#357: Merz protest, Restaurant inspections binned, Diptheria is back
Try a Spreewald pickle! Please!
Hey 20 Percent!
We live in Prenzlauer Berg but our kids went to school in distant Wilmersdorf. When they were in grade school they took a private bus. One day they started talking about things around the “Ka-doo building”.
The wife and I for weeks wondered what building they were talking about and our kids grew increasingly frustrated with supposedly omniscient adults who seemed to know nothing about their city.
Then one day we drove the kids to school.
“There’s the Ka-doo building!” our daughter exclaimed. We looked up to see the headquarters of the conservative CDU. The three letters dominate the glass facade, making it the Ka-doo building, depending on your pronunciation.
I think of that story every time I see the place, like watching news about the protest there yesterday (see below).
Have a good weekend y’all — I’ve been on the road all week so looking forward to getting back to Berlin Sunday.
Andrew
Even Merkel hates how Merz got it passed
An estimated 6,000 people protested Thursday evening at the headquarters of the conservative CDU party in Tiergarten, according to Tagesspiegel. The protestors decried Friedrich Merz’ (CDU) reliance on support from the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party to pass a resolution in parliament, tightening immigration, including allowing border police to refuse entry to not only asylum seekers but anyone with no valid papers. The resolution could become law today (Friday) when the Bundestag votes on the CDU’s Zustrombegrenzungsgesetz (“influx limitation act”). Politicians have generally refused to lean on the AfD to pass legislation and a broad range of politicians criticized Merz’ decision including CDU peer Angela Merkel (yes, that Angela Merkel). Merz is the country’s de facto chancellor as he’s expected to win February’s snap national elections and is already guiding policy.
Vaccinations are scientifically proven
A 10-year-old boy from Brandenburg died in October after contracting diptheria, according to Tagesspiegel. The boy, who attended a Berlin Waldorf school, had been in intensive care in Berlin hospitals for four months with the bacterial disease — his parents had refused to vaccinate him. An acquaintance of the child also fell ill with the rare disease but quickly recovered — because they had been vaccinated.
You can’t know how clean the kitchen is
The signs are a regular part of dining out in New York and Denmark but are likely to become a thing of the past before they even became a thing in Berlin: Our current coalition wants to scrap a two-year-old law that would have forced restaurants to post the results of their latest inspection by the health department — red for deplorable and green for exemplary. District health departments lack personnel to perform the inspections so the law will likely be repealed, according to RBB24. Pankow has published its results online since 2020. Dining out remains a bacterial crap shoot.
Corrupt cops, again
Two female prison guards at the Plötzensee jail near the former Tegel airport are being investigated for smuggling contraband to an imprisoned crime family bigwig, according to Morgenpost. The two guards brought in prohibited food as well as mobile phones but no drugs in part because one of the two were having an affair with the Remmo family boss. The man is behind bars for weapons violations, assault and drug dealing. The Remmos are perhaps Berlin’s best known crime family (German media dub them “clans”, which seems racist) because they pulled off the heist of a 100kg gold coin from the Bode Museum in 2017.
🍺 🥨 Germany-wide news 🥨 🍺
🧯 Firewall against the AfD? What firewall?
🍏 German judges say Apple has a monopoly
📯 Deutsche Post was on strike but did you notice?
Factoid
Ever been to the Spreewald? The swampy nature reserve south of Berlin where you can canoodle or gondola through tiny canals and past quaint historic houses? Well the area is home to the Spreewald pickle, Brandenburg’s answer to Berlin’s Döner. But the state’s largest maker of Spreewald Gürken will next year close its main plant in Golßen, informally known as pickle city (Gürkenstadt). The company, Spreewaldkonserve GmbH, makes the Spreewaldhof pickles you see at Edeka and Rewe and is blaming inflation and lower demand for consolidating production to nearby Schöneiche. 220 people will lose their jobs — 10% of pickle city’s population.
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C'mon guys, you don't use that many German words. You can make sure you spell them right. Gurken has no ü unless they're cute little Gürkchen.