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Today I was mugged and beaten by Neo-nazis. They took my computer and destroyed my phone in front of me. While they were at it yhey called me stinky n.... and a bunch of other racists and derogatory insults. I naively reported the crime to the police but they didn't even take it seriously and made me leave the station. In fact they told me it was my fault for walking on "dangerous streets" - their words - but actually I was just a few blocks away from Betahaus. I know karma is going to get these people sometime soon. I wish I could say this was a one time event but truth is this has not been the only violent racist incident I've had to endure in this city. I'm here just for a short time but that has not stopped the city in taking its toll on me. I'm glad I've found this site. Seriously, fornicate this city.
I am thankful for the condolences. How many minorities work in police force? I have no idea but I saw no minority but I cannot blame them, this is not my country it's not for me to say. But sir or madam I can assure this is not a story, this is the truth. I have scars and bruises in my body that prove it. I have never taken a beating in my life. I'm a man that doesn't like to get in trouble and what just happened to me hurts both my body and my soul. Seeing that people in this country are still capable of such acts. Beating a black guy in 2016 may not be a big deal to the average inhabitant of this rotten town but IT IS A BIG DEAL ok. I don't care if you believe it or not. I can just hope for divine justice because filling a paper with answers at the police station for such a case doesn't give me faith in this country justice. I just called my manager and told him I'll be leaving the country and he agreed. I just want to leave the country now.
I was mugged a year ago on my way from work home close to the city center. This had nothing to do with racism though, but still was an act of a brutal unmotivated violence. A random and apparently stoned guy was beating me in the head until he crushed half centimeter of my cheekbone into pieces. He wanted my cheap cell phone for some purely sportive reasons. I remember shock, realizing myself being entirely unprotected every time everywhere I’m in this city. And this is the sad reality. Belriner polizei? Not even funny… But what I actually have to share with you, I remember that anger which took me over entirely. And you have a full right to be angry. In fact this can become a very positive feeling if you use it right way. These guys can beat you, can steal from you, but they won’t make you any damage if you know what is right for yourself and continue following your very own life, your hopes, ideas, dreams. To break you is what they want, now you become even better and stronger, and this is how you prevail eventually, making them a miserable peace of outdated stinky garbage, much better than any karma would ever do. This is my sincere advice if I may give you any. Don’t hide it, take a breath, feel this anger! And use it. You will see eventually how good it feels.
I too was mugged in Berlin and the police did nothing, I know what that indifference feels like and it hurts like hell. I also know what it feels like when you tell people in Berlin what happened to you looking for some support and all you get is: "that surely is a lie", "the police wouldn't do that, we are a perfect society" and a Berlin classic "Shit happens! I don't care! stop complaining" I'm deeply sorry for you.
I have very easing story. I have been living in London for a while after poop hole called Berlin. On weekends, there are some improvement jobs which impact key underground services and some of them are not available on weekends. So, i was waiting on the station i have heard a group of people were speaking in German. It was my wake up call to have fun. By the way, i am not native Brit. I can do proper British accent. I offered my help, explained what they had to do with saying " you guys should speak better English " Just treated them, how i was treated in Berlin by majority of people. Normally, i am not racist or anything. You got my point ;) Last but not least, i did not hear " thanks " after my directions. So, i decided to play up with Germans. I said : Sorry but actually i was wrongly explaining you should do bla bla la..... I have sent them not opposite direction but made them take wrong line to give them tough times to find their desired place by accident.
Sorry Germans, you should have said thanks which you are not familiar with.
not thanking is indicative of a 'I will use you for my own selfish means' attitude and once sucked the info I will dump you for you are no longer of use to me. Thanking shows gratitude. Thanking is courteous. Thanking is important. Souls get fed by warmth and kindness, and giving a sign you appreciated that that person stopped to take the time to help is simply...civilized.
Hey there. ex-Berlin hater here. I recently moved to Denver but I used to post here now and then. I said I wouldn't post here anymore but this is something I think it's worth mentioning. I'm not here to complain about Berlin, we all know it sucks ass. I'm here to complain about the insurance system in Berlin/Germany. I used to pay approx. 350E for the insurance premium in berlin which in principle would cover most health aspects. But I was unlucky enough to undergo a minor dental surgery while I was in Berlin and guess what, my insurance coverage didn't cover jack shi--t. I had to pay upfront for the surgery. Insurance in germany is a freaking scheme. I had to pay from my savings some thousands, it hurt my savings but it wasn't the end of the world. Recently, I just had to undergo the second and final dental procedure in the US (note, apparently German dentists broken up but that's another story) and my crappy Bronze <300$ premium insurance covered it all. I just had to pay 100 bucks for some fancy antibiotics. I still can't understand how Germans can truly think they are the best at everything and have all the best things in the world. ex-Berlin hater out.
Hey troll, I hope you never have to grow up and pay your own insurance, pay your own debt and pay your own bills. And I also hope you never ever get sick because the health insurance in your pathetic country is going to let you die. You like ALL native Berliners are the ones that NEVER grow up. AND YES, THAT'S AN ACCURATE GENERALIZATION. ex-Berlin h8'er out.
How would they grow up? The entire city is set up so that no one is subject to any accountability whatsoever, the housing is a joke and akin to a concrete block in a third-world country, the streets are full of road-raging street-warriors whose idea of good driving is fast driving, the wages are even more laughable. Basically it is impossible to live like someone >25 would live in a civilized city.
Calm down people, life is not that bad : )
"Make Berlin white again" this is what I heard today, again. Apparently this is becoming a theme now in the city. The city is showing its true colors finally.
Nothing to hate about Berlin, look at yourself first : ) people who complain will complain anywhere. People who build things and are occupied by something interesting do not care where they are. Its what you do, not where you do it. Stop complaining about people, you come to any place in the world and expect everyone to treat you like a king? Who da hell are you? lol Grow up dudes, stop jerking off and do something with your lives. I am only here cause I want to remind only thing is freaking hot chicks is hard here, because they are hiding somewhere, don't know where...
haha What a pathetic looser you are :) I never say that i want fun or entertaining In Berlin Streets,Go to places like Neukölln,Kreuzberg and you see just drunk losers like you and aggressive and criminal Migrants/Refugees who steal your pocket,I know Berlin and the people in Berlin much better than you because I was born and raised here,and the people in Berlin disgust me. Btw go away from this site because this page is for Berlinhaters :) Have a nice weekend :)
guys like you would not be happy anywhere in the world lol, go to USA, sissies like you don't survive there for too long : ) keep on crying, also say thanks for the democracy you have to America, at least you can express your pathetic views of the world, oh and internet too ; )
I don't want to offend you of course, just explain to you critical thinking is very important in this day and age, human beings through out the ages were divided into three groups: people who complain, people who do not care and people who care. Unfortunately 90% are neutral. Than there is the evil side like you The Dark Force and the Jedi side like me. Remember how the evil empire started and how it fell, because the good will always dominate, the truths are universal and as old as the galaxy itself.
I agree with you (the original comment) to a point. It is true that if you are enjoying what you do, it should not matter where you do it.
However,
I think the point of this site is that when the environment around you pulls on your energy on a daily basis in a negative manner, location does matter.
My experience was as follows:
I came to Berlin as a very positive person with such a bright outlook on life and such hope for the future that people around me were annoyed by my optimism.
After a year of really struggling to integrate and wondering about the rudeness and Xenophobia I encountered at every turn I started to get a little uncomfortable. I studied German and went to integration classes and tried hard to find some semblance of a social group but was always treated like an outsider no matter what I did.
To be clear, I had lived in 15 different countries before this and had never ever experienced such coldness and bureaucratic nonsense. People and systems in other places are helpful and open to outsiders, even the Muslim and Asian countries I had lived in were hundreds of times easier to navigate and more welcoming.
After about four years I began to lose my optimism, my social group slowly became expats as I was never welcomed into any German groups despite living in Eastern Berlin, being surrounded entirely by locals and speaking pretty good German.
After 8 years I was miserable most of the time... I had closed myself off from just about everyone, I avoided shopping until I absolutely had to, walking on the sidewalk was even a chore due to the regular verbal assaults and nonsense I encountered.
My health started to deteriorate and finally my doctor told me to leave Berlin.
I did and two years later, my health is good, my optimism has returned and I am happy to go out and speak to people in the streets.
well glad you are all good now, but I know many occasions when people from the outside come here and get to know plenty of local people, besides since when talking to people on the streets was normal lol? dude chill out when you get depressed you start to blame everything around you. why should I get to know some random guy with whom I have zero interests? Look at what you do and find people who do same things, obvoisuly if all you love is to party and hook up, there are already loads of people here who do the same thing they do not need any new friends like that cause they knew plenty of people like that from before. On the other hand if you are lets say into astronomy find an astronomy club and you will be surprised how many people would love to hang around with you, in other words if you have general interests like 90% of people, they dont need you because they already know a bunch just like you, offer something interesting to people. Nobody wants to the same person they met before. Sometimes we as people overestimate our uniqueness but in reality we have nothing to offer to the other unless having something truly special to offer...
also Berlin has plenty of interesting companies like video game companies, museums, radio, advertising etc who do you think works there a bunch of cool butt people. you don't see them hanging around randomly. On the other hand if you work in a bar or lets say in some pizza place, don't expect people to be the most amazing kind. Of course there are exceptions but at the end of the day you get what you deserve. If you have general interests and nothing much going on about you, why cool people should hang with you. They heard same story before a thousand times. Its a finished stage for them long ago, they have evolved above that.
How do you know that would I would be not happier in other places do you know me personally ? NO.
I visited 5 Countrys this year,and I found the people much more Normal and Sane than in Berlin.
You statement "who complain will complain anywhere. " it simply false because it depends on the person ,You seem like a political correct person to me. Good Bye
I've been blessed to grow up and to live in many different places on earth. Only Berlin made me feel miserable. Most people in the website have expressed after they left the city and more often Germany altogether the feel happy. It's the city, no doubt about that.
I know the troll who's written this has already has already drank the Berlin Kool-Aid and consequently he/she has become a dysfunctional adult in most places on earth however I always like to point out Berlin for what it is and more importantly warn readers about these lies. "sissies like you" homophobic comment. "sissies like you don't survive there for too long : )" If you're so tough why don't you go help in doctors without borders or something similar, usually this comment refers that people in Berlin must endure extreme xenophobia because reasons. "interesting companies like video game companies" literally nothing tech of value has come out of Berlin, ever. If a company with little value ever comes out of Berlin it immediately moves to London or Silicon Valley. 1M seed fund doesn't count as success. Source I work in the industry. "don't expect your average office worker or average blue collar worker be funny...if you work in a bar or lets say in some pizza place, don't expect people to be the most amazing kind" Normally, people in these positions tend to be helpful in other places on earth, cuz that's their job. In Berlin expect mistreatment from public facing positions just because. "Sometimes we as people overestimate our uniqueness" just a proof of how Berliners in general believe they are special snowflakes. "Than there is the evil side like you The Dark Force and the Jedi side like me" Literally, this is what Berliners think it's deep and a teaching for "the others".
To the person that posted this non-sense post on the first place I'll post what I've posted before in this page, it was some time ago (even before I've left Berlin), and maybe you are the person that can give me an answer why.
"tell me why there is such an amount of old people putting their hands on garbage to get 8 cents worth of glass, then bring it home, then take it all to store in order to get a paper to buy food or whatever they want. Why?
Tell me why there are so many young expats in poverty because they can't find jack poop to make a living. Why?
Tell me why there are so many lunatics around this town every night scream in any other language. Why?
Tell me why every U-Bahn and S-Bahn will have at least one beggar on every trip, every day every year. Why?
Tell me why there are so many people moving to Berlin and end up suffering from loneliness and depression. Why?
Tell me why Berlin is even the so-called city for Start-ups. Why?
If you want to defend so much Berlin tell me why all this things happen and why people hate it due to lack of fornicating
You can also go ahead and tell me what is positive about Berlin being like that, or do what you do, offend the people that come to this page"
..and please don't start with comparing other countries because I don't give a fornicate about that, just tell me why you support that this happens and why you think that that's the right way to go. Maybe then you can convince that the right thing is seeing that asian old lady that picks bottles from Rosenthaler Platz until Gesundbrunnen everyday! Who knows maybe I'll even be happy if someday instead of her picking them it's you!
"since when talking to people on the streets was normal lol? dude chill out when you get depressed you start to blame everything around you"
I've been here over a decade and know what he is talking about. You must be another snarky German guy who fits right into the Berlin puzzle-picture. Many of us NON-GERMANS need only walk down the street to have people roll their eyes or mutter nasty comments. You don't have to say one word.
just a few companies based in Berlin , also 5 biggest National theaters, world renown Philharmonic, Ballet company, operas. Plus parliament which nerveless is responsible for German recovery, and its economic overall state in the world right now. A few really huge multi national Advertising companies have their offices here, not the hipster ones but the real Advertising companies, Rocket Internet, Zalando and the rest which is not out of my head is in the wiki link:
also mate when it comes to poverty its everywhere in the world, of course its a shame that some people collect bottles, but since when this world was Utopia? Get real! also not to offend anyone - sissy means weakling, there are gay people like Tom Ford who are as tough as nails and whom I like very much.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Berlin
I love how Berlin fanboys do their mental gymnastics to defend their city from logic. By the way all industries in Berlin are either crumbling and/or already broke. Plus no new money is coming to Berlin thanks to attitude towards new foreign and local investors. Investors don't have to deal with the Berliner Schnauze.
www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-07/inside-rocket-internet-s-ailing-startup-factory
www.digitalmusicnews.com/2016/02/09/soundcloud-reports-losses/
Man I am sure the city you come from is the most amazing place on earth, I actually don't care much about the place where I live. It's the attitude what matters most. I am not even trolling : ) I am totally emotionless here on internet. We can talk economics all day bla bla bla. But in history the men who build something didn't look at the hardships, do you think the America would ever be what it is today, if those early settlers were whining all day about how hard it was there, it was build from scratch in the dessert. Keep on making yourself feel big and smart. But results come from an individual don't expect cakes and candy to be given to you. You are just one of those sissy boys looking for excuses : )
You bring up economics but you cannot defend a simple position when proven wrong. Your response to that was literally "bla, bla". When you say "But in history the men who build something didn't look at the hardships" that is totally unrelated to anything said over your comment(s). You're literally not replying to anything or making any point. In any case, if no hardship can stop Berliners (which was kinda your point), then why nothing of value in art, music or technology has come out of Berlin in the last 30 or more years? That's enough time to come up with something, isn't it? Techno and David Bowie don't count, both came from elsewhere, having a world renown Philharmonic doesn't count either, I'm sure the Philharmonic in Moscow is one of the best in the world too but nobody would doubt about the fact that Moscow has huge problems is a pooping place for almost all foreigners and it only works out if you're a Russian multimillionaire. If Berliners were indeed "early settlers" of this new world it only exists in the imaginations of Berliners who are definitely NOT WHINING ABOUT EVERYTHING then why the city has remained as "trendy-soon" or "'up-and-coming' for decades. Usually these terms are euphemisms for describing poor-crime-ridden neighborhoods. But somehow Berliners have accepted it as their reality and think it's a good thing for them thus the idealization and celebration of poverty and ignorance. pd. it's obvious the troll will reply with the word "sissy" no matter the comment.
perhaps you should go more often into theater : ) here its really good, I am not here to write lectures lol. OK so if you are so righteous? what did you do to help those poor people? go and change something. if you don't like customer service here create your own company which will provide great customer service. if you think nothing good came out of Berlin in the last 30 years, well its just an opinion, you can twist it to your own views of the world. If you look from a neutral point of view you can actually see a lot of things coming out of here. it all depends what you are into. For example world renown medicine of Charite Hospital, with its huge amount of amazing doctors known around the world, who write books and do lectures as well. It can go on and on. You just see things from the surface my friend dig a bit deeper...
If you have to dig deeper and deeper and deeper to find amazing things that come out of Berlin then not "a lot of things come out of here", by definition. I'm sure almost you will find "a lot of interesting things" in every other city in the world if you dig deep enough. In fact that's precisely one of the cornerstones of the Berlin scam, "if you dig deep enough you will find something amazing in this city, I'm not telling you what but you will find something". All people in Berlin know this is a lie. So far there's been enumerated less than 10 positive things: -Charite hospital, Zalando - Rocket Internet, the Berlin philharmonic and Staatsballett Berlin, I'm guessing that that doesn't involve more than 10k people in a city ... of 6M. None of these things make a place great or even liveable. That is faaaaaaar from a "lot of things" if you even added the try-hard art and music scene of the city you cannot even round up to 10. Take this 10 things and balance 'em with all the crap that goes on in this city like massive unemployment, xenophobia, rampant crime and poverty you get a very negative balance which is kinda the point of multiple posters in this website. By the way Kudos on not using the word "sissy" anymore.
After all my "why" questions to this people I just feel like I'm Quagmire and the guy using Zalando as a way to defend Berlin is Brian (vid below)
www.youtube.com/watch
In regards to the Economy of Berlin: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_GDP (sort by ascending Nominal GDP results).
Try to understand that the people in this page also moved to Berlin just like you did, but they've encountered situations that went against their reasoning so they thought that the logical thing was moving out of town or at least complaint here.
I don't know a lot about Berlin nor have the best global perspective of the world we're in, but I know that if you aren't from Berlin nor Germany you'll eventually move out of Berlin, and eventually your friends, work/school colleagues will do the same and I think you know that as much as everybody here does, you're just to blind to see it out your love for Berlin... love that believe me, we get it. I moved out and I miss Berlin, I mean, I have the money to go back and I can even end up with a job there sooner or later (You know, building my own stability). I just don't want to, I would rather go there to visit some friends...
If you love Berlin today, love it! But don't come knocking here, here is a page where Charité Hospital, Zalando, Rocket, etc means nothing
oh I feel very bad for you guys that you can't make it here, so sorry, sorry for not making you an Utopia here, where by magic all you dreams come true lol. You are a sad bunch. Because all you can do is complain. Well the world is full of people like you and that's normal. Keep on complaining about Berlin. You must be all very interesting and smart people. Someone mentioned crime in Berlin wow, you never been to other parts of the world to see what real crime is. Despite that even in Detroit there are people who look at the bright side and build businesses and become very successful. Sorry for Berlin not making a thousand more successful things ( define success ? ), when it come to gay rights for example, there are not many cities in the world were you can be so free as a gay person for example, Berlin made more progress in that than most of other places on earth. There are just countless things. All you mention is the bad things, of course there are bad things here, but if you look on average life here is pretty normal compared to other places on earth. Also I am not in love with Berlin, I do not care were to live so much, I just happen to be here for work.
tell me why so many people from other countries come here and open new businesses, restaurants, supermarkets? tell me why I met so many programmers who make 60K plus, tell me why so many international production companies are based here? Tell me why why why, we can discuss this all day long, and run around the circle. There are just a bunch of people who come here without any useful skills and others who have ideas and succeed simple as that, broke expats what? so many are successful too, of course there are idiots who didn't go to uni to study something useful or didn't attain any useful trade and come here in thousands expecting someone to give them a job and loads of money for nothing.
Success in Berlin, please. We can all agree that success is not part of the Berliner spirit. Like you said "Despite that even in Detroit there are people who look at the bright side and build businesses and become very successful" usually means that people do that when there is no other alternative. Because if they had the alternative they woulda left the city already, like thousands already did. That's the classic excuse of Berliners, but ..but .. but poverty is everywhere, racists and xenophobes are everywhere it's not our fault. There is no crime in Berlin just look at Detroit! We only have drunk people that can beat you in the subway but they don't kill you tho, oh and gangs, lots of them those can kill you. Yes there are xenophobes everywhere in the world, but Berlin and Germany in this case happens to have an insane amount of them. Poverty is everywhere in the world, true, but Berlin can be compared to a third world country easily in terms of unemployment and poverty. It's so funny to see how Berlin fanboys start saying they don't care what people say on the internet, we're too cool" but afterwards they rage when their beloved city is shown for what it is. Why then you people (trolls) don't agree with simple facts which haven't been refuted ever anywhere: that Berlin has an awful standard of living, that Berlin proudly defend gay rights but at the same time elders and even children beg on the streets and collect garbage for a living that is a fact. In this website no one has ever talked about looking for an utopia to live in, rather all people here simply point out that not even the most basic things are non-available in Berlin for most people like decent salaries, safety, normal relationships, decent living conditions and so on. Pointing your finger at two or three people who've probably broke their backs for their slice of their cake shouldn't be the best example, that should be commonplace. Doing so is no different than saying there are two or three STARTUPS where people have fun and make money while ignoring the rest of the startups which are probably the worse in Europe while still making the comment that Berlin is the startup capital of Europe. The fact that around 10k people in Berlin have good jobs is nothing to be in awe is in fact a sign that the scam that is Berlin.Nothing changes the fact that nothing of value has come out of Berlin not even who said it. I don't care about changing the city, that is bullcrapp. I'm leaving this craphole and let me tell you what, many valuable people are doing so too, investors, engineers, scientists are fleeing the city in droves. Usually the argument is but you probably have a useless degree or no degree at all and you suck at life or you cannot take the hate in Berlin you sissy (like one of the previous trolls said). No people, I'm highly skilled and have a lot to offer to the world and I plan to keep adding value to the world in a better place because Berlin simply sinks everyone in its mediocrity.
Yes yes yes, keep on crying baby! leave the city I am sure you will become a multimillionaire somewhere else : )
Your definition of 3rd world country is pretty high though, if you think Berlin is a 3rd world country you never lived in one lol. Keep on hating if that makes you feel better, maybe you can join cross fit to blow your steam off lol. Wow poverty you mention it again, you dont know what poverty is because you Daddy and Mommy spoiled you since you were a kid. And never the less you mention problems of others, you never lived a day of the life you describe, how it feels to eat canned food and rice is something never known to you, I experienced that very well and yet I do not complain like you little sissy boy!!!
By the way your friends must be just like you, that's the thing you see the world from your perspective, but in my case most of the people I met earned 1000-4000 euros per month after taxes, if that's not enough to make a decent living in Berlin your standards my friend are pretty fantastical, keep on dreaming baby : )
keep on hating Berlin and keep on clicking and seeing how many companies are based here which you dont work for lol
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Organisations_based_in_Berlin
sorry that including if you work on the weekends too, and night shift, normal ones get around 850, but there is a list of common professions in Berlin with surprisingly high salaries
www.bz-berlin.de/berlin/wer-verdient-in-berlin-in-welchem-beruf-wie-viel
the troll just said: "you mention people begging on the streets, have you ever thought that that is a scam, do you actually know how much money those beggars make?" He just dismissed beggars and homeless as not a problem and he says they're doing actually great. Just wow. That's just inhumane. I guess that sums it all.
inhumane? yes, some people are just like that. that's the world, also its plenty of theoretical warriors like you who complain lol, the problem with people like you is that you twist anything to your own ideas, you don't see the big picture that this world is not idealistic from its basic construction. People tried to invent certain laws, sciences, humanities to make life easier but no matter where you are some people will always beg, just like you are begging for Berlin to be perfect to your which ever fantasy you have of it to be what it is not. But you just sit on your couch and complain like a little baby who is waiting for mommies titties to sort him/her out
homelessness is a shame I agree with you, many people have different reasons for it, but in germany there are plenty of social help. there was a research done before, and people came to a conclusion that ones a person goes down that route it is hard to integrate them back into society no matter how much help you provide them with, I am writing this from a first person account my uncle was homeless and an alcoholic and no matter how much family helped him, even provided him with a job, he would just go back into the lifestyle, its like gambling you get addicted to certain things, just like you complaining all the time, sort you brain out while its not too late for you my friend, maybe you will be happy one day and achieve great things, but by hating you only destract yourself from whats important to you
I like this thread, it makes me feel much better about my decision to move out of Berlin 2 years ago.
I don't miss the red faced defenders of the Berlin Utopia who claim Rocket Internet as an example of its vibrance (mostly failed copy cat tech startups... lol) or the art scene (remember the metal Christmas tree at Zoologischer Garten a few years ago or Tacheles? lol) or the museums (most of which deal with the cold war or WWII in some weirdly guilty way) or the customer service (they are not there to make you feel happy... lol.. but maybe doing their jobs would be nice?). All “house of cards” arguments.
Such a breath of fresh air.
I know lots of "successful" people in Berlin, financially successful I assume is 40, 60, 80, 200k a year? Possible to make money, even have friends there, true... tying shoes is pretty common as well.
Crime is not as bad as most major cities. It was, for all intensive purposes, non-existent in the divided years. It has increased a hundredfold and continues to worsen.
BUT, on the whole, it is sold to the international community as a great place to engage in all these pursuits when the fact is, it is not.
After the wall came down, the governments on either side removed the subsidies and Berlin has been trying to find an identity ever since. Fact is it is in a terrible location, it is perpetually bankrupt, the populace has been under military control since the beginnings other than the past 30 years and a bit with the Weimar Republic. (evidenced by the mistrust of outsiders and difficulty of acceptance into groups/cliques) and the "scene" is disintegrating as cost of living increases. All in all the hype is misplaced and the city is steadily declining.
There are some reasons to like this city, and some maybe even to love it (although after living just about any place else I fail to see how) but plenty of reasons to despise it as evidenced by these pages here.
All are entitled to their opinion of course and some are stuck in perpetual loops of depression wishing thing were handed to them on silver platters. Others still will defend anything if it means they get to use large words and quote Wikipedia (apparently the most reliable source available… lol).
Keep on hating my beloved BerlinHater peers.. this site is my salvation and I am better for it.
because a smart person who achieves something on their own doesn't say loads of crap you do
Wikipedia is pretty accurate by the way, not perfect I agree.
When it comes to museums your sentence doesnt make sense as most of them are not connected to the horrible past, but to sculpture, painting, architecture and etc. so you can keep on twisting your words to your advantages but facts stay facts, when you look at the big picture its not how you make it sound, its a completely different picture, crime went up 100 times? you are silly, is it part of your unjustified fantasy? show me any statistics compared it to 1990s or before that, with your logic it must be just like in Brazil or Haiti here, if it went up 100 times more, but its not. And loads of companies are based here that's true, because you never made it here with your luck of proper education ( I bet you are one of those wanna be types, who never make it, so did you make so much better where you are now? are you 100 times more financially successful in your little cave now? lol silly silly boy
What I got from the guy defending Berlin was: beggars are rich, homeless are just lazy if only they'd stop being so poor they'd stop being homeless (no shit). When someone called the troll inhumane he referred to beggars as inhumane. I've never realized how awful red faced defenders of the Berlin truly are.
Dude no one is defending Berlin, you twist words to your own, perhaps you should watch an investigative doc about beggars by one journalist ( not all are loaded ) but you will see that a lot have even huge properties in other countries. Mate I am not even arguing with you you are simply uninformed individual without any real logical provable facts. Berlin is jut a city, hate it all you like. You just can not see any good valid points and only point out how dumb you are all the time : )
The guy defending Berlin with arguments like <<hobos are secretly rich>> is just ridiculous. What's surprising though, is passion and energy he spends defending the city from obvious and valid points with increasingly fantastic ideas like the one that homeless have properties in other countries even though the vast majority are Berliner and German because you know, homeless can't travel. Anyway the person defending Berlin just proves how dumb Berlin fanboys really are since they cannot use words, ideas or arguments and they only thing they can do is blurting out the same insult (in his case sissy) over and over again.
I just found this article with ok sources from 2005. In 2005 there were 800k homeless in Germany of which 600K were German and 200K immigrants. How come this is not a problem even if there are actually 2-3 'wealthy homeless' out there. I can't even imagine how many homeless exist in 2016 but I'm sure that number has increased. www.share-international.org/archives/homelessness/hl-abGermany.htm
dude what king of of website is that lol. did you quickly make it?
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by your fabulous logic Germany has 800 000 homeless people. German population is 80 million people simple math = will make every 100th person homeless, you simply don't visualize that on the daily basis, because it does not exist, what website is that man?, one of you conspiracy sources again?, show us the real data. I am not defending the city, but idiots like you should not play with simple facts, because idiots like you either become crazy commies or nazis without any critical thinking skills.
The estimate of German homeless population rages from 200k to 1M depending on sources. Taking the lowest estimate which are Deutsche Welle in 2014 and Spiegel 2013 that present the number as 300k. That is 8 times more than Spain and 8 times more than Italy and 3 times more than France. It's one in 270 of total population. Which is not surprising since 15% of all people (two of thirteen) and 30% of children (one in tree) in Berlin live off welfare. Sources: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_Germany www.homelessworldcup.org/homelessness-statistics/ www.dw.com/en/homeless-in-germany-given-the-boot/a-17729421 www.spiegel.de/international/germany/german-cities-struggle-to-accommodate-rise-in-homeless-a-885484.html
Oh I forgot, all this is fake since all these people are secretly rich, right?
lol dude
you don't even read what you post, first you post that homelessness is at 800 000 then you post that it is 300 000. You must be the biggest idiot here, nobody wants to blame people from outside, you just disproved your own information again and again. How can anyone have a reasonable discussion with you, next you will say that green is actually red. Is this your full time job writing bullcrap here?
I just posted that information once, that must have been another person. I posted that because I knew poverty numbers in Germany and specially in Berlin were really high because I used to work with social statistics of the EU. FYI these numbers are pre-migration crisis so I wouldn't be surprised that number right now would be higher. And no, I like posting in this website this is not my full time job, I like to vent here and expose the BS that this city really is. Just take a look at the actual numbers and say something about them because you simply can't deny that homelessness and poverty is a real problem and outrageous claims these people are wealthy are just false.
who said that they are wealthy, i said some make money, some need money for drugs, some are lazy, some like the lifestyle maybe, some are in need, some might have metal issues, there are different reasons, for that, some are scamming people. i never said it was not a problem lol you silly. I said Berlin is not perfect. But its not bad either, you don't like it, so what, I do not care lol. You are just one of those people who can only complain about issues you never even experienced on your own skin. Keep on pointing your fingers on the problems you can not solve, its easy talking boy, all people like you are the same, all you can do is just talk talk talk. You have little balls like peanuts to do anything with your own hands. Keep on hating you silly hater. By the way can I get your sisters number, I am sure she will like me more than you? lol
are you crazy?, I am not even German, all I said is use your critical thinking you crazy commies, the world is not an utopia, changes start from a person, also nobody calls Berlin perfect, look at both positive and negative and all in between and from a neutral point of view not your pre mediated by your own cultural boundaries point of views and you will see that peasants like you are everywhere even though slightly glamorized by you nice converses or iphones. Stupid is as stupid does, its the same everywhere, just try to occupy yourselves with something productive so you would at least see the world a bit more consciously!
I think when this guy is talking about beggars, he's thinking of gypsies. The gypsies who beg though usually are at the bottom of their caste system, they hand their money over to some local bosses, who then hand it over to a main boss in the countries they originated in (often Romania and Bulgaria). Odds are the beggars are dirt poor and you could give them a million dollars and they wouldn't be able to keep it anyway. Then there are addict beggars who likely have government assistance but don't have a job to pay for their addictions. Then there are the real homeless who are likely mentally disabled or very far gone in their addictions.
exactly finally someone smart, people begged, stole and prostituted themselves everywhere throughout the history for various reasons. It will always be, in one form or the other. The biggest problem is the bigots who complain about that while never remotely living any of those lives, just complaining for the sake of complaining. As if they got nothing else to do in their lives : )
Hello everyone,
I am feeling extremely happy. Some of you may remember that i have already posted here about myself ( being master student in Germany, doing an internship at another country ) and German personality. You know what ? German bureaucracy has saved my life. No kidding. I work at international company which has branches all around the Europe and i was offered a permanent placement at Berlin branch because, i am master student in Germany and things would be easier to handle. I said okay unwillingly ( money matters ).
So, today i have been told that it would take so long to hire me due to German bureaucracy. They asked me, if i want to keep working where i am currently working ( my favourite place in Europe ). I could not believe first but then i was about to shout : YESS!!!. Thanks Germany for being so bureaucratic. Maybe they need to investigate my shampoo brand to make sure it's not opposed to their very German rules. ( I have seen shampoo analogy here, wanted to reuse ) This is so reliving. I can not keep dreaming of no more Germany and nothing related with Germany. The life will start again for me with real humans, joy, happiness and kindness. The precious Germany can be yours Germans.
To person, who is educated, open - minded, social, enjoy the life and considering to come to Germany for long term. ( =>1 year ) DO NOT DARE TO DO THAT. That country is not suitable for you. You will be treated like you have made major mistake by coming to Germany regardless your age, gender, education, occupation, political stance, nationality etc. As long as you are foreigner, you will remain as foreigner. I am not exaggerating. It can't be coincidence that serious amount of people complain about same things when it comes to Germany. They act like they are superior society and county and you need to deserve their acceptance, friendship, relationship ( this could be the same everywhere but you know what i mean ). You will hear this all the time : You are not working hard to integrate into their precious society. They do not have to do anything to welcome you. You need to integrate (!) by yourself while they are ignoring your existence. ( Maybe it is not an issue for some of you but my point is, integration is mutual thing to succeed )
The most freaking annoying thing in Germany was German language. They expect you to speak German from the first moment of your arrival. They do offer English education and most of people want to take advantage of it because it''s somehow affordable and to be honest Germany has good reputation as country. ( I am talking about common sense ) So, as a student maybe you would only care about the classes and getting your degree. Surprise surprise ! When you need help and go to INTERNATIONAL OFFICE of the university, most probably there are 3 out of 20 people who could speak proper English to understand you and resolve your issue. When you kindly ask, can you speak English ? You get some angry expressions in German. No intention to help you. I mean, if they offer English education they should hire people with proper English skills.
Anyways, i got rid of Germany and i hope you will get rid of that country soon !
The overwhelming amount of Middle-Easterners is what ruins this city for me. Terror is in the air.
beware what you think, that may come and haunt you in the future, things like that can be said about any nationality or ethnic group, often people with low moral education judge people by their externals, stupid is as stupid does, stop thinking about others, look at yourself first.
some people above have issues with critical thinking, maybe Hitler Youth is what you should join. Anything can be said about anyone and these are just words, straight facts is what makes a difference. Lets say 1% percent of a certain nation has problems with eating potatoes - does it mean all of them have problems with eating potatoes? Seems like you are following somebody else ideas. If tomorrow everyone will say drinking grapefruit juice is cool and if you do not do so you are an idiot will you start drinking grapefruit juice as well? Before saying crap think why your brain is trying to say that crap, perhaps the ideas are not even yours : )
also mate, not talking about the past of course : ) but lets say some people are just sick, why do you have to mention nationality anyways, this brings out the tendencies towards generalizations and stereotypes, some people are just sick ( different environments can bring out different tendencies of course ) but it has nothing to do with nationality at the basic level homosexual Sapiens are all identically same. can you just think a little bit more before you say something? and since when do you believe in the media especially the crappy local one here which seems to have not evolved past a certain date in of the past.
Look around you and what do you see?! Zombies and the Undead. Germans are a nation of people whose inner child was slaughtered. When they are born they are given botox injections. Look at their children! They have frozen little faces and turn into emotionally crippled adults that mate and bear more of the same. They all hold their emotional cards close to their chest in terror of allowing their faces to register their FEELINGS!
Its a horror movie that I escaped last Summer after too many years and I am still in recovery from these cold-hearted demonic people. I´m a funny friendly person and I think I need therapy after so long in that disfunctional place. I´m still quivering...
Is it just me or do most people in Berlin have like 1000+ Facebook friends? Their standards for adding someone as a friend on fb are very low. Why add someone you met only once and will probably never meet again? Why be friends with people who probably could care less if you lived or died? I know that young people and attention wh*res everywhere have tons of fb friends but I feel like this phenomenon is way more common in Berlin.
The organization call Berliner Polizei should be abolished. After all the criminal cases I've experienced over three years living here this service did not earn even a tiny bit of mine respect. The city would be much better off having sort of oriental militia.
I just returned from a trip to Shenzhen - China. A city that evolved so far from almost nothing. Now I get it, that is the future. A fast moving, high tech environment where rich and poor try to move forward. Berlin will never reach the future, in fact it is backwards in almost every aspect. Berlin will never be there due to constant whining and pouting. Whining won't make you move forward. So pack your poop and book a flight, I know I will because this place is doomed I guarantee you, it ain't goin' nowhere! #berlintechiscrap #fleeberlin
www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-07/inside-rocket-internet-s-ailing-startup-factory
#berlintechiscrap
I enter the Sbahn and all I hear is talking about work, work, work, university and that's all. Are Germans really that limited ? I can't even find a buddy to ride a bike weekends ...
Oh faking gawd. Winter's beginning. It's almost here. Get ready to have your mind put through a meat mincer.
I try to avoid this site in order to isolate myself from negativity. Just to survive a few more months. It's why I avoid germans like the plague. I only shop in asian/turkish/polish shops, I bike everywhere, I don't even go to the bank. If all goes good, I can live a whole week without interacting with one of these broken berliners.
Just came back from a 7 day vacation in italy. The people smiled all the time. They were helpful. When I asked a shop lady if she sold stamps, she told me that no, but there's a post office, it's closed on sundays, but it opens at 7 am on mondays. If this happened in Berlin, I would either just get a cold stare or a "Nein." Nothing else. I haven't felt so alive in months. The problems started as soon as I stepped off the plane. Went to buy a sandwich at the airport just after getting off the plane. The lady starts speaking german. I say that I dont understand german. She just repeats things louder. It's a fking airport, why the fk are you surprised someone doesnt understand german, you ugly cnt? Cant even do your fking job right, can you? Ok, I got my sandwich, and I get on the sbahn to get home but the sbahn breaks or something and Im stuck. Great.
Eh, I could go on, like all of us, but why? This week in italy showed that there exists a world beyond this sad and broken place and that I can leave in just a few more months :). I hope this place gets totalled at some point. Deutsche bank and commerzbank are laying off 1/5th of their workforce, they're imploding from within, Rocket's stock has gone down like 50% because hurr durr, you can only copy so many startup ideas from the US/UK/FR/PL/JP/etc. oh and no one wants to buy your pooping fking diesel cars so damn, I cant wait to wait 10-15 years and then fly over this place and see that it's now just a forest and the berliners run naked like animals, which they already are now.
Thanks for nothing berlin, Ive never been in a more hostile place then here.
Haha yeah the classic shock after arriving by plane or train. I came from London throug Schönefeld yesterday with my colleague who sports a small beard. Drunk guy started harassing us in S-bahn right away. "Drecksfotzen jungä, scheiss araber wichser, wir scheissen auf euch alle" etc We just laughed at it, he was drunk so he was not inhibited in speaking but it provided us with a window to the berliner mind. Oh well, welcome to Berlin.
"Just came back from a 7 day vacation in italy. The people smiled all the time. They were helpful. When I asked a shop lady if she sold stamps, she told me that no, but there's a post office, it's closed on sundays, but it opens at 7 am on mondays. If this happened in Berlin, I would either just get a cold stare or a "Nein." Nothing else."
In Germany it is polite not to say more than questioned. But there are also germans who give you much more information than you wanted to have. As if such people think you are not able to think for yourself.
At the pharmacy: "Do you know how to take that pills? Swallow it with some water" "Thanks" I was about to put it in my nose and would have wondered why the pills are not working." :)
Latin Europeans are usually much friendlier, though not always (like if they feel their city is overrun with tourists). Too bad they were all conned by Germany into the Euro, so now they can't control their own economies and have lost a lot to the Germanic countries, not to mention Germany forcing them into austerity with absolutely no sign it's working as they claimed it would (maybe it's working how they actually want, somehow benefiting Germany).
Still, if you can find a decent job in one of those countries (mainly Spain, Italy, Portugal), may be worth considering. Besides the people being friendlier, the women are more feminine and attractive, the weather is better aside from a few brutal weeks in the summer, the languages are easier to learn (if you speak English or another Latin language), etc. Everywhere has its own issues though.
"In Germany it is polite not to say more than questioned" - well, in a lot of other places it's impolite to give people only half an answer. Imagine this - you're in NYC, around Columbus Circle and you ask me "which way is Battery Park?" and I just point south - "that way", but I omit telling you it's a 2+ hour walk. Or same situation, but you ask my how to get to battery park - what if I just say "take the subway" - how will you know which one of 8 different lines to take? People wouldn't call that polite, they'd call it malice. It's normal to recognize an outsider and assume that they don't know much about a place and give them a little extra info. To take your example - if a 30-something someone comes in and asks for pills, it's stupid to tell them that you have to take them orally. But if a child runs inside and asks for something, it'd be normal to explain to the child some details (yes I know, this is a strained example). In both examples it's good to assume that the person doesn't have the full information and a little extra info will help them out.
But I also get the thing with folks here saying too much. I don't get it too. When you need the information, it's withheld, but when you don't need it - the person will talk your ear off for 20 minutes.
I think your choice of the word "Malice" is perfect and very astute.Much of the behavior and undercurrent of Berlin is laced with spite.I tried to understand where this comes from for many years.Then decided it wasnt worth spending my sensibility on these people.I got the next plane out. Some causes are not worth the effort.Berlin and its inhabitants are one of them.
Especially older native Berliners are so full of passive aggression towards immigrants. No matter what is your country of origin, language, religion, ethnicity, you will be despised by them. One could say they are equal opportunity bigots. Funny thing is that with their nonexistent fertility, they need foreign workers much more than most of us need them. Maybe it is just better to let their economy, real estate market and welfare system collapse in lack of people who could contribute. I have left already but I will come back in 20 years to see if their attitude has changed even a little.