Comments on: Ich bein ein Berliner http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/11/ich-bein-ein-berliner/ Macro Perspective on the Capital Markets, Economy, Geopolitics, Technology, and Digital Media Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:48:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.5 By: isolde100 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/11/ich-bein-ein-berliner/comment-page-1/#comment-236719 isolde100 Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:46:53 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=44248#comment-236719 Correction to my previous post: The museum I referred to above is the Jewish Museum on Lindenstrasse in the Kreuzberg district. Correction to my previous post: The museum I referred to above is the Jewish Museum on Lindenstrasse in the Kreuzberg district.

]]> By: isolde100 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/11/ich-bein-ein-berliner/comment-page-1/#comment-236683 isolde100 Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:11:12 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=44248#comment-236683 The area you are referring to is Berlin Mitte, which is, in my opinion, the best place to live. The rents are as you said 450-500 EUR for 2 bedroom apartment. That's why a lot of artists who used to live in NYC have moved to Berlin, to areas that are even less expensive where the rent for a large atelier + loft living space is around 400 EUR. If you want to buy a 100 sq meter apartment, you can get a decent one for 300,000 EUR. You really should visit the Holocaust Museum in Berlin. It is designed by Daniel Libeskind and it is in a way both depressing but also fascinating. For example, instead of displaying endless dioramas about the horrible camps, they have rooms devoted to different countries and they show pictures, diaries, personal effects of Jewish families from those countries before they were sent off to the camps. These were once real people like us with families, traditions, fiestas, jobs, art, entertainment and more. It's not just about their suffering and their death, but also about their lives! And you get to see how different - and yet similar - the Jewish communities of Europe once were. How the traditions of Jews in Greece were so different from those in Germany -- their rituals, the clothes they wore during the holidays, etc. The area you are referring to is Berlin Mitte, which is, in my opinion, the best place to live. The rents are as you said 450-500 EUR for 2 bedroom apartment. That’s why a lot of artists who used to live in NYC have moved to Berlin, to areas that are even less expensive where the rent for a large atelier + loft living space is around 400 EUR. If you want to buy a 100 sq meter apartment, you can get a decent one for 300,000 EUR.

You really should visit the Holocaust Museum in Berlin. It is designed by Daniel Libeskind and it is in a way both depressing but also fascinating. For example, instead of displaying endless dioramas about the horrible camps, they have rooms devoted to different countries and they show pictures, diaries, personal effects of Jewish families from those countries before they were sent off to the camps. These were once real people like us with families, traditions, fiestas, jobs, art, entertainment and more. It’s not just about their suffering and their death, but also about their lives! And you get to see how different – and yet similar – the Jewish communities of Europe once were. How the traditions of Jews in Greece were so different from those in Germany — their rituals, the clothes they wore during the holidays, etc.

]]> By: Rog http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/11/ich-bein-ein-berliner/comment-page-1/#comment-236624 Rog Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:38:26 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=44248#comment-236624 BR - you have a growing german fan community although your knowledge about se Germanns is poor. Your blog is a must read for many of us Frankfurt folks. So if you ever fly in to Frankfurt we'll buy you a dinner, you'll get the best steak in Europe. Rock on (we are glad that your economic views are not as pathetic as your play lists). Rog BR – you have a growing german fan community although your knowledge about se Germanns is poor.

Your blog is a must read for many of us Frankfurt folks. So if you ever fly in to Frankfurt we’ll buy you a dinner, you’ll get the best steak in Europe.

Rock on (we are glad that your economic views are not as pathetic as your play lists).

Rog

]]> By: Arthur http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/11/ich-bein-ein-berliner/comment-page-1/#comment-236588 Arthur Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:45:59 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=44248#comment-236588 Last time I was in (East) Berlin in Nov 1988 the excellent Pergamon Museum stank of cooked cabbage and the museum "guards" sat around in the same lousy polyester street clothes everyone else wore. At the border crossing visiting school children headed home to the west laughed as they threw away the East German money they'd been obliged to exchanged. Before heading back west myself I spent most of the money I had exchanged on expensive scotch at a Mexican-themed hotel bar and felt lousy for it. I'm also looking forward to my next visit. Last time I was in (East) Berlin in Nov 1988 the excellent Pergamon Museum stank of cooked cabbage and the museum “guards” sat around in the same lousy polyester street clothes everyone else wore. At the border crossing visiting school children headed home to the west laughed as they threw away the East German money they’d been obliged to exchanged. Before heading back west myself I spent most of the money I had exchanged on expensive scotch at a Mexican-themed hotel bar and felt lousy for it.
I’m also looking forward to my next visit.

]]> By: tfneuhaus http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/11/ich-bein-ein-berliner/comment-page-1/#comment-236505 tfneuhaus Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:22:20 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=44248#comment-236505 Eddie Izzard on "Ich Bin Ein Berliner"...hilarious... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mu02xUgE4k&feature=related Eddie Izzard on “Ich Bin Ein Berliner”…hilarious…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mu02xUgE4k&feature=related

]]> By: Back in the USSA | The Big Picture http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/11/ich-bein-ein-berliner/comment-page-1/#comment-236454 Back in the USSA | The Big Picture Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:31:26 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=44248#comment-236454 [...] I am settling back into my routine, but a few final thoughts from Berlin (my overview from the trip is here). [...] [...] I am settling back into my routine, but a few final thoughts from Berlin (my overview from the trip is here). [...]

]]> By: aomijolina http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/11/ich-bein-ein-berliner/comment-page-1/#comment-236451 aomijolina Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:55:18 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=44248#comment-236451 I was 8 years old when the war finally finished and I remeber vividly the alarm sirens and the bombattacks and the nights in the cellar with all the people sitting there ,who lived in the four- story- house in the center of Berlin.In 1942 my mother was transferred as a teacher to a village in what now is Poland and we became refugees fleeing from the russians.Wherever we passed larger cities they were burning and bombed to pieces and I had nightmares for many years.But I really liked the americans from the very first day they came to the village and a big Afroamerican gave us kiddies some chocolate and later when they helped the people in Berlin and I came to know some of them personally. I feel somewhat disturbed that after such a long time americans ,when they think of Germany only think of the holocaust and want to visit these places.Just like american movies quite often show germans as brutal.It is absolutely impossible,that anything like the holocaust is ever going to happen again.This is a completely different generation and faschism has no chance in Germany.Even though we have more than 20% unemployment in many parts of the city and more than 30% of foreigners in Kreuzberg, Wedding and Tiergarten. I was 8 years old when the war finally finished and I remeber vividly the alarm sirens and the bombattacks and the nights in the cellar with all the people sitting there ,who lived in the four- story- house in the center of Berlin.In 1942 my mother was transferred as a teacher to a village in what now is Poland and we became refugees fleeing from the russians.Wherever we passed larger cities they were burning and bombed to pieces and I had nightmares for many years.But I really liked the americans from the very first day they came to the village and a big Afroamerican gave us kiddies some chocolate and later when they helped the people in Berlin and I came to know some of them personally.
I feel somewhat disturbed that after such a long time americans ,when they think of Germany only think of the holocaust and want to visit these places.Just like american movies quite often show germans as brutal.It is absolutely impossible,that anything like the holocaust is ever going to happen again.This is a completely different generation and faschism has no chance in Germany.Even though we have more than 20% unemployment in many parts of the city and more than 30% of foreigners in Kreuzberg, Wedding and Tiergarten.

]]> By: vonjd http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/11/ich-bein-ein-berliner/comment-page-1/#comment-236448 vonjd Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:19:46 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=44248#comment-236448 ..meant "pronounced in a German way" ..meant “pronounced in a German way”

]]> By: vonjd http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/11/ich-bein-ein-berliner/comment-page-1/#comment-236447 vonjd Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:05:50 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=44248#comment-236447 Barry: Glad you enjoyed your trip to Berlin. Just a few comments: "smallish banking sector": Just two examples for the opposite: - Eurex in Frankfurt am Main is the world's largest derivatives (futures and options) exchange, - the European Central Bank (ECB), which is responsible for the monetary policy of 325 million people in the Eurozone (population of the US about 308 million) is also located in Frankfurt. "Ich bin ein Berliner" is correct (yes, also the "ein" is correct - believe me, I am German) "my German is not that good": Mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut. But believe it or not - German is the closest language to English in linguistic terms. There are thousands of words that are the same (cognates) and many more with German origin. Even your Dollar is a German word (coming from Taler which pronounced in an English way just sounds like Dollar). Barry: Glad you enjoyed your trip to Berlin. Just a few comments:

“smallish banking sector”: Just two examples for the opposite:
- Eurex in Frankfurt am Main is the world’s largest derivatives (futures and options) exchange,
- the European Central Bank (ECB), which is responsible for the monetary policy of 325 million people in the Eurozone (population of the US about 308 million) is also located in Frankfurt.

“Ich bin ein Berliner” is correct (yes, also the “ein” is correct – believe me, I am German)

“my German is not that good”: Mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut.

But believe it or not – German is the closest language to English in linguistic terms. There are thousands of words that are the same (cognates) and many more with German origin. Even your Dollar is a German word (coming from Taler which pronounced in an English way just sounds like Dollar).

]]> By: jessica http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/11/ich-bein-ein-berliner/comment-page-1/#comment-236444 jessica Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:11:00 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=44248#comment-236444 I would also recommend "Defying Hitler" by Sebastian Haffner. Despite the title, it is a memoir by a (then) young German man who lived through the post-WW1 disasters and the rise of Hitler. I listened to the audible.com version and found it fascinating. All that history is much more interesting if you can remember that people in say 1933 did not know about the Holocaust or most of Stalinism. I would also recommend “Defying Hitler” by Sebastian Haffner.
Despite the title, it is a memoir by a (then) young German man who lived through the post-WW1 disasters and the rise of Hitler.
I listened to the audible.com version and found it fascinating.
All that history is much more interesting if you can remember that people in say 1933 did not know about the Holocaust or most of Stalinism.

]]>