Category: 2020

Berlin police ask snitches not to block the emergency hotline 110 with coronavirus kontaktverbot reports. They’d prefer to use drones to control people. New fines are in place: it could cost you €10 if you leave the house without a reason (or a creative excuse).

The Financial Times reports on illegal ‘raves’ in Berlin costing €100 a head. We can’t prove they didn’t happen, but the story smells like a fabrication to us. Let us know if you went to one of these top-secret warehouse raves.

E-scooters have almost disappeared from Berlin’s streets. Only one company with 700 e-scooters remains active: at the peak, there were five companies with 15,000 scooters. Many shared bike companies are also withdrawing. One is just rebranding – Lidl Bike will revert to the name Call-A-Bike.

The €5000 Soforthilfe coronavirus grants have gone out to freelancers, but some are worried they could be prosecuted for wrongly receiving the cash. The rules changed half-way through the process. Recipients will soon get an e-mail asking them to review their eligibility, and could be asked to pay the money back.

This episode was presented by Daniel Stern, Maisie Hitchcock, Jöran Mandik and Joel Dullroy.

Help us pay our server costs! We now accept one-time donations: http://www.radiospaetkauf.com/donate/

Put that picnic blanket away, and don’t dare drink a beer in the park. Berlin’s signature freedoms are being restricted. How far is too far? Should you cancel your gym membership, or keep paying to help businesses survive? And Tegel Airport may soon fall victim to the virus crisis.

Berlin police are busy patrolling parks and shutting down candlelit dinners in ‘spreadeasies.’ We debate the morality of flouting the rules for a bit of fun.

Are you tech-savvy and want to help build community solutions for the crisis? Dan interviews Victoria Boeck from Hack The Crisis. You can sign up or suggest a solution here: https://hackthecrisis.citylab-berlin.org/

Berlin freelancers and small business owners suffering financially can now apply for various grants and loans.
Here’s where you apply for the Corona Zuschuss: https://www.ibb.de/de/wirtschaftsfoerderung/themen/coronahilfe/corona-liquiditaets-engpaesse.html
Here’s how you apply for ALG 2 (Hartz IV): https://www.arbeitsagentur.de/en/unemployment-benefitii
Schreiben und Lernen have posted a helpful podcast in English about help for freelancers: https://soundcloud.com/literaturszene

This episode was presented by Jöran Mandik, Joel Dullroy, Daniel Stern and Maisie Hitchcock.

This mini episode of Radio Spaetkauf features an interview with Chad Matheny aka Emperor X of Neukölln music venue Donau115.

A few Berlin news updates with Daniel Stern: Berlin is quiet as new restrictions limit gatherings and movement. Districts are offering financial support to residents who are helping their neighbors. Schools and daycares remain closed but some workers are entitled to childcare.

Connect to Donau115 at http://donau115.de
Find Chad’s music at http://emperorx.net

How are we going to survive this month of Sundays? Berlin freelancers are being promised €5000 cash, but who can get it and how? Rent payments could be delayed so we can stay in our flats and keep our shops. And… what good changes have come from our time under lockdown?

Keen to maintain their distance from one another, Radio Spaetkauf’s Joel Dullroy, Jöran Mandik, Daniel Stern- in Berlin- and Maisie Hitchcock – in the UK- linked up remotely using the wonders of modern technology.

The lockdown has expanded: restaurants and cafes can no longer open their doors, but supermarkets can, even on Sundays. Although they don’t actually seem to want to. More radically, Spätkaufs have finally received legal permission to open on Sundays!

Sick of staying indoors? You might have to get used to it. Gatherings of more than 2 people are now forbidden, unless you’re a family. But Berlin’s Mayor Michael Müller doesn’t want to bring in a total lockdown. His coalition partners the Greens and Die Linke are also wary of restricting everyone to their apartments. The Berlin CDU is calling for a 21 day total lockdown.

Morality over science? Reports about so-called corona parties are getting old folks worked up into a moral panic. But are young people really to blame? Joel makes a case for defending the young, who have sacrificed their liberty and opportunities during the crisis, in order to protect the old.

Self-employed or freelance and wondering how you’re going to survive? Help is at hand: the German government has announced a plan for an aid package for the self-employed and other small companies in the Corona crisis. We talk about some of the options on the table, as well as extending tax deadlines, options for KSK members , and applying for good old-fashioned Hartz IV welfare. Here’s a good explanation of how to get it: https://justpaste.it/36x5f

No earnings, means that both tenants and landlords with mortgages will be struggling. Luckily there’s the rent delay law, and a proposed mortgage holiday for landlords. And we also talk help for those who aren’t lucky enough to have a roof over their heads.

Good news! Last show’s guest, Ben Maclean is negative! He’s still in quarantine though…

• Some recommendations for home entertainment: Dj sets at https://www.unitedwestream.berlin/
• For eclectic sets from international Berlin-based DJs & former members of the Scrufix collective, follow https://www.twitch.tv/bad_dubs
• The Sameheads pub quiz: March 30th – on the Sameheads website http://www.sameheads.com/heads-radio and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/2670422609736940/?active_tab=discussion
• One venue that is streaming performances is Donau 115, a little experimental jazz bar on Donaustraße in Neukölln. http://donau115.de/

Worried about your health? Call the Berlin Corona Hotline: 030 90 28 28 28. Don’t go out seeking a test.

Support us with a donation! https://steadyhq.com/en/radiospaetkauf

“The time for partying is over,” Berlin’s health senator Dilek Kalayci said, announcing the shut down of the city. Berlin’s government has enacted the widest restriction of liberties since the war as it struggles to combat the Coronavirus pandemic.

Hosts Daniel Stern, Joel Dullroy and Jöran Mandik record an unscheduled episode in an empty room. Our correspondent in Maisie Hitchcock joins us via Skype to tell us about pre-lockdown England.

Noah Telson from the Comedy Cafe Berlin tells us about shutting down his business for a month. What’s life like in quarantine in Berlin? We talk via Skype with comedian Ben Maclean.

Worried about your health? Call the Berlin Corona Hotline: 030 90 28 28 28. Don’t go out seeking a test.

Support us with a donation! https://steadyhq.com/en/radiospaetkauf