Goethe-Institut San Francisco

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Goethe-Institut San Francisco Germany's cultural institute promoting German culture + language in the Bay Area since 1967.

The Goethe-Institut San Francisco, founded in 1967, promotes contemporary German culture and transatlantic exchange in collaboration with American institutions. Its programming highlights exhibitions, film, music, and the evolving role of technology, while fostering public dialogue on contemporary social and political challenges.

Spieleabend! 🎲 Practice your German over board games.Rusty German or a beginner? Perfect. Our monthly Game Night is for ...
10/21/2026

Spieleabend! 🎲 Practice your German over board games.

Rusty German or a beginner? Perfect. Our monthly Game Night is for everyone at every level, and we adapt the games to fit.

📆 October 28, 6-8 PM
📍 Goethe-Institut San Francisco
🎟️ Free and open to the public
🗣️ In German
🥨 Light snacks served
We need at least 8 players, so RSVP soon and bring family and friends!
🔗 Link in bio


What a night! 📚Thank you to everyone who joined us for (Un)Writing Place, a conversation between author Lin Hierse and t...
10/16/2026

What a night! 📚

Thank you to everyone who joined us for (Un)Writing Place, a conversation between author Lin Hierse and translator Dr. Jon Cho-Polizzi on language, place, and belonging.

Together they talked about the German and Chinese entanglements in Lin’s writing, the role of Chinatowns across the diaspora, and what happens when her work travels into English through translation. The conversation didn’t end when the talk did. Many of you stayed long afterward with questions and to chat with Lin and Jon. That’s exactly the kind of evening we love. 💚

Thank you, Lin Hierse 王彦琳 and for such an inspiring conversation!

West Berlin, 1979. A Manchester punk arrives with a camera — and never stops filming.Mark Reeder filmed a decade of Berl...
10/15/2026

West Berlin, 1979. A Manchester punk arrives with a camera — and never stops filming.

Mark Reeder filmed a decade of Berlin’s underground: basement gigs, wild hair, and icons like Nick Cave, Blixa Bargeld and Gudrun Gut.

”B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin“ is a fast, intimate ride through Berlin’s punk and electronic scene, from its system-smashing highs to the fall of the Wall. Winner of the Heiner Carow Prize at the 2015 Berlinale.

📆 October 22, 6-8 PM
📍 Goethe-Institut San Francisco
🎟️ Free & open to the public
🗣️ German & English with English subtitles
🔗 Link in bio



Copyright: DEF Media

What does it mean to belong, and how does language shape the places we call home?On October 15, author and journalist Li...
10/11/2026

What does it mean to belong, and how does language shape the places we call home?

On October 15, author and journalist Lin Hierse 王彦琳 joins award-winning translator Jon Cho-Polizzi for a conversation about German-Chinese entanglements, Chinatowns across the diaspora, and bringing her novels to English-speaking readers.

📆 October 15, 6 PM
📍 Goethe-Institut San Francisco
🎟️ Free | In English

In cooperation with Center for the Art of Translation , link in bio to RSVP!

Full house! 💚 Thank you to everyone who joined us for „On Archiving Punk“.What happens when a subculture becomes history...
10/09/2026

Full house! 💚 Thank you to everyone who joined us for „On Archiving Punk“.

What happens when a subculture becomes history?

Penelope Houston of the Avengers, archivist Freya Channing, and photo curator Christina Moretta took us behind the scenes of the San Francisco Punk Archive. They showed how fliers, photos, and zines find their way into the collection, why knowing where they come from matters, and how donors from the scene keep the archive growing.

Thank you to our speakers for an insightful evening, and to San Francisco Public Library for co-presenting. By the way: Our exhibition NO PUNK. NO FUTURE. is open until December 10 - don’t miss it!

Photos: Minoosh Zomorodinia

What happens when a subculture becomes history?Flyers stapled to telephone poles, zines passed hand to hand, photos from...
10/02/2026

What happens when a subculture becomes history?

Flyers stapled to telephone poles, zines passed hand to hand, photos from sweaty basement shows. Punk was never meant to be preserved.

Join us on Wednesday for a look inside the San Francisco Public Library’s Punk Archive, a growing, collection documenting the City’s punk history spearheaded by Penelope Houston of The Avengers. Our guests will discuss the impetus for creating a Punk archive, how materials find their way into it, why provenance matters, and what it takes to care for the ephemera of an underground movement.

🗓️ October 7, 6-8 PM
📍 Goethe-Institut San Francisco, copresented with the San Francisco Public Library
🎟️ Free / RSVP via link in bio

Yesterday’s German Game Night was a blast! 🎲Thanks to everyone who came out to play, laugh, and practice their German wi...
10/01/2026

Yesterday’s German Game Night was a blast! 🎲

Thanks to everyone who came out to play, laugh, and practice their German with us. On the table:

🃏UNO
🎲 Mensch ärgere dich nicht (literally „Don’t get annoyed, man!“, a German classic similar to Sorry)
🐺 Werwolf (Werewolf)
🎶 Hitster

Missed it? Good news: the next German Game Night is on October 28! We will vary the games in rotation every month, so stop by with your friends and family. All levels of German are welcome, light snacks will be served. Link in bio 🤝


What a Sunday in Golden Gate Park! 🤩We loved meeting so many of you at our booth, and we were amazed by how many people ...
09/29/2026

What a Sunday in Golden Gate Park! 🤩

We loved meeting so many of you at our booth, and we were amazed by how many people stopped by wanting to start (or restart) learning German.

We were also honored to hear remarks from
Consul General Theo Kidess and Penny Coulter, Chief of Protocol of the City and County Of San Francisco. A Bavarian choir set the perfect Oktoberfest mood, and the breakdancers from DDC Entertainment showed what’s possible in Lederhosen.

A big Dankeschön to our team on the ground and, of course, to the organizers for bringing the community together for a day of culture, language, and music: Deutscher Musikverein of San Francisco, United German American Societies of San Francisco, and Excelsior German Center at the Altenheim in Oakland.


Photos: BARAK SHRAMA

You asked, we listened! 🥨🍻Lots of you have been asking where to celebrate Oktoberfest in the Bay Area, so we put togethe...
09/24/2026

You asked, we listened! 🥨🍻

Lots of you have been asking where to celebrate Oktoberfest in the Bay Area, so we put together an overview.

A little Munich connection: the Wiesn is in full swing there right now, and Munich is also home to the Goethe-Institut headquarters. So you could say Oktoberfest runs in our family. 😉

Save this post, tag your Wiesn crew, and tell us in the comments which one you’re going to or if we missed one.👇
O’zapft is!


Address

657 Howard Street
San Francisco, CA
94105

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 4pm

Telephone

+16282763264

Website

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