Marzahner Nachbarschaftsfest

Marzahn – Berlin's Eastern Metropolitan District

The Marzahn-Hellersdorf district is located in the far east of Berlin. With around 270,000 inhabitants, a large proportion of whom live in the iconic prefabricated housing estates of the 1970s and 1980s, it is one of the most populous districts in the state of Berlin. Marzahn itself has undergone a profound transformation in the last two decades: renovation programs, citizen participation processes, new urban furniture, cultural offerings. The Marzahner Nachbarschaftsfest is part of this visible change.

Marzahner Promenade and Victor-Klemperer-Platz

The Marzahner Promenade is the central pedestrian axis between the Marzahn S-Bahn station and the Le Corbusier Quarter. Victor-Klemperer-Platz marks its southern entrance. On festival days, the entire axis is activated – with a main stage at the square, a second program line on the promenade itself, and booth areas along the pedestrian zone. The district office coordinates the festival together with social institutions, district politics, and Degewo, which provides financial support as a housing company.

Stage, Circus, Fashion, Jazz

The 2026 stage program is explicitly diverse: children's dance ensembles from the district, the jazz ensemble of the Hans-Werner-Henze Music School (one of Berlin's most important music schools for the eastern districts), the CABUWAZI children's and youth circus with an acrobatics show, brass bands, folklore groups, a fashion show by local designers. The mix is typical for a Berlin district festival: grown from the respective local scene, without curatorial ambition, but with high authenticity.

Over 25 Info Booths – The Social Showcase

Parallel to the stage program, over 25 clubs, initiatives, district institutions, and providers will present themselves at info booths. Environmental education coordinators, mobile youth centers, parent associations, women's meeting points, senior networks – the spectrum shows what civil society supports the district. For children, there are free hands-on activities: embroidering bags, crocheting, skill games, face painting.

In the Marzahn-Hellersdorf District

Marzahn-Hellersdorf is large and multifaceted – from the Hellersdorf city center to the village green structures of Mahlsdorf and Kaulsdorf, from Biesdorf Castle to the Gardens of the World. The neighborhood festival on Marzahner Promenade is one of several regular district festivals that make it visible that this district is long more than the prefabricated housing stereotype that shaped it for decades. In the state of Berlin, it is now considered an example of successful urban renewal.