Guided Tour
Between 1949 and 1990, around four million people left the GDR for the Federal Republic of Germany. Many passed through the Marienfelde emergency reception centre in West Berlin, which became known as the ‘Gateway to Freedom’. Today, it houses a museum dedicated to escape and emigration from the GDR.
Image gallery
Notaufnahmelager Marienfelde
At the same time, Marienfelde has remained a vibrant place of arrival – serving as a temporary accommodation centre for around 700 refugees from war-torn and crisis-stricken regions around the world.
The ‘Tandem’ guided tour ‘Escape then and now’ brings different perspectives into dialogue:
a historical perspective on the emergency reception centre and a contemporary view of how the shelter operates today – represented by a social worker at the shelter who came to Berlin in 2011 at the age of 17 and lived here herself for the first few years.
- The tour also provides access to the historic grounds of the emergency reception centre, which are not open to the public during regular museum hours.
Additional information
Dates
November 2026
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