors eras.fyi and Feather! Please check them out to support this newsletter!
Flixbus fatalities
Looks like Germany’s favourite long-distance bus operator needs to get serious about safety. On Saturday, two people died and 11 were injured when a Flixbus travelling from Berlin to Szczecin in Poland tipped over on the A11 autobahn amidst winter conditions. According to police, the coach was hit by a gust of wind, causing it to slide into an off ramp and tip over. No other vehicles were involved. Just last March, four passengers were killed in a Flixbus accident near Leipzig.
Ryanair cuts routes
Budget Irish airline Ryanair says it will be cancelling flights from BER airport to six destinations from next summer: Krakow, Crete, Luxembourg, Brussels, Riga and Kaunas in Lithuania. At a press conference, CEO Eddie Wilson whined about Berlin’s ban on late-night flights and high airport fees and taxes (not mentioning that flights are VAT-exempt). Eddie, if you’re reading: as a tall person, I hate your airline with a passion.
Mould, feces, toads: Student residence to close
So much for German love of order and cleanliness. According to Tagesspiegel (paywall), a student housing facility at Düsseldorfer Straße 67 in Wilmersdorf that belongs to student services organisation studierendenWERK has been closed after residents complained about mouldy bathrooms, human feces rising in washbasins and even puddles in the basement in which frolicking toads were spotted. Resident Vivian Staats alarmed the local health authority about the deplorable state of the 100-year-old building. The Gesundheitsamt declared several showers off limits and studierendenWERK says the building will be closed for renovations in December.
Wayfair on way out
US online furniture shop Wayfair is bailing on Germany and axing around 730 jobs, mostly in its offices in Mitte. Obviously, the job losses suck for those affected but somehow the rest of us will still manage to find furniture without the site. Interestingly, their offices are located in the Alexanderplatz building once owned by Andrew and my former employer, Berliner Zeitung. Winding down the German branch will cost Wayfair more than €100m, writes Reuters.
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Events this week, curated by The Next Day Berlin
🪩 Toy Tonics presents ITALOMANIA
Friday, 17.01, 11 pm - 8 am. OXI. Wiesenweg 1-4, 10365 Berlin. Ticket: €18.10/€22.60.
🎧 Kapote, 🎧 Daniel Monaco, 🎧 Moretz, and more bring the Italo disco vibes. Dance the night away with groovy beats across two rooms, mixing the best disco and Italo gems.
👹 The Hunger by Constanza Macras
Sat, 18.01; Sat, 08.02; and Tue, 25.02, 7:30 pm. Tickets: €17–33. Surtitles DE/EN.
Inspired by Juan José Saer's The Witness, this piece explores greed, colonialism, and social media excess. Through cannibalistic rituals and societal taboos, Macras questions reality in a hyperproduced digital world.
🎸 Gardens Live
Saturday, 18.01, doors 7:30 pm, start 8:30 pm. Kantine am Berghain, Am Wriezener bhf, 10243 Berlin. Tickets: €17.60. Opening concert: Juno Lee.
The Austrian band Gardens mixes indie pop, dream pop, and a touch of '60s psychedelic folk. Their album 🎧 Flaws explores mental health, growing up, and heartbreak with honest and beautiful melodies.
👕 Clothing Swap
Saturday, 18.01, 1–5 pm. Refugio, Lenaustrasse 4, 12047 Berlin. Free entry.
Bring up to 5 items to swap and refresh your wardrobe sustainably. This is a perfect opportunity to find hidden gems and give your clothes a second life.
🍺 🥨 Germany-wide news 🥨 🍺
🪖 Germany sets up territorial defence division
🤮 AfD sends out “deportation ticktets”
✈️ Russian drones over airbase?
📬 BundID, Germany’s plan for an inbox for all
Factoid
Berliners claim that the sport of handball was invented in Berlin during World War I — even though a Danish gym teacher had already invented a sport with that name in 1898. The Berlin version was conceived in 1915 by Max Heiser and initially called Torball (goalball) and was supposed to be a suitable sport for girls because it didn’t allow for body contact like football. Heiser renamed the sport “handball” in 1917 and it began to be played by both women and men — although in the early days it was played outdoors on a football pitch. Unsurprisingly, Hitler and the Nazis liked handball because they thought it prepared men for throwing grenades on the battlefield.
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The "biodeutsch" predecessors also migrated to these territories, just centuries earlier. We all did, from East Africa.
What do we think of the biodeutsch phenomenon? In my post graduate studies, we studied the effects of initiatives of rightwing politicians to defund public education - especially in the cities. Now we have entire generations of people who don’t understand things very well and have a very poor view of society - not just in one or two cities. All over America. Ignorance and chaos makes it easier to stay in power and to exploit humans. This might not be difficult to see. But what will we do about it? Will we do something when it’s too late?