EXBERLINER Issue 164, October 2017

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CHARLOTTENBURG MARGA’S BOOK BRIDES At Marga Schoeller, the oldest independent bookstore in Berlin, you’ll meet the heirs apparent to a literary lioness. Walking into Marga Schoeller Bücherstube on Knesebeckstraße is nothing like entering a lion’s den – the carpeted floor and literature-laden green shelves make the place feel immediately cosy and quaint. Yet it is here that the so-called “Lioness of Kurfürstendamm”, Marga Schoeller herself, made her livelihood and her legacy. Schoeller, from Düren near Cologne, came to the bright lights of Weimar Berlin in her early twenties, armed with a book-selling degree. Whilst working for another bookseller, the opportunity to buy her own shop arose and the plucky young lady turned to her father to ask for financial assistance. The original Marga Schoeller Bücherstube opened on Kurfürstendamm in 1929, when she was just 24 years old. “Books were her passion, and she was very determined. She spent all her time in the shop,” says Thomas Rodig, Schoeller’s son. The 77-year-old current co-owner of the store recalls that he didn’t get to see his mum much growing up; she was so busy in the shop that he was sent to boarding school. Marga Schoeller did indeed dedicate her life to her Bücherstube, running it until her death in 1978. From humble beginnings in one small retail unit at Kurfürstendamm 30, the shop’s ascent to fame was down to Schoeller’s own strength of character. Though she was bombed out of two apartments during World War II, the bookshop made it out intact, as did her reputation and dignity. During the Third Reich, she refused to sell Nazi literature and would stock L-R: Marga Schoeller, Shirley Wray, Ruth Klinkenberg banned books in a secret cellar for select customers she trusted, while selling pictures of horses out front to appease the National Socialists. Her brave endeavours were rewarded by the Allied forces after the war, when hers was the first bookstore in Berlin given license to reopen and to import English and American literature. As the official, and only, Penguin stockist in the city, Marga Schoeller drew the area’s literati with its exclusive selection, and both the Bücherstube and the woman became icons of the post-war Charlottenburg literary scene. Thomas Mann and Thornton Wilder were friends; Christopher Isherwood and Barbara Brecht were customers, as were Peter Weiss, Günter Grass, Elias Canetti, Max Frisch and Peter Schneider. In its heyday in the late 1950s, the shop had 40 employees. “They were mostly out-of-work actors,” recalls Thomas, “a rather curious, queer mixture of people. My mother was great with books, but bad with figures. There were too many employees.” One of the few left today is Ruth Klinkenberg. The 69-year-old has worked there since 1972 and now co-owns the shop with Thomas. Like Schoeller, she came to Berlin when she was just 21, dreaming of a life in literature, working short stints in other bookshops before landing the job in Marga Schoeller Bücherstube. “West Berlin in those Ruth and Shirley’s Charlottenburg Eat: Ruth: 1900 (Knesebeckstr. 76), for the breakfasts and excellent cakes. Shirley: Brasserie Le Paris (Kurfürstendamm 211) offers fantastic lunches. Drink: Ruth: Annalee (Bleibtreustr. 17). Shirley: Zwiebelfisch on Savignyplatz, darling. It’s a place for people who can take their drink and very popular with the older bohemian population like me. Tip: Ruth: Chokocafe (Bleibtreustr. 15) is a great little place to sit down and read. Shirley: Walking in the Schlosspark on a Saturday morning, while everybody else is shopping... it almost feels like you’re in the countryside! days was very special, and Kurfürstendamm was its most bustling street. Marga Schoeller’s bookshop was an incredibly famous spot in West Berlin, and I knew I wanted to work there,” remembers the small woman with neatly trimmed hair and round gold-rimmed glasses. Ruth has carried the business through the decades. She helped with its 1974 relocation to its current address on Knesebeckstraße when their previous landlord’s son decided to open a restaurant instead. And she has kept it from falling victim to the Amazon effect by campaigning in favour of the Buchpreisbindung, the German law that equalises prices for physical and e-books. She has taken up Schoeller’s mantel, even if she hasn’t taken up any title as dramatic as ‘Lioness’. “Marga herself was an icon, of course, everyone knew her. Our customers know me, yes, but I couldn’t compare myself to her.” Her long time colleague, Shirley Wray, would disagree. “Ruth has been very important in the literary world, keeping the community alive,” says the 71-year-old Englishwoman. Wray arrived in Berlin from Yorkshire in 1976, another young woman with a background in books. Having previously worked Foyle’s in London, once the world’s largest bookshop, she tried her luck at Marga Schoeller’s. “Marga was such an iconic bookseller... I immediately asked for a job here.” She didn’t get the gig until five years after Schoeller’s death, in 1983, when a friend tipped her off that they needed someone for the English department. Today, the self-described “ageing alternativa” has long grey hair framing a perfectly painted face, her speech spattered with “lovey”s when addressing you. A pensioner for the last six years, she has reduced her working week to two days, after 35 years of dedication to Marga Schoeller Bücherstube. Since 2015, 29-year-old Marlene Schmidt has taken over the English department. The latest young lady to carry the torch for Marga, she too came to Berlin when she was just 22 from a small town, this time outside Bremen, to train as a professional bookseller. To this day, the book boutique is filled with regulars seeking the advice of Marga’s successors. The staff may well know you, 8 EXBERLINER 164
CHARLOTTENBURG but even if they don’t, they will know how to help you find the right book. Famous faces continue to stop by: an incognito Tom Hanks (“quite tall, I immediately felt this man’s got presence,” comments Shirley), a “very pleasant” Margaret Atwood, a “lovely” Arundhati Roy, cult director Rosa von Praunheim and more. Thomas is retiring imminently, and his replacement apparently “has money”. So the future of Marga Schoeller Bücherstube seems stable for now – and that future is all female, right down to their accountant. — Amy Leonard “I DON’'T KNOW AREAS LIKE PRENZLAUER BERG AND KREUZBERG. I 'AM' KU’DAMM.'” A BRUSH WITH FAME If there’s anyone in Berlin whose favourite street is actually Kurfürstendamm, it’s celebrity hairstylist Udo Walz. Does the name Udo Walz ring a bell? If not, chances are you’re either not from around here, or you’re part of the incredibly sheltered two percent of Germans who haven’t heard of the famed Friseur – at least, according to his own book, Jede Frau ist Schön (Every Woman is Beautiful). Walz’s legendary brand graces a hair salon franchise spanning West Berlin and Mallorca, the Ku’damm bistro Q32, clothing lines for both humans and dogs, a brand of beer (brewed by his brother in their hometown of Stuttgart) and even a late-night TV segment on the show Circus HalliGalli, in which the two presenters scroll through Walz’s star-studded list of phone contacts and call up various Promis, trying to impersonate him for as long as possible. Walz’s Kurfürstendamm salon is a hub of activity even on a weekday at 11am. There’s no sign of his celebrity clients – like Heidi Klum, Naomi Campbell or Angela Merkel, whose trademark bob Walz first snipped in 2006 – just a flow of “regular” Charlottenburgers willing to pay up to €130 for a cut or €295 for highlights. A block away from his original location in a Hinterhof just off the famous boulevard, the salon on the corner of Uhlandstraße and Ku’damm has been a pipe dream of his for almost four decades that was finally realised last year. “This is my favourite street in Charlottenburg… or Berlin,” confesses the septuagenarian. Walz now lives closer to Grunewald, but Ku’damm was his first address in Berlin. After training in Stuttgart and beginning his career in St. Moritz (where he cut the hair of an ageing Marlene Dietrich), he moved to a small room on the corner of Fasanenstraße in 1969. From there he built his hairdressing empire, aided by appearances in the popular German women’s magazine Brigitte. Nowadays, Walz doesn’t cut hair himself, instead overseeing a team of 68 stylists trained in his signature updo – or fielding his many, many press inquiries with the help of his 47-year-old husband Carsten. When he goes out, it’s to Paris Bar (see page 14); he barely ever strays east of Zoo. “I don’t know areas like Prenzlauer Berg and Kreuzberg,” he says, concluding, “I am Ku’damm. I am Charlottenburg.” — Anunita Chandrasekar Udo’s Charlottenburg Eat: Capriccio (Hagenpl. 2) has the best Italian food in Berlin. Drink: Paris Bar is still my Wohnzimmer – I like to end the night with a beer there. BABY! BABY! FEMINISTA OCTOBER 2017 based on the SCUM-Manifesto by Valerie Solanas “Life in this society, being at best, an utter bore and no aspect of society being at all relevant to women, there remains to civic- minded, responsible, thrill-seeking females only to overthrow the government, eliminate the money system, institute complete automation and eliminate the male sex.” Premiere: October 20, 2017 upcoming dates with English surtitles October 23 und 29, 2017 For tickets and more information9 visit www.deutschestheater.de/en
Page 1 and 2: Berlin in English since 2002 164
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS Exberliner 164 - October 2
Page 5 and 6: Berlin in English since 2002 €3.9
Page 7 and 8: BEST OF BERLIN — October 2017 Bur
Page 9: CHARLOTTENBURG PORTRAITS WE RUN THE
Page 13 and 14: CHARLOTTENBURG ARCHITECTURE KADEWE
Page 15 and 16: CHARLOTTENBURG HOT DISH Whether you
Page 17 and 18: CHARLOTTENBURG As soon as I step in
Page 19 and 20: CHARLOTTENBURG Nov 9-12 Giorgio Car
Page 21 and 22: CHARLOTTENBURG The couple returns f
Page 23 and 24: CHARLOTTENBURG “I know the hip Je
Page 25 and 26: CHARLOTTENBURG south of KaDeWe on M
Page 27 and 28: CHARLOTTENBURG “As you get older
Page 29 and 30: CHARLOTTENBURG ART EXHIBITION THE O
Page 31 and 32: WHAT’S ON — Barry Burns MY PL A
Page 33 and 34: WHAT’S ON — Film Reviews Starts
Page 35 and 36: WHAT’S ON — Film Preview Who Wi
Page 37 and 38: WHAT’S ON — Music Preview Kiddy
Page 39 and 40: WHAT’S ON — Music MY PL AYLIST
Page 41 and 42: WHAT’S ON — Art Preview Eyes on
Page 43 and 44: WHAT’S ON — Art Fressen oder Fl
Page 45 and 46: Ute Langkafel “ Review RAF for ou
Page 47 and 48: WHAT’S ON — Stage What is your
Page 49 and 50: WHAT’S ON three-month retrospecti
Page 51 and 52: ADVERTORIAL — The Berlin Guide 3
Page 53 and 54: ADVERTISING — The Language School
Page 55 and 56: COLUMN— The Gay Berliner Macho me
Page 57 and 58: REGULARS German Palomeque Brasserie
Page 59 and 60: REGULARS #ROUND-UP Give trees a cha
Page 61 and 62:
COLUMN — Ask Hans-Torsten Funky t
Page 63 and 64:
Ambrose Akinmusire John Beasley’s
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EXBERLINER Issue 164, October 2017

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