#367: BER closed Monday and Alex is getting a makeover
International Women's Day is a holiday!
Hey 20 Percent,
Saturday’s a holiday in Berlin, which is both good and bad news — most stores will be closed but you can always just hop on an S-Bahn and go to Brandenburg (ergo: Potsdam) and do your shopping because it’s not a holiday there.
Or check out our What’s Open When Nothing’s Open page if you want to stay in Berlin and need some eggs.
It’s International Women’s Day and Berlin is one of only two German states to treat the day as a holiday (Mecklenburg Western Pommerania aka Meck-Pomm way up north is the other).
The fact that women get just one day a year and 14 other states don’t celebrate it is a sign of how important International Women’s Day is. Women have had a major impact on my life, primarily because I was raised by a harried single mother who opened my eyes to the continuous discrimination as well as the contributions women have made.
And I also decided to become a journalist after visiting my aunt in her office — at the time she was publisher of a regional newspaper in Illinois and I was impressed with the respect everyone in the newsroom and pressroom showed her.
Enjoy the weekend everyone!
Andrew
PS: Newsletter Handpicked Berlin is conducting its third-annual salary survey and would love for you to participate. Follow this link and then click on the “participate in English” button.
Some have Monday off too
If you’re part of the ground personnel at BER Monday is also a holiday … of sorts. Über union Verdi has called a strike of ground workers at all German airports Monday and all air traffic at BER has been cancelled — 61,000 passengers had been expected to pass through the airport, according to Tagesspiegel. The union is fighting with public employers — it wants €350 more per month for strenuous work as well as better pay for interns and trainees. Many of the workers are employed by private companies but a new contract last year folded them into collective bargaining for public employees — and it sounds like they’re already going to benefit. The last strike at the aiport was in January 2023.
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Construction, construction, construction
I of course didn’t just have a mother, I also had a father, who wasn’t always around but every time he visited Berlin he liked to quip: “Nice city. It’ll be great once they get it finished.” And how true. Next up: Alexanderplatz, the S-Bahn station, not the square. It will undergo a major refurbishment from the end of this year until 2029 to update its fire safety infrastructure, according to Tagesspiegel. All the businesses will have to close (including my favorite sketchy bar, Alkopole) as the station is gutted and upgraded but rail traffic will be mostly unaffected. Owner Deutsche Bahn has promised to open a temporary ticket shop and baker by the TV Tower. I’m a bit disappointed — after over 20 years I no longer get discombobulated when walking in the shopping area of the station and I’ll have to re-learn it.
Fewer cars
Berlin does some things right: We’re driving about 11,000 fewer automobiles now than in 2023, a decline of 0.9%, as measured by the number of cars registered with the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (the department of motor vehicles), according to Der Spiegel. The only other state with a decline in auto ownership was Hamburg which, let’s be honest, is Germany’s second-best city.
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Factoid
Leftist German politician Clara Zetkin organized Germany’s first International Women’s Day in 1911, following a similar event in 1907 in New York. Both were tied to suffrage and socialist politics. It’s now been a holiday for six years in Berlin and has spread to Meck-Pomm. Attempts to bring it to other states such as Brandenburg have failed.
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