Queer Berlin Guided Tour

Berlin is the queer capital of Europe, having been at the forefront of the gay and lesbian rights movement since the late 19th century. This tour takes you on a colourful journey through two neighbourhoods; Kreuzberg, home of alternative culture, ethnic diversity, liberal politics; and Berlin’s own queer neighbourhood, Schöneberg, home of Marlene Dietrich and chronicled by Christopher Isherwood and Otto Dix.
After seeing one of Berlin’s oldest gay and transvestite bars frequented by the openly gay Nazi SA leader Ernst Röhm, we’ll visit the Memorial to Homosexuals Persecuted Under Nazism. Here you’ll discover how openly queer and transgendered individuals gained assistance from advocates such as Magnus Hirschfeld, whose Institute for Sexual Research was shut down in 1933, its library destroyed in the infamous Nazi book burnings.
Find out how queer figures, from Prussia’s King Frederick the Great to openly gay mayor Klaus Wowereit, have shaped the history of Berlin, a city that still believes a “kiss-in” to be the best form of protest. The tour concludes at the Gay Museum in vibrant Kreuzberg.