Tag: Wahlheymatpost
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“Civil Courage Begins in Everyday Life – and Ends Where We Look Away” – Diana Henniges on 12 Years of Moabit hilft
WHP: Can you briefly introduce your organization? What is its main mission in Berlin? Diana Henniges: Moabit hilft e.V. is an independent, civil society association that emerged in 2013 from a spontaneous neighborhood initiative. We support people in urgent need – whether they are refugees, have a migration background, or need help for entirely different reasons. This also includes Berliners who…
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Bürgerbeteiligung: Participation or Paperwork?
Berlin invites its citizens to participate — but only after the decisions are made. A visit to the Bürgerbeteiligungsbüro: where good intentions meet German bureaucracy. I was so happy when I first discovered the Bürgerbeteiligungsbüro. Yes! Finally, a place for participation! It took me quite some time, though, to understand what this institution is actually about — what it’s good for,…
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“Darth Vader speaks Amtssprache”: The Chilling Poetry of German Bureaucracy
Every bureaucracy has its language; one might even go further to say that language is bureaucracy’s main tool. The characteristics of bureaucratic speech are well known: thick, complicated sentences, dripping with precision and impersonality. It is intentionally difficult to understand, requiring a certain amount of skill and training in its dark art. Most people will accept without hesitation documents that they…
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The Kiez: Where Berlin Becomes Personal
I’ve often said that in France every region has its dish, its wine, and its cheese; in Germany, every region has its dish, beer, sausage…and language. If we learned German before coming here, we learned “High German” (Hochdeutsch) – because it’s spoken in the high country… not because it’s lofty, or something – and then we landed in the country and…
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From Budapest to Berlin: “The biggest change for me was this strong sense of locality”
WahlheYmatPost: When did you move to Berlin, and what brought you here? Balázs Dénes: I moved to Berlin with my family in 2017 for professional reasons, as, together with others, I established a non-profit organization here. I am still happy with that decision from 10 years ago, and it brought us to where we are today. WHP: How has your life…
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What does the Bezirksamt actually do, and why should you care?
Most Berliners know the Bezirksamt as the place where they wait weeks for a Bürgeramt appointment. But behind the paperwork lies one of the most important layers of democracy in the city — the level of government that shapes daily life in every neighborhood. Berlin often feels like two cities at once: a capital where decisions of national importance are made,…
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