“It’s So Berlin!” 7: “Dear Neighbors”

The seventh installment in our series of photographs and cartoons about Berlin and Palestine.


02/03/2024

Photo: Rasha Al-Jundi

It is, unfortunately, part of the Berlin living experience to have some of the most extremely annoying neighbors, anyone could ever experience. Typically, they are old white Germans (of all genders), who are easily annoyed by the slightest activity or noise you may make in your apartment. They also constantly watch your every move and appoint themselves as morality and order building or community police.

Cartoon: Michael Jabareen

The old annoying German neighbor is so typical of Berlin that even social media platforms invented memes about them.

In this image, the abandoned item is a computer screen.

Titled “Dear Neighbors, …” (“Liebe Nachbarn” in German), we feature what a typical old German female neighbor looks like. She has an exaggerated muscular arm due to the excessive letters of harassment and threats she writes to her neighbors, sometimes to complain about them just walking around in their apartments. She is watchful, generally mean and has the usual passive-aggressive tone in her letters, starting them with the formal “Dear Neighbors, …”.

She is joined by all other annoyingly spying neighbours. You can never miss their frowns.

Image taken in Kreuzberg, Berlin (2023).