Create meetup in Berlinchevron_right
Select a place on the map to change the location.
I want to meet
Verified required?
want to meet at fmd_good Steeped
want to meet at fmd_good Hole in One
want to meet at fmd_good The Spot
explore Berlin Guides
Berlin Hidden Gems (2026)
kirstin
Berlin on a Budget: Tips 2026
annette
Where to Stay in Berlin (2026)
frieda
3 Days in Berlin: Itinerary 2026
rabeakurth
Things to Do in Berlin (2026)
viktoria
Best Food in Berlin (2026)
bar_chart Trends in Berlin
Berlin's Bureaucracy Blues
ngl the whole "show up in person" advice is cute but the BMAS security is no joke, they wont even let u past the glass doors without a confirmed appointment name on their list. i'd try the Bundesarchiv route instead, they have a reading room on Finckensteinallee that keeps internal ministry documents from the last 30 years, and the archivists there are super helpful, they might even point u to specific Referate that published stuff on gig work. also check if your uni library has a connection to the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, they sometimes sponsor access to ministry internals through their Fachinformationsdienste program, way less hassle than dealing with the ministry directly
The trick with the BMAS is that the official email addresses listed on the website go to a central mailbox that gets hundreds of requests a day. You're better off using the "Pressekontakt" form on their site and specifically stating you're a researcher writing a thesis, not a journalist. They're more likely to forward it to the right Referat than the general info address. Also, the building on Wilhelmstraße has a small public library on the ground floor that's open to anyone, and the librarians there sometimes know which Abteilungen are working on digital labor topics.
yeah the whole institution thing is a nightmare honestly. i'd prob skip the cold email route and just call the switchboard directly, ask for the Referat that handles Arbeitsmarkt or Soziale Sicherung, they might transfer u to someone who actually knows what's up. the online portals are designed to filter u out, not help u.
load 5 more replies
What is the correct spelling for a street name that appears differently on multiple signs in Charlottenburg?
Worth noting that Berlin street names have official umlaut and ß rules that trip people up, so a sign showing "Strasse" versus "Straße" is not actually a spelling error, just an older transcription. Same with "ue" versus "ü" (e.g. "Kantstrasse" vs "Kantstraße"), both are considered valid renderings and you'll see the ß version on the blue Schilder and the ss version on older plaques or in databases that predate Unicode. If the difference you're seeing is between those two forms, there's nothing to fix and both are technically correct.
if the signs u mean are the old enamel ones on the house facades those are often protected as Baudenkmal so nobody's allowed to correct them even if the spelling is outdated. the binding version is whatever is in the Berliner Strassenverzeichnis plus the entry in the Liegenschaftskataster, so if u tell me the street i can point u to the right Bezirksamt Mitte or Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf page. tbh the merged district thing is real but the facade signs are a separate story, theyre basically museum pieces at this point
honestly thats super common in Charlottenburg, the district offices were merged from older Bezirke and nobody ever fixed all the Schilder. if its a real street you can check the official strassenverzeichnis on berlin.de, that list is what the Burgeramt actually goes by. which street is it? some of the Kaiserdamm / Kantstrasse signs are notorious for this.