‘Old Berlin’ Archives
Marga Schoeller Bookshop
A charming Charlottenburg bookshop with a great selection of English titles and a warm, old school vibe... Not many bookstores can say they've been in operation for over eight decades, especially in a city as historically turbulent as Berlin - but Marga Schoeller's can. Opened in 1929 by the eponymous Frau Schoeller, the shop originally specialised in European literature and theatre works. Schoeller managed to stay open during the National Socialist years despite refusing to sell Nazi [...]
Escape From Berlin by Catherine Klein
A tense and personal portrait of a Berlin torn apart by war… As anyone who has ever visited or lived in Berlin knows, it’s impossible not to stumble across the Second World War at some point. Its ghostly aura seeps through the city like an invisible fog, filling empty concrete bunkers, haunting memorials, cleaving to certain architecture. It’s especially apparent in the spaces where the places used to be. While we tend to be well acquainted with the facts of the war (the dates, the [...]
Käthe Kollwitz Museum
A harrowing collection of works by one of Germany’s most acclaimed female artists… Charlottenburg’s Käthe Kollwitz Museum is one of those Berlin attractions not particularly recommended for anyone looking to cheer themselves up on a rainy day. This permanent exhibition, which opened in 1986, is housed in a charming 19th century villa next to the Literaturhaus on Fasanenstrasse. It presents an extensive range of the German artist’s work, embracing “crucial aspects of life [...]
