Where It All Began: Berlin’s Queer & Trans History Tour

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 forgotten. 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.

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 today's world 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. Enjoy a Fun Day with Augmented Reality 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. You can also take pictures of yourself with the Augmented Reality elements as a souvenir from the tour.