The “Berliner” Attitude
In my previous blog post (number 4) I discussed the difficulties Dayton, Ohio faced surrounding the Recession of 2008 and how the poor communities in Dayton were hurt. Berlin, Germany was also affected by the worldwide Recession, but not in the way one might think. According the Berliners themselves, many didn’t notice much of a change; “The city wasn’t doing terribly well even in the good times. It has become used to a pour economy and didn’t have very far to fall” (McGrane). This is weird to think about, that a city would not be very concerned about a faltering economy. However, this is where Berlin’s unique attitude comes in. People in Berlin are quite different from what Americans might expect. They pride themselves on this poor and grimy image, even going so far as to say that it gives the city character; “The city thrives on its grungy, unkempt image, one that Mayor Klaus Wowereit immortalized in his 2003 comment that Berlin is ‘poor but sexy'” (McGrane).
It is not that Berlin was not affected by the Recession either. In fact, during 2009 and in the height of the recession ” some 15 percent of city residents are unemployed, a number much lower than it has been in recent years. In some central Berlin districts, the jobless percentage is over 20″ (McGrane) These seem like huge numbers, and the poor in Berlin are suffering, but Berliners just aren’t very preoccupied with it. They see recessions as a natural part of any economy which will go through cycles of growth and decline. “In August 2015, the unemployment rate in Berlin was 10.7 %” (EURES), seeming to show that Berliners were right in their assumptions that recessions are part of Economic cycles. It is interesting to see this differing perspective, and how optimistically Berliners seemed to handle the Great Recession. Despite Berliners notoriously being blunt and rude, they seemed to handle the recession better than most Americans. Berlin is truly an enigma in city culture.