The German capital — and Schöneberg , the neighborhood in which Folsom is held — is also deeply enmeshed in the L.G.B.T. history of the 19th and early 20th centuries, when the city was a center of gay culture and activism .

“Berlin has always been a very special city,” said Alexander Cabot, the first transgender man to win the title of Mr. Leather Berlin 2019. “Back in the 1920s, Berlin was called the city of sin. That is very appealing because you can experience a variety of things here — so many different things — and people like that. It is very free.”

That era of openness was brought to a violent end by the Nazis and did not re-emerge until decades later when West Berlin became a Cold War counterculture mecca.

Folsom’s organizers said they want to celebrate that hard-won freedom, but they also cautioned that Berlin’s anything-goes sexual reputation might be inaccurate.

“We are actually less scandalous than in San Francisco, I think,” said Daniel Ruester, a bursar for Lufthansa who co-founded the festival in 2003. He described it as “sexy but not sexual.”

“Tourists always think in Berlin you can do anything, but that is not true,” he added. “We do have laws here.”

The centerpiece of Folsom Europe is a street fair that turns Schöneberg into a sort of kinky catwalk, where thousands of elaborately dressed participants — mostly gay, bisexual and transgender men — drink, shop and show off their look.