Nevcivan Türkoglu unbuttons the top button of her dress.

Around her neck she hangs a wet rag made of paper.

"Cools the whole body," says Türkoglu, "can't do without it." Outside, the midday sun is beating down on gray Hanau.

At the bus stop, people crowd into the shady strips of the canopies.

Inside, in the Mevlana kebap house, Türkoglu is protected from the sun.

But the heat of the kebab skewer drives beads of sweat onto her upper lip.

David Lindenfeld

volunteer.

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It doesn't take many steps through Hessen's smallest city on Wednesday to realize: If you can, stay at home in this weather.

Türkoglu would also prefer to be somewhere else now.

For guests, there's air conditioning in the seating area, which fights the sun and the spit with moderate success.

None of this gets through behind the counter.

"It's unbearable," says the fifty-four-year-old, "but somehow we're holding out."

These days, this applies to many professional groups who are struggling with the heat: garbage collectors, road workers, postmen, crane drivers.

And also the many kebab shops and grill stations, which are rarely talked about.

The kebab and the Germans are in any case an ambivalent relationship between respect and contempt.

"Consuming kebabs is like visiting a brothel," writes Eberhard Seidel in his book "Döner - Eine deutsch-türkik Kulturgeschichte": "Hundreds of thousands do it every day, but those who provide the service are denied social recognition."

Elon Musk is also a fan

According to Statista, the production and sale of doner kebabs generates around 2.4 billion euros in sales per year in Germany.

The luxury hotel Adlon in Berlin has meanwhile added doner kebabs to the menu.

When Elon Musk was asked on Twitter what he likes to eat in this country, he replied: "döner kebap".

In many places, the doner kebab has successfully defended itself against the dingy image that was once attached to it.

This can also be seen in Hakans Kebap in Hanau.

The interior design is modern.

An air conditioner cools the room to a comfortable temperature.

"In this weather, we can only hope that it doesn't break," says owner Hakan Sefer.

And that it will soon be cooler again.

Because the heat is bad for business: “Fewer customers come.

The city is empty during the day.” Most people only eat at his place in the evening, when the city has really heated up and it gets even more uncomfortable on a skewer.

This is also the case with Jahangir Rahimi.

He has been in his grill station for 27 years.

He doesn't offer kebabs.

On the other hand, the roast chicken grill, deep fryer and the sun make the temperatures unbearable.

He has a third fewer customers on such a hot day.

Nevertheless, he prefers that to the cold winter.

In the pandemic, all the shops around him had closed.

"I persevered," says Rahimi proudly.

What is the heat supposed to do to him?

The earth will keep turning - and so will the tables.