| Niederkirchnerstrasse | |
 A preserved section of theBerlin Wall adjacent to Niederkirchnerstraße in 2014  The same location showingReich Security Main Office (Prinz-Albrecht-Straße No.8) in 1933. | |
 Interactive map of Niederkirchnerstraße | |
| Former names | |
|---|---|
| Namesake | Käthe Niederkirchner |
| Type | Street |
| Location | Berlin, Germany |
| Quarter | Mitte |
| Nearest metro station | |
| Coordinates | 52°30′26″N13°22′57″E / 52.5072°N 13.3825°E /52.5072; 13.3825 |
| East end |
|
| West end | Stresemannstraße [de] |
Niederkirchnerstraße, orNiederkirchnerstrasse (seeß;[3]German:[ˈniːdɐkɪʁçnɐˌʃtʁaːsə]), is a street inBerlin,Germany and was named afterKäthe Niederkirchner. The thoroughfare was known asPrinz-Albrecht-Straße until 1951 but the name was changed by theEast German government to honour Niederkirchner's legacy as a resistance fighter against the Nazi regime. The street was the location of theSSReich Security Main Office (RSHA), the headquarters of theSicherheitspolizei,SD,Einsatzgruppen andGestapo. The site is now marked by theTopography of Terror memorial and a museum, which includes a permanent exhibition showing the crimes of Nazism.[4]
The street runs east-west fromWilhelmstraße to Stresemannstraße nearPotsdamer Platz, forming the border between the districts ofMitte andKreuzberg.
Niederkirchnerstraße is also the site of theMartin-Gropius-Bau exhibition hall, built in 1881 byMartin Gropius andHeino Schmieden as a Museum of Decorative Arts, and theAbgeordnetenhaus von Berlin, from 1899 until 1933 seat of thePreußischer Landtag, the second chamber of the Prussian parliament. On 1 January 1919 theCommunist Party of Germany was founded in this building. Since 29 April 1993 it houses the parliament of the Berlin city state.
The street was laid out in 1891 and named for PrinceAlbrecht of Prussia (1809-1872, the youngest son of KingFriedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia), who had owned a large house calledPrinz-Albrecht-Palais on the corner of this street and the Wilhelmstraße.
In 1905 an extension building of the Museum of Decorative Arts was erected adjacent to the Martin-Gropius-Bau on Prinz-Albrecht-Straße 8. From May 1933 this building served as the headquarters of theGestapo created by the order ofHermann Göring, where many political prisoners were tortured and executed. In December 1934, it also housed the headquarters of theConcentration Camps Inspectorate, which oversaw all German concentration camps. It formed the nucleus of the complex of buildings including the neighbouringHotel Prinz Albrecht on Prinz-Albrecht-Straße 9 and thePrinz-Albrecht-Palais itself, which was taken over by theSicherheitsdienst (SD) underReinhard Heydrich in 1934. In September 1939, it developed into a centre for theReich Security Main Office (RSHA). The RSHA, formed in September 1939 byHeinrich Himmler and placed under the command of Heydrich, operated throughout Germany and occupied Europe. Himmler himself operated out of the building from an office on the top floor, thus making #8 Prince Albrecht Street the default headquarters for the entire SS.
The buildings, including the first building of theEthnological Museum of Berlin (at the southern corner with Stresemannstraße), were destroyed by Allied bombing in early 1945 and demolished after the war. AfterWorld War II, in 1951, the authorities ofEast Berlin renamed Prinz-Albrecht-Straße to Niederkirchnerstraße in honour ofKäthe Niederkirchner (1909–1944), a member of the communist resistance to the Nazis. TheBerlin Wall ran along the southern side of the street from 1961 to 1989 - one of the few preserved sections is located at the eastern end.
A building labeled "SS Headquarters" appears in the 2008 motion pictureValkyrie, the complex shown appearing as a large concrete building in a plaza draped withswastika flags. In reality, this was never an SS building but was theBerlin fairgrounds. The mini-seriesHitler's SS: Portrait in Evil further depicts SS headquarters as a grand hotel in a courtyard plaza, with the interior shown as a large lobby with a grand staircase leading up to Heinrich Himmler's office. Both depictions in no way resemble the historic Prinz-Albrecht-Straße, although "Hitler's SS" did accurately depict the building as being located within a former hotel. Numerous historical novels and thrillers set in Nazi Germany have sections taking place in the Prinz-Albrecht-Straße headquarters.
Steht der Buchstabe ß nicht zur Verfügung, so schreibt man ss. [If the letter ß is unavailable, then one writes ss.]
