Same Shit, Different Pile
The Nazi bit is overkill. Around the corner from our apartment, Karl Marx Strasse. Berlin, 20/10/10.
“Grenade Jewish hunchback druggies.” Courtesy of Google translate, warts and all. Torino, 21/01/12.
Archived entries for Neukolln
Berlin on War
Just before I took this photo, an elderly man exited a building two doors down. He had a bugle in his hand. Slowly, he began to play an old German military song I recognized, from an old record I own, of music from the Third Reich. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
Neither could a nearby pedestrian, who put down two big bags full of groceries, and took in the impromptu nostalgia revue. We made eye contact, and nodded our heads in acknowledgement. Two minutes later, the musician concluded his performance, and went back inside.
Sweet Home Neukölln
Back in Berlin, I shot this in our neighborhood yesterday, in a predominantly Kurdish area. Jennifer uses it in Monday’s edition of Souciant.
Localization Strategies
We deliver everywhere. Advertisement for German postal carrier DHL. Neukolln, October.
Anti-Afghan war poster, with corn. Across the street from the DHL advert, three days later.
Home on the Range
For two years, Jennifer and I have lived out of suitcases. Seven months in London, twelve months in Milan, five months back and forth between east Berlin and west Stuttgart. We’re looking forward to finally settling down.
On Tuesday, I took the train to Berlin to do a final walk-through of our new apartment with the contractors. Between the new floors and the paint, the new lighting, even the still-wrapped refrigerator, it was all starting to signify home.
Perhaps it was the recurring motif of a hijab-clad woman, standing next to a political poster, two blocks away, that sealed it. Looking for a taxi on Karl Marx Strasse, I realized I’d seen her before, walking in front of our building.
Click on the photo for greater detail.