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THE NEW BERLINERS

IMMIGRATION

‘I can’t imagine being in a city that I could love more than Berlin’

The Local’s series The New Berliners explores the lives of immigrants from around the world in Germany’s capital. For the final installment, Julia Lipkins spoke with Sophie, a transgender bookshop owner from Britain.

Published: 19 November 2010 09:48 CET
‘I can’t imagine being in a city that I could love more than Berlin’
Photo: Julia Lipkins

Berlin has long been a magnet for outsiders, from provincial Prussians centuries ago to Brooklyn hipsters today. Strangers at first, these newcomers eventually make the city their own and reshape its social fabric.

This process continued even while Berlin was divided during the Cold War, but 20 years after reunification, the German capital has become an increasingly attractive destination for foreigners hoping to start a new life.

Julia Lipkins’ multimedia project for The Local lets these new Berliners tell their own stories.

Sophie

London, England

Click here for Sophie’s story.

A transgender woman and an authority on English literature, Sophie plays mother to Berlin’s expat community in her bookshop.

Sophie is the founder of Another Country, a store with an impressive selection of English-language books that has become a mecca for the city’s foreign residents. For more than 20 years, she has resided in Kreuzberg, a district dominated by immigrants, students and artists. “I can’t imagine being in a city that I could love more than I love Berlin,” she says.

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IMMIGRATION

France ‘will not welcome migrants’ from Lampedusa: interior minister

France "will not welcome migrants" from the island, Gérald Darmanin has insisted

Published: 20 September 2023 09:06 CEST
France 'will not welcome migrants' from Lampedusa: interior minister

France will not welcome any migrants coming from Italy’s Lampedusa, interior minister Gérald Darmanin has said after the Mediterranean island saw record numbers of arrivals.

Some 8,500 people arrived on Lampedusa on 199 boats between Monday and Wednesday last week, according to the UN’s International Organisation for
Migration, prompting European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to travel there Sunday to announce an emergency action plan.

According to Darmanin, Paris told Italy it was “ready to help them return people to countries with which we have good diplomatic relations”, giving the
example of Ivory Coast and Senegal.

But France “will not welcome migrants” from the island, he said, speaking on French television on Tuesday evening.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called on Italy’s EU partners to share more of the responsibility.

The recent arrivals on Lampedusa equal more than the whole population of the tiny Italian island.

The mass movement has stoked the immigration debate in France, where political parties in the country’s hung parliament are wrangling over a draft law governing new arrivals.

France is expected to face a call from Pope Francis for greater tolerance towards migrants later this week during a high-profile visit to Mediterranean city Marseille, where the pontiff will meet President Emmanuel Macron and celebrate mass before tens of thousands in a stadium.

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