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Music

Berlin's Nightclubs Have Been Raising Charity Money for Refugees

By charging guestlisters €1.00 for entry, the initiative Plus One has raised over €40,000.
Photo courtesy of PLUS 1

Germany currently grants asylum to the highest concentration of refugees in the European Union, as reported by the BBC. And while the topic has been a matter of debate for the country, one notable community in its capital has stuck its neck out to help these thousands of displaced people—Berlin's nightclubs.

As Mixmag reports, many of the city's venues have joined up with the organization Plus One to form a new initiative in which all guest listers pay €1.00 (around $1.14) for their entry, and to which all proceeds from that fee go to the charity.

Plus One began in October 2015, during the height of the Syrian refugee crisis that erupted after thousands of its citizens attempted to flee the war-torn and terrorist-riddled country. Even as the turmoil in Syria abates, many of its refugees are still seeking aid and shelter in assimilation into Germany. According to the broadcasting service Deutsche Welle, it costs around €12,500 to pay for housing, food, and German classes for each refugee.

Plus One distributes the money it raises to bigger refugee charities such as Sea-Watch, Moabit helps!, and Berlin Refugees, which in turn "aim to help distressed people in the Mediterranean sea, influence the State Office of Health and Welfare, and defend the rights of refugees in the face of authorities and politicians."

The organizers behind Plus One are hoping to make the donation-based charity a permanent fixture of the city's nightclubs.