2023-09-24 07:36:53
We meet in a café on a side street off Sonnenallee in Berlin-Neukölln. Olga Grjasnowa lived in this neighborhood until recently, then she moved away to Vienna. Since March she has been a professor at the Institute for Language Arts at the Angewandte, as the Viennese call the University of Applied Arts. She is wistful because Berlin is the first city where she wanted to stay and which has become the subject of her writing. Why? She explains that in this interview.
Ms Grjasnowa, you have just moved to Vienna after many years in Berlin. Haven’t you considered commuting, especially since your husband works in Berlin?
I did that for a semester, but it became too difficult as a family. The connection between Berlin and Vienna is not good, the flights are expensive, and it takes over eight hours by train. Ultimately it seemed easier to move.
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When we met recently, you mentioned that you couldn’t find a larger apartment in Berlin. Was that also a reason for moving to Vienna?
In any case. And I wouldn’t say that we’re in a precarious position, but no matter where I applied, I wasn’t even invited to an interview. There is nothing on the market in the size I am looking for for less than 4000 euros. But to be honest, there doesn’t seem to be anything in Berlin in any segment other than “luxury”. And at some point the feces in the S-Bahn were enough.
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Olga Grjsanowa
At 11 years old Olga Grjasnowa, born in 1984 in Baku, Azerbaijan, came to Germany with her parents as a Jewish quota refugee. She first lived in Hesse, studied in Göttingen and finally at the German Literature Institute in Leipzig.
For her debut novel“The Russian is someone who loves birch trees,” Olga Grjasnowa received, among other things, the Anna Seghers Prize.
Since then, the following have been published: “The legal uncertainty of a marriage” (2014), the novel “God is not shy” (2017), which is partly set on Sonnenallee, and “The Prodigal Son” (2020)
Since March 2023 Olga Grjasnowa is a professor at the Institute for Language Arts at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna.
Is there feces on the S-Bahn in Berlin?
All the time, sure. Human.
Does your last name help you when looking for an apartment? disabled?
I don’t believe. I write emails in German and I’m read as white.
Berlin can only be afforded by those who have an old rental agreement or an inheritance
About your novel “The Legal Blurring of a Marriage,” published in 2014, in which three young people in Berlin want to start over, you said that the story was only possible in Berlin because the city had this special charisma, it was liberal, international and relatively cheap be.
At the time I was writing the book, it was still pretty good. But now you can only afford Berlin if you have an old rental agreement or an inheritance behind you. A great inheritance to be able to live relaxed here.
The Sonnenallee in Berlin-Neukölln in September 2023.Youvalle Levy for Berliner Zeitung Weekend
What does this mean for Berlin?
Berlin is still attractive, probably more so today than ever. But what is called gentrification means that what made Berlin great no longer exists. Namely, that art experiments could take place here, and that as an artist you could pay the rent without needing a full-time job. A lot of things were possible, but I can’t see that anymore. The long-established population is being pushed out, sometimes using almost criminal methods. And that changed the mood in the city. Berlin has become much more aggressive. There is no longer a relaxed coexistence as it once was or at least seemed to be. You see a lot more poverty, addiction and homelessness on the streets.
You came to Hesse from Baku in Azerbaijan as a so-called Jewish quota refugee. Where were you before you came to Berlin?
In Göttingen, Leipzig, Moscow, Tel Aviv and Warsaw. But of all the cities, Berlin was the only one where I wanted to stay. I’m still wistful too. But moving to Vienna isn’t a bad thing either. It is very pleasant to live there. It doesn’t take more than 30 minutes to get anywhere on public transport, and they come on schedule.
Vegetable shop on Sonnenallee in Berlin-Neukölln.Youvalle Levy for Berliner Zeitung Weekend
Olga Grjansova: I’m at an age where I value cleanliness
Not like the M41 on Sonnenallee.
Exactly! And Vienna is extremely clean. I’m now at an age where I appreciate that.
On a house wall on Weserstrasse there is the saying: “Neukölln remains dirty”. As if this were a method of resisting gentrification.
If somewhere is already dirty, the inhibition to get even more dirty decreases. In Berlin you won’t be looked at askance if you drop a bottle and don’t pick it up. In Berlin it is also completely normal to put a sofa on the street. At least on Sonnenallee. Someone puts out a sofa, then soon there’s a full diaper on it and three days later something else. The whole thing continues to develop organically. Of course you can call it stuffy, but sometimes simple social rules have something to say.
You just said that Berlin was the only city where you wanted to stay. Why?
It’s a big city, you could afford it. And there were so many options here. They’re still available, just at a different price. Berlin is not beautiful. Basically, Berlin is not a city that is particularly worth living in in the long term; there are not architectural treasures on every corner. It’s not Italy. And it’s not France or Spain either. But the compensation is now gone. But Berlin is also a metropolis that offers many possibilities. You can lose yourself in it or just find yourself.
Olga Grjasnowa: Every other big city markets Chinatown or Little Italy, but Sonnenallee is decried as a no-go
You have lived on Sonnenallee in Neukölln for a long time and until the very end, which has changed in recent years Yes very changed, right?
I lived here for eight years and loved it. I think this is the only street in Berlin that has changed for the better. She has become even more alive. The street has great charm. But what I find astonishing: Every other big city markets Chinatown or Little Italy, but Sonnenallee is decried as a no-go. The rental prices here are higher than in Charlottenburg.
The area has come into disrepute in connection with the New Year’s Eve debate. How did you experience New Year’s Eve and the debate that followed?
I was at home and felt pretty relaxed in our corner. I’ve experienced much worse New Year’s Eve in Berlin, but I’m generally not a fan of self-organized fireworks displays and have never set off a single rocket in my life. I always have the feeling that there are only sham debates here. Like the debate about outdoor swimming pools or alleged hot spot schools. Of course, you have to adhere to certain norms of behavior. But asking for names? These are people who were born and raised in Germany. Apparently something went wrong in the system. But instead of looking at the system, certain minorities should be used as scapegoats.
Not also in families?
Something goes wrong in every family, everyone makes parenting mistakes, if you’re lucky, few and not too serious. It’s interesting when you look at the cuts that were supposed to make up for the whole thing: once the playgrounds are no longer repaired, the water playgrounds are shut down, when there are no longer any places where young people can hang out or parents can get advice, it will the situation even more tense. You can also look at the difference between the kindergartens in Neukölln and Mitte, even externally. Berlin is not unique when it comes to migration and poverty. But there are other cities where things are much better. It depends on how social policy develops in Germany, whether it goes in the direction of the USA and Great Britain. There is even more poverty in the cities. But in Berlin there are also real tent cities and families who live with four or five people in two rooms.
Chicken roastery on Sonnenallee in Berlin-NeuköllnYouvalle Levy for Berliner Zeitung Weekend
Olga Grjsanova: If I can no longer afford a corner in Berlin, then there is no longer so much room for love
You have often said that home means nothing to you.
That’s still the case.
So Sonnenallee hasn’t become your home?
Oh well. If I can no longer afford a corner in Berlin, then there won’t be much room left for love. But more for social envy.
Is Berlin something like your ex-love now?
One who is currently breaking up with you. And I really don’t care about home at all. When I was six or seven, there were pogroms against the Armenian minority in Baku, and this was justified, among other things, by the concept of home, which should be as ethnically “pure” as possible. There was so much suffering in the name of home. Since then, the term has become toxic for me.
Aren’t you afraid that your children might learn Viennese and seem foreign to you?
Some expressions will creep in. After this short time I already know what a Sackl is. But I’m also a newcomer to Berlin, and Berlin-ish took some getting used to for me.
#Feces #SBahn #brokers #dont #call