The Spectrum Volume 64 Issue 49

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S pectrum

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT PUBLICATION OF THE UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO, SINCE 1950

Monday, February 16, 2015

BERLIN ISSUE

Volume 64 No. 49

During the winter session, a group of UB student reporters studied in Berlin.

This issue is filled with their stories.

THE VIEW FROM THE TOP OF THE TOWER

Decades later, Berlin’s typography is dictated by its war-torn history SARA DINATALE

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Markus Zimmerman leans against a large steel door attached to three-story-high tower. He’s on guard, standing his post.

Well, in a way.

If it were 30 years ago, his uniform would be different. So would his job. He’s not dressed as a soldier, but has a gray beanie snug over his ears. He’s not carrying a gun, or in his 20s with orders to shoot and kill any East Germans fleeing West.

Instead, he’s wearing mittens and collecting money in hopes of saving this BT-6 tower, built in 1971, that housed dozens of young men who guarded Berlin’s infamous wall and shot those trying to escape until 1989.

He’s standing here because he wants to preserve history and memory. He’s also raising money to go back into the tower –

Jörg Moser-Metius (left) stands in front of an old East German watchtower. He and colleague Markus Zimmerman (right) work to renovate and protect the historical monument, which once housed soldiers with orders to shoot East Germans fleeing West during the Berlin Wall era.

PHOTO AND ILLUSTRATION BY SARA DINATALE & JENNA BOWER

3,50 euros per tourist who wants to go inside and take a photo from the top.

He doesn’t want anyone to forget Berlin’s convoluted past as a politically and geographically divided city and the central axis of the Cold War from the end of World War II until the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989. He doesn’t want people to forget the young men who shot and those who died here.

So, he stands, usually for two to three hours a day, in front of the grim, cement 12-meter-tall structure with the round top.

The tower is the last one left in its original location, an inconspicuous street near transportation hub Potsdamer Platz. Twenty-five years ago, 302 towers stood along

the 87-mile long Berlin Wall. Now, only a handful remain to mark the 28-year division of this European capital.

“I live in Berlin; I like Berlin,” Zimmerman said. “I want to give Berlin a little back.”

For him, giving back means preserving and telling tourists about the tower’s history.

The tower is just one relic of Germany’s war-ravaged past. Its identity is largely shaped by the stories the structures leave behind. These structures tell tales of a past many may wish to forget: two world wars, including the brutality of the Nazi regime, the Cold War and a country divided by communism.

It’s been 25 years since The Wall fell; 70

since the Second World War ended. Yet, Berlin is still dealing with the aftermath of what’s left and how it should be preserved.

Tourism has become the city’s main economic force – it has no other significant industry and is perpetually bankrupt and dependent on federal subsidies.

Today, more than 11 million tourists visit Berlin each year, not far behind staple tourist cities like London, which pulls in more than 16 million tourists annually.

But it wasn’t until the mid 1990s that German government began a push for the city to save what was left behind. That included stretches of the Berlin Wall, Nazi buildings, bunkers and sites, bulletpocked buildings and graffiti scrawled on the Reichstag – the German parliament building – by conquering Soviet troops in 1945 that reads “Death to Germans” and “Serves you right, you sons of dogs.”

SEE TOWER, PAGE 2

Students shine a light in the dark Mustafa’s

kebaps become Berlin staple Turkish immigrant brings new flavors and foods to Berlin CORRINE CARDINALE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Approximately 85 students stood outside the Student Union Friday to remember the three Muslim North Carolina students who were shot and killed last week.

YUSONG SHI, THE SPECTRUM

Candlelight vigil honors Muslim students fatally shot in Chapel Hill ASHLEY INKUMSAH ASST. NEWS EDITOR Despite freezing temperatures Friday night, approximately 85 students stood outside the Student Union to hold a candlelight vigil in memory of the three Muslim North Carolina students who were murdered last week.

The crowd said prayers to commemorate Deah Shaddy Barakat, his wife, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, who were shot to death in their Chapel Hill, North Carolina home on Feb. 10. Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) organized the vigil.

“Although we have e-board members and members of the club who [represent]

a diverse culture of Muslims as members, it was only right to pay our respects to the friends and families of the Barakat and Abu-Salha families in an Islamic sort of matter,” said Manar Kustiro, a sophomore health and human services major and president of SJP. Barakat, 23, Mohammad, 21, and AbuSalha, 19, were allegedly killed by their neighbor Craig Stephen Hicks.

Hicks, 46, a paralegal student at Durham Technical Community College, turned himself over to police the night of the shooting. He is being charged with three counts of first-degree murder.

The vigil began with a few opening remarks from Kustiro.

“Innocent people are dying in oth-

er parts of the world unknowingly. The least we can do is spread awareness and educate ourselves and others about these tragedies,” Kustiro said. “Let’s not fight ignorance with ignorance.”

Hadeal Attal, a junior psychology major and SJP’s public coordinator, also addressed the crowd. Attal said the purpose of the vigil is to not only mourn the departed, but to also celebrate their lives.

“We mourn and we celebrate their lives, not because we know them. I don’t know them personally but I am them, we are them,” Attal said. “Craig Hicks didn’t just take three lives, he took a son, two daughters, a husband, a wife, a brother and two sisters.”

SEE VIGIL, PAGE 2

It’s the middle of January in Berlin and Katharina has been standing outside in the snow with her friends for about 50 minutes. She was waiting to get her hands on a 3 euro fried potato, eggplant and peppers sandwich with three secret sauces from a small “kebap” stand in Berlin.

By the time the overfilled veggie bread pocket with its shredded lettuce, crumbled feta, and chili, yogurt and garlic sauce lands in Katharina’s hands, she is almost too cold to clutch her prize.

But she does, and because there is no seating at this small stall Katharina, who didn’t want to reveal her last name, stands and devours her sandwich in minutes.

Welcome to Berlin, where everyone – from foodies to tourists to taxi drivers to homeless people – is crazy for these messy sandwiches known as “döner kebaps,” and for this small kebab stand known as Mustafa’s. The small stall is located just outside of a subway stop on a bustling street in the heart of Kreuzberg, one of Berlin’s most multicultural districts.

The stand measures about 10 feet across and 8 feet high and holds three cooks who work in an assembly line. It attracts a practically non-stop line of people – sometimes more than 100, from 10 a.m. until 2 a.m.

SEE MUSTAFA, PAGE 4

ubspectrum.com

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Monday, February 16, 2013

Continued from tower, page 1 There’s an impulse to “save” more now than there was before, said Jan Fischer, the director of Northeastern University’s architecture program in Berlin. State and federal governments realized in the mid-90s that the city and country were too hasty to destroy and rebuild. It took nearly 30 years for the county to really acknowledge its Nazi past, Fischer said.

Now it does so in monuments, museums and memorials – as well as preserved and repurposed buildings across the city.

But now, the city and country is still grappling with how to preserve its divided past, particularly the more obscure relics like the guard towers. After The Wall fell, developers moved in, handed the state or federal government money and East German structures began to disappear, like hundreds of guard towers. Today, only small segments of the Berlin Wall remain.

The largest remaining piece, known as the East Side Gallery, is just under a mile long.

Jörg Moser-Metius leads the guard tower’s restoration. He’s the CEO of the Berlin Wall Exhibition, the private group maintaining and restoring the tower. Moser-Metius, who has lived in Berlin since the 1970s, noticed the tower deteriorating more than a decade ago.

He shows tourists a photo of what it looked like in 2001, with broken windows and crumbling stone.

“It was not the right way to treat history,” Moser-Metius said.

He approached the City of Berlin, which still owns the tower, and asked permission to restore and care for it in 2011, opening it to tourists in 2013 after months of restoration.

That can be what it takes to save more obscure historical relics in Berlin: independent interest and money.

A few streets away from the tower, a massive air raid bunker completed by the Nazi regime in 1942 houses roughly 300 pieces of art in a private gallery, the Boros Bunker, owned by Christian and Karen Boros. The Boros have poured their own money into the structure and visitors can now book a tour of the gallery for 12 euros.

Before that, the bunker was an illegal techno nightclub and, before that, the East German government used it store fruit. It was nicknamed the “Banana Bunker.” It also housed prisoners of war of Russia’s Red Army, the air and army force of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, in 1945.

After German reunification, the federal government took over the structure in 1990. A private development company that says it specializes in historical preservation acquired the bunker in 2001; the Boros purchased it in 2003.

The Boroses even got permission from the city to build a penthouse, where they now live with their son, on the structure’s roof. It’s a “hochbunker,” meaning it is all above ground.

Many underground bunkers also exist. Some have been repurposed by artists. Adolf Hitler’s infamous bunker, however, was purposely destroyed – well at

“

least sealed up and now has a parking lot on top of it – though blasting through all that concrete wasn’t easy.

Berlin, according to Fischer, is finding its place in dealing with its past and that’s what makes the city so riveting for tourists.

“It’s Berlin. It’s all worth seeing,” said Fischer, who has lived in Berlin for 25 years. “[The bunker has] found its place in the weird museum landscape. Berliners don’t find that strange. The bunker is just another piece of history that was dealt with in an imaginative way.”

Fischer added if bomb experts had tried to blow up the Boros bunker, they easily would have taken out half of the surrounding neighborhood, too.

The Boros have an amassed an eclectic collection of modern art, many from Berlin artists. Tour guides buzz through the five-story structure, leading paying groups through a maze of concrete. The walls are 4 feet thick. Although the façade of the building is protected under law and can’t be altered, parts of the inside have been blown away – a process that took about five years – to fit some of the gallery’s installations.

The Boros have given the bunker a new life, but tour guides still explain its history to tourists. It’s part of what makes the gallery unique. Some of the concrete walls still have bits of black and neon paint on them from the bunker’s days as a nightclub. The building’s lobby walls showcase original, albeit faded, painted arrows, which glowed in the days of its Nazi air shelter use.

Other structures in the city haven’t had the same inventive fate – at least not right away.

‘The Palace of Tears,’ a structure and border crossing between East and West Berlin, was also a nightclub after The Wall fell. Friends and family split up by The Wall shared painful goodbyes in front of the building, unsure when they would next be allowed to meet.

People in the communist East weren’t free to travel to the West.

The building has since been turned into a museum chronicling tensions between East and West Berlin and focusing on the way the border crossing occurred.

Christoph Bichler, a 30-something Bavarian, approaches the Potsdamer Platz watchtower with a friend on a Saturday afternoon. He seems intrigued. After pondering for a few moments, he pays his 3,50 euros and climbs to the top of the tower.

He maneuvers his way up the barrel of the tower, climbing its narrow ladder.

He moves around the open space at the top, peeks through the windows, waves to the few people gathered down below.

The view wasn’t special, he says. The tower is on a dead-end street. The former heavily guarded “death strip” filled with concrete and barbed wire and guard dogs is now developed, filled in by tall, modern buildings.

“It’s not very important the tower exist in this time,” Bichler says. “The surroundings have changed, so it doesn’t make much sense.”

His friend takes pause, “It’s because you’re not from Berlin,” he says.

When you lived with The Wall, it was like a small prison

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Johanne Kristensen, who works at the Boros Bunker, shows off a photo to guests of what the Nazi bunker turned art gallery looks like from the outside.

SARA DINATALE, THE SPECTRUM

Zimmerman remembers The Wall; he used to live in West Berlin. While those in East Berlin would be killed if caught approaching the barrier meant to keep them from escaping, those from the West adapted it into their lives.

Zimmerman remembers a basketball hoop attached to it. He said clotheslines hung off it, too. Free West Berlin existed as an island in communist East Germany.

The Wall encircled it.

“When you lived with The Wall, it was like a small prison,” Zimmerman said.

Moser-Metius calls the fall of The Wall a big miracle – especially considering it was sparked by the misspoken words from an East German official, wrongly – and confusingly – declaring there was no longer a travel ban. Germany officially reunified shortly after.

Moser-Metius hopes to turn an empty plot of land nearby the tower into a museum and exhibition, to further show what it was like to live with The Wall. He’s seeking out investors. The tower, he says, brings with it a feel for the “spirit and the smell of this time.”

“It’s amazing how many people are coming and nearly everybody is moved and touched right away – it’s very emotional,” he said.

Tourists pass through the tower like they pass through the Boros gallery, intrigued by structures so indicative of Berlin.

On a Sunday afternoon, Johanne Kristensen, who has been working with the

gallery since July, takes the guests into a small, dark space within the bunker. On the floor lays a piece of discolored, rusted, seemingly shattered metal.

Kristensen explains the artist, Alicja Kwade, dropped a mirror to see how the glass broke. She then made duplicates of each shard in metal, which were reassembled to look just as if the metal plate crashed into the ground.

The idea, Kristensen tells her tour group, was to play with perception, to make it as if the metal was doing something it was never intended to do – fall apart.

The same could be said for the entire gallery, existing in a space meant to protect 1,200 citizens if a nearby train station was attacked. Graffiti and decadesold bullet holes are nestled into the bunker’s façade.

Berlin’s structures are used in ways they were never intended for – like the imposing Nazi air force building that now holds the country’s finance and tax ministry.

Other relics, like the tower, are kept as unaltered historical reminders. It all meshes together to create Berlin’s landscape.

“If they weren’t there it wouldn’t be Berlin,” Fischer said. “It would be sterile.

It would be Stuttgart.” email: sara.dinatalie@ubspectrum.com

Continued from vigil, page 1 Attal said that these kinds of killings are not just a problem for Arab and Muslim communities, but for every community around the world and the nation as a whole.

There is debate over whether or not the murders were a hate crime. Chapel Hill Police said its preliminary investigation indicates the crime was motivated by a dispute over parking. The FBI has also begun its own investigation.

Attal thanked students who attended the vigil for standing outside in the cold to remember the lives of the departed.

Farhan Hussain, a senior psychology major, recited a prayer from the first chapter of the Quran, which features seven ayat, or verses, that speak about God’s guidance and mercy.

“We are hurt, we lost one of our own, when we’re hurt, we feel it,” Hussain said.

“There’s no limit to his mercy. We pray for the families, we pray for the three who were taken away. Guide us all to these dark times.”

Akram Shibly, a senior media study major, said that the vigil reflected more than just Muslim ideals.

“While we say a prayer for our Muslim brothers and sisters, we should also say a prayer for our non-Muslim brothers and non-Muslim sisters. It’s not so easy to stand with an oppressed minority in this country,” Shilby said. “We’re here not just for Muslims, but for justice, peace and understanding.”

Samar Adhami, a junior biological sciences major, and Farah Sahibzada, a sophomore biomedical sciences major, said it was important to have everyone come together for a common cause. Adhami also said people should know Islam is not violent and that the root word of Islam is peace.

“Violence has no religion, anyone from any religion can be affected,” Sahibzada said. email: news@ubspectrum.com

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Editorial Board EDITOR IN CHIEF

Sara DiNatale

MANAGING EDITORS

Rachel Kramer Emma Janicki OPINION EDITOR

Tress Klassen COPY EDITORS

Alyssa McClure, Copy Chief Anne Fortman Emma Fusco Natalie Humphrey NEWS EDITORS

Tom Dinki, Senior Ashley Inkumsah, Asst.

Charles W Schaab, Asst.

FEATURES EDITORS

Gabriela Julia, Senior Dan McKeon, Asst.

ARTS EDITORS

Jordan Oscar, Senior Tori Roseman, Senior Brian Windschitl SPORTS EDITORS

Jordan Grossman, Senior Quentin Haynes, James Battle, Asst.

PHOTO EDITORS

Yusong Shi, Senior Kainan Guo, Asst.

Angela Barca, Asst .

CARTOONISTS Harumo Sato CREATIVE DIRECTORS

Jenna Bower Kenneth Cruz, Asst.

Professional Staff OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR

Helene Polley ADVERTISING MANAGER

Kevin Xaisanasy Alex Buttler, Asst.

Melina Panitsidis, Asst.

ADVERTISING DESIGNER

OPINION

3

NAACP has had its fill of Fillmore

Organization requests president receive no further honors, but there’s more to the past From UB’s Millard Fillmore College to Fillmore Avenue and Fillmore District to hospitals and to statues honoring the former president’s civic contributions to Buffalo, Millard Fillmore’s name isn’t hard to find in Buffalo.

But the NAACP isn’t too pleased about his presence here.

Fillmore signed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 – a law that required escaped slaves be returned to their masters no matter how far north they fled – and now the NAACP is requesting that no more sites bear the name Fillmore.

Fillmore’s signature on the law, which was certainly damaging to the abolitionist effort and led to the recapture of freed slaves, isn’t the sum of his political career, or even representative of his opinion on slavery.

As president, Fillmore was actually anti-slavery, but wanted to avoid a civil war and help preserve the union. He signed the Fugitive Slave Act as a part of the Compromise of 1850, allowing California to join the United States as a free state and ending slavery in Washington, D.C. Yes, his actions did support slavery, and that’s undoubtedly problematic. But Fillmore wasn’t pro-slavery by any means.

The NAACP needs to recognize that a political legacy cannot be defined by a single action.

And nor can an entire life be represented by a presidential term. Fillmore is honored in Buffalo for his work on behalf of the city, not his presidential efforts.

ILLUSTRATION BY HARUMO SATO

After his term ended, Fillmore, who lived much of his life in Buffalo and served in the New York Militia and state assembly, returned to the area.

He was the first UB Chancel-

lor, helped found the area’s library system, a local hospital and a citywide park system.

Fillmore played an integral role in the development of this city. His work should not be dis-

counted by his support of the Fugitive Slave Law, especially since Fillmore was known as an abolitionist.

However, the NAACP is right to call attention to this issue. Fillmore’s political work should be represented accurately. The complicated nature of his opinions and actions regarding slavery need to be explained.

So on the many plaques discussing Fillmore’s work – like the one in front of City Hall – the Fugitive Slave Act should be mentioned. Acknowledging the complexity of the politics regarding slavery can encourage a greater understanding, with less simplistic vilification, of the past.

Fillmore made a decision that now, with the full perspective on history, can easily be criticized.

But context is more useful than condemnation. The many sites named after the former president now offer an educational opportunity for the city as a whole.

The NAACP is smart not to request that any sites be renamed. Clearly, that would be an unnecessary and reactionary response to a situation that doesn’t merit extreme measures.

The request not to name any further sites after Fillmore may not be fully justifiable, but arguably, Buffalo could use some variety in its signage anyway.

The city has Fillmore Avenue already. New heroes can be found as streets are built and hospitals, colleges and businesses break ground. email: editorial@ubspectrum.com

Tyler Harder Derek Hosken, Asst.

THE SPECTRUM Monday, February 16, 2015 Volume 64 Number 49 Circulation 7,000 The views expressed – both written and graphic – in the Feedback, Opinion and Perspectives sections of The Spectrum do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board. Submit contributions for these pages to The Spectrum office at Suite 132 Student Union or news@ubspectrum.com.

The Spectrum reserves the right to edit these pieces for style and length. If a letter is not meant for publication, please mark it as such. All submissions must include the author’s name, daytime phone number, and email address.

A BERLIN

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MARISSA FIELDING

EMMA JANICKI

MANAGING EDITOR

DIGITAL PRODUCER

ANDY KONIUCH

BRIAN WINDSCHITL

But in everything I do, Berlin bubbles up inside me. A coffee in Buffalo is always in comparison to a kaffee in Berlin, and that’s the brilliance of travel.

Sidewalks aren’t the same once you’ve walked on so many new ones. A dinner in the dark makes you revel in the meals you can see, and respect those who have never seen the food they eat in their lives.

The normal becomes special when you have a new context in which to see it.

Imagine searching for someone that you haven’t spoken to since you were 7 years old.

You’re in a foreign country and don’t speak the language. Then you realize you forgot to exchange phone numbers with the person that’s picking you up.

That was me.

The first part of the exhibit chronicles the genocide and – despite the singularity of the photos – outlines the Nazi crimes in bold facts and staggering numbers.

Three million Polish Jews.

Nine hundred thousand Ukranian Jews.

Four hundred and fifty thousand Hungarian Jews.

Two hundred twenty thousand German Jews. *** The lost lives helped heal me in a strange and paradoxical way – sitting in that memorial with so much sadness around me helped me relax.

Confronted with the collective and individual suffering of the six million, I realized how little my worries matter.

The best way to keep someone alive and to redeem an unjust death is to tell a person’s story.

J will stay with me forever. Her story is part of me now.

She reminded me about the preciousness of life.

She reminded me in the end, it’s not the hesitation or the mistakes you make in life that matter. It’s how you move forward, how you face whatever you are confronted with – even if it is death.

She reminded me to move and act and do and defend your choices because every second counts.

And the seconds now are more important than the seconds yesterday.

She reminded me how to live, and that nothing is a guarantee.

I will never forget her.

STAFF WRITER

I’m different today than I was just after Christmas, when my adventure began. I’m better. I’m more authentically me than I’ve ever been. I’ve learned how to outgrow habit and smash fear.

I’ve also learned to trust the person I am becoming and that I don’t need all the answers today.

In Berlin, we met journalists who had changed careers three and four times before landing where they are today. I wrote an article about a Turkish immigrant who made a fortune on stuffed veggie sandwiches. These journalists and Berliners taught me to push myself beyond my fear.

Journalism gave me an excuse to ask questions, and now I plan to be more outgoing. I also feel ready to test myself in new ways – to push myself to experience new cultures outside of Buffalo and see what they have to teach me.

That scared little girl is still with me. But she has lost her power to hold me back. I don’t need a safe haven anymore.

CORRINE CARDINALE CONTRIBUTING WRITER

MARLEE TUSKES

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Standing in the middle of half a mile of nothing but dead grass and pavement, the Siberian breeze became a constant reminder of my poor decision to dress for spring during the middle of January in Germany.

As I silently cursed myself during what felt like the one hundredth sharp breeze in a row, I began to listen to the story the tour guide was telling us.

Seventy-three years ago on the spot I was standing, Nazi guards forced hundreds of prisoners to stand outside wearing only thin cotton jumpsuits and meager wool coats for 13 hours. Dozens died of cold.

If there is something I want to do, I now know I need to do it. Life requires risk. And risk is necessary for perspective. If I could redo that night, I wouldn’t change a thing. Even the panic.

I am proud to say Berlin – the city of Hitler, Stalin and the secret police – has taught me to be more of an optimist. I never would have guessed people would be so willing to help me for no other reason than to simply be kind.

The next day I told my mom I had gone out with Olivia. She was upset I had been alone, but I refused to feel guilty. I had no regrets.

Being alone in Berlin taught me that fear can’t control my life.

I can control it.

And I will.

ARTS EDITOR

ubspectrum.com

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Monday, February 16, 2013

Continued from Mustafa, page 1 “If you’re going to eat one thing in Berlin make sure it is a döner from Mustafa’s!” wrote Lauren F., a tourist from Chicago, on Yelp, where Mustafa’s gets four and a half stars.

Mustafa’s has been in Berlin for the past four years, but only in the last two has it received so much hype. It’s on social media, TripAdvisor and YouTube.

“We were looking for a good meal for our last day and a lot of reviews said, ‘You haven’t experienced Berlin until you eat at Mustafa’s!’” said Zach from Boston, who didn’t want to give his last name. He and his girlfriend Meredith stood at the back of a line of more than 30 people on a freezing January day.

The “döner kebap” arrived in Berlin more than 40 years ago when Germany imported a large workforce from Turkey and the workers didn’t like the heavy blandness of traditional German cooking.

They longed for quicker, more colorful and spicy dishes. Now, Berlin has the largest Turkish population outside of Turkey and in Kreuzberg, Turks make up 11 percent of the population.

Uli Brückner, a Jean Monnet professor of European Studies who teaches at Stanford University in Berlin, said in the 1960s, Germans thought the Turks would come to Germany for a few years to work and then leave. But that never happened.

The Turkish workers stayed, but they sent much of the money they made in Germany to their families in Turkey.

“Germany realized if we want to keep the money in the German economy we should allow the guest workers to invite their families to Germany and close the door,” Brückner said.

Over decades, these Turks and their families changed the fabric of the city and revolutionized its food, particularly street food. Today, there are more kebap stands than people in Berlin, or about 1.3 stands per person according to Martin Reichart,

Mustafa's kebaps are a Turkish import that regularly draws lines of 50 or more people to the stall in Berlin's Kreuzberg district.

COURTESY OF JOÃO PAGLIONE

a journalist at Berlin daily newspaper Taz. Classically, a döner consists of marinated meat sliced from a rotisserie and slathered over flatbread or pita with chopped lettuce, onion, tomatoes, pickles herbs and chili and spicy sauce served on a flat bread or pita.

Kebaps are eaten while standing, which is unusual in Germany, whose classic food items such as schnitzel, potato soup, spaetzle etc, were traditionally served at a table, preferably by a buttoned up waiter, and served with wine, beer or sparkling water.

Today, however, the döner could arguably be called classic Berlin street food.

It’s only real rival is “currywurst mit pommes,” a sliced sausage covered in spicy sauce and topped with French fries that emerged in Berlin after World War II as a street snack for construction workers rebuilding the devastated city. British soldiers, according to lore, provided the Worchester sauce and curry powder that went into the first secret currywurst sauce. Like a döner, it usually sells for 3-4 euros. It comes in a rectangular paper carton and is eaten standing.

On this particular corner of Berlin, these two street foods – the döner and the currywurst – face off. Right next to the line for Mustafa’s – sometimes even mingling with it – is a line for Berlin’s most successful currywurst stand, Curry 36.

Mirko Grossmann, the current CEO/ COO of Curry 36, insists the two stands are not rivals and that he and Mustafa’s have a “friendly relationship.” Still, in recent years, Curry 36 has added vegetarian and vegan items and Mustafa’s – which markets itself as a vegetable stand – also has chicken options.

The average wait time for Curry 36 is 20 minutes, while Mustafa’s line is almost 25 minutes longer. No one will say who serves more, but Curry 36 serves its clients much more efficiently. In fact, those waiting in Mustafa’s line often snag a plate of fries at Curry 36 to stave off their hunger. It’s a slow wait for fast food.

“Sometimes the lines meet each other,” Grossman said. “It’s kind of surprising because honestly it is just a kebab. People who are standing in this row waiting for about one and a half up to two hours, I do not understand this. For any food on the market I wouldn’t stand in a row for two hours just for a kebab.”

Unlike the CEO of Curry 36, the owner of Mustafa’s is not talkative or easy to find. He’s also not called Mustafa. His real name is Tarik Kara. He named his stand “Mustafa’s” because he thought it was a catchy and recognizable Turkish name.

Kara originally agreed to an interview, but then changed his mind.

Pegida attracts thousands protesting against immigration and Islam

ADAM SINGH

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Thousands of anti-Islam and anti-immigrant protestors carrying signs with slogans like “Our Land, Our Rights!” and “End the Politics of Immigration,” have been marching through the streets of German cities since October to denounce Islamic violence in Europe and the presence of 10 million immigrants in Germany.

These protests have raised questions about how such open antagonism and right-wing extremism can in exist in Germany 70 years after the end of World War II. The protests began as small Monday gatherings sponsored by a group called “Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West” (Pegida). These meetings expanded to Monday night protests in Dresden and more recently to other German cities such as Leipzig, Berlin, Hannover and Munich. At their peak in mid-January, just after the Jan. 7 attack at the satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo, and the Jan. 11 arson of the Hamburger Morgenpost, Pegida protests attracted 25,000 people.

The marchers consist of a broad swathe of the disgruntled. They include those marching to protest terrorist Islamist action, like the attacks on the two media outlets and those who take a harsher tone toward all immigrants, who now make up close to 11 percent of the German population. Still others are even more radical and express xenophobic, anti-semitic and nationalist views akin with Neo-Nazism, which is illegal in Germany.

In recent weeks, Pegida announced it was expanding to the United Kingdom and is holding its first rally in England. In Newcastle on Feb. 28, they are expecting 600 protestors. The head of Pegida UK, Matthew Pope, has social media ties to far-right groups.

Pegida has attracted so much attention that media outlets around the world have begun to cover it. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in her New Year’s address, urged Germans not to attend Pegida rallies, because members have “prejudice,

COURTESY OF FLICKR USER CARUSO PINGUIN

Thousands gather in Dresden for a Pegida demonstration and counter protest on Dec. 1.

coldness, even hatred in their hearts.”

Pegida “appeals to hollow prejudices, xenophobia and intolerance,” former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt wrote in an editorial that spanned pages 1-3 of the tabloid Bild on Jan. 6. “A look at our past and economic sense tells us Germany should not spurn refugees and asylum-seekers.”

Across the nation, counter protests have erupted. In Berlin, close to 5,000 people prevented Pegida members from marching on Jan. 6 by creating a human blockade. In the West German cities of Cologne, Stuttgart and Hamburg up to 30,000 people have marched against Pegida. And on Jan. 4, city officials in Berlin, Cologne and Dresden showed their disapproval of the movement by taking the stunning step of shutting off all lights on iconic buildings such as the Brandenburg Gate, the Dresden Cathedral and the Dome in Cologne. The protestors were marching and gathering in front of the buildings.

The Pegida movement has been able to attract a large and previously unaffiliated group of German malcontents, including center-right to far-right extremists and Neo-Nazis, united by a “distrust of politics in general,” according to Dr. Harald Weilnböck, a co-chair of the European Union’s Radicalization Awareness Network and a member of Berlin NGO Cultures Interactive who studies practices of prevention against violent extremism.

He traces the group’s existence and its ability to attract so many to an underlying malaise in Germany about how to deal with immigrants, particularly Muslims, which number 4.3 million. Of those Muslims, 63.2 percent are Turks, many of

whom came to Germany as legal “guest workers” in the 1970s and eventually raised families there.

These Turkish citizens are proud to be German. What most people consider “German activities” are now being preserved more by the ethnically Turkish rather than the ethnic Germans, according to Dr. Ulrich Brückner, the Jean Monnet professor of European Studies at Stanford University Berlin.

“Turks are so fascinated by their host culture,” Brückner said, “that they have become the better Germans.”

The Turks are unhappy about the Pegida protests and ideology and feel they belittle them and perpetrate the stereotype that all Turks are Muslims and that all Muslims are fundamentalists, he said.

Süleyman Çelik, head of the Union of European Turkish Democrats, asked Germans to stand up against the Pegida movement.

“We, as 3 million Turkish Muslims, have been living in Germany for the last 53 years,” Çelik said in a joint statement issued by Turkish organizations in Germany. He then asked Germans to participate in anti-Pegida marches.

Despite the headline-grabbing marches and the coverage Pegida has received in German and British media, most scholars and academics don’t see Pegida as a movement with much staying power.

Brückner said the movement’s greatest problem is that it doesn’t have a goal. It’s a group of discontents, but it is not working toward implementing any specific policies. He said Germany has had anti-immigrant groups that have amassed before.

“Traditionally, they fizzle out once people see how boring they are,” he said.

His employees say now that his stand is so successful, his schedule has become erratic; they never know when he is going to show up. When he does, he always wears his signature white fisherman’s hat. He has a website and several German videos feature him laughing and serving inside the stand in fluent, but accented, German. But he never gives full-fledged interviews or talks about how he started and what his goals are.

His website is kitschy and features flying döners with white angel wings and animated versions of himself and his workers. There is also a live cam button viewers can push and to see the line at all times of day. His workers say they are forbidden from talking about the business.

And yet, despite his erratic behavior, his customers remain loyal. Taxi drivers pull up regularly at opening time, which is the end of their all-night shift, for a meal before bed. Homeless people love him and there is even one elderly couple who comes every Thursday at noon for their fried veggie and feta fix.

Mustafa’s, like the döner, has become a Berlin staple.

Marissa Fielding contributed reporting to this story. email: features@ubspectrum.com

Pegida, like other protest movements, make noise for a short period of time, and then disappear soon afterwards, Brückner said.

The United States’ Occupy Movement ran into similar issues in 2012. The movement started with Occupy Wall Street in September of 2011, garnered huge amounts of attention from the media, but ended by February 2012, at which point most people had stopped paying attention to protestors.

However, it looks like the Pegida movement might go extinct for other reasons. On Jan. 21 the movement’s leader, 41-year-old Lutz Bachmann, resigned after photos emerged of him dressed as Adolf Hitler along with comments degrading asylum seekers. Bachmann now faces prosecution in Dresden for inciting hatred. On Jan. 28, its second leader, Kathrin Oertel, resigned after a week at the helm due to media pressure.

Weilnböck sees Pegida as a movement of those “alienated from national and European politics,” and who are “distrustful of politics in general.” He also thinks the movement will peter out. He thinks the media does the nation a disservice by writing so much about them and giving them publicity and legitimacy.

A study published at the beginning of February by Dr. Hans Vorlaender, a professor at the Technical University in Dresden, described the average Pegida member as an undereducated man between 2549 who lives in the former East German state of Saxony, served in the German army and is self-employed.

Dr. Gero Neugebauer, a professor of political sociology at the Free University in Berlin, also agrees that Pegida doesn’t have longevity. If Pegida were to attempt to form an actual party, he argues, “It would belong to the political establishment – and become a victim of the anger about political parties.”

Pegida also has internal leadership issues, Weilnböck said. It is in the process of splitting into two factions, one more extreme than the other. His only worry, he said, is to “what extent Pegida followers may seek to join the new EU sceptical party, ‘Alternative for Germany.’”

The party, known as “Afd” in Germany, formed in 2013 and is openly sceptical about the Euro, calling it a failed currency and financial integration of Europe a failed policy. Last year, it gained its first representation in state parliamentary elections in the former East German states of Saxony, Brandenburg and Thuringia.

On Sunday, it is vying for representation in the northern state of Hamburg.

Weilnböck said attracting Pegida followers could be a “tipping point” for these elections. email: news@ubspectrum.com

Monday, February 16, 2015

Be

Berlin

ubspectrum.com

Berlin street style markets the city to tourists but may hold some truths ry. Hugo Boss, for instance, made a name designing uniforms for Nazi officers and the Hitler youth. The organization issued an apology for this in 2011. Adolf (“Adi”) Dassler and Rudolph Dasser, partners in the Dassler Brothers Sports Shoes Company, joined the Nazi party in 1933, according to Fortune. After a longtime feud, Adi and Rudloph split the company in 1948 into two of the world’s most famous sneaker companies – Adidas and Puma, respectively.

“Fashion business is to create identity or sorts of identity,” Burde said. “Identity is a product.”

“Berlin street style” is often depicted as dark and grungy – an aesthetic connected to things like Berlin’s graffiti covered apartment buildings and its infamous techno subculture.

Burde and Bilogan said “Berlin street style” is a stable concept non-natives believe in, but the city’s historic instability creates fashion that it constantly changing. There is no consistent “Berlin street style,” according to them. As Berlin and Germany have undergone massive changes in the past 100 years, the fashion is constantly changing.

COURTESY OF FLIKR USER KATHRIN-THUY OTTO

EMMA JANICKI MANAGING EDITOR Two blonde women took cover under the backside of the Brandenburger Tor as freezing rain blanketed the beige sidewalks of Berlin’s showplace street, Unter den Linden. One of the women held a large camera as the other twirled and looked piercingly into the lens. Their light pink, white and black outfits were perfectly coordinated and as they switched places to take more photos, a line gathered across the street outside a white temporary structure with the sign, “Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Berlin.” Young girls in long black parkas with fur-lined hoods looked anxiously toward the entrance ramp to see who was getting out of the black BMW’s pulling up to the steps.

Mercedes Benz Fashion Week began in Berlin on Jan. 19 and ran until Jan. 23.

Berlin Fashion Week began in the summer of 2007 as a way for German designers to show their clothing lines. Since its inception, the amount of visitors to Fashion Week has nearly tripled. In 2007, only 50,000 people attended but in July 2012, 250,000 people flocked to the shows, according to Berlin Partner.

Despite the bling, many Berliners barely acknowledge the arrival of Fashion Week.

Berliners are less than impressed by the showy fashions that walk down runways.

They dress in their own “little worlds,” according to Constanze Bilogan, a history student studying the function of the leather jacket in “West Berlin protest cultures” at Free University of Berlin. Berlin is not a city of high fashion, nor is it a city with a unique street style, Bilogan said. Rather, “Berlin street style” is a concept used as a marketing tool for the city, according to Julia Burde, a fashion history professor at the Universität der Künste.

Berlin is a city of destruction and rebirth, having served as a major stage for much of 20th century history.

The Holocaust took an immense toll on populations across Europe and Germany – about six million Jews, 500,000 Sinti and Roma and 7,000 homosexuals were killed.

During that time, much of Berlin was leveled due to Allied air strikes. Approximately 20,000 to 50,000 Berliners were killed and another 1.7 million fled the city.

After World War II, Germany and Berlin were divided into East and West. Relations between the Western Allies and the Soviets quickly disintegrated, and on Aug. 15, 1961, the Soviets constructed the Berlin Wall to prevent East Germans from fleeing the German Democratic Republic (GDR) – essentially a communist puppet country for the Soviets.

It wasn’t until Nov. 9, 1989 that The Wall came down. Germany was officially reunified in 1990.

Cities have a fashion sense that reflects its history, and in Berlin, that is expressed in the disparate non-fashion fashion seen on the city’s streets.

The city’s fashion is often rebellious, non-high fashion fashion that focuses less on exquisiteness and glamor and more on individual style created out of disparate parts.

The city’s fashion history is also characterized by rebirth as many designers have had to reckon with their troubling histo-

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isn’t unique to Berlin. A national fashion identity acts as “camouflage, a security,” and as a way to maintain stereotypes about a place, she said. She noticed it at home in Sweden, too. “[People say,] ‘Oh Swedish fashion, oh it’s so pure and clean and Nordic,’” she said.

Similarly, wearing striped shirts is seen as Parisian, according to Bilogan. “[Outsiders] have an image of Berlin that you have to wear a knitted winter hat, a military jacket, jeans that are destroyed and find a shirt that is not a T-shirt,” Burde said.

Burde described travelers to Berlin as wearing “costumes” to prepare for having “an adventure” in the city.

Liselotte Brownstein, a fashion student from Sweden, recalls seeing her Swedish friends turn from dressing “normal” to becoming “dark.” She said people have an idea that “now I’m living here, so now I’m all dark.”

Still, there seems to be an aesthetic that is fundamentally “Berlin.”

Berliners tend to dress down – even executives don’t wear suits and ties, like they do in Paris, New York City and London.

Brownstein, Bilogan and Megan Ashton, a student from England, said Berliners tend to wear a lot of black and boots – elements depicted as very “Berlin” in the media. Second hand shops, like Humana, are also very popular. Giuseppina Lettiere, a researcher of Berlin pop music and subcultures at the Archiv der Judenkulturen in Berlin, and Brownstein both notice a prevalence of a sporty style of dress among Berliners – sneakers have become immensely popular, they said.

When Burde asked Brownstein if “black Nikes” were “Berlin,” Brownstein replied, “That’s perfect.”

Brownstein described Berlin aesthetics as being “Goth and sport dark somehow.”

While traveling from Switzerland to Berlin, Burde said she noticed travelers would wear “aggressive,” but blatantly high-priced clothing – something unusual to Berliners.

COURTESY OF FLIKR USER FASHION INSIDER & EVA RINALDI

Despite its turbulent history, the notion of the possibility of a stable Berlin identity and street style still sells.

In April 2014, Angelika Taschen and Alexa von Heyden released Berlin Street Style: A Guide to Urban Chic. The book documents Taschen’s sense of the essence of Berlin street style and is sold at both major retailers like Barnes & Noble, and small literary shops on the streets of Berlin. Taschen curates a list of her favorite places to shop in Berlin, covering everything from clothing to interior design to bars and restaurants.

“It is of the utmost importance to the Berlin woman that she appears nonchalant,” Taschen said in the book.

For Taschen, dressing nonchalant includes things like combining dissimilar garments, rolling up shirt sleeves and putting a leather jacket over everything.

“Berlin style has a deep, stoic relationship with the colour black – the anonymous, understated wardbrobe preference of downwardly aspirational anarchists and upwardly mobile architects alike,” Kevin Braddock writes in The Guardian.

Taschen agrees, and writes that the Berlin woman regularly wears all black outfits – “blue is considered colorful.”

Burde saw the period after the fall of the Berlin Wall as “a period of black,” during which clothing, furniture and homes were colored black. Today, many of Berlin’s techno clubs have black walls.

Bilogan, wearing a loose floral dress, a deep blue cardigan and black tights, described the image of “Berlin street style” that people have as being “grungy, underground, druggy.” The scruffier you look, the better, she said.

But Bilogan’s native Berliner friends “have a very mellow style, nothing that would strike you in any way; just normal clothes.”

Like Burde, some fashion students at the Universität der Künste, Berlin, like Mija Svartaker, a fashion student from Sweden, see the notion of “Berlin street style” as a way for people not from Berlin to feel they are assimilating into the city.

People want to have an image of a city and be able to visit that image, according to Svartaker.

“The Berlin style is tourists,” Bilogan said.

Svartaker recognizes this phenomenon

pears in the style of everyday Berliners.

“You try to make your look, look unfitting,” she said.

Ashton even joked that she finds her clothes “in the garbage.”

Nearly all agreed Berlin’s techno subculture – particularly Berghain, a former electric company turned into a techno club and a place the New York Times called the world’s best club – impact how people dress on a day to day basis. The “minimalistic style” of Berghain club attire can be seen on Berlin’s streets, according to Lettiere. Bilogan said some of her friends leave Berghain on Monday morning and head straight to work without changing their outfits.

Blogs advise want-to-be Berghain clubbers on the best outfits to wear to guarantee entry to the club, and their advice is not too far from the ideal “Berlin street style” and the aesthetics Berliners recognize in their fellow countrymen.

“Don’t dress too smartly or showily – this is not the Berlin way,” wrote Fergus O’Sullivan in Citylab.

Darklands – described as the “Berghain of shopping” by Daniel Jones in Electronic Beats – recently opened in Berlin, catering to DJ’s and wealthy young people. The store sells only the “blackest of the black” clothing and hosts cultural events. But Berliners, like Lettiere, see the store as the opposite of native Berliner style.

“People try to be unique in this way, by buying expensive clothes,” she said.

Whereas Darklands caters to wealthy shoppers looking to fit the Berliner and Berghain ideal, everyday Berliners dress in second hand clothing.

Berliners, according to Bilogan, largely ignore the high fashions of Berlin Fashion Week. “[Fashion Week] is just agency people complimenting each other and eating snacks,” she said.

Bilogan said Germany is the “least fashionable country” and “people in Germany don’t even have an impact of fashion.” “[Students] don’t have time for Fashion Week,” joked Viktoria Pichler, an Austrian student at the Universität der Künste.

From mixing clothing found on the street to stores selling all black to tiny shops found in the hofs (courtyards) of colorful apartment buildings covered in graffiti, Berliners have a style that is welldefined for tourists, but more eclectic for natives.

“I think because Berlin has changed and is changing so much in a dramatic way since more than one hundred years it was never possible to become too bourgeois or too conservative,” Taschen wrote in an email.

“You had and also today have to adapt very fast to major changes. Therefore people are more free and independent minded in Berlin also in terms of style.”

COURTESY OF FLIKR USER KATHRIN-THUY OTTO & FASION INSIDER

“Berlin tradition is poorness,” she said, so wealthy Berliners had to hide that they had money. Rather than wearing obvious labels, upper-class Berliners went to the opera in jeans.

Berlin has a reputation as being a hip, cheap city to live in, but “Berlin isn’t that cheap anymore,” Lettiere said. Foreigners are moving into the city, at the expense of the city’s poorest.

In 2011, approximately 40,000 people moved to Berlin. Housing costs have increased more than 32 percent since 2007 and foreigners make up 30 percent of the housing market, according to Spiegel Online.

The Joint Welfare Association poverty report found that in 2012, 15.2 percent of Berlin’s inhabitants are living in poverty. One in seven of the city’s 3.5 million inhabitants are living on less than 869 euros, roughly $992, a month. Renting a one-bedroom apartment in the city center averages 615.74 euros, around $702, per month.

Free clothing boxes are a common site on the streets of Berlin – people can take clothes if they need them and others can donate their clothes by setting a box outside their front door.

“I really like the style of [the homeless] because they just dress [in] whatever they find,” said Rosina Koch, a student from Germany at the Universität der Künste.

Koch feels the style of the homeless ap-

COURTESY OF FLIKR USER KATHRIN-THUY OTTO

Perhaps it’s with time visitors to Berlin can abandon the notion of “Berlin street style.” Svartaker said the first time she came to Berlin at 15 she brought 1920s era clothing because she thought that was “Berlin style.” After subsequent visits, however, she stopped trying to fit the Berlin identity.

“When you get used to a place, you find yourself more and more there,” Svartaker said, dressed in a loose black sweater, a small black hat, combat boots and grunge-style black jeans. A single, tight braid hung down under her hat, covering her nearly buzz cut blonde hair. email: emma.janicki@ubspectrum.com

ubspectrum.com

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Monday, February 16, 2013

COURTESY OF JALDA REBLING AND ANNA ADAM

Anna Adam (left) and Jalda Rebling work together on projects like The Happy Hippie Jew Bus, where they’re seated, to teach Germans about Jewish culture in an unconventional way.

A trip on the Happy Hippie Jew Bus Jalda Rebling and Anna Adam bring a revitalized Judaism to Germany MINDY WEINMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER Jalda Rebling and Anna Adam hopped out of the Happy Hippie Jew Bus clutching a cuddle Torah and a handful of temporary tattoos of the Hebrew words for “peace” and “love.” Adam always wanted a tattoo growing up, but her mother, who survived the Auschwitz death camp, told her Jews did not voluntarily get tattoos.

Tattoos, she and many in her generation said, were Nazi tools used to dehumanize.

In Nazi death camps, Nazi officers tattooed numbers on the wrists of the millions of prisoners in the German concentration camps, including those who came through the infamous gates marked Abeit Macht Frei, “Work Will Set You Free.”

But Adam doesn’t want to dwell on the pain of the past. She thinks tattoos – like so much of Judaism in Germany – needs to break away from the darkness of the past.

“I’m a rebel in that way,” Adam said with a smile.

Six million Jews died in the Holocaust.

One million of them died at Auschwitz, the largest Nazi death camp, which was liberated 70 years ago.

But today, Judaism, particularly Judaism in a united Germany, Adam said, cannot continue to be a religion that focuses on the pain and division of the past. If it is to continue and be viable, then it needs to live, breathe and laugh.

That’s where the Happy Hippie Jew Bus comes in.

Adam’s art pokes fun at Jewish clichés and Germans’ trepidation and guilt about the Holocaust and their fears of interacting with survivors and Jews. The bus is a yellow Volkswagen van with pink and purple flowers painted on it. Inside, Adam, an artist, illustrator and theatrical production designer, has built and created crafts, projects and games that help explain Judaism.

Adam and Rebling use them – along with their own theatrical gifts and engaging personalities – to talk to strangers about Judaism.

For instance, they have three 8-foottall boards with one word – either “Milk,” “Meat” or “Neutral” painted on each.

The women hand out magnets with pop-

ular food items and ask people to put the food under the proper heading. They use the boards and the activity as a way to talk about the word “kosher,” which relates to how religious Jews eat and drink according to ethical guidelines.

Adam and Rebling drive the bus around Germany – where the Jews make up just .1 percent of the population – and visit open markets, schools and public events in order to educate Germans about Jews.

For some, contact with the women is their first time meeting a living Jew. “When people see the colorful bus, they come closer and want to see what it’s about,” Adam said. “So it is easy to get in touch with them and invite them to discuss with me.”

Adam and Rebling, whose mother also survived Auschwitz, grew up in the shadow of pain that their mother’s generation carried with them. Rebling’s mother, the well-known Yiddish singer Lin Jaldati, was from Amsterdam and had worked as a singer and dancer before she joined the Jewish underground in the 1940s in Holland. She was arrested and sent to Auschwitz and then Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Jadalti and her sister were the only members of their family to survive the Holocaust.

They were also the first ones to tell Otto Frank that his daughters Anne and Margot Frank, with whom the sisters had been held at Bergen-Belsen, had died.

Anne Frank’s diary, The Diary of a Young Girl, went on to worldwide success and made her one of the most well-known victims of the Holocaust.

Rebling and Adams’ mothers were the lucky ones – the survivors. Adams’ mother was among only 8,000 Jews who retuned to Berlin after the war and tried to rebuild their shattered community. Rebling’s family returned to Amsterdam and in the 1950s, they moved to East Berlin in hopes of building a Communist utopia. Rebuilding the Jewish community was slow, the women said. And much of the focus was on loss, memory and death.

The women are changing that slowly by showing others, even fellow Jews, how fun, fascinating and delicious Judaism can be by introducing them to Jewish-themed folktales, songs, sweets, traditions and art-

work.

“People have the Shoah, [the Holocaust], in their mind when they think of Jews or Jewish art,” Adam said. “In my art projects, they understand that art around Jewish themes can also be just beautiful or funny.”

Examples of her art include smiling stars of David, Hanukkah “Advent” calendars that have eight doors for the eight nights of Hanukkah, rather than 24 for the days of Christmas and laminated photos of famous Jewish people, including Dustin Hoffmann, Barbara Streisand and Leonard Nimoy dressed as “Mr. Spock” from Star Trek. She also has a satirical line of “Jewish” food, which she uses to poke fun at the idea that many have that Jews are so different from other people.

Such lightheartedness about Judaism is not common in Germany, but it is becoming increasingly necessary. Germany is one of the only countries in Europe with a growing Jewish population. Jewish immigrants have come to Berlin since the fall of the Berlin Wall 28 years ago and more recently, Jews are coming from Israel, attracted by the city’s affordable housing, buzz as an artistic hub and bohemian, left-leaning reputation.

“As generations pass, Jews will continue to feel more at home here,” said Jeffery Peck, Dean of the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences at Baruch College and author of the book, Being Jewish in the New Germany. “But there will always be the memory of what happened here.”

Peck said the influx of immigrants has complicated life for the current Jewish community, but it has also “made Jewish life much more diverse, much richer.”

During World War II, the Nazis systematically annihilated Germany’s Jewish population through one of the most sinister plots ever invented – the Final Solution.

This involved the deportation of 11 million Jews to concentration and extermination camps where millions were gassed and cremated.

In a six-year period, Germany lost 97.5 percent of its Jewish population. Some Western Jews today – even some in New York – won’t travel to Germany or to Berlin or purchase German products. Germans – particularly those born in the post-war years – rarely ever meet Jews or

participate in Jewish holidays or rituals.

Their relationship to Judaism centers on guilt and memories of death.

Adam and Rebling want to change that.

They are working to be part of the rebuilding of the Jewish community of Berlin and of Germany, which has almost quadrupled since the end of the Cold War. In 2007, Rebling became a cantor and in 2012, she and Adam formed the first Jewish Renewal organization in Germany, Ohel-Hachidusch. Though not a synagogue, the group holds services and gives its members a place to feel good about being Jewish. Their goal is to help others find “the joy to live as proud Jews in this world, learning, celebrating and to be responsible for each other as a community,” Rebling said.

Ohel-Hachidusch offers workshops on topics such as kosher cooking, organic gardening, Jewish satire, theater and Torah study. It also holds services and celebrations for the Jewish holidays, including Shabbat, and for Bar/Bat-Mitzvahs, baby naming and weddings.

Right now, the group has 40 members and many are Americans living in Berlin, Rebling said.

Berlin today has nine synagogues recognized as part of the community and a handful of Jewish “start-ups,” like OhelHachidusch. The Jewish community has 10,000 registered members.

Rebling and Adam see the growth as a positive sign for the community and an indication that the community is diversifying and in some small ways, normalizing.

The couple wants to help Jews in Germany have choices about Judaism and wants to offer services that help people connect to Judaism in ways that make sense to them. They do not, said Rebling, want to fulfill rituals that have lost meaning.

There are more than 200 Jewish Renewal organizations worldwide and they embrace social views including feminism, environmentalism and pacifism.

“Jewish Renewal is an attitude, not a denomination,” said Rachel Barenblat, a Jewish Renewal rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel in MA, who hosts a blog.

This attitude allows its members to accept long-standing traditions, discard impractical ones and create fresh ones that inspire them. For instance, the Jewish holy book, the Torah, states that a prayer shawl, a “tallit,” should always be worn by a cantor for the evening service. This helps mark the cantor as the group leader, Rebling said. But Rebling chooses not to wear a tallit because in her group, they all pray together as equals, she said.

This, said Rebling, might be a form that works for some Jews in Germany.

For Adam, it’s more direct and more youthful. Through the bus, the songs and the community that Ohel-Hachidusch and other groups offer, Jews and non-Jews get a fresh image of what it means to be a Jew in Germany.

“Suddenly,” Adam said, “it feels cool to be Jewish.” email: features@ubspectrum.com

As tourism grows in Berlin, history buffs become tour guides MARLEE TUSKES

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

A cold Berlin wind blows in from Siberia, but Neil Cameron still mounts his bike, pulls a skullcap down over his shaggy blonde hair and begins to pedal. On his bike, he’s free of his worries; he doesn’t have to think about what he’s doing with his life or if he made the right choices.

He’s an expatriate with a story to tell and a sense of belonging in a city that has reinvented itself six times in 140 years.

“Berlin was a city I visited consistently over my teenage years,” said Cameron in an email. “It was the one place that really grabbed my attention. The graffiti, the history and the rawness of Berlin were all very appealing to me.”

Cameron’s not only biking for fun – now he’s doing it for money. Five days a week, Cameron stands with his bike in front of the iconic TV Tower at Alexanderplatz in the former East Berlin awaiting anxious tourists.

Cameron is a tour guide – and a good one, according to numerous tourists who have taken his tours with Fat Tire Bike Tour, the company where he has worked for eight years. As a tour guide Cameron’s love for teaching and learning is fulfilled and he has the freedom of not being confined within four walls of an office. It’s also a decent salary, he said.

COURTESY OF JODY BIEHL

Neil Cameron (right), a tour guide in Berlin, appreciates the history and contradictions of the city which has been reinvented six times in 140 years. Here, he leads the University at Buffalo Foreign Reporting in Berlin study abroad group on a tour of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

He wouldn’t specify exactly how much he makes, but according to Job Monkey, full-time tourist guides made $30,000$60,000 a year, depending on base salary and tips. In a famously inexpensive city like Berlin, that’s more than enough for a single man to live on.

Cameron is one of the more than 44,000 English-speaking expatriates who have made Berlin their home since the fall of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago, according to Toytown Germany, a news outlet for English speakers in Germany. He’s also one of a growing number – no one is tracking exactly how many – of well-spo-

ken history buffs who are moving to the city and taking jobs as tour guides.

“The proverbial ‘scene’ [in Berlin] is constantly restless looking for new development opportunities and has become more attractive and trendy. This openness attracts people who want promising opportunities and a prospect for the future,” Berlin Guide-Verband Der Berliner, the official association of professional tour guides in Berlin, writes on its website.

Tour guides have become a professional staple in Berlin as tourism has become the city’s biggest industry. Berlin had 11.6 million visitors last year, according to the Berlin-Brandenburg Statistics Office.

Berlin has been a historical hotbed for more than a century and has been home for Prussian royals, Weimar idealists, Nazi thugs and Soviet conquerors who rolled tanks through the city’s famous Brandenburg Gate.

For the past 25 years – since the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989 – Berlin has gained buzz as a destination city full of textured history; a place where atrocity and redemption occurred and where all night techno parties and unregulated hedonism exist alongside start-ups and buttoned-up government officials who are trying to carve out a new history in the reunified capital.

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HELP WANTED

TAVERN AT WINDSOR PARK is opening soon at 8444 Transit Rd, currently hiring for all back of house positions. Full and part time line cooks, prep cooks and dishwashers.

Please forward your resume and please include what position you are applying for in *doc or *txt format. Also you may apply in person from 9 am to 4 pm at 8444 Transit Rd in Williamsville, NY in the Kohls Plaza. Check us out at www. tavernwindsorpark.com PART-TIME POSITIONS AVAILABLE. Lasertron Family Entertainment Center is currently hiring for general customer service. Working at a fast, detail-oriented pace and having excellent customer service skills is a must. Starting at $11/hr, must be available nights and weekends. Stop in and complete an application at Lasertron, 5101 North Bailey Avenue, Amherst. NY APARTMENT FOR RENT APARTMENT FOR

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You should also check our website: www. ubhousing.com. DONT WAIT. 1-8 BEDROOM HOUSES AND APARTMENTS at UB South: dozens in prime locations on Winspear, Northrup, Highgate and more! Most have large bedrooms, hardwood floors, off-street parking & laundry. Local, responsible landlord with maintenance staff. Call, text or email Jeremy Dunn, (585)261-6609 or email Jeremy Dunn @ jgdunn2@msn.com HOUSE FOR RENT HOUSE FOR

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APARTMENTS at UB South: dozens in prime locations on Winspear, Northrup, Highgate and more! Most have large bedrooms, hardwood floors, off-street parking & laundry. Local, responsible landlord with maintenance staff. Call, text or email Jeremy Dunn, (585)261-6609 or email Jeremy Dunn @ jgdunn2@msn. com PERSONAL PERSONAL TONAWANDA PREGNANCY INFO CTR 716-694-8623 SERVICESSERVICES CITYA1DRIVINGSCHOOL.COM Beginners & brush-up driving lessons. 5hr class $30.00 716-875-4662.

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DAILY DELIGHTS sponsored by Collegiate Village Apartments Crossword of the Day Monday, Febraury 16, 2015 FROM UNIVERSAL UCLICK

HOROSCOPES

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Don’t feel bad.

An emotional response will not make you look good. Focus on the present, not the past or the future.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Travel and interact with others, and you will gain experience, knowledge and insight into how you can improve your life and balance your budget.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Overconfidence can be just as damaging as a lack of self-worth.

Find a common denominator and do your best to cultivate an image that can help you gain popularity.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Do something exciting. Be adventurous and you will meet someone who has plenty to offer in return. Don’t be afraid to explore and discover the possibilities that exist.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): An enthusiastic approach and bold commitment to your plans will draw attention.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Make plans to spend time with the people who motivate and inspire you. A partnership will help you complete your professional goals.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Put your problems on the back burner and enjoy spending time with a friend who listens without criticizing.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Make personal changes that will raise your self-esteem and encourage you to reach your goals. An energetic approach to any challenge you face will ensure that you reap the rewards you deserve.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): You’ll face a stalemate if you try to resolve a problem you have with a friend, relative or neighbor. Take a step back and work on self-improvements.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Dedicate more time to the people and things you enjoy. Take the opportunity to fulfill your dreams.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Face problems openly. Skirting an issue or ignoring facts will lead to a bigger challenge.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Don’t waste time when you should be taking advantage of whatever comes your way.

Edited by Timothy E. Parker February 16, 2015

OGRE THERE By Jill Pepper

ACROSS 1 “Walk ___ in my shoes” 6 Friday the 13th, sometimes 10 Camping materials 14 Edible Japanese pastes 15 Biblical mariner 16 It’s more important with lines 17 Mighty as ___ 18 “On top of that ...”

19 Computer operating system 20 Exhausting task, e.g.

23 Pollution problem 24 Blood relative, briefly 25 ___ out (quit) 28 Type of tank 31 Great burden 33 Impervious to breakins 35 “Spumante” lead-in 37 Rugged rock formation 39 Beelzebub 40 Won’t beat around the bush 43 ___ Island, Florida 44 Checkout headache 45 Pulitzer Prize-winning author James 46 Reason to use an inhaler 48 Innovative and daring 50 Be mistaken 51 The “S” of GPS, briefly

52 Santa ___ winds 54 Nabisco cookie 56 Not wearing one’s welcome out?

61 In ___ (harmonious) 64 Pincushion alternative 65 NASCAR legend Andretti 66 Milne bear 67 Rouse to anger 68 Lickety-split, to the Bard 69 Poker hand fee 70 Futurologist, of a sort 71 Upside-down sixes

failure 26 Words before “amen” 27 Less relaxed 28 Some Greek letters 29 Similarly simple 30 Turns on, as a car 32 “Socrate” composer 34 ___ Grande, Ariz.

36 1/12 of a foot 38 Venice boat driver 41 Nonvoter before 1920 42 River to the Amazon 47 Incenses 49 Beefeater, e.g.

53 Bandleader Shaw 55 Giraffe’s striped kin 56 Bad end for a tooth?

57 Gift-giving time 58 Tehran locale 59 Pleasant to be around 1 “Diary of ___ House- 60 Takes a turn 61 Relaxation spot wife” (1970 film) 62 Hither’s 2 Maxi’s opposite opposite 63 “... ___ what your 3 “Time ___ the escountry can do ...” sence” 4 Goldbricks 5 ___ Pie (ice cream treat) 6 Washington ceremony 7 “Mama” speaker 8 Bridge directions 9 Japanese home’s partitions 10 Cowhand’s chow 11 A billion years 12 Boxing legend 13 Tyrannosaurus ___ 21 Beach find 22 Corpulent plus 25 Big-time power

DOWN

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8

Monday, February 16, 2015 ubspectrum.com

SPORTS

Xavier Ford misses the final shot of the game in Buffalo’s 75-74 loss on Saturday.

YUSONG SHI, THE SPECTRUM

ginton’s 10 points. Evans and freshman guard Lamonte Bearden also did a great job of finding open scorers, finishing with nine combined assists.

Against Central Michigan, the Bulls once again had four players in double figures, with two players off the bench – Johnson and Bearden – scoring six points apiece.

Fifteen assists on 25 made baskets were also great, as Bearden and Wigginton did a good job moving the ball around and getting it to open scorers.

Hardwood Report Card:

Bulls drop games to Toledo and Central Michigan

QUENTIN HAYNES

SPORTS EDITOR

The men’s basketball team (15-9, 6-6 Mid-American Conference) went 0-2 this week, falling to Toledo 92-88 on Tuesday and losing a heartbreaker to Central Michigan on Saturday, falling to the Broncos by the final score of 75-74.

C

Three-point shooting In the two games, the Bulls went 11 of 42, 26 percent, from beyond the arc. In that same two-game run, junior guard Jarryn Skeete caught fire, going 6 of 13 from three. Against Toledo, Skeete hit two of his first three 3-pointers, but went 1 of 5 after. On Saturday, Skeete did the same – going 2 of 3 in the first half, before tailing off (1 of 3) in the second half.

The rest of the team combined for just five made threes over the course of two games, with sophomore guard Shannon Evans hitting two between the two contests.

A-

Foul Shooting While Buffalo’s 3-point shooting was less than ideal, the Bulls shot well from the charity stripe, hitting 35 of their 44 chances.

Against Toledo, the Bulls got to the line 20 times, with four players getting to the line at least four times. Junior forward Justin Moss got to the line five times, hitting on all five, en route to a 33-point, 10-rebound performance. The trio of Evans, Skeete, and junior guard Rodell Wigginton chipped in with four made free throws apiece.

On Saturday’s game against Central Michigan, the free throw shooting varied between multiple players. Eight different players got to the line. Skeete led the way, hitting all six of his attempts. Moss finished second in both free throw attempts (5) and makes (3) against the Broncos.

D

B+

Rebounding The Bulls grabbed 64 rebounds over two games, but only won the rebounding battle against Central Michigan. Against Toledo, the Bulls were outrebounded 32-27. Moss grabbed 10 rebounds against the Rockets, but the next highest rebounders on the team were Skeete and senior forward Will Regan, who had just four.

Against Central Michigan, the Bulls saw senior forward Xavier Ford finish with 13 rebounds and junior center Raheem Johnson grab seven rebounds off the bench, en route to a 37-30 rebounding victory.

The Bulls also did a great job on the offensive glass this week, grabbing 30 offensive rebounds. Moss finished with nine over the two games, while Ford finished strong, tying Moss with nine by grabbing eight against Central Michigan.

Ball Control The Bulls had 20 turnovers, with most of them coming from Ford. The only blemish on Ford’s 12-point, 13-rebound performance against Central Michigan was his game-high six turnovers. Ford’s six turnovers led the team, as most of the Bulls’ turnovers this week came in the Central Michigan game.

Against Toledo, the Bulls controlled the ball well, committing only seven turnovers. However, five of those seven were steals by the Rockets.

Overall offense Something was wrong this week: 162 points between two games with zero wins.

Against Toledo, the Bulls had three starters score in double figures. Ford led the way with 33 points. Evans scored 17 points and chipped in four assists, while Skeete dropped 13 points.

Even the bench produced well on offense, led by Wig-

BA

Defense The Bulls played two really bad defensive games this week. Ultimately, it was their inability to stop the ball from going into the basket this week that resulted in them failing to pick up a victory.

Against Toledo, the Bulls couldn’t do anything to stop the Rockets from beyond the arc. Not only did Toledo go 12 of 14 from three, but from the 8:52 mark to the 3:12 mark in the second half, the Rockets converted on eight consecutive field goals and scored on nine of ten possessions in that timespan.

In that five minute run, the Bulls were outscored by seven points, 21-13, as the Bulls went on to lose by seven.

Against Central Michigan, things were going great in the first half. The Bulls held them to just 38 percent shooting from the field and just one made 3-pointer.

Then, the Bulls’ defense imploded in the second half.

Central Michigan went for 43 points in the second half, shot 61 percent in the second half and 50 percent from beyond the arc. Central Michigan’s Josh Kozinski went off for 15 points in the second half, helping the Chippewas turn a 12-point deficit at halftime into a one-point victory.

Bench Production Against Toledo, Wigginton scored 10 points and played well on the defensive end, grabbing three steals. Regan added four points and four rebounds off the bench, and Raheem Johnson failed to register a point, block, or rebound, but played well defensively in his seven minutes.

Against Central Michigan, we saw a surprise change in the starting lineup, resulting in Bearden joining the bench, while Wigginton joined the starting five. The trio of Bearden, Johnson and Regan combined for 14 points, but just two points in the second half.

C

Coaching Head coach Bobby Hurley lost both of his games this week, but there was nothing that stood out that was good or bad from a coaching perspective, and thus, he receives an average grade.

Against Toledo, Hurley received a technical foul 51 seconds into the game. Other than that, Hurley did a good job with the rotation, even though the Bulls got torched from beyond the arc.

Hurley kept his standard rotation despite the team giving up 43 points in the second half. Bearden got 12 minutes in the second half, but Johnson and Regan combined for just eight in the second half.

The swap of Bearden and Wigginton is also a curious one, and will be watched moving forward.

C

email: sports@spectrum.com

Quick Hits: Baseball season starts, men’s basketball on losing streak Their next game will on Wednesday, Feb. 18, when they host Kent State (4-19, 2-10 MAC). Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.

QUENTIN HAYNES SPORTS EDITOR

Softball (3-7)

Wrestling (5-12, 0-6 Mid-American Conference)

On Friday, the Bulls lost to Binghamton (7-10, 4-4 America East) 24-12. The Bulls grabbed the first two decisions of the match, thanks to senior Max Soria and Freshman Sean Peacock. After four decisions, the Bulls were up 3-1, when Binghamton reeled off six straight decisions, to pull off the comeback.

On Sunday, Soria – a fifth-year senior – won 14 -3 in his final match at Alumni Arena on senior day. Despite Soria’s efforts, the Bulls lost the match to Eastern Michigan (8-11, 1-6 MAC) 22 – 10. Buffalo’s losing streak is currently six matches, which is tied for their second longest of the season.

The team concludes its season on Feb. 20 when it takes on Northern Illinois (911, 1-5 MAC) in Dekalb, Illinois. The match is set for 7 p.m.

Baseball (0-3)

The baseball team opened up their regular season with a three-game sweep from James Madison (1-0, 0-0 CAA) and Gardner-Webb (2-1, 0-0 Big South).

On Friday, the Bulls dropped their first game 5-4. The Bulls offense flashed early, as they scored four runs in the top of the third inning, capped off by a tworun home run by junior outfielder Mike Abrunzo.

Then, James Madison scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth, taking a 5-1 lead that ended up being the final score.

On Saturday, the Bulls offense was silenced, plating just one run and five hits as they fell to Gardner-Webb 7-1. Junior pitcher Ben Hartz picked up the loss, allowing eight hits and four earned runs in four and a two-thirds of action.

In Sunday’s game, senior pitcher al-

Max Soria defeated Eastern Michigan's Blake Caudill by major decision Sunday in his final career match at Alumni Arena.

ANGELA BARCA, THE SPECTRUM

lowed four earned runs in the sixth inning to give Garner-Webb a 5-3 lead. The Runnin’ Bulldogs added an insurance run in the eighth inning en route to a 6-3 victory.

The Bulls will look to get their first victory of the season on Sunday, Feb. 15, when they finish their two-game series against Gardner-Webb. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.

Men’s Basketball (15-9, 6-6 MAC)

On Saturday, the men’s team suffered their third consecutive loss with a 75-74 loss to Central Michigan (18-5, 8-4 MAC) at Alumni Arena.

The Bulls had a chance to win the game in the final seconds, but the floater from senior forward Xavier Ford fell short.

Ford finished with 12 points and a team-leading 13 rebounds, but also committed six turnovers as well. Junior forward Justin Moss had 13 points and four rebounds.

Junior guard Jarryn Skeete led the Bulls with 19 points and three made 3-pointers.

Over the last two games, Skeete has found his groove from beyond the arc, hitting six of his last 13 3-pointers.

The Bulls will look to get off their los-

ing streak when they travel to Ypsilanti, Michigan to take on Eastern Michigan (16-9, 5-7 MAC) on Wednesday, Feb. 18.

Tipoff is at 7 p.m.

Women’s Basketball (14-9, 7-5 MAC)

After watching their four-game winning streak snap earlier in the week, the Bulls got back on track, defeating MAC West leading Western Michigan (16-8, 9-4 MAC) 54-44 on Saturday.

The Bulls held Western Michigan to just 29 percent shooting from the field, the second lowest total allowed by the Bulls this season. Winners of five of their last seven games, the Bulls have held opponents to just 31 percent shooting in those five victories.

Senior forward Kristen Sharkey continued her stellar play, finishing with 13 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, three steals, and one block. She led the team in scoring and rebounding, and finished with three of the team’s four assists.

Junior forward Mackenzie Loesing finished with 12 points, three rebounds and two assists off the bench.

The Bulls now return home to Alumni Arena for a two-game home stand.

The Bulls finished 1-4 overall this past weekend in the Maverick Invitational in Arlington, Texas.

On Saturday, the Bulls started off with an 11-0 loss to Sam Houston St. (2-5) in five innings. The offense struggled, as the Bulls accumulated zero runs and managed just six hits. The Bulls recovered in both the win column and offensively, with a 10-7 victory over Incarnate Word (1-9) in eight innings.

The Bulls plated 10 runs and had 18 hits against the Cardinals. Sophomore outfielder/catcher Ashton Earnhardt finished with four hits, while freshman shortstop Danielle Lallos hit her first career home run in victory.

On Sunday, the Bulls lost their last game of the invitational, falling to Ohio State (7-1) 15-6 in seven innings. Freshman pitcher Charlotte Miller lasted just one and two-thirds innings, allowing three hits, three earned runs and one home run, picking up the loss.

The Bulls don’t play until Feb. 27, when they head to Mercer to compete in the Black and Orange challenge. Their first opponent is Kennesaw St. (5-2). First pitch is set for 11 a.m.

The women’s tennis team did not play this week. Their next game will be on Friday, Feb. 20, when they host ASA (2-0).

The match will start at 1 p.m.

Men’s Tennis (5-3)

The Men’s tennis team did not play this week. Their next game will be on Friday, Feb. 20, when they go to the Miller Tennis Center in Williamsville, New York to face Niagara (2-2). The match will start at 7 p.m. email: sports@spectrum.com