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WahlheYmat Post, Berlin (2026)

21/08/2026

Hey Berliner!

The first responses to StimmlosTrend are in, and two things are already becoming clear:

Housing is emerging as one of the biggest concerns. And almost everyone who has responded so far says they would vote if they had the right to do so.

In other words, the problem is not a lack of interest. It is a lack of opportunity.

But we need many more voices to get a meaningful picture of the nearly one million people who live in Berlin but cannot vote in elections to the House of Representatives.

Our aim is to make StimmlosTrend as representative as possible.To achieve that, we need strong participation from communities across the city.

And there is more good news: StimmlosTrend is now available in six languages: English, German, Turkish, Arabic, Ukrainian and Russian, helping us reach even more of Berlin's international communities.

The survey will remain open until around 7 September, and the results will be published before the Berlin election.

If you cannot vote in the Berlin House of Representatives election, please take part here.

And if you can vote, you can still help: share the survey with friends, colleagues, neighbours or communities who cannot.

Together with our media partners Berliner Morgenpost, 20Percent and Handpicked Berlin, and with the support of community organisations across Berlin, we want to make sure these perspectives become part of the public debate before election day.

Thank you to everyone who has already participated, translated, shared or supported StimmlosTrend. Every response brings us closer to a clearer picture of Berlin's missing voices.

03/08/2026

These words were written by Paul Arden, one of my favourite creative directors. He also wrote three amazing little books. They are absolutely worth reading.

We all live inside boxes. Call them mindsets, patterns, routines or habits—the invisible structures within us. Around us are others: rules, laws, institutions and systems. What frustrates me most about Germany today is how many things are treated as if they were simply given. Industry. The party system. Education. City planning. Citizenship. Language. Voting rights. The list is endless. The people making decisions about our lives remain trapped inside those boxes. Let's free ourselves first. Let's challenge the status quo. Let's think differently.

Democracy doesn't renew itself. People do. And every change starts with a conversation. With the decision to leave old boxes behind. This is why WahlheYmat created StimmlosTrend. (Have you completed the survey? Have you applied to become an ambassador? Find out more here: https://wahlheymat.de/stimmlostrend/) This is why we are bringing WahlheYmat Talks to local libraries. This is why we launched Über sieben Ecken. (Still open for participation. Visit the website for more information: https://sieben-ecken.wahlheymat.de/

And this is why you are reading the 45th edition of WahlheYmatPost. (Please invite your friends and community to subscribe.) Everything we do has one purpose: to encourage people to think differently. Now, however, even we need a short break. For the next two weeks, we are taking some time off to travel, recharge and return with a fresh perspective. Until then, I leave you with one question: If you could change one thing in this city, what would it be? And what could you do to make it happen?

This text was written by Iván Gábor as a foreword to the latest issue of WahlheYmatPost.

29/07/2026

When I moved to Berlin in 2022, I wanted to become part of the city I had chosen to call home.

One sunny afternoon, someone approached me with a clipboard and asked if I wanted to sign a petition. I happily did. It felt like such a simple but meaningful way to get involved in my new community.

Only later did I find out that my signature was never counted. Not because anyone rejected it, but because I don't have German citizenship.

A few months later, I proudly voted for the first time in Berlin's district elections as an EU citizen. I had spent hours reading the Wahl-O-Mat in German, determined to make an informed decision. But even then, I didn't realise that everyone around me was casting two more votes than I was allowed to.

The more I tried to participate, the more I realised that this wasn't just my story.

Around one million international Berliners live, work, pay taxes, raise families and shape this city every day. Yet many of us have little or no say in the political decisions that affect our lives. Our perspectives rarely appear in polls, public debates or election coverage.

Instead of accepting that, I decided to do something about it.

That's why I joined WahlheYmat and helped launch —an initiative that asks international Berliners what they think about the city they call home and makes those perspectives visible ahead of this year's elections.

Because democracy isn't only about who gets to vote. It's also about whose voices are heard.

If you're one of Berlin's international residents, we'd love to hear from you. And if you know someone who can't vote—or can only vote to a limited extent—please share the survey with them.

Let's make invisible voices visible. 💛

Text by WahlheYmat member Esther Nass.

22/07/2026

Can't vote in Berlin? There are a million people like you. We're giving you a voice.

That's the message of WahlheYmat's new StimmlosTrend campaign, which launches today. Modern democracy is built on elections. In Berlin, the House of Representatives is elected every five years by eligible German citizens (EU citizens can only vote in district elections). But Berlin has changed.

Today, around one million people who live permanently in the city cannot vote. They come from more than 170 countries. They work here, pay taxes, raise families, build companies and help shape Berlin every day. Yet their voices are largely missing from public debate. At WahlheYmat, we believe this presents a democratic challenge. We cannot give people a vote. But we can give them a voice. Every month, researchers publish the BerlinTrend, measuring the opinions of eligible voters. We believe it's time to listen to everyone else as well. That's why we're launching the StimmlosTrend.

Through this survey, we want to understand how Berliners without voting rights see the city's future, how they participate today, what they think about Berlin's governance, and whether they would vote if they had the opportunity.

Today we're launching a pilot survey. This is only the beginning. Over the coming weeks, we're looking for StimmlosTrend Ambassadors from Berlin's many international communities — people who can help us reach their friends, neighbours and networks, so that in late August and September we can carry out the first large-scale, representative StimmlosTrend survey. If you'd like to help make sure your community is heard, write to us at [email protected].

We want to make the voices of international Berliners as visible as those captured by the BerlinTrend. Together with our media partner, the Berliner Morgenpost, we'll bring the results into the public debate before the election.

Our ambition is to make the voices of international Berliners impossible to ignore. Berlin has changed forever. Now its democracy needs to catch up. If you can't vote, start by completing the survey. Let's make every voice heard!

Follow the link in bio to take the survey. And tell all your friends about it!

20/07/2026

The right to vote and stand for election, the House of Representatives, the District Councils, party lists – politics is complicated. And in Berlin, it’s even more complicated. That’s why we’ve developed the Berlin Wiki in collaboration with the Berliner Morgenpost. It’s a guide to help you navigate the complexities of Berlin’s day-to-day political life. Here you’ll find all the key information about the upcoming election in September. So that you, too, can understand what you’re actually voting for.

Follow the link in our bio and share this information with all people who should know about that.

17/07/2026

Berlin lebt von den Verbindungen zwischen Menschen, Ideen und Geschichten. Unsere "über sieben Ecken"-Kampagne zeigt auf spielerische Weise: Wir sind alle vernetzt. Tippe sieben-ecken.wahlheymat.de in dein Browser-Fenster, um bei unserem Schneeballspiel mitzumachen. Wir wollen alle Menschen sichtbar machen, die seit 2023 eingebürgert wurden - und nun erstmals wählen dürfen.

WahlheYmat wurde gegründet, um demokratische Teilhabe und gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalt zu stärken. Mit Informationen, Begegnungen und Projekten möchten wir Menschen ermutigen, ihre neugewählte Heimat aktiv mitzugestalten.

Im Berlin-Wiki, das WahlheYmat gemeinsam mit der Berliner Morgenpost entwickelt hat, findest du verständlich erklärte Informationen rund um die Berliner Wahlen – von den wichtigsten Begriffen bis zum Wahlsystem. Wir wollen deine Wahlbeteiligung erleichtern. Um zum Wiki zu gelangen, einfach dem Link in Bio folgen.

29/06/2026

"We must ensure that visitors understand our swimming rules," explained the director of a public swimming area in Saxony-Anhalt when asked about the sign that read: "No German. No Entry." What can we learn from this?

One useful tool for understanding complex problems is the "5 Whys" method, developed by Japanese industrial engineer Taiichi Ohno. Let's give it a try.

1. Why do visitors need to speak German to understand the rules at a swimming area? Actually, they don't. Signs, pictograms, and simple communication tools can help people understand safety rules regardless of the language they speak.

2. Why doesn't the swimming area use these tools? Probably because the staff are experts in water safety and pool management, not communication design. And they may not have the support needed to develop better solutions.

3. Why are they left alone with this challenge? Perhaps because Germany is still learning what it means to be a multilingual society. This reality affects every part of life, from swimming areas and schools to public services and customer relations.

4. Why is adapting to multilingualism so difficult? Because language is not only a practical issue. It is also tied to identity, culture, and skills.

5. Why is it so hard to rethink these patterns? Because change creates uncertainty and requires effort. Seen from this perspective, the swimming area staff may have been right to raise safety concerns. But the issue may also have been their own uncertainty in dealing with a changing reality.

The swimming area in Saxony-Anhalt is only one small example of a much bigger picture: cities, villages, organizations, and people trying to navigate profound social change. Our task is not to deny these changes or to fear them. The opposite of fear is not certainty. It is courage: the courage to ask difficult questions, to help one another find practical and humane solutions, and to build an inclusive, collaborative society for everyone.

This text was written by as a foreward to the latest WahlheYmatPost.

24/06/2026

"If you need my parking space, take the whole package!" (Sign on a disabled parking space.)

This phrase came back to me recently. It reminds me that nothing comes without trade-offs. I was standing on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France, on the second day of a D-Day tour. Somehow, for the first time, I felt the weight that comes with being a German citizen. As naturalized citizens, we also learn that a new home brings a new responsibility: responsibility for its past, its present, and its future.

That responsibility can sometimes feel heavy. Standing on a beach where thousands of people died fighting against the predecessors of the nation I now belong to, I felt it very clearly. But it is also a responsibility that can unite us. It is one of the reasons why, at WahlheYmat, we focus on bringing old and new citizens together to build new social cohesion.

There is a sculpture standing in the sand: The Braves by Anilore Banon. The sculpture itself invites reflection, but it was the beautifully written text accompanying it that captured this idea better than I ever could: “The sculpture of The Braves is made of three elements:

The Wing of Hope

So that the example of those men on June 6, 1944, continues to inspire us, reminding us that together it is always possible to change the future.

Rise, Freedom!

So that the example of those who rose against barbarism helps us remain standing against all forms of inhumanity.

The Wings of Fraternity

So that this surge of brotherhood always reminds us of our responsibility toward others as well as ourselves.”

This text was written as a foreward to out latest WahlheYmatPost ➡️ follow link in bio for more.

12/06/2026

We’ve got a lot going on at the moment. As well as the WahlheYmat Talks and our Berlin Wiki on the upcoming House of Representatives election, we also attended the summer party hosted by Katarina Niewiedzial, the Senate’s Commissioner for Integration. A panel discussion focused on Radio Cosmo, its future, and the responsibility public service media have in representing their citizens. For us, one thing is clear: media production can only be done with us, not for us. We – the nearly one million people in Berlin who do not hold German citizenship, and the many others with a migration background – need a voice to the outside world – we need Radio Cosmo.

11/06/2026

Together with the Weltberliner initiative of , we had a unique and inspiring discussion about political rode models. Together with four politicians with migration histories from different parties we talked about their remarkable stories. And of course, we don't want to gatekeep what we found out. Here are our top 5 takeaways:

FAMILY
Family provides both a compass and a sense of security, especially for people growing up in immigrant families. Migration stories are part of far more German families than we often realize.

MOTIVATION
Personal experiences, challenges, and even traumas can become powerful drivers of political engagement. The desire to create positive change often begins with lived experience. Role models help strengthen that motivation.

REPRESENTATION
Politics — parliaments, parties, governments, and public administration — should reflect the diversity of society. Gender, origin, social background, and life experience all matter. This is at the heart of representative democracy.

PARTIES
Political parties are value-based communities within a democracy. They are places where committed people can make a difference. Joining a party, finding your political home, and even changing parties when necessary are all part of democratic participation.

WOMEN IN POLITICS
Four women from four different parties shared their personal stories, challenges, and lessons learned. What stood out was the empathy and respect they showed one another, placing human connection above political differences.

Thank you for being there:

Pilar Caballero Alvarez – Member of the Executive Board of Die Linke Berlin and candidate for the Berlin House of Representatives in Reinickendorf

Ülker Radziwill – Member of the Berlin House of Representatives (SPD)

Aldona Niemczyk – Member of the Berlin House of Representatives (CDU)

Tuba Bozkurt – Member of the Berlin House of Representatives (Green Party)

Moderator: Li Tianjue

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