Berlin has long been a magnet for outsiders, from provincial Prussians centuries ago to Brooklyn hipsters today. Strangers at first, these newcomers eventually make the city their own and reshape its social fabric.
This process continued even while Berlin was divided during the Cold War, but 20 years after reunification, the German capital has become an increasingly attractive destination for foreigners hoping to start a new life.
Julia Lipkins’ multimedia project for The Local lets these new Berliners tell their own stories.
Marco Huck
Sandzak, Serbia
Click here for Marco Huck’s story.
Marco Huck was a child refugee of the Balkan wars – today he is a world champion boxer.
Germany became a leading destination for asylum-seekers in the early 1990s following the collapse of Yugoslavia and the ensuing conflicts in the Balkans. Huck and his Bosnian family arrived in 1993, a year after asylum applications peaked at 440,000. Huck, the current World Boxing Organisation Cruiserweight Champion, became a German citizen in 2009.
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