Category Archives: Germany

East Germany and Japan 2: economic cooperation

By benbansal Posted in Economics, Germany, History, Japan Leave a reply

The 1980s are often described as the “lost decade” for much of the second and third world. East Germany was partly able to avoid economic malaise. That was partly the case because Japanese banks kept the tabs open while relations between the GDR and the East Asian miracle nation blossomed. Some further historical anecdotes after the jump.

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Two icons of the 1980s GDR – Semperoper in Dresden and Mazda 323 parked to the far left next to more common vehicles Trabant, Lada, Skoda, and Wartburg; by Flickr user Felix O (creative commons)

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East Germany and Japan 1: Kajima Corporation

By benbansal Posted in Architecture, Germany, History, Japan 2 Replies

Japan’s post-war rise is often mentioned in the same breath with Germany’s spectacular economic miracle – the “Wirtschaftswunder”. For someone born on the other side of the wall in East Berlin, it is interesting to read about the less-documented relationship between economic superstar Japan and socialist East Germany during the decades of the cold war. The first installment in a set of some anecdotes is about Kajima Corporation’s export of Japanese construction practices to Berlin, Leipzig and Dresden.

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Hotel Merkur Leipzig model presentation by Kajima Corporation in 1978

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Export Germany

By benbansal Posted in Economics, Germany Leave a reply

Germany has been the target of some stinging criticism as of late. The US Treasury and the IMF accused the Germans of running too large trade and current account surpluses. Germany is hence fuelling huge global imbalances, as these surpluses must by definition lead to equivalent deficits elsewhere. Is there any merit to this argument?

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Berlin – TV Tower / Fernsehturm on foggy day

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Voter’s dilemma

By benbansal Posted in Germany Leave a reply

I haven’t lived in Germany for many years, so I am not really confronted with the consequences of my voting behaviour. This has made me a very opportunistic voter in the past; going on wahlomat.de and making my cross at whichever party suits me best based on the website’s questionnaire.

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West Berliner Platten

By benbansal Posted in Architecture, Germany Leave a reply

My recent stay in Berlin, especially the frequent cycling, has brought me past some impressive housing projects in the city’s West. Unfortunately, the two more internationally renowned projects I was planning to see were not among them. They’re saved for next time.

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Cycling Brandenburg

By benbansal Posted in Architecture, Germany, Travel 1 Reply

We have been cycling plenty while in Germany from mid-June until mid-July. A lot of it has been through Berlin, allowing me to see parts of my hometown that I hadn’t seen before (e.g. here). The high point of our biking, however, was a three-day tour from Berlin to my parents’ home in northwestern Brandenburg. Herewith some impressions from the trip.

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Waldsiedlung Krumme Lanke

By benbansal Posted in Architecture, Germany 2 Replies

This “forest settlement” in Berlin’s Zehlendorf district is an eerie place. Finished in 1939, the SS wanted only its own officers to live here. The rural architecture is out of place in a metropolis like Berlin, which ventured far down the modern road just a decade before. We came across this important residential complex during one of our cycling trips through Berlin’s southwest.

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Forum Museumsinsel

By benbansal Posted in Architecture, Germany Leave a reply

Berlin has many high-profile holes in its urban fabric. These can be relics of the Cold War era – places in between East and West Berlin. They can also be derelict buildings with unclear ownership status. Others on the other hand can fall victim to their own ambition. Wandering through the large Forum Museumsinsel, I was wondering whether the place falls into the latter category.

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Alexanderplatz

By benbansal Posted in Architecture, Germany 1 Reply

When in Berlin I live a five-minute walk away from Alexanderplatz. The square has had a tumultuous past. Its glory days were in the early twentieth century when it was one of the busiest intersections in the city. Completely destroyed during the war, Alexanderplatz was rebuilt as a Socialist model square. Today, and quite synonymous with Berlin as a whole, there’s a lot of confusion over the future direction of urban planning.

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Alexa shopping centre

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Landpartie

By benbansal Posted in Architecture, Germany, Travel Leave a reply

We hit the road yesterday and visited a few places in the vicinity of my parents’ house in the countryside. The trip took us to Doemitz, birthplace of my mother, Ludwigslust, where my parents went to school and my sister was born, and a whole lot of villages in between. Herewith a few impressions.

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