The former GDR cult Café Sibylle was opened in 1953 under the name Milchtrinkhalle and ran its business almost continuously until April 2018. After the fall of the Wall it closed briefly, but was reopened at the turn of the millennium. In addition to the café operation, a historical exhibition on Karl-Marx-Allee was shown in the café from this point on. For me, the Café Sibylle and the accompanying lettering are one of the places on Karl-Marx-Allee that are still reminiscent of the GDR. However, it is not about Ostalgie, but rather about “preserving a culture and way of life”, as the state curator Jörg Haspels emphasized in an interview with the Berliner Morgenpost.
During the GDR era, the café was the central address and was well attended. The residents of the neighboring neighborhood met in what was then the ice cream parlor and exchanged ideas there. After the name change in the 1960s - based on the women's magazine 'Sibylle', popular in the GDR - the magazine's editors, models and photographers also supposedly met there.
The Karl-Marx-Allee was considered the flagship of the GDR. This affected both the architecture and the goods on offer in the shops on the street. Thus the Café Sibylle was also a special and exclusive place. After around 65 years, the café at the historic location had to close because the lease was not extended. The café is now open again and is operated by a new tenant.
Translated by Google •
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