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Trips from Berlin
Joseph Pearson 08/08/201123/06/2018

From Berlin to Lviv, Ukraine

Turn your back for a moment on the West, and travel East as a corrective. Jump the train from Berlin, and

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Foodie Berlin
Joseph Pearson 01/08/201123/06/2018

Getting Messy at Burgermeister

Burgermeister (a play on words on Bürgermeister, which means the ‘city mayor’ with the simple addition of an umlaut) is a burger

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Living in Berlin
Joseph Pearson 23/07/201123/06/2018

A German Market on the Maybachufer

On a Tuesday or Friday, I see the veiled women of Neukölln and Kreuzberg making their way to the canal,

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Berlin History
Joseph Pearson 17/07/201123/06/2018

Hitler’s Bloody Palace: Mohrenstraße

Blood red, sometimes purple, the marble’s colour was signed off by Hitler himself. It decked his grandest building, the New Reich

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Places in Berlin
Joseph Pearson 03/07/201123/06/2018

The U55: The Shortest Subway

It has only three stations, it took 14 years to build, it connects a distance that can be easily covered

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Living in Berlin
Joseph Pearson 26/06/201123/06/2018

The Other Face of Kreuzberg: The Werner-Düttmann-Siedlung

On Fichte and Körtestraße, just up from Südstern U-Bahn, you might pass by an elegant wine shop, a Michelin restaurant

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Berlin History
Joseph Pearson 19/06/201123/06/2018

Forcing Hitler Underground: The Führerbunker

Their bodies were doused with petrol and incinerated in a bomb crater, here, in what is now a parking lot. Adolf

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Berlin History
Joseph Pearson 12/06/201107/11/2018

Chaos and Colour: Haus des Lehrers

There’s a blaze of colour on Alexanderplatz. When Berlin is at its winter’s darkest, the sensation of alienation heightened by

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Places in Berlin
Joseph Pearson 08/06/201123/06/2018

Paris-Moskau Restaurant: In the Shadow of the Railroad

Come to Hauptbahnhof, Berlin’s main station, at 4:30 or 15:40, and watch the creaky train carriages depart, carrying passengers for

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Berlin History
Joseph Pearson 06/06/201123/06/2018

The Changing Names of Südstern U-Bahn

This underground station in Kreuzberg has had many names. It was born Hasenheide in 1924, it became Kaiser-Friedrich-Platz and then

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Berlin History
Joseph Pearson 17/03/201123/06/2018

A Sigh of Relief on the Death Strip

I walk through the former death strip of the Berlin Wall and relief floods through me. I don’t miss the

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About the Author

 

Joseph Pearson is a writer and historian based in Berlin. His non-fiction portrait of Berlin was published in 2017. He published a second book, My Grandfather’s Knife, about how everyday objects tell World War Two stories, in 2022. His writing has appeared widely in the press, literary and academic journals, and has been translated into German, Italian, French, Arabic, and other languages. Born in Canada, he was educated at Cambridge University, UK, where he received his doctorate in history in 2001. He works at New York University, Berlin, and at the Barenboim-Said Akademie. Since 2008, he has written The Needle, which has become one of Berlin’s most popular blogs. For professional inquiries please contact his agency, Peters Fraser Dunlop, email him directly   joseph [AT] cantab.net, or visit his professional website: josephpearson.ca

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 bi-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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