No city embodies freedom like Berlin. In 2025, it will, for the first time, become a global meeting place for international voices championing democracy and human rights. The highlight: a world conference dedicated to freedom.
Throughout the week surrounding the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the entire city will transform into a stage for diversity, dialogue, and civic engagement. From 9 to 15 November, Berlin Freedom Week invites you to think, participate, and help shape the city’s future.
From more than 100 workshops, discussions, exhibitions, tours, readings, and other creative formats, we’ve selected eleven inspiring events for you to discover.
Tip 1: Discuss the future of freedom at the Berlin Freedom Conference
What does it take for democracies to thrive in the 21st century? That’s the central question of the Berlin Freedom Conference 2025 — bringing together innovators, thought leaders, and changemakers for democracy and freedom in Berlin for the very first time. Join us on 10 November, when leading voices from politics, business, tech, media, and civil society come together to exchange ideas and develop practical ways to advance democratic change around the world.
When: 10 November
Where: Gasometer Berlin, EUREF Campus, Schöneberg
Tip 2: Feel the awakening - contemporary witnesses talk about arriving in Marienfelde
Berlin is a city of new beginnings and hardly any other place tells of this as impressively as the Marienfelde Reception Centre. On the "Upheavals 1989/90" tour, you will experience history up close: contemporary witnesses tell how they came to the West from Poland in the mid-1980s and began their new lives in Marienfelde. Between original buildings and personal memories, a vivid picture of new beginnings, hope and a fresh start emerges.
When: Saturday, 15 November, 2 pm
Where: Marienfelde Refugee Centre, Marienfelder Allee 66/80, 12277 Marienfelde
Tip 3: From heart to heart - send solidarity by postcard
Send a message of hope! In the Libereco letter workshops, you can write your sympathy and support directly on postcards. You can send them to Ukrainian civilians in Russian custody and political prisoners from Belarus. To people who are behind bars because they have raised their voices for freedom and democracy.
Relatives and former prisoners will support you on site and talk about their personal experiences. An evening to share hope that gets under your skin.
When: Tuesday, 11 November & Thursday, 13 November, 6 pm
Where: Libereco- Partnership for Human Rights, Brunnenstraße 9, Mitte
Tip 4: Rethinking monuments - "Echoes of empire" invites dialogue about memory and truth
Berlin is a place where history remains visible, in squares, buildings and monuments. But what happens when these signs of the past become part of current political debates? At the two-day symposium "Echoes of Empire: Soviet Monuments and the Machinery of Disinformation", historians, artists and political voices from all over Europe will come together to discuss responsibility, memory and how to deal with Soviet heritage.
When: Thursday, 6 November, 2.30 pm - 8 pm & Friday, 7 November, 9 am - 3.30 pm
Where: Embassy of the Republic of Poland, Berlin
Tip 5: Be warned at the trial of Hans Litten
Immerse yourself in the moving fate of Hans Litten, a man who stood up to the Nazi regime. Be inspired by his indomitable courage and humour, which he maintained even in the face of the terror of the concentration camp. The play follows the courageous lawyer who fought against Hitler and for the rule of law in the courtroom and his mother who desperately fought for his freedom. You can expect a gripping portrait of civil courage and resistance that warns us urgently and encourages us to stand up for ourselves when it counts.
The second date is a school performance in which the theatre hall becomes a creative space for pupils to play, experiment and create together with the actors as they explore freedom, peace and courage.
When: Tuesday, 10 November, 8 pm and Wednesday, 11 November, 10 am
Where: Pfefferbergtheater, Schönhauser Allee 176, Prenzlauer Berg
Tip 6: Join in the debate! Bringing democracy to life
What does WE mean? Who does it stand for? And how can we create community again in an increasingly individualised society? You will encounter these questions in the interactive exhibition "A Common Room in a Changing World". Here you will find food for thought from neighbouring Denmark on how to create spaces for community. Be inspired by lively, open places where a wide variety of people come together to engage in dialogue.
And take part in the discourse yourself. Here you can chat and celebrate over a cup of coffee, talk and argue, discuss and agree with friends and strangers alike. Because when people engage in dialogue, trust grows and so does democracy!
When: Guided tours Sunday 9 November to Thursday 13 November at 11.30 am & 1 pm, please book in advance
Exhibition from 17 October 2025 to 18 January 2026
Where: Felleshus of the Nordic Embassies, Rauchstraße 1, Tiergarten
Tip 7: Celebrate change and discover "THE EAST" as a laboratory of ideas for the future
Berlin thrives on change and this is precisely where its magic lies. Between history and new beginnings, memory and vision, something new is constantly emerging. On 4 November, the Tagesspiegel invites you to the conference DER OSTEN, a place where doers, thinkers and designers come together to take a look at the future.
Under the motto #35Veränderung, the 35th year of German reunification will be characterised by new beginnings: How are new perspectives changing us? What opportunities lie in transformation? In inspiring talks, exciting panels and creative encounters, you will experience how East Germany is becoming a laboratory for change and ideas, open, courageous and future-orientated.
Let yourself be infected by the energy that arises when people talk about solutions together, for a tomorrow that connects instead of divides.
When: 4 November 2025, from 9:30 am
Where: Verlagshaus Der Tagesspiegel, Askanischer Platz 3, Kreuzberg
Tip 8: Experience the escape to freedom on Bernauer Strasse
Courage, hope and determination - these are the stories you will experience first-hand on the guided tour "Tunnel Escapes". Along Bernauer Strasse and in the original air raid shelter on Blochplatz, you will learn more about the most dramatic escape attempts under the Berlin Wall. The focus is on the legendary Tunnel 57, through which 57 people reached freedom in 1964.
The tour is impressively complemented by a comic exhibition that tells the story of the escape in an impressive visual way. A moving journey through time initiated by the Berlin Underworlds! Immerse yourself in a piece of freedom history that gets under your skin.
When: 8-16 November 2025, depending on the tour (approx. 120 minutes)
Where: Meeting point: Badstraße / corner of Hochstraße, Wedding
Tip 9: Share your ideas about freedom at the Idea Party
Share your ideas about freedom. On the eve of the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, you are invited to get actively involved at an Idea Party. Three inspiring speakers will provide the impetus, after which there will be space to share your own ideas and concepts to bring down walls. The focus will be on voices from Berlin's migrant and diasporic community, who will enter into dialogue with local creatives.
When: 8 November 2025 6 pm
Where: Location to be announced
Tip 10: Listen to the "Urban Voices" at DAWN Haus Berlin
What does freedom sound like in Berlin? The multimedia exhibition "Urban Voices" provides an impressive answer: with voices of Berlin personalities such as design artist Eike König, Tresor legend Dimitri Hegemann and prison warden Bärbel Badrasky. From 8 to 13 November at the DAWN Haus in Kreuzberg, you can experience how freedom is conceived, lived and defended in many different ways - interactively, movingly and always open to your own contributions.
Talks, music and drinks await you at the opening on 8 November - an ideal start to Berlin Freedom Week.
When: 8 November opening from 6.30 pm, 9 November 12 - 6 pm, 10 to 13 November 4 - 8 pm
Where: DAWN Haus Hasenheide 54, Kreuzberg (entrance in the backyard)
Tip 11: Ask the Artist at the East Side Gallery
What was it like to paint a piece of the Wall in 1990 - and thus create a monument to freedom? The "Ask the Artist" tour gives you the unique opportunity to talk to artists from the East Side Gallery in person. What moved them back then? How do they see their work today? Together with a guide from the Berlin Wall Foundation, you will discover stories, perspectives and memories that will get under your skin. Art and contemporary history merge into a lively dialogue here.
Take advantage of this special opportunity to experience history up close - right next to the longest open-air gallery in the world!
When: Saturday, 8 & 15 November 2025, 2 - 3 pm
Where: Meeting point: Visitor information centre in the gatehouse, Mühlenstraße 73, Friedrichshain
