Unique accommodation in cosmopolitan Berlin

That’s what Pfefferbett gGmbH (a non-profit company) offers. On 1 May 2008 our Pfefferberg hostel was opened, and since the beginning of July 2009 we’ve had rental apartments in Prenzlauer Berg and Weißensee.

People with all kinds of disabilities work  in every part of our company’s service chain. From the beginning, the integration-promoting company nobis was our service partner for Housekeeping. But since 1 July 2009 we’ve also become an intergration-promoting organization. That means over forty percent of our 38 employees are severely disabled. In this way, we’re creating all kinds of interesting employment opportunities within a framework of work-based rehabilitation, helping people to find a proper job.

The Pfefferbett non-profit company is an associate of VIA Berlin (Association for Integrated Opportunities). We are part of the VIA’s group of companies which are dedicated to advising, supporting and employing people with disabilities. Our companies and projects offer a variety of services in public sector work and qualifications, trade and service provision, culture and tourism. Our policy: supporting and integrating socially disadvantaged people. More information: www.via-berlin.de (in German).

We are members of the Berlin Association of Welfare Charities and the Federal Working Committee of Companies Promoting Integration.

Why did the bear lie in the beer barrel? And what’s it got to do with pepper?

The bear in our logo isn’t really Knut, the famous two-year old polar bear. Instead, he’s the heraldic symbol of Berlin and is more than seven hundred years old. 

Pfeffer (the German word for pepper) here has nothing to do with spice and everything to do with Joseph Pfeffer. He was the Master Brewer who founded the brewery in 1842 and gave his name to the Pfefferberg site. You’ll find our hostel in the former fermenting cellar, where the beer barrels were once stored.

And the Berlin Bear is lying in the beer barrel because we’re typical Berliners. We’re good at getting creative with the wastelands and unused industrial spaces the city’s so famous for (and there have been a lot of them since the wall came down.) Our hostel has brought new life to one of these spaces.

Our team is real Berlin, too. We live in Berlin. We’re from Berlin… or its surroundings, or other German cities, or Europe, South America, Africa or Asia… in other words, typical Berliners!

By the way: over the last few years Pfefferberg has developed into a unique social and cultural centre, with galleries, studios, clubs, and even a beer garden and restaurant. We take part in projects and work in cooperation with many of the organisations and initiatives here in Pfefferberg, a former brewery which lies between Senefelderplatz and Teutoburger Platz in Prenzlauer Berg.