By Jeff Rosenberg

In the past 20 years many Berliners have nurtured high hopes for the restoration of some if not all of the city's pre-World War II industrial and economic strength. With the return of the capital to Berlin has come many billions of Euros in reconstruction and infrastructure spending by federal and local governments.

The "crown jewel" of these efforts is the new Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport, scheduled to open next year.

But, although hopes are high for continued airline sector growth and Berlin's status as a center for European culture and tourism has skyrocketed in recent years, prospects for deeper economic growth are clouded by unfortunate realities.

By Sara Richards

Actor Frank Langella at the New York premiere of his film Frost/Nixon in 2008. (Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)

This weekend on NPR Specials, we have a conversation with actor Frank Langella. He's filming in Berlin this winter and recently stopped by the American Academy for a talk with executive director Gary Smith.

Though he's racked up multiple Tony awards throughout his career, Langella earned his first Oscar nomination last year for his portrayal of former US president Richard Nixon in the 2008 film Frost/Nixon.

NPR Specials airs Saturday night at 20.00 and Monday morning at 8.00 on 104.1

Painting by L. Machitadze from Georgia.The eight year-old's work was archived by the Kinder Kunst Museum in Berlin. (L. Machitadze)

By Monika Mueller-Kroll

The Kinder Kunst Museum e.V. is a special museum that brings art education to schools and kindergartens. It's been collecting art by kids from all over the world since 1993.

Currently the Kinder Kunst Mueseum is preparing for their upcoming exhibition "Fantasia," a project supported by UNICEF. Kids between the ages of 3 and 17 can participate and mail their "Fantasia" postcards to

Kinder-Kunst-Museum e.V
Hartmannsweilerweg 9-11
14163 Berlin

Another upcoming project ties into the World Cup this summer. The museum is publishing a book with paintings of soccer games by children from all over the world. The pictures are accompanied by a historical description of sports contests from the Antiquities up to the Middle Ages.

Gravestones in Weissensee cemetery, the second largest Jewish cemetery in Europe. (John Macdougall/Getty Images)

By Sara Richards

Forging ahead in our museum series on NPR Berlin, I wanted to say thanks for all your museum suggestions we should be looking into. We received some great ideas.

Today on our weekly series, Berlin Stories, author Susan Bell talks about her visit to the Weissensee cemetery. After hearing her story, I started to rethink the perimeters of what should be included in our museum series.

Bell is a writer and editor and teaches at the New School's graduate writing program in New York City. During an extended stay in Berlin, she decided to visit the Jewish cemetery in Weissensee. Though she is Jewish herself, Bell says she hadn't visited Berlin's Holocaust memorials or museums; she wanted to avoid any forced feelings or reactions.

But her visit to Weissensee proved to be different. Built in 1880, Weissensee is the second largest Jewish cemetery in Europe and, miraculously, made it through the Second World War relatively intact. Though it was left to decay during the GDR, the cemetery is filled with elaborately designed plots and decorative mausoleums, which, as Bell notes, signifies the socio-economic status of Jews in Berlin before the wars of the 20th century.

"While memorials remind us of the war and museums educate us about it, these gorgeous graves simply show us what was, and therefore what was lost," Bell says.

So in making a list of important/visit-worthy museums in Berlin, I thought we should include this. This story challenged my conception of what a museum is, or better yet, what their purpose is, and it reminded me how much living history is everywhere in Berlin.

Keep sending us your ideas.

By Sara Richards

American novelist Anna Winger. After publishing her first novel, This Must Be The Place in 2008, Winger was approached by NPR to start her own radio series. (Joerg Winger)

I recently talked to Anna Winger, an American novelist living in Berlin.

Winger is the creator of Berlin Stories, a weekly radio series on NPR Berlin that invites English speaking writers to share their experiences of the city. Some of the writers you might be familiar with, but Winger really emphasizes her desire to give less well-known writers a platform.

The themes vary, but the backdrop is always Berlin.

"I always learn something from the pieces. Some of them are funny, some really move me. You know, I live here too, and I still learn something. It keeps it really fresh," Winger says.

There are several stories so far this season that have caught my attention. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Geoffrey Upton had an insightful piece on the Schwules Museum Kreuzberg. Another great story came from political writer and blogger Reza Aslan concerning Kottbussertor.

Winger says the project is really about bringing together great writing and the city, which, when viewed from so many different angles, can create a new perspective on a very old and ever-changing town.

I've got more about Anna Winger as part of our Life in Berlin series. If there's a Berlin Story that's stuck with you, let us know here or at berlinstories.org.

The Mies Van Der Rohe Haus, once used as a garage by the Red Army, now serves as an exhibition space for contemporary art. It's located at Oberseestrasse 60 in Lichtenberg, open to the public Tuesday - Sunday from 11am to 5pm. (Monika Mueller-Kroll for NPR)

By Sara Richards

Do any reading on the Bauhaus of Weimar Republic Germany and you'll cross the name of Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe. The German architect was the last director of the Bauhaus school, a modernist style of architecture and design that swept Germany between the two World Wars.

Suffering Nazis persecution, Mies Van Der Rohe left Germany for the States in 1937.

The last house the architect ever designed in Germany is located in Lichtenberg. Today, the Mies Van Der Rohe Haus is an exhibition space for contemporary art. NPR Berlin's Monika Mueller-Kroll recently visited the museum and spoke to the curator about the long and somewhat surprising history of the house.

Your Favorite Museum In Berlin?

As part of our new series on NPR's Life in Berlin features, we're exploring the city's most intriguing museums. Some of the museums we'll be looking at are classics, others you might not be familiar with.

We've got a good list so far, but we want to hear from you.

What are your suggestions for museums we should be investigating in Berlin? Do you know a great hole in the wall gallery that deserves more attention? Have you seen a fascinating exhibit at one of the more well-known museums this season?

Let us know your suggestions here or on Facebook.

By Kingsley Smith

NPR FM Berlin Schedule

"Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes. Turn and face the strange..." These David Bowie lyrics encapsulate the dynamic nature of how radio programs sometimes ebb and flow through the broadcast pipeline according to unpredictable tides.

NPR FM Berlin 104,1 is part of this ocean of change, quite often at the mercy of some uncontrollable currents. In March, 2009, here's a typical comment that crossed my desk after the 7 pm program Day To Day permanently ended production/distribution...

"As a loyal NPR listener I was rather chagrined to discover today that WBUR's On Point has been moved on the NPR schedule in Berlin to 7 to 8 pm CET to replace the defunct Day to Day. NPR now carries two hours of The Diane Rehm Show. I don't think the program is nearly as good as On Point, and to have it on for two hours is simply incomprehensible." Thomas Marzahl.

We fast forward to February 1, 2010:

"My husband, John Kornblum, and I are fanatical fans of NPR Berlin. I am one of those classic listeners who will not get out of her car to hear the end of a report and hardly a day goes by that I don't recommend the station to another Berliner."

"I am highly irritated by the very recent and seemingly arbitrary scheduling changes, namely the extra hour of Morning Edition, the loss of an hour of Diane Rehm and the rescheduling of Tell Me More. Could you please restore the old schedule?" Thank you, Helen Kornblum.

Thanks for your concern Helen & Thomas about past and present changes. NPR has a finite number of programs in the distribution chain. NPR FM Berlin is challenged to maintain the currency of a 24 hour weekly schedule when programs come and go - beyond our control.

Here's the official reason, according to Ellen McDonnell, NPR's Executive Director of News Programming, and Teshima Walker, Tell Me More Senior Supervising Producer, for Tell Me More's current Monday - Friday 5 pm live Berlin broadcast:

"We have determined that moving the feed back two hours will make Tell Me More a stronger program. A later feed will enable us to better craft and produce same day interviews" (with more timely guests).

Whenever a program change is made, you may or may not like it, because a predictable element in the NPR FM Berlin schedule gets moved, replaced, or cancelled.

You obviously want our programs broadcast via the radio at times that are convenient to your lifestyle. If only this was possible for everyone!

On demand listening to (and podcasting) programs via nprberlin.de and npr.org is one way to help mitigate changes you are unhappy with.

Please leave all of your comments about this change, or any others. I look forward to reading your thoughts.

By Sara Richards

Writer and attorney Geoffrey Upton in Moscow's Red Square. Upton lived in Berlin last year while working towards his Ph.D. His essay on Berlin's Schwules Museum is airing today on NPR's Berlin Stories. (Boris Rapaport)

As a part of the series, "Berlin Stories," writer and attorney Geoffrey Upton recently spoke about the Schwules Museum in Berlin. A Ph.D. student in political theory, Upton lived in Berlin during the 2008-2009 academic year on a Robert Bosch Fellowship.

During his year in Berlin, Upton volunteered at the Schwules Museum one day a week.

The Schwules Museum, or the "Gay Museum" in English, is the world's only museum focused on LGBT history and culture.

As Upton says, Berlin seems like a logical location for such a museum. The city of Love Parade has certainly gained a reputation for being socially progressive and accepting of different lifestyles. Lest you forget the now famous line by Berlin's mayor, Klaus Wowereit: "Ich bin schwul, und das ist auch gut so." I'm gay and that's a good thing, he says.

But after spending some time leafing through the museum's historical documents, Upton began to wonder if being gay in Berlin was so good. True, Germany has more advanced gay rights and anti-discrimination laws than most EU countries, Upton says. But, gay couples don't have the right to marry or adopt children.

In his Berlin Story, Upton asks some tough, and to my ear, thought provoking questions. With the Schwules Museum located on top of a gay nightclub, how many of its patrons have visited the museum? Does "SchwuZ" exist because of the history played out in the museum upstairs? What does progress really look like and how do you measure it? I'm not sure if there are any right answers, but in a city where art and the need for expression are so omnipresent, it seems important to ask.

If you've ever visited the Schwules Museum, or have anything to add, please join in the discussion.

An extended version of Fritz Lang's classic Metropolis premiers at the Berlinale. (Monika Mueller-Kroll for NPR)

By Monika Mueller-Kroll

The restored original cut of Fritz Lang's Metropolis premiered Friday night at the Friedrichstadtpalast in Berlin, 83 years after its first screening. Those who weren't lucky enough to get a ticket for the indoor event headed over to the Brandenburger Tor for an outdoor screening, where Fritz Lang's classic was transmitted via live stream.

About 2,000 die-hard film fans watched the two and a half hour cult classic in freezing temperatures. The restored version includes 30 extra minutes that were discovered in an archive in Buenos Aires. Metropolis was a commercial flop when it premiered in 1927, though it was the most expensive movie in its time.

The Curtain, a massive art installation, makes its debut at the screening of Metropolis. (Monika Mueller-Kroll for NPR)

Korean-American designer Christina Kim created a symbolic curtain for the screening at the Brandenburger Tor. An impressive 300 square cinema curtain made from recycled billboards and film materials.

The cast of Roman Polanski's new film "The Ghost Writer" meets for a press conference at the Berlinale. From left: Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams, Ewan McGregor. (Monika Mueller-Kroll/for NPR)

By Monika Mueller-Kroll

At this year's Berlinale, Roman Polanski's new political thriller, "The Ghost Writer" will be premiering. Though the film is up for a Golden Bear this year, the French-Polish director won't be there.

Polanski is still under house arrest at his Swiss chalet, fighting extradition. Though he won't be present his all-star cast includes Olivia Williams, Pierce Brosnan and Ewan McGregor. At the press conference, they all said they had jumped at the chance to work with Polanski and that they regret him not being at the Berlinale.

Polanski's thriller is the story of a British ghost writer, played by McGregor, who is contracted to write the personal memories of the recently retired prime minister of Great Britain, Pierce Brosnan. The ghost writer finds himself in danger, when he discovers skeletons in the closet of his new boss.

The Ghost Writer is one out of 20 films competing for the Golden Bear, the Berlinale's version of Best Picture at the Oscars.