Berlin's Queer & Trans History – Augmented Reality Guided Tour

This is a one-of-a-kind guided city tour that you will not find anywhere else!

The origins of the world’s modern LGBTQIA+ identity movement lie in Berlin. Traceback our history to better understand where we are coming from.

Beaten to Death. Silenced to Death. Queer and trans history are often ignored and deliberately forgotten for a reason: People who don’t know their history are easier to discriminate against. Break the cycle of ignorance and learn about our movement’s history!

Explore the life of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, how he developed the world’s first queer and trans identities, and how he fought against the criminalization of homosexuality. Understand how this laid the cornerstone for our global movement.

Learn who coined the terms “transvestite” and “transexualism”. Discover so-called “transvestite certificates” and the story of Lili Elbe, Dora Richter, and Karl M. Baer, the world’s first trans people to undergo gender affirmation surgeries.

Get to know sexual scientist Magnus Hirschfeld’s theory of “sexual intermediaries” and why the world today would think completely differently about gender and non-binary identities if the Nazis had not destroyed this young movement.

Discover the vibrant lesbian life in the Roaring Twenties and how Marlene Dietrich popularized their fashion style internationally. Get to know Germany’s most famous lesbian singer Claire Waldoff and the story of bisexual Black dancer Josephine Baker.

Understand Hitler’s contradictory relationship to homosexuality, why there were openly gay Nazis, and what happened to LGBTQIA+ people in the Nazi concentration camps.

Better understand why an entire generation of gay and bisexual men was traumatized by the AIDS crisis, how the West-Berlin nightclub SchwuZ became the center of activism, and why the Berlin Wall was referred to as the condom of the GDR.

From the trans community’s “Chez Romy Haag” and its nightlife revolution to the Metropol’s gay community; from SO36’s Gayhane to the emergence of Berghain as the world’s most famous club: Gain an appreciation for the influence of the queer and trans communities to Berlin’s internationally acclaimed nightlife – and learn about where to best go out in Berlin today.

My name is Jeff, I studied sociology and gender studies and focused a lot on sexuality and queer theory. I am also a certified sex educator and freelance journalist about queer life in Berlin, as well as a longtime LGBTQIA+ activist. During my tour, I’ll share with you my knowledge accumulated from more than a decade’s worth of research.

This guided tour is enhanced with selected Augmented Reality elements. Over your tour guide’s iPad’s camera, you’ll see the world in front of you with Augmented Reality elements over it. For instance, you can demonstrate alongside queer activists of times gone by. Or you can see the building in front of you how it looked like 100 years ago. You can also take pictures of yourself with the Augmented Reality elements as a souvenir from the tour. (Powered by ZAUBAR)

1. A valid public transport ticket as we will travel by underground or bus.
2. An umbrella or sun protector and water depending on weather conditions. (Please be aware that the tour will be cancelled in extreme weather conditions, like heavy rain or storm, and you will be fully refunded.)
3. A curious mind and no reluctance to be entertained or shocked.

Berlin’s Queer & Trans* History in Augmented Reality starts in front of Bellevue Palace (Schloss Bellevue, Spreeweg 1, 10557 Berlin). We meet under the trees on the right side when facing the palace, right by the street. For times, please check the schedule calendar when booking your tickets.

The guided Berlin tour lasts about 3.5 hours and ends at Wittenbergplatz. From there you get excellent public transport connections to anywhere in the city.

The guided Berlin tour is in English. However, German tours can be offered as private tours on request for 250€ (up to 9 participants), 300€ (10-14 participants), 350€ (15-19 participants), or 400€ (20+ participants). For German tours, please send me an email to [email protected].

1. This entire guided Berlin tour is accessible by wheelchair.
2. This is a unique guided tour in Berlin that also makes an excellent gift for loved ones!
3. You can also book a private tour. To request, please send an email to [email protected]! Prices are:
4. up to 9 participants: 250€
5. 10-14 participants: 300€
6. 15-19 participants: 350€
7. 20+ participants: 400€
8. This guided Berlin tour is only suitable for people who are at least 18 years of age.
9. Please be aware of the trigger/content warnings, which include: animal cruelty, antisemitism, BDSM/kinks/fetishes, HIV/AIDS, homophobia, human trafficking, (mass) M**der, Nazi Germany, poverty, racism, sex, sexism, sexual abuse, (sexualized) violence against and abuse of children, sex work/prostitution, transphobia, and violence (physical, psychological, sexualized).

Meeting at Nollendorfplatz

Karl-Heinrich-Ulrichs-Straße
Karl Heinrich Ulrichs as “the world’s first gay man” and the world’s first queer identities

Pink Triangle Memorial

1. Adolf Brand and right-wing gays
2. Ernst Röhm, gay Nazis and Hitler’s attitude to homosexuality
3. The Night of the Long Knives
4. Queer and trans people in the concentration camps

Schwerinstraße

1. Lesbian life in Berlin in the 1920s
2. The lesbian club Toppkeller
3. The Lavender Song
4. Claire Waldoff
5. Josephine Baker, bisexuality and racism

Nollendorfstraße

1. The homosexual department of the Berlin police force
2. Male gay life in Berlin in the 1920s
3. Christopher Isherwood
4. From Isherwood’s novels to the cabaret musical
5. Isherwood’s escape with Heinz Neddermeyer

Magnus-Apotheke

1. Magnus Hirschfeld and the world’s first organization for LGBTQIA+ rights
2. Feminism, Johanna Elberskirchen and Helene Stöcker
3. The fight against §175: Berlin’s third gender, petitions and the film “Different from the Others”
4. Hirschfeld’s theory of sexual intermediaries: Intersexuality; Early trans identities & so-called “transvestite certificates”; Dora Richter, Lili Elbe, Karl M. Baer and the world’s first gender affirmation surgeries
5. Attacks on Hirschfeld
6. Hirschfeld’s partners
7. The Institute for Sexual Science
8. The destruction of the Institute by the Nazis
9. Hirschfeld’s death, his legacy and post-colonial critique

Speisekammer im Eldorado

1. The Eldorado, drag and the so-called “Transvestites”
2. Nazi Ernst Röhm at the Eldorado

Eisenherz Bookstore

1. The Homosexual Aktion West-Berlin, the SchwuZ club, and Siegessäule Magazine
2. Trans woman Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, Sonntags-Club and queer movements in East Berlin

Connection Club
1. The trans community in West Berlin
2. Chez Romy Haag & the nightclub revolution

International Stele Always Remember

1. The SchwuZ club and the AIDS crisis
2. The media and Rita Süssmuth versus Peter Gauweiler
3. AIDS in the GDR
4. HIV & AIDS today

Metropol

1. Metropol: The gay community & the techno precursor

1. Folsom Europe: Europe’s biggest fetish festival
2. SO36 club: Black Gay Night, Gayhane, “Trümmertunten” and Kiezbingo
3. Kreuzberg Pride & Dyke* March
4. Berghain & Lab.Oratory

Host or Publisher Jeff Mannes | ORGYSMIC – The Sex Blog