Would You Get Past These Women? - Meet The World's Fiercest Bouncers

Berlin’s nightclubs are notoriously hard to get into, but what does it take to guard the doors? Before the world went into lockdown, Sarah Hurtes met the women making good in a man’s world

- Sarah Hurtes

It’s 4 pm on a Saturday afternoon. Clouds of weed surround me, the smoke catching in my throat. I’ve already been standing for an hour and I have three more ahead of me. It could be longer; I don’t dare ask. By 7 pm, as the sky turns pink, descending into night, everyone around me has fallen silent. We’re united by one mission: the door in front of us. The silence is only punctuated by a woman with purple lipstick ordering those closest to her to keep smiling or they’ll be turned away. I fear that when we do finally get to the front, she’ll simply look us up and down and give us a curt “No”.

I’m in the queue for one of the most exclusive nightclubs in Berlin, the clubbing capital of Europe. The city earned that tag in the early ’90s following the fall of the Berlin Wall: the end of Germany’s horrific restrictions sparked a newfound thirst for freedom, and week-long parties began to burgeon at full speed. Clubbing became a lifestyle, music a religion – and it garnered worldwide attention. As East Berlin businesses closed down, abandoned soap factories and power plants were transformed into illegal clubs. Over the years, these forbidden parties gave way to venues with permits, but many retained the grit that made them so special in the first place. Tourists flooded to the city, and locals fought to keep the atmosphere sacred. In turn, the venues’ door policies became so strict they’re now almost as famous as the clubs themselves.