please empty your brain below

I visited Berlin in 1976 and stayed with a friend who was married to a member of the British Armed Forces stationed at RAF Gutersloh. One of my visits was to Checkpoint Charlie and East Berlin. As the coach reached Checkpoint Charlie the East Berlin guards came on board and examined our passports but my friend's husband was not allowed to show his as he was dressed in full military uniform. Once in East Berlin the contrast with West Berlin was immediate. Huge statues with a forbidding Soviet attitude, grey buildings, the guards stationed on the Berlin Wall an intimidating presence. At Unter den Linden we watched the guards as they goose stepped into their positions, a reminder of the Nazi past and the night when the book were burned in the 1930s. We were relieved at the end of the trip to return to the West and normality but thoughts remained of those longing to leave the East but unable to do so.
My dad was in the Army and so I lived in Berlin as a small child back in the late 70's. Memories of hot long summers and freezing cold winters and deep snows. In the summer playing at open air swimming pool complexes , which many German cities have in abundance. The Tiergarten and the Zoo, sledging down the grass covered rubble mountains, made up of pre war Berlin. Fond memories.

Berlin is cheap because by German standards it is poor. In 1990 at the time of unification It's population was 3.4 million, since then it's only increased by 50,000.

It's been kept afloat by vast federal subsidies and the creation of the capital, otherwise it would have depopulated like a lot of other East German towns. About a quarter of it's population is of Non German origin, mostly Turks, Poles and Russians. Sure there has been talk of rising rents due to Artists and hipsters flocking there for the cheap rents, but that's mostly affecting a small section of central neighbourhoods in the former East.

Berlin and London are vastly different because one is being swamped by vast increase in population and the other is not.
That huge building hulking over the wall at TdT is the old Reichsluftfahrtministerium created by Göring.

Bernauer Strasse in 1981, before the DDR blew up the church.

The front of the wall, facing West Berlin was still in DDR territory and the guards used to cover graffitti with white paint at night.
^ That is a interesting comment. Think London being "swamped by vast increase in population" is going to bring "problems". There must be a 'critical mass' where what most people gain from being in London is outweighed by a 'poor quality of life'.
Rational Plan

According to the Senate, Berlin's population is currently rising at an annual rate of about 40,000. Mostly single hosuseholds (younger people). A healthy enough rate, I think. And something that will benefit the city in decades to come. But that still puts strain on the housing stock and there are many debates as well as referendums, about how to influence this with caps on rents and by forcing the Senate to invest in affordable housing.

The subsidies you speak of are a product of being a federal country, where the richer states are required to susidise the poorer ones, in order to balance out standards. A very good idea I think, and something the U.K. also desperately needs. In fact, up to the 1970s and before the decline of heavy industry, some of those states that now receive subsidies, i.e. North-Rhein Westphalia, so-called Nehmerländer used to susidise those who are now rich, i.e. Bavaria, so-called Geberländer. Information here: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A4nderfinanzausgleich

So all the gloom and doom is in my opinion unwarranted. Berlin has lost most of it's industry, but is still Siemens largest location Germanywide and all BMW motorbikes are built in Berlin. Currently, the State of Berlin is growing at a higher rate than any other in Germany and the rate of startup companies is also the highest.
Germany may be more interesting than you expect. I recommend the recent BBC Radio 4 series by Neil MacGregor.
@ IsarSteve

And what say of the "gloom and doom" closer to "home". Should we perhaps not learn something from the "German model"?
We already do transfer large sums of money between British regions, it's just done through national agencies, rather than regional government.

London and the South East subsidise the rest of the country.

Berlin used to get extra subsidies because it was cut off from West Germany, the arrival of the federal government has helped somewhat but the pre war industrial companies that decamped for Bavaria and Baden Wuttenburg aren't coming back.

It's been living on the edge of bankruptcy for years. Hopefully it's new found popularity with Artists and new tech start ups will provide a new future. Its new popularity is driving up rents as and may kill of the reason they began to move their in the first place.
Sara - All military personnel crossing into the east had to wear full uniform. That was part of the unique Berlin deal.
My sister is married to a squaddie and lived for 2 years in Berlin. When I visited them I had the best of both worlds, a civvie and the honorary rank of Major in the army when on military installations.
I stayed at the Montgomery Barracks, surrounded on three side by Die Mauer on the way to Potsdam.
One little known fact about the wall is that it was built about 3 meters into the Russian/East German zone. This was so they could legally repair the wall on the Western side if need be.
" it's new found popularity with Artists"

It's been popular with artists for years. A friend of mine had a gallery in Kreuzberg (in the West) which he had to give up not long after the wall came down as the rent began to rise significantly.
West Berlin was always popular with artists, hippies etc. as male residents of West Berlin were exempt from National Service.










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