Staaken | |
|---|---|
 Village church with commemoration cross to Staaken's division from 1951 to 1990 | |
Location of Staaken in Spandau district and Berlin
| |
 Location of Staaken | |
  Staaken  Staaken | |
| Coordinates:52°31′57″N13°08′29″E / 52.53250°N 13.14139°E /52.53250; 13.14139 | |
| Country | Germany |
| State | Berlin |
| City | Berlin |
| Borough | Spandau |
| Founded | 1273 |
| Area | |
• Total | 10.9 km2 (4.2 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 50 m (160 ft) |
| Population (2023-12-31)[1] | |
• Total | 47,306 |
| • Density | 4,340/km2 (11,200/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| Postal codes | 13591 |
| Vehicle registration | B |
Staaken (German pronunciation:[ˈʃtaːkŋ̍]ⓘ) is alocality at the western rim ofBerlin within the borough ofSpandau.
First mentioned in a 1273 deed asStakene (fromMiddle Low German:staken, "stakes") in theMittelmark region of theMargraviate of Brandenburg, thelinear settlement probably arose around 1200 in the course of theGerman eastward migration. The estates were then held by theBenedictine nunnery of Spandau; after theProtestant Reformation they fell to the Spandau municipal administration.
The former village became part of Berlin by theGreater Berlin Act of 1920. The development of the area started with the construction of the Staakengarden city byarchitectPaul Schmitthenner in 1914. At the beginning ofWorld War I theLuftschiffbau Zeppelin company acquired large estates in Staaken, where from 1915 on it manufacturedzeppelin airships and the series of one-offRiesenflugzeug "giant" multi-engined bombers, among the largest of their day anywhere, culminating in the small series ofR.VIbiplanestrategic bombers built by the firm.
In 1919 the regulations of theTreaty of Versailles finished the production and the area was transformed into anairfield.[2] There had been regular Zeppelin flights toFriedrichshafen and even toLondon from 1919 on, though in the following years most of theaviation moved toTempelhof Airport. The former zeppelin manufacturing halls were turned into theStaaken Studios and used as the location for variousfilm productions, e.g. parts ofFritz Lang'sMetropolis. In 1929 the estate was sold to the City of Berlin, while parts of the airport were still used by theDeutsche Luft Hansa forflight training and maintenance purposes. InAlbrechtshof theDemag (Deutsche Maschinenfabrik AG) builtPanther tanks duringWorld War II usingforced labour of over 2,500 prisoners held in the nearbyFalkenhagenlabour camp, a subcamp of theSachsenhausen concentration camp.
After World War II Staaken was divided by a territorial exchange contract between theAlliesUnited Kingdom andSoviet Union of 30 August 1945. The borders of the British occupational sector of Berlin were reshaped so that, that by incorporating the so-calledSeeburger Zipfel it would include the entire formerLuftwaffe airfield atBerlin-Gatow in the southwestern corner of this sector. In return the so-calledDorf Staaken (Staaken Village) andAlbrechtshof, nowadays called West Staaken (at the most western end of the British Sector) was de jure assigned to the Soviets. The geographically eastern Staaken remained with the political West. However, the de facto administration remained with theBorough of Spandau in the British sector. So all inhabitants of Staaken could vote for West-Berlin'scity state elections in 1948 and 1950.
On 1 February 1951 East GermanVolkspolizei took over control of West Staaken, including the airfield and adjacentNeu-Jerusalem located there, and ended the administration by the Spandau Borough; instead West Staaken became anexclave of East Berlin'sthen Borough of Mitte. This gave rise to the confusing fact, that the geographically western Staaken was part of the politically EasternEast Berlin at the geographically western outskirts ofWest Berlin, while the geographically eastern Staaken remained with the political Western British sector, thus West Berlin. East Germany then moved up its border checkpoint towards West Berlin fromDallgow more eastwards to West Staaken.
On 1 June 1952 West Staaken's de facto administration was conveyed to neighbouring East GermanFalkensee, which incorporated West Staaken on 1 January 1961. From 13 August the same year until its opening and removal after 9 November 1989 theBerlin Wall cut through the two parts of Staaken, with one East Germanborder crossing on Heerstraße. Since 1 January 1971 western Staaken, officially simply named Staaken, formed a municipality of its own, with a population amounting to 4,146 at that time. On 3 October 1990, the day ofunification of East Germany, East and West Berlin with the West GermanFederal Republic of Germany both Staakens reunited to form a locality of the Spandau Borough.
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Albrechtshof station had been the site of arail border crossing, it was closed in 1961 after an East Germantrain driver, Harry Deterling,fled from the GDR by breaking through the barriers towards theGartenstadt Staaken inWest Berlin with a whole train. The event was dramatised in the 1963West GermanfilmDurchbruch Lok 234 (The Breakthrough). The route to Albrechtshof was only reconnected in 1995 afterGerman reunification.
In 1976 theGDR opened a separate rail border crossing stationStaaken for rail transit to western Germany farther away from the border to West Berlin. Up to 1980 the eastern part of Staaken insideWest Berlin was served byS-Bahn. This service was abandoned by the East GermanReichsbahn Headquarters after the big strike of the West Berlin Reichsbahn workers. A reconnection today is highly unlikely.
The car traffic, travelling alongF 5 between West Berlin and the EastGerman Democratic Republic or the West GermanFederal Republic, e.g. toHamburg, was subject to theInterzonal traffic regulations that between West Germany and West Berlin followed the special regulations of theTransit Agreement (1972).
On 1 January 1988 the transit traffic to West Berlin was redirected to the new East German Stolpe checkpoint (a part of today'sHohen Neuendorf)/West Berlin-Heiligensee. From 1988 to 9 November 1989 the Heerstraßeborder crossing was open for the highly restricted traffic between West Berlin and East Germany. Highly restricted in this case means citizens of West Berlin had to apply for a visiting permit to visit relatives; while only GDR citizens above the age of 65 could apply to visit relatives in West Berlin. Eastern controls were slowly eased into spot checks and finally abolished on 30 June 1990, the day East and West introduced the union concerning currency, economy and social security (German:Währungs-, Wirtschafts- und Sozialunion).
Staaken borders on the localities ofSpandau proper,Falkenhagener Feld andWilhelmstadt. In the west it shares border with theBrandenburg municipalities ofFalkensee andDallgow-Döberitz with the village ofSeeburg, part ofHavelland district. Buildings range from smalldetached houses and agarden city around the historic village centre in the west to larger 1960s and 1970shousing estates in the east.
The locality of Staaken includes six sites (German:Ortslagen) or neighbourhoods (Siedlungen):
Staaken is served byRegionalExpress andRegionalBahn trains of theDeutsche Bahn at the stationsStaaken andAlbrechtshof. AS-Bahn connection toAlbrechtshof is planned. TheBundesstraße 5 federal highway runs through the locality along Heerstraße.
 Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf (4) | |
|---|---|
 Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg (2) | |
 Lichtenberg (11) | |
 Marzahn-Hellersdorf (10) | |
 Mitte (1) | |
 Neukölln (8) | |
 Pankow (3) | |
 Reinickendorf (12) | |
 Spandau (5) | |
 Steglitz-Zehlendorf (6) | |
 Tempelhof-Schöneberg (7) | |
 Treptow-Köpenick (9) | |
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| National | |
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