Tips for black people new in Hamburg

Hi All,

I am a London girl and will be moving to Hamburg in August to live and work. Although I have lived and worked abroad before, this will be my first time in Germany. I was born in London but my parents are from Jamaica so I am, to use a U.K. term, "Afro Caribbean". I have no problems with regards to my accommodation because that will be provided by my employers for the first six months. What I would like to know is:

1. How are Germans, in particular those from Hamburg, like towards black people?

2. Are there any hairdressers in Hamburg that are experienced in managing black hair?

For all you guys out there, these two questions may seem very disparate, but believe me us girls, especially us Black girls, need to know the answer to number two!

Hope to hear from you all soon.

Welcome to Hamburg! You will see a lot of blacks along the U2 line from Berliner Tor to Barmbek, especially around Deinheiden area. I hear Jamaican accent and French but I don't know anyone of them. And sorry, don't know any hairdressers who do african hair too. I'm sure you'll find some in that area.

1. you´ll probably be pleasantly surprised ...

2. plenty ... just google for Friseur Hamburg

You'll be okay, having lived in London you might even be more wary and careful of the not so nice aspects of big cities than you need to be in Hamburg.
Keep in mind that Germans can and will be very blunt and sometimes seem unfriendly - they do this to everyone regardless of age, skin colour, or accent. Don't take it personal.
Can't remember names or addresses but your hair defo won't have to do without a pro, either.
Enjoy Hamburg!

What do they teach you at school? All Germans are children-eating monsters, especially black children? Absolutely ridiculous. I´m really fed up with these kind of questions.

It was a very reasonable question. Do you expect everyone to know about German people attitudes?

So you are fed up with people not knowing stuff and having to ask?

Great, just what we need - another local diving in on the forum and defending the German population at large. Don't waste your breath.

It was a reasonable couple of questions.

p.s. I know where I live we had a black guy called David down at the gym (asylum seeker) I trained with a bit. His mates had already warned him not to even bother trying to get into the local disco as they would never let him in. David went to live in London. I trust Hamburg has better attitudes but these things can be different around the country, so I don't see how our new lady from London is expected to know.

There are quite a number of wild racist people around in the eastern Länder, Im not saying all are like that, or even necessarily the majoriy, but there have been some pretty nasty attacks over there. So yes I think the question was reasonable.

Hi Potl,

I'm sure that I don't need to tell you that there are racist arseholes all over the World, but my guess is that there are loads more in the UK than in Hamburg. It's a lovely city and you're unlikely to come across any serious racism here.

If you do come across a good hairdresser managing black hair please let me know because my 10 year old (white) son has an afro and wants to get corn rows done.

Welcome to Hamburg!

Hi Potl,
don't know if this would be much of help, but am also black and i do my hair in Harburg just abt 15 mins away from Hamburg by train

How much do they charge for corn rows?

i haven't done corn rows yet since i mainly put on artificial hair(braids etc), but will def chec on that on that one

Dear All,

Sorry it has taken me so long to reply to your messages, but have been a bit busy getting ready for the move.

Thank you for all your positive replies (especially Miwild with contacts for the hair), really pleased to hear that I should be O.K.

As for the comments from Felicio, let me say that as a Londoner if someone who was moving to London had asked me similar questions, my reaction would not have been so venomous. When you are moving to a new city, especially one abroad, there are lots of things to think about and lots of things you need to know that your employers will either not know or are not willing to tell you about. If you can get a positive reply from people who live and work there outside of your work environment, it can make all the difference. I am not sure where Felicio calls home, but if it is Hamburg, surely there should be a welcome in the reply. Try to be a bit more accommadating.

Thanks again.

With this reply you proved that the question was absolutely reasonable.
I'm German, too, and what I am really fed up with are self-righteous people like you who can't see past the end of their nose.

@Potl
When I first read your question I wasn't sure about a reply as being German and white I don't have first hand experiences.
My first love had an Afro-American father, and we did get some strange looks and nasty comments, but that was more than 20 years ago, I like to think that times have changed.
As it was said before, there's racists everywhere in the world. But Hamburg is a big city, with many different cultures, and I think you'll be doing fine here.
But you're lucky that you don't have to worry about accommodation - landlords can be quite difficult in Hamburg, resp. generally in Germany. For the nice flats in nice areas there's always loads of applicants, which can make it difficult to find accommodation for ANYBODY - friends of us had trouble finding a flat just because they have two children, our neighbours had practically no other option than to buy a flat, because they have two children and are a teacher and a lawyer - both professions are not very much wanted by landlords...

Conc. hairdressers: there's loads of African hairdressers here. I come across them very often. I know there's various in Schanzenviertel, have seen at least two in Hoheluft and Barmbek. Can't think of the others at the moment, but will keep my eyes open and post it here if I see any more.

Another recommendation if you're into Caribbean food: we've just been at a nice Caribbean restaurant yesterday, it's called Roatan and the food is very good. Good cocktails, too It's in Osterstraße in Eimsbüttel (new address) - very easy to reach, 2 Min. walk from U2 station Osterstraße.

Hope you don't have too much trouble moving, maybe you'd like to join us for one of the Pub quiz nights at Finnegan's Wake Irish Pub

Yes!!

Hey, just today, I was at Obi's and the woman served the man BEHIND me first! I asked her if it's because I'm Auslander! Of course she said "no" because it'll be serious if she's contempt of racism here. AND that's the truth! That's how we are treated in Germany sometimes!


I don't read her post like that. I guess if I were to go to Africa or any country I know very little about, I would also ask if I will be targeted & if people will accept me...

Zimmer, I don't really understand what you write, looks like you think I was replying to Potl saying that she was self-righteous - but that was in fact a reply to what Felicio wrote.

I repeat, I find it absolutely reasonable to ask the questions she asked. If I were moving to England I would also ask if I might face problems being a German in England...

Hope this helped to clarify.

@Hammonia: OK. I misunderstood you.

Dear Hammonia,

Thanks for your comments.

It is interesting what you said about accommodation. My company will be providing accommodation for the first six months, after that I will have to find somewhere to live but I am sure that those six months will give me time to find somewhere in the place that I want. Interesting what you said about landlords not wanting to rent to teachers or lawyers, why is that as the opposite would probably be true in the U.K.

Have been reading about pub quiz on the forum. Once I settle down, I am sure I will make an appearance.

I think the comment that landlords not wanting teachers or lawyers is a strange one. My experience is that every landlord or makler have a different selection technique. Some base it on who sticks out from the crowd, some on whether you earn lots of money, some on whether they think it's the right location in relation to your work, some if they like the look of your face. It's so incredibly varied. The biggest trouble spot in my experience is that when you go to a viewing and see lots of people wanting to take the flat then the selection techniques get heavily used. When there are only 2-3 interested parties then it's all based on who earns the most.

What would interest me is if this is a West/East thing as I have been living on the East side of Hamburg the whole time. I know when you go in the direct Eppendorf and Co. then things are rather different...

In the past 6 years I have moved around 4-5 times so I have had my fill of maklers and viewings

--matt

Teachers have the reputation (at least in Germany) of sueing people wherever they can - and lawyers, too. So a combination of a teacher and a lawyer is not desired by most landlords.


True, everybody does it their own way, but having quite a few teachers in my circle of friends and acquaintances, I can say it seems to be true that teachers and lawyers are not the first choice for landlords. So not the comment is strange, but the way of handling by the landlords is strange.
Don't know if it's a West/East thing - I've heard it for the most wanted areas like Eimsbüttel, Eppendorf, Barmbek-Süd, Winterhude - for these areas there's always 20 candidates for each available flat - so landlords pick whoever seems to be smallest trouble... That's why they often don't like families, they rather have singles or couples without children in the flats, even if the flats are huge, but families are assumed to cause more mess and damage.

I did business with a girl whose father is Nigerian, mother German, she speaks perfect German and English, has a very good and well paid job, she said if she went to see people and talked to them, things seemed to be fine, but if the people who got to decide who gets the flat only saw her questionnaire, she never got the flat, cos she was born in Nigeria. Her sister had the same problem.
I don't like it, but I assume the brutal truth is that if you're black (or Turkish, Romanian, Polish, you name it) it can be quite tiresome to look for a flat - even if the landlord doesn't mind, he might think the neighbours would mind... But again, that's not my personal experience, it's hearsay. Doesn't mean it always has to be like this.

When Mat and I were first looking for a flat I was also a bit worried we might have more difficulties with Mat being English, but then Hamburg has always been a very anglophile city, it might as well have helped us in the end. Who knows. Maybe one fine day I will ask our landlord if it influenced his decision in any way.

For finding a flat there's one tip that I can give you, it always worked for me, I never had big trouble finding a flat: make yourself remembered by the person who shows you around. Especially if there's 20 other people visiting, it is good to have some kind of personal chat with the agent/landlord/whoever - and call them first thing next morning to tell them again that you are really interested in the flat and are willing to provide them with whatever recommendation etc. they require. A bit of a personal touch always worked for me.

Yes. What Hammonia wrote is true: first hand experience: being Asian, wanting an apartment in the areas she mentioned and not willing to pay more! Ended up viewing flats after flats, sometimes feeling like rats going through tunnels as sometimes, we had as many as 15 people viewing at the same time!! They usually make viewing on certain day & time - like working hours - and if you missed it, too bad! In the end, I got my first (very nice) apartment because I talked to this Hausverwaltung housing management??) at another apartment I was viewing. Knowing that he works for a Hausverwaltung, I asked for his name card and asked if they have more properties for rent. Turned out to have one & I was the only one viewing it, so I got it I think partly because I brought along my work contract & working for a well-known international company is very important. I got my second apartment in a fairly similar way: I went to talk to the Hausverwaltung and told her why I like the place, the location etc. and put that on my "application" form. I hate these forms because my personal details esp. salary details is viewable by everyone!! Oh, if you want to save on agent commission, go for Hausverwaltung! No commission and usually easy to get hold of re: fixing things in the apartment. Good luck!

My experience was that they found me rather interesting. One time I even spoke English with one makler. Being a professional from England is a good combo really!


I agree totally there! Standing out from the crowd is VERY important. Even if you ask just a few simple questions about the flat that can sometimes be enough!

--matt

Hi All,

I feel as if I am experiencing deja vu when I read about renting in Germany. I worked for sometime in Switzerland and finding an apartment there was exactly the same process. Lots of people going for the same apartment, filling in forms in which you had to give what I considered to be a lot of personal information i.e. salary etc, waiting to see if you were one of the "chosen ones" and knowing full well it often came down to whether they liked the cut of your jib or not. It all became a bit much. In the end we had to rely on our MD getting involved with personal recommendations otherwise we wouldn't have got anywhere.

I have been advised that they have found me an apartment, not sure exactly where it is, but it is about 2.5km from Stresemannstrasse. I don't know if that is a good area or not, but at least for the time being I don't have the worry about going through the beauty contest of finding a flat!

@Potl: Do you know the name of the street (of your new place)? 2.5 km of Stresemannstr could mean anything! If it's north and east, that means you will be near the Alster River. If it's west/north-west, I wouldn't want to live out there as it's "industrial". If it's south/west, it's posh You can take a look at this map, perhaps to orientate yourself.

Dewar Zimmer,

I know that a radius of 2.5 km doesn't narrow things down much, but unfortunately, do not know the address. I will ask and let you know.

Dear Zimmer,

Have found out that I will be living in Langenfelder Damm. Where is that then?

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&...p;z=13&om=1

The wonders of Google Maps.

--matt

You can see where it is from MattA's link. If you don't have a car, you can look up HVV, the public transport site where you can type in your starting point & destination and find the train/bus connection to get you places. I did a check and it shows that you will be on the S-Bahn S21 line and if you click on this map, you get to see your street. It doesn't take too long - 11 min on the train - to get to the city centre. Personally, I would not want to live there as it's quite "suburb" as I like to be close to Alster, the city centre and a little bit more live Not sure if you got a long term rent there already...

Objection!
Not everything that is not exactly city centre is consequently suburbian. Hamburg is a very big city, and there's some very nice places that are not in the centre, but have their very own charme and are very live.
One of these areas is Eimsbüttel with a huge amount of restaurants, pubs, bars, nice little shops and also big shops, Eimsbüttel is a very green area, there's a few cosy little parks (probably not known by people who have not actually lived there). It may not be the Alster, but it's still very nice.
Langenfelder Damm is a pretty long street - question is: on which side of the Kieler Straße is the flat? If it's close to Lappenbergsallee, it is in Eimsbüttel, then you have plenty of shops, restaurants, cafés etc. right at your doorstep. E.g. Café May where TT's regular bookswapping club meets is only a few hundred (if at all) metres from there.
If the flat is on the other side of Kieler Straße the district is called "Stellingen" - the Stellingen-bit of Langenfelder Damm is not THAT nice, but still within walking distance of the nice Eimsbüttel area - and in this case you would be close to S-Bahn station "Langenfelde" - that means 2 stations by train to Altona (not exactly posh, but the Altona and Ottensen area is very multiculti and it would take you months to check out all the restaurants, bars and pubs there) or 10 minutes to Jungfernstieg or Hauptbahnhof (main train station = city centre).
I used to live around the corner from Langenfelder Damm, the Eimsbüttel-bit, and loved it, it was very quiet, but within walking distance of abt. 10 you have everything you need. We moved a few hundred metres further up and live at the border Stellingen/Eidelstedt now, directly at Hagenbecks Tierpark (Zoo) - it's nice and quiet, a short walk to the U-Bahn station and then one or two stops and you are in the middle of Eimsbüttel - I think it's perfect.

If you let me know (PM) the house number, I can check out the house for you, maybe even take a picture and PM it to you, so you already know where you're going.

Don't worry, you'll most probably be fine in Langenfelder Damm, and if it's not exactly your cup of tea you have at least a place to live and enough time to find something else - if you're planning to stay in Hamburg for longer.

@Hammonia: Well, if it's in Eimsbuttel, that's nice. But the map from HVV showed nearer Stellingen so I've said, PERSONALLY, I do not want to live there. There might be S-bahn but I think it's a 20 min interval?? No thanks! And PERSONALLY, "suburb" is outside Eimsbuttel/Eppendorf/Uhlenhorst U3 circle. I just like to be close to centre.

Well I've checked the maps and my apartment is at the Muggenkampstrasse end of Langenfelde Damm, so I guess I am in the "unfashionable" part! Ah well, it doesn't seem too far away from where I work. I do enjoy walking so I am hoping that I will be able to walk to work.

In this part there are many home-owners, old style high ceilings etc.
Bus stop on the corner and local shops. Buy a bike and you are near to the scene in Osterstr.
Robert Berridge

Hi,

I thought I would let you know that in Altona there is a shop called Grace's World of Beauty and you will find it on Max Brauer, just a few steps from the S-Bahn. This shop has a bit of everything in it. All kinds of products for beauty care relating to people of color. They even have a food selection of carribean specialites.

Grace herself is very friendly and they all speak English in the store. I am sure they would be able to advise you on good hairdressers in the area.

Good Luck with your move. I hope you like it here as much as we do.

That gives the whole thing another sound. In your earlier post you wrote you personally wouldn't want to live there "because it's (= it is) quite suburb" -that sounded as if you were stating a fact, not personal feeling - and to me it sounded a little negative.
Considering that Potl is in London now and has no clue where her company put her, I (personally) rather point out the good sides for her. And even if it were the Stellingen part - it would still offer a lot of advantages.
Btw: there's two different lines going from Langenfelde: S3 (which goes via Altona and takes abt. 15 mins. to city centre) and S21 (which goes via Holstenstraße/Sternschanze and takes abt. 10 mins. to city centre) - both lines go every 10 minutes between abt. 5:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. and before/after that every 20 minutes. So if you don't go very late at night you normally don't have to wait longer than 5 mins. for a train. Not SO much difference to the U-Bahn Line U 3.
And talking about city centre (suppose we are talking about Hamburg Altstadt or Neustadt = the area around Townhall and main shopping road Mönckebergstraße): Eppendorf is actually further away from that area than Stellingen

Aaanyway - having said that, @Potl: you will be happy to hear that Müggenkamstraße is actually the nice end of Langenfelder Damm. As Robert said, there's lots of those really nice old houses with high ceilings and wooden floors. In Grundstraße (also close to Müggenkampstr) there's a market on Wednesdays and Saturdays - veeery nice, if I remember it correctly there's quite a few stands for organic food. It's a lovely market - the area around Müggenkampstr. is just great, short walk (or bus ride) to Osterstraße. If the flat itself is not really crap, I really think you will like it there.

"It's" = "It is". PERSONALLY = my personal opinion. And the dictionary explains it:


Link here.

Thank you very much.

1. Exactly. Potl is not here yet but it's not necessary to paint a bed of roses for the "as-is" situation.
2. There is a reason why the S-bahn is called "suburban train". If you like living in the suburbs, so be it. I don't!

P.S. Don't let Potl think that in Germany, people are not allowed to voice their opinion

So, I read Potl's topic again. All these recommendation of places to live in probably have to move to a new thread altogether. Whatever, say whatever you want. I'm out of here! Tschuss!

Exactly

Dear All,

Well I have had lots of useful info from everyone. O.K. so I'm not in the heart of the action, but I'm new so maybe it's a good thing that I have few distractions whilst I am getting used to the place. In six months time when I have to look for a new flat, I may decide that I want something in an area a bit more lively and move elsewhere. On the other hand, I might like where I am and stay, who knows. Each to his/her own, that's what I say.

Thanks for all your advice and opinions. Nothing that anyone has said has made me regret my decision or made me think that the people in Hamburg will be anything less than welcoming. Hopefully I will see you all once I have settled in.

I have finally moved to Hamburg on Friday. Thought I'd share with some of you on how it went. We searched all the websites everyone on TT recommended, emailed lots of other people and talked to various agents. Further complicated because we don't speak German. In total, it was an intense 6-7 weeks of search.

1. Agents are utterly useless in DE. They didn't lift a finger to help us other than provide us with names of landlords and telephone numbers, we do everything else including calling for appointments for viewing, paying the agency fee (FYI: In DK and the other 9 countries my partner and I lived in, the landlords pays the agency fee, the tenant don't). We paid 160% of the month's rent amount for a 1 year lease, the percentage changes depending on the period of rent. Unlike what some people mentioned in this post, we didn't have to encounter other potential tenants for the apartments we have viewed.

2. Landlords want to know every little bit of our personal life. This I have lots of problems with but my partner quickly flashed out her business cards and that sort of made them happy and end the discussion.

3. We viewed 9 apartments in total over 3 days in Uhlenhorst, Eimsbuttel, Eppendorf and Barmbek. Have taken all forms of public transportations to these places and became experts in reading maps

Have finally settled on a nicely fully furnished Attic Apartment on the 5th Floor near Schulweg (Eimsbuttel) for 780 Euro with one month's deposit. It's about 65 sqm (maybe more). Happy with the place, close enough to a few bus stands connecting to U & S Bahns. Lots of restaurants, pubs, cafes, neighborhood groccers and Penny Mrkt, various types of repair/service shops all around the corner. The canal is near enough and the surrounding areas green for nice walks. Nice!!

Alik

Potl,
There is an Afro Hairdresser in Eimsbüttel on Heußweg. Let me know if you'd like me to get the exact address for you.

I've seen that one too a few days ago.
It's called Maxine's Mama Africa or so. Couldn't find a website.

Have talked to the Nigerian girl I mentioned earlier, she spoke to her sister and gave me following address:

Salon „Monte Carlo“
Fuhlsbüttlerstr. 279
Tel.: 0170-1087077

She said she doesn't have her hair done regularly, but if nobody from her family is around to do it, she just goes to one of the African shops and asks, most of them have a little room in the back where they do hair. Sometimes she just chats up other black women on the train, seems to work for her

Anyway, if your moving to Eimsbüttel, the shop in Heußweg is only a short walk from your flat, it's at the corner Heußweg/Henriettenstraße.

Oh, and btw: welcome to Hamburg - hope you'll enjoy it here.

Welcome to you, too.
It's really a nice area there. Am sure you enjoy some nice evenings out at Osterstraße now that the weather is so nice

good day !
and welcome to hamburg soon

i had dreadlocks when i moved to hamburg 2 years ago. (after 7 years i got rid of them
i went to a fantastic lady at the hair police in st georg , close to the main station
check out their details on www.hairpolice.de

hope it helps!

also check out our book, we published a guide for new residents in hamburg.
it is called "get local! (or get lost! )

you can buy it online or at most bookshops in hamburg.
we also have an online english events calendar.

check it out : www.getlocal.eu.com

take care & happy moving.
liezel

Hi
Don´t know if anyone´s still in this forum. Just wanna put my two cents worth in. For me the main problem in Germany as far as race is concerned, is that a lot of Germans hang on to stereotypes so they may disrespect you without meaning it. I haven´t had problems with nazis since I´ve been living in Hamburg (seven years). I´ve played in East Germany a few times and and I did see Skins and Nazis but they left me alone, most people just partied and enjoyed the concert. The ignorance of some everyday people is more of a problem than Nazis

For hair: Graces world Max Braueralle Altona

Hi, i am black
i know where to do black hair in hamburg city centre, because i do my hair, and altona, just get in touch with me and i can direct you personally...