Non-German friends of mine like to think we Germans celebrate German Unity Day by throwing a big party. I personally don’t know anyone who actually celebrates the national holiday on Oct. 3. It’s just a day off work, a day …

In the beginning, there was a promise: “Through our joint efforts,” said Chancellor Helmut Kohl in summer 1990, “we will soon succeed in transforming the former states of the GDR into blooming landscapes where it is worthwhile to live and …

In Berlin, no one is surprised when they have to get up at five in the morning and head to the department of motor vehicles in order to register a car before noon. Or when they notice that a construction …

I still have my paper invitation to the BER opening gala scheduled for spring 2012. “Don’t forget!” it reads, front and center, in striking red letters with an exclamation mark. And also, just in case the message wasn’t clear enough: …

One way to look at the 2019–2020 UEFA Champions League season – which recently came to an end with Bayern Munich winning the final 1:0 against Paris Saint-Germain – is to see it as a battle among German coaches in …

This summer, two German news stories made global headlines. One was an animalistic crime story, an attempted robbery; the other was a tale of protest, aimed at the increasing commercialization of world soccer. They had one thing in common – …

If someone found a one-thousand-pound unexploded bomb in downtown Manhattan or along the banks of the Potomac in Washington, there’s no doubt it would make international headlines. News outlets would race to cover the evacuation process, and journalists would park …

When adults behave like children, the first victims are often children themselves. In these ugly times, it would do us good to recall that we have the power to make the world a better place. We can reject the Hobbesian …

Two years after the end of the Franco-Prussian War, the painter Anton von Werner completed his epic battlefield portrait of Helmuth von Moltke, Chief of the German General Staff. High on his steed atop a hill, the field marshal is …

Many streets in Germany bear the names of individuals who served the common good in one way or the other. In Berlin, this honor is often bestowed upon people whose names are unfamiliar to the broader public and whose merit …

There are certain things in life we should probably refrain from doing, but we do them anyway. Almost 15 years ago and under constant advisement to let it rest, Jörg Woltmann remained undeterred in pursuing his business idea: “It has …

There’s an almost palpable sense of relief in the air at the Jewish Museum Berlin (JMB) these days. After a year plagued by a series of crises, including accusations of anti-Semitism and hostility toward Israel lobbed at the museum and …

As Berlin’s erstwhile vibrant art and theater scene continues its coronavirus-induced slumber, urban dwellers are increasingly being forced to get their cultural kicks in the countryside. Especially on those warm late-summer days, there’s nothing better than trading in the hot …

If at all, most non-Berliners are familiar with the Anhalter Bahnhof train station from reading the works of Walter Benjamin, Paul Celan and Erich Kästner. And Berliners themselves most likely assume that the small yet monumental portal next to the …

The idea of selling the European Green Deal as Europe’s “man on the moon moment” was no doubt very much to the liking of Ursula von der Leyen. She is an expert at setting the perfect stage for introducing policies …