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Berlin History

"The Deserted Room" on Koppenplatz
Berlin History 

The Deserted Room

23/09/201823/09/2018 Joseph Pearson

In Koppenplatz, in Berlin’s Mitte, you might be surprised to see an overturned chair next to a table in the

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Berlin History 

Interview with Joseph Pearson about his new book “Berlin”

13/07/201723/06/2018 Joseph Pearson

Today, I’m reprinting a short interview, on the occasion of the publication of my new book, Berlin, with Reaktion Press in London

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Berlin History 

Why Sponsor a Stolperstein?

19/10/201623/06/2018 Joseph Pearson

  We could not find very much information about the lives of the two women who lived in our building

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Berlin History 

Victory in Europe, Defeat in Berlin

14/05/201523/06/2018 Joseph Pearson

  This past week marked the 70th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe, and in Berlin the city

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Berlin History 

Berlin is Still Divided, 25 Years After the Fall of the Wall

08/11/201423/06/2018 Joseph Pearson

In the news, there will be plenty of celebrating the anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. But for many

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Berlin History 

The Neglected Fall of the Wall: At Bornholmer Straße

29/05/201423/06/2018 Joseph Pearson

Maybe it’s just a rumour. That you can cross into the West. Chris Gueffroy’s heard a rumour too, that things

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Berlin History 

Cocktails in a Communist Beauty Salon

07/03/201423/06/2018 Joseph Pearson

What must be Berlins’ best cocktail bar is located in what was once a Communist beauty parlour on breezy Karl-Marx-Allee.

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Berlin History 

Review: German Concentration Camps Factual Survey, at the Berlin Film Festival

10/02/201423/06/2018 Joseph Pearson

At this year’s Berlinale (Berlin Film Festival), on Sunday, the Imperial War Museum in London premiered their restoration of the

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Berlin History 

The Peacock Island… and sex in Arcadia

17/08/201323/06/2018 Joseph Pearson

Frisky as a rabbit, Frederick William II (1744-1797) was called by some der Vielgeliebte (the much loved), and by others

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Berlin History 

Why We Participated in the 1936 Nazi Games: Lessons for Sochi

08/08/201323/06/2018 Joseph Pearson

I am a historian teaching undergraduates at New York University in Berlin and today I was asked, walking in the

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Berlin History 

Exhuming German War Dead in the East

04/08/201323/06/2018 Joseph Pearson

On Saturday, a new official war cemetery was inaugurated near Smolensk Russia for some 30 000 fallen German soldiers retrieved from

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About the Author

Joseph Pearson is a writer based between Berlin and New York City. Born in Canada, he was educated at Cambridge University, UK, where he received his doctorate in history in 2001. His non-fiction portrait of Berlin was published in 2017. He is also the essayist and blogger of the Schaubühne Theatre, one of Berlin’s best known state-funded institutions. Since 2008, he has written The Needle, which has become one of Berlin’s most popular blogs. His writing has appeared widely in the press, literary and academic journals, and has been translated into German, Italian, French, Arabic, and other languages. For professional inquiries please contact:  joseph [AT] cantab.net.

What is The Needle?

The changing meanings of The Needle are the inspiration for these pages. Above Alexanderplatz is Berlin's television tower. The Needle surveilled the city during East German times like a threatening eye; then its meaning changed after the Berlin Wall fell. Berliners now think of the tower as a giant disco ball flirting with the city lights––a symbol of sex, electronic music and youth culture. This weekly documents the Berlin Renaissance today, mindful of a dramatic and terrifying history. Berlin is Europe's most exciting city, and The Needle is here to share.

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