Nollendorfplatz (colloquially calledNolle orNolli) is a square in the centralSchöneberg district ofBerlin,Germany.

The place was named on November 27 1864 after thevillage ofNollendorf (Czech:Nakléřov) nearPetrovice in the present-dayCzech Republic, a site of the 1813Battle of Kulm where the united forces of theSixth Coalition defeated aFrench army underDominique Vandamme. The victoriousPrussian troops were led by GeneralFriedrich von Kleist, who in turn was elevated to a "Count of Nollendorf" by KingFrederick William III. The adjacent Kleiststraße leads from Nollendorfplatz toWittenbergplatz in the west.

The extended square was laid out according to theHobrecht-Plan of 1862, then part of a larger road link from Charlottenburg through Schöneberg to the Berlin district ofKreuzberg in the manner of aParisian boulevard, named after victorious Prussian generals (therefore colloquially calledGeneralszug inGerman). During theWilhelmine era, in 1902, the firstBerlin U-Bahn line (Stammstrecke) was inaugurated, which ran under Kleiststraße up to theelevated railway atNollendorfplatz station, built according to plans designed byCremer & Wolffenstein architects.

During theWeimar Republic, the well-known gay nightclubEldorado was located onMotzstraße.^[1] During 1932, the club was seized by the Nazis and used as theSturmabteilung (SA) headquarters.^[2]

This area was severely damaged by thebombing of Berlin in World War II, the square today is shaped by the rebuilt U-Bahn viaduct and the facade of the historicNeues Schauspielhaus theatre, supplemented by numerous new buildings. The adjacent area in the south aroundMotzstraße is Berlin's most prominentgay village and site of the annualLesbian and Gay City Festival.

Nollendorfplatz has a long history as being a gay area which dates back to the turn of the 20th century, perpetuated byThe Berlin Stories ofChristopher Isherwood, the writings ofW. H. Auden,Klaus Mann, and many others. Within the gay community this part of Berlin is most famous for its leather and darkroom bars. It also plays a little role in the musicalCabaret byJoe Masteroff as the home of some of the characters. A memorial plaque at the U-Bahn station commemorates thepersecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.

• Georg Büchmann (1822–1884), philologist, lived on the corner of Bülowstraße
• Samuel von Fischer (1859–1934), publisher, ran hisS. Fischer Verlag on Bülowstraße from 1897 onwards
• Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925), philosopher, lived on Motzstraße from 1903
• Lesser Ury (1861–1931), painter, lived on Nollendorfplatz No. 1 from 1920
• Frank Wedekind (1864–1918), playwright, lived on nearby Kurfürstenstraße
• Else Lasker-Schüler (1869–1945), poet, lived on Motzstraße between 1924 and 1933
• Max Beckmann (1884–1950), painter, lived on Nollendorfplatz No. 6
• Wilhelm Furtwängler (1886–1954), conductor, was born in the former house on the corner of Maaßenstraße
• Nelly Sachs (1891–1970), poet, was born on Maaßenstraße
• Walter Benjamin (1892–1940), philosopher, spent his childhood on Kurfürstenstraße
• Walter Mehring (1896–1981), author, was born on nearby Derfflingerstraße
• Ödön von Horváth (1901–1938 Paris), writer, lived on Motzstraße in the late 1920s
• Christopher Isherwood (1904–1986), novelist, lived on Nollendorfstraße between 1929 and 1933
• Jean Ross (1911–1973), cabaret singer and writer, lived on Nollendorfstraße between 1930 and 1932

• Nollendorfplatz
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  Metrotrain at Nollendorfplatz
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  Pieces ofAmerikanische Kirche (American Church)
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  Rainbow Gay Column
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  Gay Bear at Nollendorfplatz
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  Nollendorfplatz, around 1900
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  Nollendorfplatz byErnst Ludwig Kirchner 1912
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  Neues Schauspielhaus
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  Nollendorfplatz station and Neues Schauspielhaus

• Susanne Twardawa:Der Nollendorfplatz in Berlin. Motzbuch, Berlin 2001,ISBN 3-935790-02-3

Media related toNollendorfplatz at Wikimedia Commons

52°29′57″N13°21′14″E / 52.49917°N 13.35389°E /52.49917; 13.35389

• Gay villages in Germany
• Squares in Berlin

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