The Needle: Berlin – Page 18 of 21 – A Berlin Memory Blog

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

Places in Berlin

Joseph Pearson 04/03/201123/06/2018

A Trip Home from the Club

Get up! Aufstehen! The sun’s up already and somehow Noah’s woken this crazy old man with his cane and his

Joseph Pearson 26/02/201123/06/2018

Hitler and the German Historical Museum

It’s easy to forget that Germany is a new country and that, for much of its history, the term ‘German’

Places in Berlin

Joseph Pearson 23/02/201123/06/2018

Footbridge, Bahnhof Friedrichstraße

If Berlin has a tear in its fabric, a trap door to an alternate reality, it’s here. Suspended under the

Places in Berlin

Joseph Pearson 13/01/201123/06/2018

Bahnhof Alexanderplatz

Berlin scares the hell out of me, a Parisian friend confesses on a weekend visit. Putain! Look how empty the

Joseph Pearson 05/01/201123/06/2018

Café Einstein, Kurfürstenstraße 58

You love this Viennese-styled café, but at times it fills you with grief. You were here in late autumn and

Joseph Pearson 16/11/201023/06/2018

Ex-Pat Disorientation: Kawaguchi’s Andropolaroid at Dock 11

Being an expat can be profoundly frustrating and disorienting. It is like having no points of reference, it’s the struggle

Joseph Pearson 07/11/201023/06/2018

The Berggruen Museum

On the top floor there is a flat where the old man himself lived. Not a bad solution for old

Living in Berlin

Joseph Pearson 04/11/201023/06/2018

Charlottengrad

It’s not just the rumble of S-Bahn Charlottenburg’s train tracks above that makes you feel in-transit. In the Rossia supermarket,

Places in Berlin

Joseph Pearson 31/10/201023/06/2018

When You’re From Kotti

Kottbusser Tor, the centre of the ertswhile-radical SO36 district in Kreuzberg, is affectionately known as just ‘Kotti’. The surrounding kiez

Places in Berlin

Joseph Pearson 12/10/201023/06/2018

The Jewish Museum

(bear with us as we try to correct some formatting problems with this page) I first visited the Jewish

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