"Queer Berlin – The queer capital of Europe"

Información

Queer individuals have shaped Berlin since the 18th Century, all the way from Frederick the Great to Klaus Wowereit, Germany’s first openly gay politician, and mayor of Berlin for 13 years. On this tour your guide will lead you through the Tiergarten, the city’s best-known gay meeting spot, which used to brush right up against the Berlin Wall. You’ll discover the life and work of Magnus Hirschfeld, who promoted the rights of queer and transgendered individuals in the early 20th Century, only to be cruelly shut down by the Nazis in 1933. You will also visit the memorial to the homosexuals persecuted by the Nazis and discuss the notorious “Section 175” of the German penal code that criminalised male homosexual activity until the 1990s.

Your guide will also take you to Schöneberg, home of the ‘rainbow neighbourhood’, Berlin’s gay district, once home to Marlene Dietrich, Christopher Isherwood, and the famous ‘El Dorado’ club in the ‘20s. The tour will finish by the ‘Schwules (gay) Museum’, not too far from Nollendorfplatz, home of Berlin’s gay nightlife scene.

Meeting/pick-up point: Outside Weihenstephaner restaurant opposite Hackescher Markt S-Bahn station.
Duration: 3 hours.
Start/opening time: 10am.
End/closing time: 1pm.
Languages: English.
Others: End point: Gay Museum, Schöneberg.