Anyone know the relevance of all the bears in Berlin?

Just returned from a trip to the xmas markets and while there noticed that loads of shops and companies have bears standing outside with their arms in the air (not real bears obviously!!!) and wondered why.

there is no really deep reason for that, Berlin (does not mean small bear) but the bear is the symbol of the city and the bears are designed by artists or companies, which donated money for different organizations (eg UNICEF) since 2001
in Dresden (200km south of Berlin) we have lions as this is the symbol of Dresden

greets Anne

The Berlin Bear is featured as the Coat of Arms on the Flag of Berlin. For history of Berlin... please go to this site...

The bear was adopted as the symbol of Berlin in the 13th century, but the name Berlin itself is more correctly linked to a Slavonic word relating to a bog. You might have noticed big pink and blue pipes high up crossing roads. They occur near building sites and are to pump the water away as the water table is very near the surface. For more on the history of the city try http://www.berlin-explored.com

The bear is just the symbol of the city.

As the others said, the bear is symbol of the city.
Some years ago there was a project, where artists should design the look of a given bear-sculpture (standing bear with his "arms" up). The results can be seen all over the town.

Bears are quite common in the Berlin region - the statuary kind. A "Bear Rampant" (that means standing up) features very prominently on the official seal of the City of Berlin. BUT, contrary to popular belief, the origins of the city name "Berlin" have nothing to do with Bears. "Berlin" seems to derive from an older Slavic word, "Brl", which means "marsh" or "very damp place". In Germany, there was a ruler named Albert the Bear. also, the story goes that it is because of Albert that the bear has become the symbol of the city of Berlin.

http://www.buddy-bear.com/

Berlin means small bear.