• The Good, the Bad, and the Arbeitsamt

    The Good, the Bad, and the Arbeitsamt

      Most places have an arm of the government to help folks out when they’re unemployed; governments like their citizens to have jobs and pay taxes. It tends to keep the governments – and the citizens – happy. There’s also the matter of not letting people starve in the street when they’re out of work. That’s usually frowned on and tends…

  • Home Is Not a Place: A Berlin Exhibition Rethinks Migration

    Home Is Not a Place: A Berlin Exhibition Rethinks Migration

    How do people change after moving from one place to another? What do they leave behind and what do they carry with them? Is it possible to feel at home in a space that is vastly different from the one we left? In her latest installation “Remembering Space (how much past can the present hold)”, Noa Heyne, a Berlin-based multidisciplinary artist,…

  • “Das Volk” in 2026: Time to Redefine the People

    “Das Volk” in 2026: Time to Redefine the People

    “Do you behave as the person you truly want to be?” I ask myself this question in moments when I clearly fall short. Yes, it is hard to live up to one’s ideal self—I’m probably not the only one who feels this way. The same applies for societies. Over the past ten years, I have learned a lot about German society.…

  • “Treat Every Case as Your Own”: How Zaki e.V. Supports Berlin’s Overlooked Migrants

    “Treat Every Case as Your Own”: How Zaki e.V. Supports Berlin’s Overlooked Migrants

    WHP: Can you briefly introduce Zaki e.V.? What is your main mission in Berlin? Pia Bergmann: Zaki – Bildung und Kultur e.V. is a migrant-led organization, with its main office located at the Berlin Global Village in Neukölln and another office in Pankow. The organization’s focus can be summed up in one sentence: arrival and inclusion through education. Zaki (ذكي) comes…

  • Germany Has an Energy Crisis — Just Not the One You Think

    Germany Has an Energy Crisis — Just Not the One You Think

    Energy – scarcity.We talk about energy all the time—but only in physical terms.I find myself thinking more and more about our social energy, which may matter even more. Because a society also needs energy. This energy, I would call social energy—a concept that appears in the social sciences under terms like collective intelligence or social capital. Social energy = the capacity…

  • Multilingualism, Participation, and Power: A Berlin Case Study

    Multilingualism, Participation, and Power: A Berlin Case Study

    Local migrant organizations often play a crucial yet underrecognized role in shaping participation, representation, and social cohesion within urban districts. Based on my experience directing the migraUp! Pankow project in Berlin between 2015 and 2025, this reflection highlights how community-based initiatives can strengthen migrant organizations while simultaneously contributing to local governance and democratic participation. migraUp! was conceived as a capacity-building initiative…

Address

Am Hamburger Bahnhof 3
10557 Berlin
Germany

hey@wahlheymat.de

Social Networks