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My Berlin: Dussmann Kulturkaufhaus, more than a bookshop

Pieces & places in Berlin

If I have 3 days or 7 weeks to spend in the German capital city, I make time to stop at Dussmann.

Conveniently located near Berlin’s Friedrichstrasse train station, the “department store of culture” offers more than simply German-language books to serve fiction read-needs or magazines to gauge what’s happening near and far. There’s a separate English language bookshop, as well as an enormous catalog of music, film, and television. The space is also large enough to hold some cultural events. Naturally, there’s a “BerlinShop” for my postcard and your souvenir requirements. And because it’s Berlin, they stay open past 11pm Monday to Saturday.

Dussmann is an important place and piece to the extensive conceptual mosaic I’ve created over the years with the amount of time spent in Berlin since 2002. I never regret any visit to Dussmann. I always regret what’s about to happen: my wallet gets a little lighter, and that I somehow have the massive fortitude to leave with “only” a handful of books.

Dussmann Kulturkaufhaus, Berlin, Deutschland, Germany, fotoeins.com

Completed in 1997, the lower 5 floors of the 8-storey building is all about the Kulturkaufhaus, whereas the upper 3 floors are reserved for office space which includes the Dussmann Group. Photo, 27 May 2025.

At the far end on the ground floor (Erdgeschoss) is the sphinx of Egypt’s Queen Hatshepsut (about 1475 BCE), on permanent loan from the Egyptian Museum of Berlin. The inscrutable statue greets visitors to the café below, as well as the English language bookshop at right. Photo, 27 May 2025.

From the 2nd floor (erste Obergeschoss) this view along the central aisle shows how the combination of natural light from above, mix of artificial lighting and colours, and hanging leafage provides a welcoming atmosphere, which undoubtedly makes it easier for customers to spend. Photo, 30 May 2025.

“Under Berlin’s skies, there’s only one Dussmann.” On the 2nd floor, the theatre banner-like display highlights the movie and television section, and if the quote is indeed from Wim Wenders, it’s an interesting play on the title “Der Himmel über Berlin”, a film Wenders directed in 1987. In the television section, I found DVDs for early-seasons (series) of New Zealand’s “The Brokenwood Mysteries”, distributed in Germany as “Brokenwood – Mord in Neuseeland”. Photo, 30 May 2025.

Café Nénom, Dussmann Kulturkaufhaus, Berlin, Deutschland, Germany, fotoeins.com

Afternoon break at Café Nénom with coffee and book: “The Wall” (“Die Wand”), a work of fiction published in 1963 and written by Austrian Marien Haushofer. Photo, 27 May 2025.

Directions & Hours

• BVG U-Bahn U6 train to Friedrichstrasse station.
• S-Bahn Berlin train: S1, S2, S25, S26; S3, S5, S7, or S9 to Friedrichstrasse station.
• Leaving Friedrichstrasse station, it’s a short 120-metre (400-ft) walk south to the shop.
• BVG Tram M1 or 12 to stop “S+U Friedrichstrasse Bhf”.

Monday to Friday: 9h–0h; Saturday: 9h–2330h; Sunday (BerlinShop only): 13h-18h.

( View this location in OpenStreetMaps )

I received no prior support or subsequent compensation for this piece. I made all above images with a P15 on 27 and 30 May 2025. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-wj0.

Regierungsviertel, Marschallbrücke, Spree, Berlin, Germany, Deutschland, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday, Berlin 2025 (9): Government District

Facing west to the Regierungsviertel (Government district) over the Spree river from the bridge Marschallbrücke, the Reichstag is a symbol of the turbulent and tragic past, and the post-reunification buildings that are the Paul-Löbe-Haus and the Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders Haus are representative of the present and hope for the future.

I made the image above on 27 May 2025 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime and these settings: 1/1000-sec, f/13, ISO1000, and 18.5/28mm focal length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-vHD.

Berlin, Deutschland, Germany, Helmut Newton, Helmut Newton Stiftung, Museum fuer Fotografie, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday, Berlin 2025 (8): Helmut Newton’s Polaroids

Polaroid by Helmut Newton, for American Vogue, Monaco, 1979.

Newton made many small Polaroid images throughout his renowned career as a way to test or experiment with ideas, because all he had at the time were film-cameras. In other words, he could afford to “waste” Polaroids, but not his “work film”. Yes, I know: I made a photograph of a Polaroid made to print and set on display in a museum in Berlin. But there’s something subversive about this digital version existing somewhere in the aether, an image which many will look and pass by, in a similar manner unknowing to them of having seen a physical print somewhere in a museum or gallery.

I made the image above on 25 May 2025 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime and these settings: 1/60-sec, f/4, ISO3200, and 18.5/28mm focal length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-vHs.

Putlitzbruecke, Berlin Deutschland, Germany, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday, Berlin 2025 (7): “Asian Food”

Why is an Asian food (“Asiatisches Lebensmittel”) warehouse outlet situated next to a waste- and recycling-facility? Circumstances couldn’t be helped? Microaggressions manifested as a passive-aggressive real-estate interaction?

Am I also complicit in white privilege?

I made the image above on 24 May 2025 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime and these settings: 1/1000-sec, f/10, ISO1000, and 18.5/28mm focal length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-vGg.

Nuremberg: Fuji(film)-Store

“Home of X Photography”

It’s a busy active crowded Saturday in Nuremberg’s city centre. There’s a big music festival with acts ranging in size from solo artists to 3-piece bands. But as I walk across town, I see a big Fujifilm sign, and as I approach, I can see this is no ordinary camera shop.

I learn there’s been a Fuji shop in the city for a number of years, and only this past February did they move to this new location. Judging by layout and the upstairs gallery, the Fuji shop has a feel similar to aLeica shop. That’s because the owner of Nuremberg’s Fuji-Store created the shop based on their experience operating the city’s Leica shop nearby. I chat with Peter, the gentleman in the shop about what’s out now and what else might be expected. We agree to a common wish: to have Fuji fill a current niche with a compact portable point-and-shoot at the right price point. How about an X80 product variant?

I’ve done my fair share of drooling (but no buying) at Leica shops in Frankfurt and Vienna, and I enjoyed doing the same to available X-models on display at Nuremberg’s Fuji-Store. Did I buy? No. Am I thinking about life after the X70? Yes.

I can also see Fuji X Weekly having some fun here in the shop.

I received neither support nor compensation for this piece. I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 2 August 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.