BERLIN: LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP
A Berlin Quote
"I find Berlin highly disagreeable. Nothing but dust and dire crowds of people running around as if a minute cost them 10 Mark [...]
I share your aversion towards the city wholeheartedly, it is a hideous place.
But I fear I will be forced to live here for much longer."
And right he was. Ernst Reuter, who penned the above words in his letter to the parents and brother, Karl Reuter - after he had moved to the city to continue his political work (he was an active member of the Social-Democratic Party and after World War One of the KPD, Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands) - would become Berlin city councillor and in 1949, West Berlin's first Governing Mayor.
You are certain to know him as the man who pleaded with the world to “look at this city! Look at Berlin!” And the world did.
(From British Pathe Film, "Berlin Calls The World!", 1948)