Who are the Spreebären?
The "Spreebären" (Spree Bears) were founded in April 1999. We are an open social group for bearded, hairy men and their admirers. Every bear or bear lover may come along and join us.
We are no registered association and we do not plan to be one in future. We do not offer memberships. As there are no members there are no membership subscriptions either. So we share the costs for our activities or they are financed by voluntary donations.

What is a bear?
A beard, a hairy and maybe big body can be characteristics of the outward appearance of a bear. But this alone does not make a bear, and not all of the Spreebären are looking "bearish". But all men who join our meetings share an interest in men who are bearded/hairy and enjoy the company of men who have kept their naturalness.
Much more important is "the inner bear" who stands for open friendliness, acceptance, tolerance and comradeship. This creates the "bearish feeling" for each other.

Is it again all about sex?
No! First of all the Spreebären want to arrange social meetings and contact between like minded men and to create an atmosphere where you can feel comfortable.
Berlin offers so many events which are only about sexual contacts so that we think that it is not our task to organize events of that kind, too. But of course we don't have anything against sex.

Founders and History
The Spreebären were founded in April 1999 by Lothar and Dennis (left picture) and two other friends. They intended to have a bear community in the scene of Berlin where the bears stick together.
Right from the start the weekly meeting (bar night) was held, in the first year at the bar "PrinzKnecht". Later our home den bars were "Wieso nicht bei Pierre" (2000 to 2001), "Oldtimer" (2002), "Mario's Kneipe" (2003 to 2010), "MAXXX" (2010 until the bar was closed in March 2012) and "Der neue Oldtimer" (June 2012 to 2015).
In 2016 the Spreebären met at the bar "Prinzknecht".
Since 2017 the meeting is held at the bar "Der neue Oldtimer" (in the warmer months) or at the bar "Prinzknecht". The location is changed in April and in October.

In September 2001 the Spreebären organized their first bear meeting "Bearversions". In the years 2002 to 2010 we invited to our bear meeting "BEAROPOLIS" in September. From 2005 to 2012 we presented our bear meeting "BEARVERSIONS" at Easter.

Due to the organizational work of Lothar and Dennis the Spreebären were able to participate with an own stand in the "Lesbian and Gay City Festival" and with an own truck in the Christopher Street Day parade. They also organized barbecue parties, boat tours, christmas dinners and much more.
From April 2000 to December 2005 Dennis produced the monthly magazine "Papa Bär".

After Dennis died in September 2010 Lothar took over the organization of the Spreebären alone. At the end of the year 2012 he withdrew from the organizational work which is now done by an Organization Team.
Since January 2014 Lothar lives with his new partner in Austria near the city of Innsbruck, but he visits the Spreebären in Berlin from time to time.
The Spreebären are very thankful for the work and the social commitment of Lothar and Dennis and will go on with the group in their sense.

What do the Spreebären do?
The most important thing for us is our weekly meeting (bar night), because there we plan all of our other activities. However, we do not plan any big events like our former bear meetings.
But in every year there are several traditional events the Spreebären take part in. We visit the "Lesbian and Gay City Festival Berlin" together, we join the parade and other events of the Christopher Street Day Berlin, we organize weekend trips (for example to the gay farm project "Hollerhof") and barbecue parties and we celebrate christmas together.
We also keep up contacts to other bear groups, not only by visiting them in other cities, but we especially welcome bears who visit Berlin and join our meetings.

Meet us
The Spreebären meet every Thursday starting at 8:00 pm (see Events).
All bears and bear lovers are always very welcome!