In 1836, a very young Karl Marx moved to the capital of Prussia to study philosophy. He stayed here for only four years, until he finished his PhD, and he hated the city for the rest of his life. Two decades later, he recalled the “sand” and the “ennui that reigns supreme at that place.” For Marx, Berlin remained a “metropolis of tschakos (i.e. police helmets) without heads.”
In Marx’s day Berlin was just a tenth as big as it is today. August Borsig opened the first modern factory the year after Marx arrived. So there were not yet many industrial proletarians in the city — instead, there were soldiers without end.
On this walking tour, we will visit the places where Marx lived, studied, and went on holiday. We will think about how the great revolutionary has been remembered throughout Berlin’s history, both in the East and the West.
We will be meeting at Luisenstraße 60, next to the Charité tower. The closest train stations are Oranienburger Tor, Naturkundemuseum, Hauptbahnhof, or Friedrichstraße — with a ten-minute walk from each station. We will meet at 13:00 and leave by 13:10.
Our tour will end two hours later at the Marx-Engels-Forum, near Alexanderplatz. We will not be using public transportation — the tour will be entirely outside.
- Sign up for the tour via Eventbrite
- Suggested donation is 10 euros per person, but any contribution is appreciated and none is required. You will be able to pick up a signed copy of the new book Revolutionary Berlin.
- If you have any questions, please send an e-mail: [email protected]
