Berlin, August 14th, 2026 (The Berlin Spectator) – Berlin’s Volksbühne theater and the anti-racism organization Each One Teach One (EOTO) have called off a planned swimming event after concluding they could no longer guarantee the safety of attendees, the theater announced Thursday. The event, originally scheduled for Friday afternoon, would have reserved the theater’s temporary outdoor pool exclusively for members of Berlin’s Black community for several hours.
The Volksbühne and EOTO said they could not ensure participants a safe arrival and departure, nor a relaxed summer afternoon, given the current climate around the event. EOTO, which works in racism prevention and advocates for the empowerment of Black people, is one of the organizations behind the Black Communities Center in Berlin-Wedding, which opened earlier this year.
In a statement following the cancellation, EOTO said it had faced a wave of hostility since the event became public: “Racist threatening emails as well as threats of violence and discriminatory comments on social media.” The organization’s children’s and youth division had been invited to use the pool by the Volksbühne.
Underlying Concept Stays
Despite the cancellation, theater director Matthias Lilienthal stood by the underlying concept. “We will of course continue to offer positive measures for structurally disadvantaged people”, he said, adding that the theater’s collaboration with EOTO would continue. He said, however, that protecting guests, partners, and staff had to take priority.
The pool at the center of the controversy, a temporary 5-meter, 1.3-meter-deep basin known as the Volksbad, has stood in front of the Volksbühne since August 7th and is set to remain until early October, offering free admission to the public. On select days, though, the basin is reserved for the exclusive use of specific organizations — Friday’s slot had been set aside for EOTO.
Lilienthal had defended the practice earlier in the week, telling the “Spiegel” magazine that the arrangement follows Berlin’s state anti-discrimination law, which allows organizations serving groups that experience discrimination to offer them a setting free of it. Besides EOTO, the pool has also been reserved on other days for groups such as the Gangway-Crew, which does street-based social work with young people and adults, and Flussbad Berlin, which campaigns to lift the blanket swimming ban in the Spree river.
Extremist Criticizes Theater
The exclusive time slot drew fierce criticism once it became public. Alice Weidel, one of the two leaders of the extremist right-wing party AfD, described it as “Apartheid”, invoking South Africa’s former political system, under which a white minority held political power despite Black South Africans forming the overwhelming majority of the population. A young Berlin CDU local politician also voiced her objection, saying she would not be allowed into the pool because she is white and calling the arrangement discriminatory.
Asked by the “Spiegel” whether barring other visitors from the pool for a few hours on Friday amounted to discrimination, Lilienthal disagreed: “The Volksbühne is fundamentally committed to promoting structurally disadvantaged groups”, he said, asking the public to respect that the event was intended solely for the group it was meant to serve. He noted that Berlin’s public swimming pools are likewise regularly reserved for organized group events.
The Volksbad has in fact been closed since Tuesday due to problems with its showers. According to the published program, it had been due to reopen today, though a theater spokeswoman stated on Thursday afternoon that it remained unclear whether public swimming hours, set to begin at 6 p.m., would go ahead as planned.
