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Eight Covid-safe events not to miss in Germany in June 2021

From open-air film festivals to long-awaited gallery openings, here are eight corona-safe things to do in the Bundesrepublik this June.

Published: 31 May 2021 15:50 CEST

Eight Covid-safe events not to miss in Germany in June 2021

A sign for this year's Berlinale, which takes place outdoors in June. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-Zentralbild | Paul Zinken

Berlinale Summer Special – June 9th-20th

The Berlinale, arguably the world’s largest international film festival,happens in Berlin each year. Yet because of Covid-19, Berlinale 2021 came in two parts, starting with online screenings in March.

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Now, part two promises to be spectacular, with 16 different outdoor cinemas screening shortlisted films all across Berlin, from Kreuzberg to Mitte and Hasenheide to Rehberge.

Tickets are available from June 3rd and cost between €5 and €15.

Objective, Realistic, Magical, Duisburg – Open Now until July 18th

This history infused art exhibition at the Lehmbruckmuseum explores the wild artistic currents of 1920s Germany.

Sandwiched between two World Wars, this unusual time of decadence and social deprivation, trauma, glamour and political upheaval gave rise to some of the most renowned – or notorious – German artists.

Duisburg hosts a whole spectrum of creatives from the heartbreaking illustrator Käthe Kollwitz, the cynical painter Otto Dix and caricaturist Georg Grosz, to painter, printmaker and sculptor Max Beckmann and more.

Standard tickets cost €9, concessions are €5.

Heidelberger Schlossfestspiele – 12th June – 1st August

The famous Heidelberger Palace has excitedly but cautiously announced that this year’s Festspiele will be going ahead.

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A series of open-air theatre, dance and music performances will be taking place between the atmospheric ruins of the 19th century castle. This includes an interpretation of ‘Dracula’ and the family-friendly German classic ‘Rodrigo Raubein’. Tickets cost €16.

Erwin Olaf: Strange Beauty, Munich – Open Now – September 26th

This retrospective exhibition follows the development of Erwin Olaf, one of the most famous contemporary photographers from the Netherlands.

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As well as his intricately staged photography, Olaf is known for being provocative. A wholehearted believer in tolerance and unity, he’s not afraid of controversy to get his point across.

No test is required, but you have to book a time slot in advance. Standard entry costs €13, but there’s a 50 percent discount on Tuesdays.

Diversity United, Berlin – June 9th – September 19th

This ambitious exhibition brings together 90 artists from 34 European countries under the roof of the old Berlin airport, Flughafen Tempelhof.

The exhibition is meant to showcase the extraordinary diversity of Europe’s contemporary art scene.

“The works on display shed light on themes such as freedom and democracy, migration and territory, political and personal identity, utopias and fears, which also revolve around the current pandemic.” writes the Stiftung für Kunst und Kultur.

Tickets will be available soon. Standard entry is €10, and €5 for students.

The Female Side of God, Frankfurt – Open now until June 26th

In this exhibition, the Jewish Museum Frankfurt takes a look at the feminine element of the representation of God in the three biggest monotheistic religions.

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The idea is to look at art, sculpture and scripture through the lens of social and historical contexts.

Standard entry is €12, test and time slot required.

Follow the Wine Road

Around since the Roman times, the Rhineland-Palatinate wine region long been a favourite stopping point for German vino fans. Now, the region is open for business again.

Nestled into idyllic rolling hills and cherry-tree lined avenues, many of the historical vintners are offering wine tastings and “Weinstrasse Road Trips”.

Hotels and hostels are open again in the Rhineland-Palatinate, but require rigid testing, and many are opting for caravans and holiday homes instead.

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Lunatic Festival, Lüneberg – June 4th and 5th

Every June, 25 students re-invent lunatic festivals in a fresh celebration of culture, art and music.

This year, they’ve been particularly creative, to make sure the festival can take place in a Covid-safe way, without losing any of its spontaneity.

Performances are scattered across the city and include synth-wielding German rap by Tropikel Ltd. and “avant-garde pop” from Lizki.

Costs €43.60 for each day.

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10 essential tips for avoiding rental scams in Germany

When it comes to settling in Germany, one of the most stressful and difficult tasks you’re likely to face is finding a place to live.

With the country in the grip of an ever-worsening housing shortage, there aren’t enough rental properties to meet the high demand – especially in big cities like Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt – and the flats that are available can often stretch even the most healthy of budgets.

With renters desperate to find affordable homes, crafty scammers have seized the chance to place fake ads on the market, often in dream locations with lower-than-average rents.

While some of these scams may be easy to spot, others can be highly sophisticated, with fraudsters setting up professional-looking websites and even allowing hopeful tenants to view their properties in person.

Recently The Local reported on a Polish couple who lost around €7,000 through a rental scam in Berlin. The scammers had sublet a beautiful Altbau apartment in the popular district of Neukölln and created an advert for it via a fake letting agent website, then arranged for people to use a key box to view the property while the real tenants were away.

Despite checking the contract over with legal experts from their local tenants’ association, nobody saw anything out of the ordinary – that is, until they tried to access the apartment and found a family already living there.

So, how do you protect your hard-earned savings and steer clear of scammers while looking for a new home?

Here are 10 important ways to protect yourself from rental scams.

1. Be alert to suspicious signs

The key to avoiding scammers in Germany is to be fully clued up on the warning signs. Was the listing for the property uploaded in the middle of the night, is the advert thin on details or written in bad German or English, and does the offer feel too good to be true?

Though it would be nice to believe there are still cheap flats to be found, finding an attractive property at an overly reasonable price is usually a red flag.

Hamburg

Modern apartments in Hamburg. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Daniel Bockwoldt

If someone claiming to be a landlord contacts you out of the blue, that’s also your cue to run a mile. With so many people looking for housing, most letting agents and landlords will have more than people looking to rent their properties without needing to get in touch with people themselves. Anyone who does is more than likely to be a scammer.

2. Rule out landlords who say they live abroad

One of the major warning signs to look out for is a landlord who claims to be renting the property from abroad, or who says they are out of the country for other reasons, like a last-minute business trip.

That’s usually a scammer’s way of excusing the fact that they won’t be able to meet you personally or even show you the property before you rent it.

“When the country the landlord lives in appears then I would say there’s a really big chance this is a scam,” said Kuba Rudzinski, one of the victims of the Berlin-Neukölln rental fraud.

Even if the excuse seems plausible, your best bet is to ignore anyone who tries to sell you a story about living abroad and simply move on with your house hunt.

3. Do your research online

Before committing to anything, take time to do some thorough research to scope out the property, landlord and letting agent.

Running the pictures and text used in apartment listings through a search engine like Google will help you quickly identify stock photos and text stolen from other listings. For pictures, this is known as a reverse image search.

A laptop

Photo by 2H Media on Unsplash

It’s also worth checking that any websites you’re sent to are fully functional and not copies of other letting agent sites, and that any email addresses match the website domain.

4. Visit the property and ask around

Never agree to rent a property without seeing it in person first. Arrange a viewing and take the opportunity to ask questions about the property and the neighbourhood.

Kuba also recommends speaking with the neighbours in the building to check if the property is genuinely being rented.

“Go to the place before and ask the neighbours, is this flat really for rent? Because these people generally know,” he said. “You’ll need to convince yourself to do it of course, but just ask in the building, ask on the floor where the flat is.”

5. Don’t transfer the full deposit in advance

Advance payments for anything, whether it’s furniture, a deposit or getting a chance to view the property, should be considered a major red flag.

Under German law, you are usually only expected to pay the deposit by the start of the agreed rental contract – and certainly not several months in advance.

Euro notes lie next to some house keys on a table.

Euro notes lie next to some house keys on a table. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-tmn | Andrea Warnecke

You are also legally entitled to pay your three months’ deposit in three instalments on top of your first three months’ rent after moving in, so definitely be cautious of landlords that place pressure on you to transfer a large lump sum.

If you’re really concerned, look into alternatives for paying your deposit, such as Kautionversicherung (deposit insurance) or a Mietkautionssparbuch, where you open a bank account and pledge the amount to the landlord, rather than transferring the money directly.

6. Insist on meeting the landlord or letting agent in person

If a landlord or letting agent refuses to meet you in person or insists on conducting all communication online, they’re probably not who they say they are.

Insist on meeting face-to-face to verify their identity and ensure they have a legitimate connection to the property.

7. Avoid sending documents straight away

Not all rental scams are about getting money from you directly: many scammers are simply after your personal details for the purposes of identity theft.

Be wary of providing personal documents or sensitive information before you’ve verified the legitimacy of the rental agreement, especially when it comes to things like passport scans or other forms of ID.

8. Seek legal advice from experts

If you’re unsure about any aspect of the rental agreement or if something seems suspicious, seek advice from legal experts or tenants’ associations.

However, be aware that this isn’t always a cast-iron guarantee that a tenancy is legitmate. Over the past few years, fraudsters have become increasingly sophisticated, even down to producing water-tight rental contracts for would-be tenants.

An estate agent hands over keys to an apartment. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-tmn | Christin Klose

According to civil lawyer Emilia Tintelnot, becoming a member of a tenants’ association can be a good way to get affordable legal advice, and it can also be helpful to set up legal insurance to ensure you can access help when you need it without having to pay lawyers’ fees up front.

9. Be wary of stereotypes

Avoid making assumptions based on stereotypes or preconceived notions about someone’s gender or nationality, as this may cause you to overlook things you might otherwise see as warning signs.

In Kuba’s case, the fact that the fraudsters were German made them appear more legitimate in his eyes, as Polish people tend to see Germans as law-abiding and trustworthy.

Be aware that scammers can come from any cultural background and may use a variety of tactics to deceive unsuspecting renters.

10. Keep an extensive paper trail

Document all communication, agreements, and transactions related to the rental process, including phone numbers and any bank details provided.

According to the Berlin police, this type of evidence can be crucial for an investigation if you do suspect a scammer.

While evidence can differ across cases, “pictures, contact details used by the perpetrators, original documents, bank details with payment receipts” are particularly helpful for investigators, and could help the police stop the scammers for good.

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