 | You can helpexpand this article with text translated fromthe corresponding article in German. (February 2009)Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Prenzlauer Berg | |
|---|---|
 Kastanienallee/Schönhauser Allee | |
Location of Prenzlauer Berg in Pankow district and Berlin  | |
  Prenzlauer Berg  Prenzlauer Berg | |
| Coordinates:52°32′21″N13°25′27″E / 52.53917°N 13.42417°E /52.53917; 13.42417 | |
| Country | Germany |
| State | Berlin |
| City | Berlin |
| Borough | Pankow |
| Area | |
• Total | 10.955 km2 (4.230 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 91 m (299 ft) |
| Population (2023-12-31)[1] | |
• Total | 168,947 |
| • Density | 15,000/km2 (40,000/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| Postal codes | 10405, 10407, 10409, 10435, 10437, 10439, 10119, 10247, 10249 |
| Vehicle registration | B |
Prenzlauer Berg (German pronunciation:[ˌpʁɛnt͡slaʊ̯ɐˈbɛʁk]ⓘ) is alocality of Berlin, forming the southerly and most urban district of the borough ofPankow. From its founding in 1920 until 2001, Prenzlauer Berg was a district of Berlin in its own right. However, that year it was incorporated (along with the borough ofWeißensee) into the greater district ofPankow.
From the 1960s onward, Prenzlauer Berg was associated with proponents ofEast Germany's diversecounterculture including Christian activists,bohemians, state-independent artists, and thegay community. It was an important site for thepeaceful revolution that brought down theBerlin Wall in 1989. In the 1990s the borough was also home to a vibrantsquatting scene. It has since experienced rapidgentrification.
Prenzlauer Berg is a portion of the Pankow district in northeast Berlin. To the west and southwest it bordersMitte, to the SouthFriedrichshain-Kreuzberg, to the eastLichtenberg, and to the northWeißensee andPankow.
Geologically, the borough straddles the southernmost edge of theBarnim glacial deposit formed during the lastIce Age. Prenzlauer Berg (literally Prenzlau Hill) was always seen as a hill by the inhabitants of historic Berlin situated to the south in the glacial valley along the riverSpree. Until the 20th century the area was mostly referred to as "Windmill Hill".
The highest point of the district is 91 meters above sea level in the northwest of Volkspark Prenzlauer Berg. This hill consists of the rubble from buildings that were destroyed inWorld War II duringallied air raids and bySoviet artillery in theBattle of Berlin.
Prenzlauer Berg is characterized byWilhelmine buildings, that were erected at the turn of the 20th century (1889 to 1905). Over 80% of all housing in this area was constructed before 1948, with the oldest building still standing being from 1848 at Kastanienallee 77. Though substantial, there was less war-related destruction here than in other parts of the city, which were almost entirely wiped out by theallied bombing campaign.
Apart from the apartment buildings in the area around Ostseestraße built in the 1950s characterized by the architectural style ofSocialist Classicism, the borough was mostly left alone bySocialist city planners until the 1980s when prestigious high rise buildings were built inErnst-Thälmann-Park.
DuringGerman Reunification, the borough's residential areas were characterized by dilapidated grey facades that had not seen a coat of paint since the 1930s. In the 1990s the buildings that belonged to state-ownedhousing associations were sold to private investors, who had them renovated and raised the rents. Most of the borough's original inhabitants could not afford the increased costs and have since moved away. In the 21st century the many empty lots that were sites for thestreet culture integral to the bohemian character of the borough were filled by high-class condominiums.
Prenzlauer Berg is an almost homogeneous historic building area in which much of the pre-war architecture has been preserved and where there are still many cobbled streets and ornate buildings from the beginning of the 20th century.
Over 300 buildings remain protected as historic monuments, like the municipal swimming pool at Oderberger Straße and the breweries on Milastraße and Knaackstraße. The borough is famous for its restaurants and bars.[citation needed] Although places that provide a truly traditional Berlin staple are few and far between, there is a vast array of restaurants offeringArab,Turkish,Vietnamese,Tex-Mex, andItalian cuisine, especially around Kastanienallee,Kollwitzplatz, and Helmholtzplatz. The area around the intersections ofSchönhauser Allee, Danziger Straße, Eberswalder Straße, Kastanienallee and Pappelallee has been associated with youth culture since the 1950s, and was immortalised in theDEFA filmEcke Schönhauser.
With regard to urban planning, the district affords a relatively uniform picture. It is predominantly characterized by five-story, multiple dwelling units in closed blocks. Thanks to the long property lots, the blocks, more often than not, are large and have abundant backyards, some having a perimeter of more than a kilometer.
Notable buildings include the large churches of the district, of whichGethsemane Church (designed byAugust Orth and built in 1891–1893) at Stargarder Straße is best known for its role in the peaceful revolution that brought down the Wall in 1989. Its 66-metre (217 ft) steeple is surpassed locally only by that of Segenskirche on Schönhauser Allee (79 metres (259 ft)) and of Immanuelkirche on Prenzlauer Allee (68 metres (223 ft)). School buildings planned by Ludwig Ernst Emil Hoffmann (1852–1932) also stand out in the area.
TheRykestrasse synagogue in the area remains the largest in Germany.[citation needed] Construction began at the end of 1903 and it was dedicated on 4 September 1904. During theThird Reich, the building escaped theantisemiticNovember pogrom in 1938, as it was closely surrounded by residential buildings. However, the synagogue was later desecrated and confiscated in April 1940. In July 1945, it reopened for services, underwent several renovations (1952/1953, 1976, 1987/1988), and on the occasion of its 100th anniversary was restored to its original splendor. In the Jewish Cemetery on Schönhauser Allee, opened in 1827, there are more than 22,500 graves and 750 family tombs, including the graves ofDavid Friedländer,Max Liebermann,Leopold Ullstein,Ludwig Bamberger,Eduard Lasker, andGiacomo Meyerbeer.
A landmark in Prenzlauer Berg is the formerwater tower "Fat Hermann" at the corner of Rykestraße and Knaackstraße near Kollwitzplatz. Built in 1877, it is the first water tower in Berlin.[citation needed] Historic buildings like the water tower, or thePrater Beer Garden in Kastanienallee, as well as the former brewery at Schönhauser Allee and Sredzkystraße still give an impression of the days when Prenzlauer Berg was part of the so-calledSteinernes Berlin (Berlin of stone) as described by authorWerner Hegemann in 1930.[citation needed] Another notable building is theZeiss Major Planetarium on Prenzlauer Allee, opened in 1987.
In the west, bordering the borough ofWedding and adjacent toFriedrich Ludwig Jahn Sportpark, is a stretch of public green area calledMauerpark (Wall park). It consists of the former border zone, or "death strip" between both walls that separated East and West Berlin. Before the war, the terrain was a site of a freight station. After reunification, the area was turned into a public park which hosts a weekly flea market and open air concerts. It attracts thousands of visitors on summer weekends.
 | This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(June 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Prenzlauer Berg was developed during the second half of the 19th century based on 1862urban planning designs byJames Hobrecht, the so-calledHobrecht-Plan for Berlin. Prenzlauer Berg was part of what became known as theWilhelmine Ring with a primarily working-class population. Before theSecond World War around 11% of Prenzlauer Berg's population wereJewish. InNazi Germany (1933–1945), landmark buildings such as the water tower at Rykestraße and the office buildings at Froebelstraße were used as makeshiftconcentration camps andtorture chambers.[2]
During the war years the city population decreased as many inhabitants were evacuated to the countryside to escape aerial bombardment. When the city was divided by the allies, Prenzlauer Berg became part of theSoviet Sector and from 1947 onward part of the capital of theGerman Democratic Republic. From the 1960s onward, the borough's tenement houses(in German: Mietskasernen) were home to intellectuals, artists, students, and East Germany's gay community.
In the interim between the peaceful revolution that brought down the wall in 1989 and the consolidation of a united Germany that began a year later, as many as 39 Wilhelmine apartment houses were occupied bysquatters in Prenzlauer Berg alone.[3] Focal points were the areas around Kastanienallee, Teutoburger Platz, and Helmholtzplatz (locally known as "LSD-Borough" for the initials of its three main thoroughfares Lychener- Schliemann- and Dunckerstraße).[citation needed] The first ones to move in were younggrassroots activists from Prenzlauer Berg in search ofradical democratic alternatives to thestate-socialism of the GDR. They were soon joined by younganarchists from West-Berlin and other parts of Germany who set upcollective projects ranging frombicycle workshops to communitysoup kitchens.[4] Some of the squats contributed to the cultural life of the borough as they were venues for concerts,poetry slams, andunderground movie screenings. They frequently came under attack byneonaziskinheads. While many squats were cleared out by the police by 1998, some inhabitants entered into contracts with the city and were able to stay on.
Most of Prenzlauer Berg's urban apartment blocks had belonged to the state-ownedhousing associations of the GDR. After reunification, they were placed into a privatization scheme and were bought up by private investors who renovated the buildings and raised the rents. Many original residents were unable to afford the higher living expenses and were gradually replaced by more affluent newcomers.[5]
Edith Udhardt (1929–2024) established places for senior citizens and created centres for homeless people, and devoted herself to the concerns of women in the district. She was a founding member of the Prenzlauer Berg women's advisory board in 1992, which merged into the Pankow women's advisory board in 2001.[6] In 1990, was elected to the Prenzlauer Berg District Council for the first time, and in the1995 Berlin state election, she was elected to theHouse of Representatives.[7]
After thefall of the Berlin Wall, Prenzlauer Berg initially developed into a trendy district with numerous cafés, bars and clubs, especially in the streets around Kollwitzplatz and Helmholtzplatz, due to numerous vacant commercial spaces in the early 1990s. However, these early underground bars and clubs disappeared already in the mid-1990s with the increasing redevelopment andgentrification of the district. Apart from a few commercial discotheques in theKulturbrauerei, there are no more clubs in Prenzlauer Berg since the 2010s.[8] After the turn of the millennium, Prenzlauer Berg was soon regarded by many as the "spearhead of Berlin's gentrification" and as the "bourgeois area of the new Berlin".[9]
Along withFriedrichshain,Neukölln, andKreuzberg the district was a popular neighborhood with the student population; however, since the late 1990s, the gentrification that paralleled the borough's rise in popularity resulted in an exodus of students to cheaper neighborhoods. In 2007, German journalist Henning Sußebach coined the termBionade-Biedermeier, a neologism combining the name of a popular organic softdrink with theBiedermeier era (1815–1848) to describe the sociocultural situation of Prenzlauer Berg.[10] The term is equivalent to e.g.LOHAS andBobo (Bohémiens bourgeois). Since the late 1990s Prenzlauer Berg has become popular for more affluent people fromSouthern Germany who have bought condominiums here. Many areas of Prenzlauer Berg have become trendy shopping areas with streetstyle fashion designers selling their wares in its boutiques.
Prenzlauer Berg is also one of the few places in Germany that have experienced ababy boom since the mid 1990s. This is due[citation needed] to the above-average presence of people between 20 and 40 rather than a higherbirthrate than elsewhere in the country. The borough has adapted to the trend by offering an abundance of playgrounds, daycare centers, as well as (second-hand) shops and cafes catering to the needs of young children and their parents.
Over the years, manyartists chose Prenzlauer Berg as their residence: painter and sculptorKäthe Kollwitz, early film makerMax Skladanowsky, poetsAdolf Endler,Annemarie Bostroem, andHeinz Kahlau, theater directorChristoph Schlingensief, writersJurek Becker,Bruno Apitz,Peter Hacks,Herbert Nachbar,Dieter Noll, Klaus Schlesinger, Klaus Kordon, Uwe Kolbe,Paul Alfred Kleinert,Florian Illies,Wladimir Kaminer, and Detlef Opitz, sculptorOlaf Nicolai, paintersCornelia Schleime, Elke Pollack, and Konrad Knebel, photographers Thomas Florschuetz,Helga Paris, andNicolaus Schmidt, film directorTom Tykwer, keyboardistJörn-Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, playwrightRené Pollesch, musicians Gerhard Schöne, Christian Lillinger,Nina Hagen,Dirk von Lowtzow (Tocotronic), andTill Lindemann, (Rammstein), actors Fredy Sieg,Eva-Maria Hagen,Heike Makatsch,Katharina Wackernagel,David Bennent,Daniel Brühl,August Diehl,Kurt Krömer, andMatthias Schweighöfer, comic-strip artist Flix, as well as TV and radio presentersHans Rosenthal,Alfred Biolek,Sarah Kuttner,Sandra Maischberger, and Benjamin Tewaag.
 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) | |
| West boroughs (1920–2000) |  | |
|---|---|---|
| East boroughs (1920–2000) | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Geographic | |
