Berlin is my Paris

"I came to Berlin, the way people used to go to Paris. I came to measure myself against the world. It was a closed circle, uit of which I broke. A circle that exploded history. And I was a part of this history. I came to Berlin after the fall of the wall. Everithing had changed during this period. Not just. All the world was anxious. Not all the world, but the whole world. It wasn't obvious to everyone. One had to be able to comprehend it first (..)

Berlin was not al Berlin. I injure myzelf on the window panes and mirrors in the West. From the cleanliness, they stood dangerously like invisible it was my fault. I did'nt dare to leave any crumbs behind in a world without crumbs. And for the act that there where, any crumbs at all. I held myself responsible (...)

It's no easy challenge to be in Berlin. Berlin is a metaphor. An expression for the emerging present. For the future history. I live on Leipziger Strasse, in a high rise above the Springerhaus Publishing House. And with a view of the synagogue. With a view of the cranes that a cloud the neighborhood like a forest. The dust from Postdamer Platsz rises too high for me. Day and night a piece of Berlin changes before my eyes. And I change with it. It's not an easy challenge to be in Berlin. And no one can deprive themselves of it. One doesn't live without a purpose. And one doesn't remain untouched here. I write my books at Checkpoint Charlie. In Café Adler. I sit on a table, buses full of tourists drive through the city and stop in front of the Adler. These people don't have the challenge of living in Berlin. They come every now and then to see if Berlin has allready become Berlin (...)

I'm a part of Berlin. I'm still not yet. I measure myself against myself and the world. I leave traces behind. There also a part of Berlin. From the Berlin that is supposed to become Berlin. Berlin is not yet Berlin. It's an incomplete place that cannot do without me. Berlin is my Paris".

Tekst: Carmen Francesca Banciu: "Berlin ist mein Paris". "Berlin is my Paris"

Ullstein Publishing House, Berlin 2002

Foto: Rosa