I really like Alexanderplatz as an urban space, which other Americans have found eccentric. On the negative side, it’s one of several places I’ve known which, when first encountered, had a vibrant youth vagrant culture which subsequently disappeared, (at least while I was staying in the area), and somehow I doubt that this was because people got the housing and support they needed.
The clouds above, their dazzling reflection in the glass arch, the blinding glare from the windows of the snazzy red S-bahn train, are a promise undone below by the overhead wires and the dumpy yellow U-bahn cars…
Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s adaptation of Alfred Doblin’s “Alexanderplatz” has been uploaded onto youtube.
Do you live in Berlin? I take it that recent developments in Berliners’ bid to expropriate properties from big landlords may be cautiously taken as promising news? Even if things are moving slowly against since the referendum.
“On Wednesday afternoon, the committee handed over its more than 150-page report to Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU), declaring its findings on a topic that had never been seriously considered before: stripping major landlords like Vonovia and Deutsche Wohnen of their properties in the capital and transforming those properties into state-run housing.
Their year-long work involved delving into uncharted legal territory and dissecting a specific article of the Basic Law that had never been ruled on before. But its findings were unambiguous: the expropriation of major landlords in Berlin is compatible with the constitution.”
6: In at least some cases (I live in one), the properties currently owned/administrated by Deutsche Wohnen and Vonovia were built as public or government housing, so it would be at least as accurate to call the proposed change re-socialization as to call it expropriation.
4: Picking nits, the snazzy red train is a regional train rather than an S-Bahn, and the yellow transportation mode is a tram, as suggested by the lettering on the far right of the picture.
{ 7 comments }
jsrtheta 06.25.23 at 2:03 pm
You’ve been on a roll lately. One excellent image after another.
Peter Hovde 06.25.23 at 5:42 pm
I really like Alexanderplatz as an urban space, which other Americans have found eccentric. On the negative side, it’s one of several places I’ve known which, when first encountered, had a vibrant youth vagrant culture which subsequently disappeared, (at least while I was staying in the area), and somehow I doubt that this was because people got the housing and support they needed.
Alan White 06.25.23 at 11:39 pm
Certainly captures the color and business of the city.
bad Jim 06.26.23 at 5:33 am
The Fifties called. They want their future back.
The clouds above, their dazzling reflection in the glass arch, the blinding glare from the windows of the snazzy red S-bahn train, are a promise undone below by the overhead wires and the dumpy yellow U-bahn cars…
Dave 06.26.23 at 2:39 pm
Amazing composition.
rivelle 07.02.23 at 1:28 am
Thank you for this!
Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s adaptation of Alfred Doblin’s “Alexanderplatz” has been uploaded onto youtube.
Do you live in Berlin? I take it that recent developments in Berliners’ bid to expropriate properties from big landlords may be cautiously taken as promising news? Even if things are moving slowly against since the referendum.
“On Wednesday afternoon, the committee handed over its more than 150-page report to Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU), declaring its findings on a topic that had never been seriously considered before: stripping major landlords like Vonovia and Deutsche Wohnen of their properties in the capital and transforming those properties into state-run housing.
Their year-long work involved delving into uncharted legal territory and dissecting a specific article of the Basic Law that had never been ruled on before. But its findings were unambiguous: the expropriation of major landlords in Berlin is compatible with the constitution.”
https://www.thelocal.de/20230629/berlin-landlords-can-legally-be-expropriated-expert-panel-rules
Doug 07.03.23 at 1:53 pm
6: In at least some cases (I live in one), the properties currently owned/administrated by Deutsche Wohnen and Vonovia were built as public or government housing, so it would be at least as accurate to call the proposed change re-socialization as to call it expropriation.
4: Picking nits, the snazzy red train is a regional train rather than an S-Bahn, and the yellow transportation mode is a tram, as suggested by the lettering on the far right of the picture.
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