Hidden Threads
Cooperation Institut Francais and Floating e.V. | We are the river | (c) Sebastian Díaz de León
The ‘Hidden Threads’ project focuses on a largely forgotten chapter in Berlin’s history: the Columbia concentration camp and the large camps for forced labourers on what is now Tempelhofer Feld. Destruction, the site’s use as an airport, and the ongoing debate over its development have erased historical traces and prevented collective remembrance.
The project sees this void as a historical and social mission. In a participatory process, we link research about idividual fates with collective memory and artistic expression. From Autumn 2025 we invite neighbours and initiatives to share objects, stories and images relating to Tempelhofer Feld. In spring 2026 we bring togetheer artists from the Thikwa workshops, Ukrainian families from the GU Columbiadamm and the artists from Kollektiv Sticken and initial textile works are being created that respond to the research. In addition, textile traditions and craft techniques from different contexts are incorporated into the work.
In further open workshops at the Floating Campus, stories and textile techniques are shared and individual collages are created.
Finally, the works are displayed as textile maps and banners at freely chosen locations and presented during a large protest parade across Tempelhofer Feld in September 2026. They remain anchored in the Floating University as a permanent installation – as a space for remembrance, listening and asking further questions in solidarity.
Contact: ncp@floating-berlin.org
Workshop 1: Search for Traces
Traces of Forced Labour and the KZ Columbia in the neighbourhood
Basement of the former Bockbrauerei. (c) Ute Lindenbeck
Telefunken AG used the basement, which had been converted into a bunker, for the production of armaments and forced women and men to work for them.
Exhibitions
Spaces in Berlin for research and education about forced labour and the Columbia House
Dokumentationszentrum NS-Zwangsarbeit
Britzer Straße 5 | 12439 Berlin
The Nazi Forced Labour Documentation Centre in Berlin commemorates the fate of the more than 13 million men, women and children who were exploited as forced labourers in the German Reich during the Second World War. It is located on the historical site of an almost completely preserved forced labour camp in Berlin-Schöneweide.
Dokumentationszentrum Topographie des Terrors
Niederkirchnerstraße 8 | 10963 Berlin
Between 1933 and 1945, the site of today’s “Topography of Terror” Documentation Centre was home to the headquarters of the Nazi security and surveillance apparatus. In 1933, the Secret State Police had a “house prison” built in the basement of the south wing of the School of Applied Arts, which was intended primarily for political prisoners. A total of around 15,000 prisoners passed through this prison, and torture took place regularly in the Gestapo offices.
Papestraße SA Prison Memorial Site
Werner-Voß-Damm 54 a | 12101 Berlin
The Papestraße SA Prison Memorial Site is the only historical site in Berlin associated with the early Nazi terror where traces from 1933 can still be found. From March to December 1933, the barracks building – originally constructed for the Prussian Railway Regiments – housed an early concentration camp run by the SA.
Kiez Aktiv: Bockbrauerei
Bockbrauerei | Fidicinstraße 3 | 10965 Berlin
In the basement of the former Bock-Brewery Telefunken AG used forced labourers at its armaments factory to manufacture electron tubes for the military between December 1944 and April 1945. The initiative organizes historical tours in the basement.
More information and tour-dates
THF Tower: Lufthansa. Berlin-Tempelhof 1926–1945
THF TOWER | Tempelhofer Damm 45 | 12101 Berlin
The exhibition “Lufthansa. Berlin-Tempelhof 1926–1945. Between Civilian and Military Aviation“explores the history of Lufthansa at its former home airport from 1926 to 1945, taking a critical look at the company’s early years. It focuses on the complex interconnections between aviation, the state, industry, and the military, including the use of forced labor at Tempelhof Airport.
