When I first arrived in the city I was kind of surprised by Berlin’s casual drinking culture. If you’re going somewhere it’s not unusual to take a beer with you for along the way, even bringing an open container with you on the subway. I also quickly learned that it’s common practice not to throw your empty bottle in the trashcan, but rather to leave it, underneath the bin, so that someone can easily come and collect the deposit. Who are these deposit collectors and why do they collect?

Pfand - Deposit

Pfandsammler - Deposit collector

Pfandgeben.de - Website for disposal of empty bottles

Kreuzberg - where all the hip kidz live

Kiez - (Neighbor)hood

Maybachufer - Casual hangout for many Berliners

Ankerklause - Cafe/Bar on the Maybachufer

Spießig - Bourgeois

Odobenus Rosmarus - Legendary Beast

Thanks to:

Sebastian Moser and his dissertation ‘Pfandsammler'

Valerie and Armin for telling me about their experiences

Music by:

Mark Schilders, LY Foulidis and Svetnik

Photo by Manus Browne

Berlin has a reputation of being a ‘raw city’, with many unfinished, edgy, exposed, gritty and industrial buildings scattered across its urban landscape. But how much of this reputation still holds today? Follow Wouter and Izzy aka Walrus and Otter in search of abandoned places! This is the first episode of their freshly made Berlinology Podcast, where the two curious explorers and belligerent Berlin ambassadors go deep down the Berlin rabbit hole and check out modern myths and research urban legends that are part of this ever changing city called Berlin.

Co-host:

Ysanne Choksey

Ciarán Fahey

Introductory quote from the ‘Book of Symbols’ read by Geoffrey King

Music: Mark Schilders, Soviet song ‘Kalinka’

In this weeks episode; a behind the scenes look in the lives of Walrus and Otter. Being a tour guide in Berlin is a heck of a job. The past hundred years are among the most turbulent years in western history, and to a large extent, Berlin was right in the middle of it. How do you frame a city like Berlin, how does it stick out from it’s global counterparts? How do you reflect on some of the best and worst moments in western history? And what tools do tour guides have at their disposal to engage with their audience?

Co-host:

Ysanne Choksey

Thanks to Mariette, Kai, William, Elodie, Mohamad, Peregrin and Leon Weintraub

ReMemory event

Refugee Voice Tours

Quote from ‘Book of Symbols - City’ read by Geoffrey John King

Music:

Mark Schilders and Svetnik, LY Foulidis, Svetnik

A bakery in Berlin is being evicted, a story not uncommon for a big global capital. Though the bakery put up a fight about it and its wake the situation gets way out of hand. An episode on changing neighborhoods and foreign investors. Thanks to co-hosts Ysanne Choksey and Christian Conradi. Contributions by Konstantin Sergio, Claire d’Orsay, Daniel Spülbeck (Cafe Filou), Joel Dullroy and Christian Ströbele. Music by LY Foulidis, Mark Schilders and Svetnik.

On the 27th of February 1947 the Allied Control Council dissolved the state of Prussia. How did a state, with around 40 million inhabitants, simply came to disappear? Walrus and Otter talk about one of the greatest vanishing acts of the 20th century and soon discover; it’s not all black and white..

2017 marks the 115th birthday of the U1 (Unterbahn/Subway number one) Berlin’s first subway line. With 8.7 km it’s also one of the shortest lines of Berlin. Notmsparker, from the popular Kreuzberged blog, and Walrus take a 24 minute ride from East to West, from Suicide Circus to KaDeWe.

There was a time when a glimpse of stocking was enough to stir the crowds. Now full-fledged acrobatics and staple-tease are high on demand. How much has Burlesque transformed since its cheeky beginnings, and why is it big in Berlin? Otter takes the lead and shows Walrus the ropes of this naughty performance art.

The history of Devil’s Mountain (Teufelsberg) stretches out almost 80 years. After WWII Albert Speer’s military academy was buried under the rubble of approximately 400.000 Berlin houses. On top of the ruins a ‘listening station’ was built by the western allies, later taken over by the NSA. Today Teufelsberg is a re-discoverd attraction, where people can walk among the former buildings of a spy station run cold.

The Döner Kebab, a classic Berlin sandwich. Or is it? Geoffrey John King and Walrus are embarking on a Döner adventure. On where the Döner Kebab originally comes from, to how it’s been made today. They polish their chef-skills and create their own Döner sandwich, they vox-pop the crowds and there was a party.

The Jewish community in Berlin knows a long but troubled history. From their expulsion in the 14th century to the influx of Soviet Jews after the fall of the wall, from German citizenship in 1871 to their annihilation under the Nazi-regime, this two-part episode tries to shed light on the difficult relationship between Berlin and its Jewish inhabitants. In this second part Walrus and Izzy interview Jewish contemporaries and their relationship with the city of Berlin.