The Berlin Flohmarkt, (fleamarket, in English) is a rare breed. Somewhere between antique roadshow and group boot sale, these markets are filled with both trash and treasures. Sometimes items are laid and displayed with great care; more often, it looks like walking in on a hoarder, with overstuffed boxes just waiting for stranger to sort through. The finds, though, are always uniquely Berlin.
Fehrbelliner Platz kunst-und-Trödelmarkt
This carefully displayed garden gnome is part of a larger collection of garden tools, perfect for selling on this early spring day in March.
Behind lovingly displayed jewelry and teacups, you can usually find a middle-aged woman getting rid of her Oma’s gaudy collectibles.
After accidentally spilling glühwein on a box of records, I ended up buying a new, impromptu collection of vintage 60s and 70s Deutsch vinyl. A little bit of cleaning, and they were all just fine.
Flohmarkt am Rathaus Schöneberg
At a large plaza in front of Schöneberg district’s City Hall, where JFK gave the famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech, sellers large and small organize their wares for this weekly market.
Sometimes the tableau itself is the find.
Many sellers don’t bother displaying their goods; buyers can just rifle through boxes and negotiate a price once they’ve found an item of interest.
What I find most mysterious are the personal effects you can often procure at flea markets. Old family photos or individual, unmarked pictures, are common. Who are the people, once photographed for posterity, and now forgotten in time?
My favorite sellers are the ones who are moving house and just getting rid of extra junk. It’s not much, and it’s not pretty – it’s just for sale.
t’s easy to forget that just 25 years ago, this city was the center of two separate countries. Items from the DDR, a country that no longer exists, pop up just enough as gentle reminders that the 16 million people of the DDR are still residents of united Germany.
Flohmarkt Boxhagener Platz
Vintage beer steins are quite common, but that doesn’t stop collectors from making a fortune on them at more touristy markets like the Boxhagener Platz market in Friedrichshain.
The hoarder-sellers still have a presence at this more upscale market, though.
Vintage furniture and family portraits can sometimes create a sort of living room set instead of a seller’s booth. You almost hate to break up the collection by buying an item.
When items are so neatly stacked and displayed, it is easy to mistake trash for treasure. It’s not uncommon to see similar items on the pavement, on any day of the week, just waiting for curious passers-by to take one’s unneeded leftovers.
Emily Manthei is an American journalist, travel writer and filmmaker currently living in Berlin. Previously a long-time Angeleno, she has written US News and World Report’s travel and real estate guides to Los Angeles, and she has covered destinations from Central America to Eastern Europe for travel sites like Trip101, Opeeqo and Entertainment Voice, among others. Currently, she is taking her short film Vergangenheitsbewältigung to film festivals.More at www.emilymanthei.com, or @emmimanthei on Instagram.
