Kino International

Story

On Karl-Marx-Allee stands East Germany's official cinema. Its walls hide another story.

Nineteen forty-five. Berlin is in ruins. Entire streets are nothing but rubble.

The men were dead. The women came out with hammers and buckets.

They were called Trümmerfrauen. Rubble women. They saved Berlin with their bare hands.

Years later, on their work, the regime built a showcase to rival the West.

Inside, only approved films. A lounge for Honecker. A bunker below.

Then the Wall fell. The dictatorship ended. The cinema remained.

In twenty twenty-six, it reopened after eighteen months of restoration. Premieres, Berlinale, fashion shows. Anyone can sit where Honecker once sat. I show you where it is and tell you the story this place hides.