Berlin seen as the cultural capital - the influence of German reunion

Every year on the 3rd of October, Berlin reminds and celebrates reunification since 27 years. The city see itself as an own stage and bubbles over with cultural offers. I was born myself in the former DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik) and enjoy to observe how the city has developed since that day. The existing dynamic in Berlin makes it so particularly there to live. From the perspective of the high to the low intellectual challenge, everything is represented. Of course, this is not only the case since the reunification. But it has influenced and has given the Berlin culture an extra kick. It is the contrast that Berlin has to offer which are also effected by the reunion. Here is for those, who want to enjoy some personal collected nostalgic historical reasons to why Berlin is the German capital of culture.

text by: Jenny Radeiski

1. Techno music

The most important culture around and after the reuinfication was unquestionably techno; it was the sound to which East- and West Berlin reunited for the first time without a break - or at least the youth who came from these parts of the city (I remember well the Loveparade was one of those anual highlight). The music that characterizes the international image of Berlin to this day has been created in houses, storage sheds and cellars as Tacheles, E-Werk, Tresor and Bunker (just to name few) in the district Mitte. Even though the boundless freedom of the first years after the reunion has disappeared, the anarchic spirit of the “anything goes”, which still arose, still characterizes the feeling of Berlin life.

2. Liechtenstein

Who would have thought that a Stalinist puppeteer would dissolve the contradiction between commerce and art in the most fluffy irony: Friedrich Liechtenstein (his real name: Hans Holger Friedrich) lent his velvety voice and his no less velvety hairy body for an advertising and got the push for one long longed-for career as a pop star. It may have been a bit quieter at the moment. His word is eternal: “Style is destiny”.

3. Rammstein

Irony of History: Before 1990 East Germany was a popcultural development country; after the wall was falling the most successful German rock band was established. Rammstein combines the provocative aesthetics of the older industrial with all sorts of symbols. They have sold around 20 million albums on this basis.

4. Flavor of cucumber

“Spreewaldgurken” (cucumber of Spreewald - Spreewald is in the southern part of Berlin) are regarded as a whole German cultural property, Radeberger beer is goutiert. Otherwise, sentimental brand loyalty prevails when shopping in the supermarket. So show Nudossi (East) or Nutella (West), Bambi (East) or Milka (West) chocolate still the origin. So called “Russische Brot” (Russian bread is a biscuit) is the exception, which has always existed.

5. Broiler

Some East German words have been held in East Germany. Broilers (means a whole chicken), Dachas (comparable with the Swedish stuga) or Plaste (means plastic) are good examples. According to the Society for German Language, however, except for such exceptions, the East German vocabulary has adapted itself to the Western. Many terms have subsided because they no longer exist.

6. Vokuhila

An ambitious baseness about the East fashion at the time is about a cloudy blue Moonwashed jeans and “Nackenspoiler” hairstyles, called Vokuhila. Later it was the triumph in the face of fashion history, just like young avant-garde women would like to look today. Apart from the fact that the late eighties in the West were no longer even more dressy and everyone was looking for the perfect jeans: The nonchalant Berlin style draw conclusions from - everyone is wearing T-shirts, sneakers and parkas. Only the glasses look very much after politbureau at the moment.

7. Open-air stages

The Soviet sector of Berlin did not have an open-air stage, while the “Waldbühne” is located on the western edge of the city. On the occasion of the 3rd World Youth Festival in the summer of 1951 the huge open air stage called Wuhlheide was built in the East. It was built on the ramparts of the ruins of the city, the terraces is for about 20,000 visitors. Since 2003, Wuhlheide has been named Kindl-Bühne.

Picture from Kindl stage in Berlin by www.visitberlin.de (last access 2017-10-04)

8. Zinnober o. N.

The supposedly first, perhaps even the only off-theater of the DDR, was called Zinnober, and was popular in the destrict Prenzlauer Berg. That many of the founders still operate a free stage with drink-bars at the same place and name it the “Theater o.N.” (theater without a name), can be seen as a small, melancholy reunification-miracle.

9. Book publishers

Of nearly 78 book publishers which existed in the DDR, there is now only a dozen. First, the people in the former “Leseland” (readingworld) had lost interest on the quite strongly ideologically shaped program. Then the “Treuhandanstalt” looked after the settlement. Often the companies went to their competitors from the West and remained merely as a name. But the book industry is moving. Right now, many newly founded publishers are celebrating their 20th anniversary.

10. Cultural budget

Culture is the investment with which Berlin grows. The Senate of Berlin will not be tired of emphasizing the outstanding role played by theaters, concerts, art, or clubs in the capital. This is something the Senate will cost a lot, in which the sum will increase to about 506 million Euros according to previous planning. The closure of large cultural institutions, such as the Deutsche Oper, is no longer disputed today, only through the distribution of the rising amounts. How much after the reunification exactly flowed into the culture of Berlin and how these amounts have developed is not precised to say.

11. Cultural Senator

The last cultural director of Berlin Thomas Flierl came from the East. He dreamed of strengthening the cultural structures of the city from below. But then it turned out that the greatest need prevails. With the founding of the Opernstiftung, Flierl succeeded in securing the existence of the three operas in the long term.

This was my small cultural and nostalgic cultural overview after the reunification of Germany and shows the influences and dynamics on today’s cultural life in Berlin. For current cultural events - exhibitions, concerts, museums, festivals, theater, restaurants, clubs - I recommend you the magazine www.zitty.de. Enjoy the multi cultural life of Berlin!

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