On Tuesday 21^st May 2013 we are extremely pleased to be welcoming to The Circus another eyewitness speaker from the Zeitzeugenbörse (Centre for Witness to Contemporary History). This is part of our monthly series events that we have been running for the past two years, in which we invite speakers to come and join us for a while and tell us their own personal stories about different moments in Berlin and German history.

This month we are delighted to welcome Dr Golkowsky who will be coming to talk to us about the Second World War and its aftermath. Dr Golkowsky was born in 1934 in Silesia, and will share stories of his experience during the war, the flight to the west, and observations on life for himself, friends and family, on both sides of the iron curtain.

We are really looking forward to another fascinating evening of personal history in Fabisch, and we hope you will join us. The talk will be in English, is open to all, and is free… although we will be collecting contributions towards our own donation to the ZZB to help them continue in their important work.

Where: Fabisch at The Circus Hotel, Rosenthaler Straße 1 (U8: Rosenthaler Platz)
When: Tue 21^st May at 6.45pm

(Photo: Bundesarchiv on Wikimedia Commons)

Something very special on the Fabisch stage this Friday evening, as we welcome IriS Romen to the Circus as part of our regular live music events on Friday evenings. A veteran of the Clärchens Ballhaus stage, IriS is celebrating the release of her first album “Vintage Gal Hour”, from which she will be performing some songs on Friday evening. But words cannot do justice to what you have to look forward to on Friday, so watch this video instead and we will see you there:

IriS Romen – Live in Fabisch at The Circus Hotel
Friday 26^th April at 10pm
Admission: Free

On Tuesday 23rd April 2013 we are extremely pleased to be welcoming to The Circus another eyewitness speaker from the Zeitzeugenbörse (Centre for Witness to Contemporary History). This is part of our monthly series events that we have been running for the past two years, in which we invite speakers to come and join us for a while and tell us their own personal stories about different moments in Berlin and German history.

This month we are delighted to welcome Sieglinde Neff who will be coming to talk to us about her life in Berlin, first in the German Democratic Republic and then, having left illegally during the 1950s, in West Germany. She will share her experiences, including life for young people in East Germany, and the legacy of the division 24 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

We are really looking forward to another fascinating evening of personal history in Fabisch, and we hope you will join us. The talk will be in English, is open to all, and is free… although we will be collecting contributions towards our own donation to the ZZB to help them continue in their important work.

Where: Fabisch at The Circus Hotel, Rosenthaler Straße 1 (U8: Rosenthaler Platz)
When: Tue 23rd April at 6.45pm

(Photo credit: Bundesarchiv, B 145 Bild-F079010-0037 / CC-BY-SA)

We’ve got a very special treat for those of you who are into a bit of jazz and swing, as Fabisch plays host this Friday night to the wonderful Gipsy Gentlemen, who will be taking to our stage for an evening of music. The band is made up of Janko Lauenberger on guitar, Eugen Miller on bass, and Pan Mareck on the drums, and if you want to have a listen to what they sound like, click on this here link and check out the video.

We are really happy to be welcoming the Gipsy Gentlemen to Fabisch at the Circus Hotel, and we hope you will come and join us for what promises to be a great evening.

Gipsy Gentlemen at Fabisch
Friday 22^nd March 2013 – Free entry

On Tuesday 19th March 2013 we are extremely pleased to be welcoming to The Circus another eyewitness speaker from the Zeitzeugenbörse (Centre for Witness to Contemporary History). This is part of our monthly series events that we have been running for the past two years, in which we invite speakers to come and join us for a while and tell us their own personal stories about different moments in Berlin and German history.

This month we are delighted to welcome Markus Eglin who will be coming to talk to us about his life in Berlin during the period of division in the city, from 1961 to 1989, when Berlin was cut in two by the Berlin Wall. Mr Eglin will talk to us about working for the US Airforce as a “local national”, life in the city during the division, and the events of 1989 and the reunification of Berlin and Germany, during which he met his wife.

We are really looking forward to another fascinating evening of personal history in Fabisch, and we hope you will join us. The talk will be in English, is open to all, and is free… although we will be collecting contributions towards our own donation to the ZZB to help them continue in their important work.

Where: Fabisch at The Circus Hotel, Rosenthaler Straße 1 (U8: Rosenthaler Platz)
When: Tue 19th March at 6.45pm

(Photo credit: Wolf, Helmut J., part of the Bundesarchiv, Wikimedia Commons)

“Scho” is a slang word from Odessa in Ukraine and means – roughly – “What do you like?” When it comes to the Trio Scho it stands for “What do we play? Our music!” The trio was formed in 1992 in the Ukrainian city of Poltava and since then have been appearing on the stages of Berlin and elsewhere on the road, bringing their distinct brand of Russian folklore, tango, swing, bossa nova and Soviet Schlager  to the stage,

We are extremely pleased to be welcoming Trio Scho for our Friday evening session in Fabisch, and cannot wait to hear their Russian songs, pieces from the “roaring twenties”, the tangos of Pyotr Leschenko and the Soviet hits of Leonid Utjosow… we doubt you will find anything else like this in Berlin on Friday evening, so you gotta get over to Fabisch and join the fun.

Trio Scho will be appearing at Fabisch, the Circus Hotel (Rosenthaler Straße 1, U-Bhf. Rosenthaler Platz) on Friday 22^nd February at 10pm

This month we are delighted to welcome Hans-Dieter Robel who will be coming to talk to us about his life in Berlin during the period when the city was divided in two by the infamous Berlin Wall. Born in Hanover in 1948, Herr Robel came to Berlin 1969 during one of the coldest periods of the Cold War. Working as a civil engineer, he was involved in projects not only in West Berlin but also in East Germany, and so experienced life on either side of the divide. The division of Germany also had a personal impact on Herr Robel and his family, as his grandparents were in the East and as a consequence they never met their grandson.

We are really looking forward to another fascinating evening of personal history in Fabisch, and we hope you will join us. The talk will be in English, is open to all, and is free… although we will be collecting contributions towards our own donation to the ZZB to help them continue in their important work.

Where: Fabisch at The Circus Hotel, Rosenthaler Straße 1 (U8: Rosenthaler Platz)
When: Tue 19^th February at 6.45pm

This month we are delighted to welcome Hans-Dieter Robel who will be coming to talk to us about his life in Berlin during the period when the city was divided in two by the infamous Berlin Wall. Born in Hanover in 1948, Herr Robel came to Berlin 1969 during one of the coldest periods of the Cold War. Working as a civil engineer, he was involved in projects not only in West Berlin but also in East Germany, and so experienced life on either side of the divide. The division of Germany also had a personal impact on Herr Robel and his family, as his grandparents were in the East and as a consequence they never met their grandson.

We are really looking forward to another fascinating evening of personal history in Fabisch, and we hope you will join us. The talk will be in English, is open to all, and is free… although we will be collecting contributions towards our own donation to the ZZB to help them continue in their important work.

Where: Fabisch at The Circus Hotel, Rosenthaler Straße 1 (U8: Rosenthaler Platz)
When: Wed 23rd January at 6.45pm

We know that for some people it will be a bitter-sweet experience when they are away from home during the Christmas period, whilst for others there will be some joy and perhaps even relief at being away from the stress that this time of year can bring… whatever the reason or motivation for those of you who will be in and around the Circus during Christmas and New Year we have got some things organised for you to enjoy.

Here at The Circus we have always seen Christmas and New Years as a special time. Sharing this period with people from all over the world is always a wonderful experience, and 2012 will be no different. For those of you who are joining us in Berlin over the holiday period, we will be extremely happy to be sharing the time with you.

At the Circus Hotel

In our restaurant Fabisch we have some treats in store for all our friends and guests who drop by during the festive period, starting on Christmas Eve (24^th December) when we have our special Christmas menu available from 5pm. On Christmas Day itself (25^th December) we will be offering a four-course Christmas Dinner, available from 5pm. Entertainment will be provided in the form of Christmas swing from Fabisch favourites “Whatever Rita Wants”.

For the last evening of the year, we also offer a very special four-course New Year’s Eve Dinner (from 5pm) and we hope you will stay with us through until midnight, with some good tunes and a toast when the clock strikes twelve. The next morning we will be continuing the celebrations with our New Year Brunch Buffet (from 9.30pm until 3pm), with live jazz from 11am… a great and groovy way to kick off 2013.

At the Circus Hostel

Christmas Eve in the hostel means free beer down in Goldman’s Bar, with Santa’s Special Christmas Keg. To get you in the mood, despite being away from home, there will be festive tunes on the sound system and movies on the big screen. Christmas Day comes with an invitation to dinner in the Circus Café ( two sittings, at 6pm & 8.30pm) and more drinks down in Goldman’s.

On New Year’s Eve we warm-up for the party of the year with another free keg of beer down in Goldman’s, and we will have loads of suggestions of where to celebrate the arrival of 2013. The next evening we will be chilling out with movies in the Circus Café, and the afterparty in Goldman’s Bar, featuring resolutions, guest DJs and more.

Of course, all guests from all houses are welcome to enjoy everything that we have organised, and perhaps some of you Berliners as well… we are really looking forward to it, and we hope to see some of you over the holidays.

As part of our ongoing process of renovation and reinvention at the Circus, our designer Sandra Ernst developed the concept for a new-look wintergarten (conservatory space) in Fabisch, at the hotel. Bringing together new colours and furniture – including chairs from Santa & Cole, distributed in Germany by a regular guest of ours – to make the whole space feel lighter and more airy. The space also combined new work by designer Itamar Zechoval (Dandy of the Grotesque) with the existing artwork (The Sparrows) from Nina Stähli.

We all think Sandra and her team have done a great job and the wintergarten is a great place to linger over breakfast or an evening meal.

Also in Fabisch we have new decoration at the back of the restaurant, featuring photo-wallpaper reflecting the history of the building at Rosenthaler Strasse 1. Many of the images came from the Fabisch family themselves, and if you are interested in finding out more about the history of the hotel building and the Fabisch family, you can read all about it on our website here.