A weekly round-up of news stories that piqued our interest or made us scratch our heads.
- Antisemitic attack: A strange story indeed: a young Israeli wearing a kippa is attacked by a man with a belt on Helmholtzplatz on Wednesday. The victim, it turns out, was an Arab Israeli "conducting an experiment" on Antisemitism in Germany. He filmed the attack with his phone. The attacker, allegedly a Syrian refugee, has turned himself to the police. The incident has been condemned across the board – including Merkel herself – and is bound to fan the flames of the new debate on the safety of Jews in Germany, while fuelling the strong anti-refugee, Islamophobic sentiment among the German population. The AFD's Beatrix von Storch was prompt to tweet that "It's about Islam." Four years ago, a similar experience conducted by Vice, with a Kippa-clad German-Israeli actor Amit Jacobi walking through Neukölln and Kreuzberg, resulted in nothing but a few curious looks.
- ECHO-Gate: Antisemitism was also high on the political agenda following Germany's music award ceremony last Thursday. The ECHO courted some actual attention after rappers Kollegah and Farid Bang received the prize for Album of the Year – rappers with lyrics like this: "My body is more chiselled than an Ausschwitz inmate." Die Toten Hosen's Campino was the first to speak out, followed by a number German acts you've never heard of. But now you've heard of the ECHO.
- Crackpot crackdown goes down The AfD of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg were supposedly coming for Berghain. Party member Sibylle Schmidt submitted a complaint calling for Berlin's money-making institution to lose its license, for, among other things, rude door staff and "AIDS infections". Following a shitstorm, the party has apparently withdrawn the complaint.
- Alex 2.0 No new 150-metre tower at Alexanderplatz (at least until the BVG can be convinced it won't damage their tunnels), but the Haus der Statistik – currently in a dilapidated state at Alexanderplatz – on the other hand, is to be restored again to be up and running by 2024 as a home for Mitte's district council, the Finanzamt as well as artist studios and with some affordable housing thrown in.
- FrauenDP? Recording historical lows, the FDP looks to appeal to women. One of their "fresh" new ideas is to have gender quotas, a policy that had, until now, been frowned upon by the pro-business party.
- DUHtistics In new statistics that shock nobody, weekends are more dangerous than weekdays in Berlin. With 8383 violent crimes occurring on Saturdays in the past year, they’re more dangerous than Mondays, when only 6873 of them took place.
- Kids don’t go free: Thousands of kids riding without a ticket are chucked off BVG vehicles every year, but now the BVG has announced that whilst minors clearly require a ticket to travel, they shouldn’t be forced to get off the train. If found without a ticket, they must first be given the chance to buy a valid ticket for their onward journey.
- Ku'Down Despite soaring prices on the Berlin housing market, rents for businesses on Ku’damm are falling. What was once the primary shopping street in Berlin appears to be approaching a downturn. A study by Retailmarkt Deutschland 2018 has shown that rent prices are sinking and the number of passers-by fell by 4.4 percent from 2016-17. Meanwhile prices on hip shopping streets like Mitte's Alte-Schönhauser-Str have become so astronomical that only global brands can afford it.