Doc.Berlin Is Four Days of Factual Cinema as Kino Babylon Kicks Off for Their Documentary Film Festival

It’ll be four intense days if you are going to watch all films. Kino Babylon have around 30 short and feature length documentary films planned about social issues and unnoticed topics.

The first films will be shown on the big screen on December 9th and the film festival continues until December 12th. There are films by award-winning directors from around the world.

Tickets are limited, but you can book online in advance. It’s on a first come, first served basis.

Check out Doc.Berlin’s website for more information about the films and how to book tickets.

Where:
Kino Babylon
Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße 30
10178 Berlin

Family friendly: No
Price: Admission applies

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Prepare for the worst. The Berlin Dungeon is an interactive theater of laughs and jump scares where you are the main character

Let me make this perfectly clear. If you don’t like performing in a room full of strangers, and if you don’t like total darkness and jump scares, then the Berlin Dungeon is not for you. But if you do, the ticket is worth every euro.

The Berlin Dungeon is one of the main tourist attractions close to Alexanderplatz. It is an interactive theater where you walk in a small group of audience members from stage to stage.

The stages are small rooms where an actor performs a horrifically caricatured part of 19th-century Berlin history with the noble Hohenzollern family at the center.

And you can’t avoid getting involved. You will be tortured, accused of being a witch or even worse: You will be accused of first degree murder – murder against Berlin fashion.

The lights suddenly go out and it’s completely dark. And when it comes back on, the white lady looks you straight in the eye.

You’ll be subjected to both laughs and jump scares.

Berlin Dungeon is not for children under 10 years old. It is also not for children and adults over the age of 10 who are afraid of the dark and get nightmares easily.

However, I brought my nine-year-old, who already has a morbid sense of humor and loves ghost stories. Although she was also cast in a leading role in one of the rooms, she did her part with brilliance. And she had a great time the whole way through.

Where:
Spandauer Straße 2
10178 Berlin

Family friendly: Not really
Price: Admission applies

www.thedungeons.com/berlin

The post The Berlin Dungeon first appeared on The Bunker Girl's Guide to Berlin.

The first Sunday of every month is Museum Sunday.
This means free admission to a wide range of museums in Berlin.

The next Museum Sunday in Berlin is November 3rd, 2024.

Museum Sunday is an initiative of the State of Berlin and the Federal Government of Germany to get more people interested in arts and cultural offerings.

Anyone can participate. The museums and cultural projects that are open are for the whole family. And it’s all around Berlin.

The next Museum Sunday is December 1st, 2024, and you can find out which museums and events are open with free admission by clicking here.

Where:
All around Berlin

Family friendly: Yes
Price: Free

The post Museum Sunday in Berlin first appeared on The Bunker Girl's Guide to Berlin.

Tierpark Berlin Celebrates the Christmas Season with a Spectacular Light Show

From November 22nd, Europe’s largest zoo will turn on a gigantic light show on to celebrate Christmas. Tierpark Berlin will be bathed in colorful lights and the Friedrichsfelde Palace will be the center of the festivities.

The Christmas celebration begins on November 22 and doesn’t end until January 12.

Visitors can take a two-kilometer walk through the colorfully illuminated park. A total of 30 light sculptures will shine in the park.

Along the route, the treetops will light up and there will be shining stars along the way. And the light show on the water leads to the festively illuminated Friedrichsfelde Palace.

Admission applies, but you can book tickets in advance. All the information about the Christmas Lights in Tierpark Berlin is here.

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In This Grand Mansion, Powerful People Have Made the Darkest Decision Europe Has Ever Suffered

On January 20th, 1942, the high ranking SS-officer Reinhard Heydrich had called a conference in the house at Wannsee in the south of Berlin. Here, some of the top leaders of the Nazi regime in Germany met and agreed on the final solution to the Jewish question – what we know today as the Holocaust.

The conference lasted only about 90 minutes and was chaired by Heydrich, the head of the Security Service (Sicherheitsdienst). He had been tasked by Air Minister Hermann Göring to find a solution to the “Jewish question”.

Heydrich’s idea was to clear Europe of Jews from west to east. First from Germany and later from the occupied territories. Few lives would be spared, most would be murdered.

In fact, the murder of Europe’s Jews had already begun on orders from Hitler himself. It especially took off when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. The so-called Einsatzgruppen carried out mass shootings of Soviet Jews, but the executions themselves demoralized the soldiers and became increasingly difficult to carry out.

So the conference at the Wannsee House had to end with a more effective plan, and the decision was an outline for a more effective extermination of Europe’s Jews called The Final Solution to the Jewish Question.

It wasn’t until later in 1942 that the plan to establish extermination camps such as Auschwitz, Sobibor, Belzec and Treblinka in German-occupied Poland and the train transportation of Jews to the camps was laid and executed.

Travel Back into the Dark History

Today, the house at Wannsee is a museum – a documentation center that you can visit and relive where the decision for the blackest chapter in European history was made.

You get to stand inside the magnificent rooms where Heydrich and the other top brass made the grim decision to mass murder Europe’s Jews.

In here you can read about the history leading up to the decision. You can read about and see pictures of the conference participants. And you can follow a series of photographs around the building of the consequences of the decision – what we know today as the Holocaust.

The evil in the images is in stark contrast to the beautiful surroundings you find yourself in. But it was here that the plan to exterminate the Jews of Europe was finally laid.

Where:
Am Grossen Wannsee 56-58
14109 Berlin

Family friendly: Not really
Price: Free

ghwk.de

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The Pink Pipes Are Everywhere in Berlin, and Many Have Wondered What Flows Through Them. The Secret Is Revealed Here

Also, why are the pipes in Berlin pink?

The question about the pink pipes in Berlin has come up many times on my tours. I’ve also heard many imaginative answers. From sewage pipes to giant beer kegs.

However, here is the story behind the pink pipes.

We have an incredible amount of groundwater in Berlin because our city is built on a swamp. In fact, the word Berlin comes from the West Slavic languages, where berl means swamp.

Berliners would like to tell you that Berlin means ‘bear’. But this is a misconception that dates back hundreds of years, when a heraldist was drawing the seal or coat of arms for Berlin in the year of 1280. He understood that the word Berlin was derived from bärlein, which means ‘little bear’. And so the story of the bear was born.

However, the land under and around Berlin is marshland, so the water table is very high. This causes problems when building new houses. And there are many construction sites in Berlin. A few meters down, the groundwater bubbles up when excavating for the foundations of new buildings.

So to be able to build in Berlin at all, the groundwater has to be pumped away so that the subsoil is bone dry where you are building. This is where the pink pipes enter the cityscape.

But why are the pipes pink at all?

In some parts of the city, the pipes are actually light blue or purple, but the vast majority are pink, and this is no coincidence. According to this BBC TV report, the manufacturer of the pipes says that he asked a psychologist what color children like. She replied that it’s purple and pink. She also said that young people and those who feel young at heart also prefer purple and pink.

Berlin is in many ways a young city.

As the metropolis we know today, it emerged only about 150 years ago. With electric street lamps and electric subway trains, Berlin was young and modern from the very beginning. And the city still stays young with Berliners keeping the melting pot going every day.

The color pink therefore fits perfectly into Berlin, and it would be strange if one day the pink pipes were gone.

The post The Secret of the Pink Pipes in Berlin first appeared on The Bunker Girl's Guide to Berlin.

From November 8th until 22nd, the LGBTQIA* Winter Days Will Take Place at Nollendorfplatz

LGBTQIA* Winterdays is a special event at Nollendorfplatz from November 8th until November 22nd where the LGBTQIA community has a platform to raise its voice on social and political issues.

Associations, organizations and initiatives are given the opportunity to present their messages and their work to the public.

Use these special days to showcase your projects, share advice, report on your work, raise funds and recruit new members. Bring your own flyers, posters and banners to ensure your cause is seen far and wide. The LGBTQIA Winterdays offers the perfect stage for this.

The LGBTQIA Winterdays are also an important part of the LGBTQIA events in Berlin, offering a wide range of activities such as workshops, discussion panels and cultural events. This enables the community to network, initiate new projects and set a joint example for solidarity and diversity.

Get more information about the event at christmas-avenue.berlin.

The post LGBTQIA* Winterdays Berlin 2024 first appeared on The Bunker Girl's Guide to Berlin.

On November 9th, Berlin Will Be Transformed Into a Huge Stage with Over 1,000 Playing Songs for Freedom

The evening of November 9th marks the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and will be celebrated with music. Because music brings people together, and the fall of the Berlin Wall brought East and West Berliners together after 28 years of separation.

The highlight of the celebrations this year is the Band of Freedom, over 1,000 musicians along a 4km route through Berlin. They play guitar, bass and drums and everyone can sing along to famous songs about freedom.

Some of the songs have already been chosen. “Heroes” by David Bowie, “People Have the Power” by Patti Smith, “Susann” by City and “Freiheit” by Marius Müller-Western-Hagen.

Along the route there will also be screens showing images and video clips from the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 to the opening of the first border crossing at Bornholmer Straße in 1989.

Admission for Festival for Freedom is free. The screens turn on at 18:00 o’clock and plays until 22:00.

See the entire program, the route and more about Festival for Freedom here.

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Celebrate the Dead with Music, Dance and Theater the Mexican Way at Holzmarkt on November 1st and 2nd

Día de los Muertos is a Mexican holiday to celebrate our loved ones who have passed away. Everyone can join the celebration in Berlin at the Holzmarkt on November 1st and 2nd. Both children and adults.

We start dying as soon as we are born. But only when we accept our own mortality do we truly begin to live. Then we begin to enjoy every moment and appreciate life.

That is why we celebrate death. With prayers, celebrations, music, food and colors we remember our deceased. At Holzmarkt, you can prepare to greet your dearly departed and dance with them endlessly.

On both November 1st and 2nd there is a full program for children and adults from 16:00 to 22:00. There will be dancing and music, and workshops for creative children where they can paint a skull, a so-called calavera, in vibrant colours.

See the entire program here.

Where:
Holzmarkt 25
Holzmarktstraße 25
10243 Berlin

Family friendly: Yes
Price: Admission applies

holzmarkt.com

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As a rarity, you can experience Monet’s three earliest Paris works from 1867 in one exhibition at the Alte Nationalgalerie

Until January 26, Claude Monet’s three earliest views from his balcony in Paris are on display at the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin.

The works are considered the first impressionist cityscapes and inspired other impressionists such as Gustave Caillebotte and Camille Pissarro to create paintings of the changing modern city.

Monet’s series of paintings from 1867 cast a new light on the modern city.

He never visited the famous Louvre art museum himself to copy the old masters, as was customary at the time. Instead, he painted vibrant Parisian life from his balcony.

In doing so, he went against the art historical tradition and dealt with the present in the growing metropolis during the Industrial Revolution.

Today, the three works are in the collections of the Nationalgalerie in Berlin, the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College (Ohio, USA) and the Kunstmuseum Den Haag. The collaboration between the three museums has made it possible to reunite the three paintings.

You can experience Monet’s three paintings Saint Germain l’Auxerrois, Jardin de l’Infante and Quai du Louvre at the Alte Nationalgalerie in the exhibition Monet and the Impressionist Cityscape until January 26, 2025.

Where:
Alte Nationalgalerie
Bodestraße 1-3
10178 Berlin

Family friendly: Kind of
Price: Admission applies

www.smb.museum

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