We are happy to announce a milestone in our building project: The construction planning documents were positively assessed by the Berlin Senate Department for Urban Development, Building and Housing. This means that we can begin with the call for tenders for the construction measures and are expecting construction work at KAHO. Raum für Kultur to start as early as this year! What has been in the planning phase since 2019 is finally within reach!

At the time, the first workshop discussions were held on the future usage of the former Theater Karlshorst. In 2021 the building application was approved. That same year, we submitted applications for third-party funding for reconstruction and the development of the brand KAHO. This was followed by the interim programme, examples of which are documented in our media centre.

Detailed planning for the former House of Officers and private theatre in East Berlin has now been completed. We had to postpone individual measures due to the altered economic framework conditions in the building sector, but now there is nothing standing in the way of reactivating the location as a modularly usable production and event venue.

The fact that we launched the interim programme at KAHO shortly before the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine two years ago is a blessing in disguise. For we and the Museum Berlin-Karlshorst are still evaluating interview material that could not have been gathered in this way just a few months later. In the summer of 2021, the Berlin-based journalist Elena Levina conducted interviews with former Soviet officers and their family members about their time in Karlshorst.

They offer insight into a perspective on the time between the end of the Second World War and the withdrawal of the allies from Karlshorst in 1994, which is underrepresented in urban history. What becomes evident is the privileged status of the members of the military deployed to Berlin and the responsibility that went with it. At the same time, attitudes become apparent that against the backdrop of Russian war propaganda seem alarmingly topical.

We will keep you updated on both the research and the progress of the building project in our foundation newsletter.