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The Bohemian Village in Rixdorf — history explained for kids
In the middle of Berlin-Neukölln, around Richardplatz, lies a village within the city: the Bohemian Village in Rixdorf. Cobblestones, old courtyards, a smithy that has worked for centuries — and a history that goes back almost 300 years.
1737: how the Bohemian Village began
On 25 March 1737, around 300 Protestant religious refugees from Bohemia arrived in Rixdorf — invited by King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia. There were about 18 families, almost all from the town of Böhmisch-Rothwasser. They received semi-detached houses and barns, horses, cows and farm tools, and stayed tax-free for several years.
The king also had an economic motive: the Thirty Years' War and the plague had left Prussia depopulated. The newcomers were farmers and weavers at once — in the fields by day, at the loom in the evening.
A language of their own in the middle of Berlin
The Bohemian community kept its independence for a long time: its own self-government, its own congregations — and its language. Church services were held in Czech until the First World War. Today's Kirchgasse was called Malá ulička, the little lane, until 1909. And to this day the Czech song Čas radosti is sung at Christmas.
Traces you can still find today
Much has survived: the Rixdorf smithy, documented since 1624 and one of the oldest working smithies in Berlin. The Bethlehem Church, the oldest building in Rixdorf, with an orb on its spire — such tower orbs often served as time capsules. Plus the Museum in the Bohemian Village at Kirchgasse 5, the Comenius Garden, and the Bohemian burial ground, one of Berlin's oldest continuously used cemeteries.
History to discover for yourself
These are exactly the places Localnauts turns into a playing field: kids travel back to 1737 as a crew and solve puzzles at ten stations — in the middle of it, not in a book. Every historical fact is backed by a source; where something is handed down rather than proven, we say so honestly. All the evidence is public on our sources page.
History isn't only in the museum — it's in the cobblestones, the street names and the alleyways.
The interactive GPS scavenger hunt for families – from 3 July 2026 in Berlin-Rixdorf.
Frequently asked
The Bohemian Village is a historic centre around Richardplatz in Berlin-Neukölln (Rixdorf). From 1737, Protestant religious refugees from Bohemia settled here. Many courtyards, the smithy, the Bethlehem Church and the Bohemian burial ground survive to this day.
Because alongside the older German Rixdorf, an independent Bohemian community formed from 1737 — with its own self-government and the Czech language. The two parts were united in 1874 and renamed Neukölln in 1912.
Yes. With Localnauts the neighbourhood becomes a GPS scavenger hunt for kids aged 8 to 12: at ten stations they solve puzzles and experience the real history on site — about 90 to 120 minutes, no app, in the browser.