Archive - Berlin Stories

On being a refugee in Berlin

Syrians and other "new Berliners" today are experiencing something familiar to people who, at different times, came from places like Azerbaijan, Bosnia…

Mar 10 •

Topper Sherwood

1918: The roots of German anti-war intelligence

Hugo B- was an early student of journalism, watching his father's independent press feed the 1918 "November Revolution" that ended World War I.

Mar 3 •

Topper Sherwood

'Show me a country...'

Seems appropriate to send this today from Berlin, East and West - built on the ruins of the last European war....

Mar 1 •

Topper Sherwood

4:08

February 2025

American Poet Allen Ginsberg in Prague

He was the unhinhibited, free-wheeling, and very gay 'King of May'....

Feb 24 •

Topper Sherwood

A 'Bauhaus Evening' with Inayat Khan

Sending Khan deep into the Western world, his teacher told him to try to harmonize his music and poetry with whatever cultures he might find there.

Feb 17 •

Topper Sherwood

I Stumble onto the 2025 Berlinale

Who can resist the attraction of mostly-female fans, screaming into spotlights?

Feb 14 •

Topper Sherwood

I Breathe the Prisoner

For/With [My Name Goes Here]

Feb 10 •

Topper Sherwood

I'm a Ghost....

Fifteen-plus years in Berlin have taught me how to remain invisible.

Feb 3 •

Topper Sherwood

January 2025

Intellectual 'Sunday Circle' of artists comes to power in Hungary

After their brief reign, they generally slipped away to the West -- to the West's benefit.

Jan 27 •

Topper Sherwood

Berlin's harsh reality and Alfred Döblin’s utopian hope for a cure

“Writers are not self-generating…. I come from Döblin.” — Gunter Grass.

Jan 20 •

Topper Sherwood

Umberto Eco on Writing ‘Politically’

‘There is no rule… only the risk of contradiction.’

Jan 13 •

Topper Sherwood

Bullets inflame debate on 'Revolutionary Art'

Berlin and Vienna artists discuss the meaning and value of their work.

Jan 6 •

Topper Sherwood

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