Upstairs at Eric''s

Moving is always a big adventure. I moved so many times in my life that I sometimes have the feeling I never stayed long enough in a place. Every time I say “it’s the last time” because It just exhausts me to pack all the time but I keep on doing it : I stopped moving by myself or with a little help from my friends and prefer to call professionals. At least, I don’t kill my back anymore. It seems that I have finally found a place to stay. Here in Berlin the offer exceeds the request so It is never difficult to find a new place. What is not that easy is to find a place you like. German standards are not what you expect sometimes and the flats you find do not match your priorities. Most of the time I found flats sad, without feelings, and I do not feel the will to go inside. Nevertheless, after months of patience and research, after phases of ups to downs, It’s done. Of course there are things you are always ready to cancel on your list, meaning you never find the house of your dreams. I was ready for this eventuality and I do not regret my choice. I am not staying in Mitte anymore, but in Friedrichshain. It’s called the “Late Machiato” area because more and more people are moving in. It’s based on the east of Mitte, belonged to ex East Germany and you still find everywhere traces of this period, though it changes very quickly. Friedrichshain is a part of Berlin's borough of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. From its creation in 1920 until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform (remember Wasserschlacht, I talked about previously) it was a freestanding city borough. Formerly part of East Berlin, it is a inner city locality, adjacent to Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg, Kreuzberg and Lichtenberg. Friedrichshain is named after the Volkspark Friedrichshain, a vast green park located at the north border to Prenzlauer Berg. During the Nazi era, it bore the name Horst-Wessel-Stadt. The largely working-class district was created in 1920 when Greater Berlin was created in a referendum, incorporating several surrounding cities. Friedrichshain united the Frankfurter Vorstadt, already part of Berlin, and the villages of Boxhagen and Stralau. It took its name (meaning "Frederick's Grove") from the Volkspark (People's Park), which was planned in 1840 to commemorate the centenary of Frederick the Great’s coronation. Much of the district was settled in the rapid industrialization of the 19th and early 20th centuries, led by growth in manufacturing and crafts. It owed much to the opening of the railway line between Berlin and Frankfurt (Oder) in 1846 (which terminated near the site of today's Berlin Ostbahnhof), and the opening of the first waterworks in 1865 at Stralauer Tor. In the early 1900s, the district's largest employer was the Knorr-Bremse brake factory; the Knorrpromenade, one of Friedrichshain's most attractive streets, was built to house the management.
When the Nazis came to power in 1933, the district was renamed Horst-Wessel stadt after the street fighter and writer of the Nazi hymn whose slow death, after being shot by communists, in Friedrichshain hospital in 1930 was turned into a propaganda event by Josef Goebbels.
During World War II Friedrichshain was one of the most badly damaged parts of Berlin, as the allies specifically targeted its industries. After the war ended, the boundary between the American and Soviet occupation sectors ran between Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg. This turned into a sealed border between East and West Berlin when the Berlin Wall was built in 1961. The Stalinallee (now Karl-Marx-Allee, where the CSA Bar is and Frankfurter Allee) was built in Friedrichshain in the late 1940s and early 1950s as a prestige project; its architecture is strongly reminiscent of that of Soviet-era Moscow boulevards. It was also the scene of the 1953 uprising, when a raised work quota led to protests throughout East Germany that were only put down with Soviet intervention. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 and German reunification the following October, Friedrichshain began to develop a reputation as a young, dynamic district, thanks in part to low rents and the many empty apartments that also attracted the attention of West Berlin squatters. Alongside the neighboring districts of Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg, and Kreuzber, Friedrichshain is now considered one of Berlin's most fashionable areas, and is home to numerous design and media companies including MTV Central Europe. It is known for its many bars, clubs, pubs, and cafes, concentrated in the vicinity of Simon-Dach-Straße and Boxhagener Platz. There are numerous squats in Friedrichshain, particularly in Rigaer Straße. In contrast to the more gentrified and expensive districts of Prenzlauer Berg and Mitte, Friedrichshain has a slightly run-down atmosphere, and its lower rents following German reunification attracted students and artists. Nowadays numerous restoration works are under way and Friedrichshain is developing on a fast pace becoming more and more gentrified itself. I wanted to stay in Mitte first of all but It went too expensive for me and I wanted to have a bigger place to welcome friends when they wish to spend some time with me. Mitte became also too touristic and not being able to be part of the real Berlin life was no fun anymore. I wanted to be a bit nearer from work as well so this area came very quickly in mind. Not many places are renovated so I was ready to do some work. Though I spent a lot of time organizing the work to be done inside the flat, the result matches my expectations. Then the rest of the decoration belongs to me and will take some years. Of course, like it happened when I moved last year here, I had no internet/phone connection for 4 weeks. Not because It takes a long time to get an appointment but because the german phone company has the monopole, their employees just don’t care and do not ring your door but just leave a note on your mailbox, saying you were not at home when they passed by. You, getting nervous with the 8 hours waiting time, you only wish to be able to use your phone. So, It’s a new life again. Secured with the job, money and friends and the discovery of a new area that will be my world for the next (many) years, if I remain here.