Oh you fat B

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oh you thick B - A Berlin bankruptcy story is a non-fiction book by the German journalist Cornelia Tomerius . It was published on April 16, 2013 by Berlin Verlag .

In her work, Tomerius tries to draw a cultural history of failed and unsuccessful major projects in Berlin using various examples from the past 100 years . In doing so, she draws an arc into the present and, in her ironically narrated book, draws the conclusion that the mishaps at the opening of the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport were inevitable in view of the intrinsic mixture of bigotry and provincial management in Berlin's entrepreneurial spirit.

content

Tomerius begins at the time of Berlin's rise to a cosmopolitan city, when the planned world exhibition in 1896 only took place as a Berlin trade exhibition due to the negative attitude of Kaiser Wilhelm II and, despite the elaborate buildings by Berlin merchants, the world exhibition claim was not perceived in the world. The number of visitors also fell short of expectations, as it rained on 120 of the 165 exhibition days.

One chapter describes the football club SC Tasmania 1900 Berlin , which entered the Bundesliga following a decision by the DFB after Hertha BSC was excluded in 1965 and became the worst Bundesliga club in history.

It is dedicated to the case of the building contractor Sigrid Kressmann-Zschach , who went bankrupt because of the construction of the Steglitz roundabout . The Berlin state government was liable for a guarantee of 42 million DM. Later, there were indications of a close private relationship between Kressmann-Zschach and the head of the regional finance office in Berlin, Klaus Arlt .

The elaborately built M-Bahn was only in scheduled traffic for two weeks until its operation was stopped again in order to be able to prepare the route for the reopening of underground line 2, which was made possible by the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989.

At the instigation of the federal government under Helmut Kohl, the construction of the underground line 55 became a grave of millions for the Berlin budget. 320 million euros were spent on building three stations.

Tomerius also goes into Berlin's failed application for the 2000 Summer Olympics . Despite a 300 million dollar campaign, the candidacy only received the votes of nine IOC members and was eliminated in the second ballot.

In 2003, the big wheel at the zoo was ultimately not built for a lot of money.

In conclusion, Tomerius demands that Berlin build its own museum for its bankruptcy story.

Reviews

Ruth Schneeberger notes in the Süddeutsche Zeitung that the "sarcasm and the determined will to expose human weaknesses (...) make the book a real screamer in some places". Norbert Kron from RBB calls the book “witty” in his TV report for the culture magazine Stilbruch .

reception

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ruth Schneeberger: Berlins most beautiful bankruptcies , review by Ach du dickes B. , Süddeutsche Zeitung, April 16, 2013
  2. ↑ Stilbruch Kulturmagazin, April 11, 2013 ( Memento from June 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Rüdiger Dingemann: Culture programs on television, Perlentaucher.de April 11, 2013