Courteous Behavior by the Average Berlin Citizen

Berlin, Monday, February 20, 1928
Excerpts from the Diary of Dr. Joseph S. Werlin

The following written comments derive from the diary of my father, written when he was conducting research for his PhD in Berlin. I always found Dad to be most observant. He made incisive comments in the course of his diary about German militarism, nationalism, artistic tastes and some of the mundane, somewhat humorous aspects of German life. I believe that one should take his comments at face value; that is, the average Berliner during the late 1920’s was on balance most courteous. The subsequent bestial qualities displayed by Germans during the Nazi regime can ironically be consistent with civility on a personal basis. I have personally observed extremely polite Southerners who maintained very strict segregationist perspectives and condoned police brutality against Blacks seeking civil liberties.

I am beginning to think the Berliners are a very polite people so much evidence have I witnessed of this trait. The place where I usually eat my dinners is a sort of private restaurant, or small boarding house. Here come students, people of the neighborhood, and others. One goes through a courtyard, climbs two flights of stairs, and rings a bell in order to enter. As the door, he is greeted by “Mealtime”.  The whole expression is “May your meal be blessed”, to which he answers in a similar fashion or with “Good day”. When he enters the dining room, he says mealtime to the people in the room whether he knows them or not, and they return the salutation by the same expression. When one leaves the room, the same formality is observed. This greeting of the morning or day or night is observed to almost universal extent. At almost any neighborhood store, and even in the larger stores, there always takes place an exchange of polite expressions, topped off by the famous “good-bye”. In cafes, hotels, and such public places, the greeting is always given to an even greater extent; however, sometimes to the point of tediousness, is heard the words please and you are welcome. If you are buying a number of things from the grocer, he will say please after each item that he has filled; the motorbus conductor will always say please in asking for fares; the hard-boiled looking policeman will always say bitte shoen (you are welcome) in answer to your thanks, an so down the line. Often these words have become a sort of habit, something like our ‘yes, yes’ and a man wanting to be very polite or helpful will say, please any number of times. Needless to say the words many thanks and other expressions of helpfulness are heard at every turn.

How much respect for age, weakness, or similar forms of helplessness prevails, I am not living here long enough to say. The coin has, however, a reverse side. Women are seldom accorded a seat in a bus or car, except very elderly ladies; there is a good deal of shoving and jostling in getting onto the transportation vehicles, and one has to move fast if he expects to get on at all. But, on the whole, the people conduct themselves very orderly in such vehicles, and maintain the very noticeable and marked characteristics of the German, orderliness, quietness, and sobriety.