East Berlin from a Black Perspective

Discover East Berlin beyond the familiar narratives of the Wall, the state, and the Cold War. This guided tour focuses on Black history, international solidarity, and the contradictions of the GDR. We’ll follow in the footsteps of Martin Luther King, who preached in East Berlin in 1964, and Angela Davis, who became an icon of the international solidarity movement in the GDR. At the same time, we’ll discuss the Madgermanes—Mozambican contract workers whose experiences speak to labor, daily life, racism, and demands that remain unmet to this day. At the World Time Clock, we’ll view Alexanderplatz as a stage for global encounters and political upheavals. Along Karl-Marx-Allee, past the Karl Marx monument, we explore how socialist ideals were staged and what role solidarity networks between Africa, the U.S., and East Germany played. At the East Side Gallery, we come across Dmitri Wrubel’s famous mural of the kissing men—Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker. Nearby stands YAAM, the Young African Art Market, representing a different history of East Berlin: Since the 1990s, it has been an important hub for Black culture, music, art, community, and anti-racist activism. A multifaceted tour exploring hope and propaganda, solidarity and exclusion—and the Black perspectives that continue to shape Berlin to this day.