Zikaron BaSalon

Beck was born in Berlin in 1923 and grew up in the Scheunenviertel, in the heart of the Mitte district. He celebrated his bar mitzvah at the Old Synagogue on Heidereutergasse, was detained during the “Fabrik-Aktion” on Rosenstraße—where his mother protested for his release—and was interned at the Jewish Hospital in Wedding in 1945 until he was liberated by the Red Army.

At the same time, he was a member of an underground Jewish resistance group that provided Jews in hiding in Berlin with food, care, escape routes, and human connection. Beck was queer, Jewish, and a Berliner—and he survived at a time when each of these identities threatened his life.

After returning to Germany in the 1970s, he took on a variety of roles within the Jewish community; from 1979 to 1988, he directed the Jewish Community Center on Fasanenstraße.

His autobiography, *Und Gad ging zu David*, was published in 1995. His life was chronicled in the 2000 documentary *Paragraph 175* and in the 2006 film *Die Freiheit des Erzählens – Das Leben des Gad Beck*.

This evening, the audience will gain insight into his life through a mix of photos, texts, and video testimonies, in the Zikaron BaSalon format: an international grassroots initiative that has been bringing people together worldwide since 2011 to remember collectively—in living rooms, in communities, with survivors and their descendants. More than two million people in over 65 countries have participated so far.

The event will also feature contemporary memorial projects that honor queer neighbors and ancestors and keep their legacy alive.

The event will be held in English; a German translation will be provided.