Köthener Str. 38

The Meistersaal on Köthener Strasse survived the Second World War largely intact. It was reopened as an event venue in early 1990s and is now continuing the history it made in the 1920s.

After it was first opened in 1913, the Meistersaal quickly established itself as one of Berlin’s most famous venues during the Weimar Republic.

The hall was also used by Eastern European immigrants for important cultural events.

The Meistersaal, which had been converted into a chamber music hall for musical events, was the site of numerous lectures, concerts, and conferences.

The most important popular musicians of the day performed in the hall, which also provided an ideal backdrop for readings by authors such as Kurt Tucholsky. Many famous artists exhibited their works there, including George Grosz, a German-American painter and caricaturist, and John Heartfield, a photomontage artist.

Poster announcing a reading by Kurt Tucholsky on January 27, 1921, in the Meistersaal, organized by the German Association of Concert Artists © Fachgemeinschaft Bau Berlin und Brandenburg e.V.

In the summer of 1921, the Jewish Society for Trades and Agricultural Labor (ORT) held its first international conference in the Meistersaal. ORT was founded in Czarist Russia in 1880 to provide support for the oppressed and impoverished Jewish population.