Christian Buckard »Café Babylon«

In 1931, Herbert Günther reported in Scherl’s Magazin directly from the Romanisches Café: »It is high-ceilinged, smoky, noisy and anything but cosy, but it has a peculiar allure. Many people hang out here in their corner every day. The painters’ regulars’ table, centred around Max Slevogt and Emil Orlik, is the only prominent regulars’ table in a Berlin café. People read and write poetry, sketch, flirt, compose, smoke, debate and do business. Everyone knows one another, either holds one another in high regard or hates one another.«

In his new book, Christian Buckard traces the history of the Romanisches Café, drawing on numerous previously unknown accounts from international guests. One particularly striking chapter is devoted to the early emergence of anti-Semitism, from which the patrons of the Romanisches Café were already suffering by the early 1930s.

The author and filmmaker Christian Buckard talks to the author and journalist Shelly Kupferberg about this unique – and world-famous – Berlin café.

Christian Buckard »Café Babylon. Berlin, Romanisches Café, 1913-1933«, C.H. Beck 2026