About Siegessäule

Siegessäule

Siegessäule is Berlin's queer city magazine, published monthly and distributed free across the German capital. Founded in 1984, it is the world's most widely distributed periodical of its kind, with an average circulation of around fifty-two thousand copies distributed at some seven hundred locations in Berlin. Under the tagline "We are queer Berlin", the German-English magazine covers queer-relevant topics from politics, community, and city life to film, music, literature, and theatre, with the most extensive regional events calendar in any German queer medium. In February 2026 the magazine's publisher transitioned into the newly founded cooperative Siegessäule – Queere Medien eG.

Overview

Siegessäule appears monthly as a free city magazine, financed by advertising. Each issue averages around one hundred pages, combining editorial content with an extensive listings section: some three thousand events are listed each month, making the magazine's program calendar the most comprehensive regional listings section in a German queer medium. The editorial content covers queer-relevant topics across politics, community life, city affairs, film, music, literature, and theatre, with a bilingual German-English approach that serves both the local community and Berlin's international queer residents and visitors.

The magazine's readership is Berlin's queer community in its full diversity: gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, and inter people, their friends and allies, and the international visitors drawn to Berlin's queer scene. Distribution at around seven hundred locations across the city, from bars, clubs, and cafés to bookshops, community centers, and cultural venues, puts the magazine where its readers socialize. Outside Berlin the magazine has also been available at newsagents for a cover price, giving it reach beyond the capital and making it the community's calling card for visitors.

The editorial stance has evolved with the community: from a gay men's publication through a gay-lesbian identity to an explicitly queer, inclusive self-understanding. The 2014 relaunch under the tagline "We are queer Berlin" manifested the intent to represent the wider spectrum of the LGBT community, and the bilingual program calendar introduced in 2012 reflects the internationalization of Berlin's queer scene, where English has become a second community language.

History

The Siegessäule's origins lie in Berlin's gay scene of the early 1980s, with its beginnings in the SchwuZ, the gay cultural center. Initially published as a "Monatsblatt für Schwule" (monthly for gay men), the magazine grew with the city's gay movement. In the mid-1980s editors Micha Schulze and Dirk Evenson expanded the editorial cultural and events content to include community and political topics, tripling the page count to twenty-four.

When the publishing house went bankrupt in 1995, Siegessäule was acquired along with the magnus magazine by publisher and journalist Reiner Jackwerth. In 1996 magnus was permanently discontinued, and Siegessäule was reborn as an independent city magazine, remaining free and advertising-financed. The new chief editors, Manuela Kay (from 1996) and Peter Polzer (from 1997), officially turned the previously gay publication into a gay-lesbian one, with eighty pages and a circulation of forty thousand copies. Over the 1990s the magazine became a more serious journalistic medium and the mouthpiece of the city's gay and lesbian scene, chronicling the post-reunification transformation of Berlin's queer geography.

In 2005 Holger Wicht took over as chief editor, relaunching the tagline from "gay/lesbian" to "queer", manifesting the intent to represent a wider spectrum of the community. Sirko Salka followed in 2008, continuing the increasingly inclusive direction. On its twenty-fifth anniversary in March 2009, then-governing mayor Klaus Wowereit called the Siegessäule the "journalistic flagship of Berlin's gay-lesbian community", a recognition of the magazine's role in the city's public life. In May 2012 the newly founded Special Media SDL, established by journalists Gudrun Fertig and Manuela Kay from the Jackwerth publishing house, took over the magazine. That autumn the events calendar became bilingual, and the March 2013 issue brought the chief-editor duo of Jan Noll and Christina Reinthal, who expanded the English content. The October 2014 issue, marking the thirtieth anniversary, appeared largely bilingual under the name "Siegessäule – We are queer Berlin". Jan Noll served as sole chief editor from the May 2017 issue to the July 2023 issue, and the magazine celebrated its fortieth anniversary with the April 2024 issue.

In February 2026 the new cooperative Siegessäule – Queere Medien eG was founded, in which the Siegessäule as well as L-MAG and place2be.berlin will appear from the end of 2026, with Anna Motzek and Markus von Goessel taking over the cooperative's management from October 2026.

Coverage and Content

The editorial content covers queer-relevant topics from politics, community, and city affairs to film, music, literature, and theatre. Political coverage addresses LGBT rights, anti-discrimination policy, and the community's relationship with Berlin's government and parties. Community coverage reports on the scene's venues, initiatives, and debates, from club culture to community organizations, and on the changes reshaping the scene as venues close and new ones open. Cultural coverage spans queer film, including the Teddy queer film award at the Berlinale, music, literature, and theatre.

The listings section is the magazine's signature: around three thousand events each month, the most extensive regional program in a German queer medium, bilingual since 2012. Special issues have addressed the Berlin CSD (Christopher Street Day), the Teddy award, World AIDS Day, and the Berlin leather and fetish gathering. The publisher also produces the gay-lesbian business directory Siegessäule Kompass and has produced commissioned magazines such as the gala program for the Berliner Aids-Hilfe's "Künstler gegen Aids" event.

Organization and Ownership

Siegessäule was published by Special Media SDL GmbH, the Berlin-Kreuzberg-based LGBTI special-interest publisher founded on May 1, 2012, by journalists Gudrun Fertig and Manuela Kay, who took over media from the Jackwerth Verlag. The publisher's best-known publication is the Siegessäule, with an average circulation of around fifty-two thousand copies distributed free at some seven hundred Berlin locations, and the publisher also produces L-MAG, the magazine for lesbians founded in 2003. In February 2026 the publisher transitioned into the Siegessäule – Queere Medien eG cooperative, which took over the Siegessäule, L-MAG, and place2be.berlin products.

The business model is the free-magazine standard: distribution is free to readers, financed by advertising from the scene's venues, businesses, and services, supplemented by special issues and commissioned publications. The publisher describes itself as a classically journalistic special-interest publisher with a clear separation between editorial content and sold advertising and a clear commitment to the values of independent journalism, a stance that has defined the house since its founding.

Digital Presence

The magazine's website, siegessaeule.de, extends the print offering with queer Berlin news, the events calendar, and digital editions. The bilingual approach of the print magazine carries over into the digital presence, serving the international audience that forms a large part of Berlin's queer scene. The publisher's online media include place2be.berlin, the city portal that moved into the cooperative alongside the print titles.

The Queer Voice of Berlin

Siegessäule has documented Berlin's queer life for four decades: from the gay movement of the 1980s through the AIDS crisis, the post-reunification scene, and the internationalization of queer Berlin to today's diverse queer community. A free monthly with the world's largest circulation in its category, it is both the community's noticeboard and its journalistic voice. The 2026 transition into a cooperative secures the magazine's independence for its next chapter, carrying the "We are queer Berlin" promise into the future.