MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Thirty-three years ago, the Soviet Union collapsed, sending political ripples and millions of migrants around the world. Germany took in some 200,000 Jews, and they brought traditions from home, including wild holiday parties. Reporter Rebecca Collard attended this year.
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REBECCA COLLARD, BYLINE: It's just before midnight on Christmas Eve, and Berlin's Red Salon is packed, partygoers enthusiastically dancing under dim red lights.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Do you want a glass with ice or direct from the bottle?
COLLARD: This is the Russian Disco, a decades-old tradition started by Jewish refugees from the former Soviet Union in the late 1990s - wild, all-night parties where vodka flowed freely and dancing on the tables was encouraged.
WLADIMIR KAMINER: (Singing in non-English language).
COLLARD: And that is Wladimir Kaminer, one of the founders of the Russian Disco, DJ, author, columnist, and here, he is an icon. When he arrived in Berlin, Kaminer was surprised to find the city dead on Christmas Eve.
KAMINER: (Non-English language spoken).
COLLARD: "The Germans have this tradition of eating these fat birds and going to sleep early," he says.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing in non-English language).
COLLARD: The crowd sings along as Kaminer dances at the DJ table. In front, a man twirls a large fan with one hand and his dance partner with the other.
FILEX: I come here to dance because there is no other place in Berlin where you can dance now.
COLLARD: Filex, who asked not to use his real name, claiming too many people would recognize him, also came to Berlin as part of this Jewish migration, and soon, he found the Russian Disco.
FILEX: I can actually quote eight pieces from classical Russian literature, but all of it is about how Russia sucks big time.
COLLARD: This sort of love-hate relationship with Russia is common here, especially for those with multiple, sometimes conflicting identities. And since Russia invaded Ukraine, that has gotten even more complicated. Kaminer tells me no one wanted anything to do with Russia once the war started.
KAMINER: (Non-English language spoken).
COLLARD: "And I didn't either," he says. "But then I realized this is not an option. So there's a crappy regime in power in Russia now. Should we leave this whole culture, all this music, to this regime?" he asks.
Instead, he says, he kicked out musicians that didn't stand against the war and added more from places like Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan to the playlist that had always included music from across the former Eastern Bloc. In 2022, it was held as the Ukrainian Disco, and now it has returned as the Russian Disco Against the War.
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UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Singing in non-English language).
COLLARD: Along with the native Russian speakers here are Germans. Most, like Ralph Hermersdorfer, grew up in Communist East Germany.
RALPH HERMERSDORFER: I learned Russian in school, and we had some music lessons also, and I was singing in Russian.
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UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Singing in non-English language).
COLLARD: The party is perhaps a little less wild than those early days, and by midnight, most of those old enough to have attended the original Russian Discos trickle out.
KAMINER: (Non-English language spoken).
COLLARD: But a younger crowd are arriving. Among them, 29-year-old Samuel Yuri Alexander Saidel.
SAMUEL YURI ALEXANDER SAIDEL: And I think it was 17, 18, some Christmas Eve with my mom and her friends, and then they said, hey, let's revive this. Let's go there, and my mom was like, oh, no, I don't want to. And I was like, wait, what? It's the party you used to go. I want to go with you. And then I was here, and I got hooked.
COLLARD: Saidel has been coming almost every year since.
SAIDEL: Like, I see all the people I grew up with because they were used to friends of my parents, and so you see them and you go over, and they're like, hi, hi. Oh my God, you grew up so much.
COLLARD: And now he brings his own entourage of non-Russian friends.
SAIDEL: And I'm bringing my friends with them, and it's, like, this nice mix of just combining where I'm from and who I grew up with, actually. So just showing part of my culture and my friends accepting it, even like it a lot.
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UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Singing in non-English language).
COLLARD: Accepting it - Saidel repeats Kaminer's point that the current Russian government doesn't own Russia's long, rich, diverse cultural traditions - that Russian culture can still be celebrated. And at least one night a year, in this dimly lit bar in Berlin, it is.
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UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Vocalising).
COLLARD: For NPR News, I'm Rebecca Collard in Berlin.
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UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Vocalising). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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