1.
Mitte (locality)
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Mitte is a central locality of Berlin in the homonymous district of Mitte. Until 2001 it was itself an autonomous district and it comprises the historic centre of Alt-Berlin around the churches of St. Nicholas and St. For these reasons Mitte is considered the heart of Berlin, the history of Mitte corresponds to the history of the entire city until the early 20th century, and with the Greater Berlin Act in 1920 it became the first district of the city. It was among the areas of the city most heavily damaged in World War II and this ended on 1 January 1961, when western Staaken was incorporated into then East German Falkensee, which had already been under its de facto administration since 1 June 1952. Between 1961 and 1990 Mitte, one of the most important boroughs of East Berlin, one of the most important border crossings was Checkpoint Charlie, near Kreuzberg. Situated in central Berlin and mostly in its old town, it is traversed by the river Spree and it borders the localities of Tiergarten, Moabit, Wedding, Gesundbrunnen, Prenzlauer Berg, Friedrichshain, and Kreuzberg
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Museum Island
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Museum Island is the name of the northern half of an island in the Spree river in the central Mitte district of Berlin, Germany, the site of the old city of Cölln. The Neues Museum finished in 1859 according to plans by Friedrich August Stüler, destroyed in World War II, it was rebuilt under the direction of David Chipperfield for the Egyptian Museum of Berlin and re-opened in 2009. It exhibits the sculpture collections and late Antique and Byzantine art, the Pergamon Museum, the final museum of the complex, constructed in 1930. It contains multiple reconstructed immense and historically significant buildings such as the Pergamon Altar, in 1999, the museum complex was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. A first exhibition hall was erected in 1797 at the suggestion of the archaeologist Aloys Hirt, in 1822, Schinkel designed the plans for the Altes Museum to house the royal Antikensammlung, the arrangement of the collection was overseen by Wilhelm von Humboldt. The island, originally an area, was dedicated to art. Further extended under succeeding Prussian kings, the collections of art. They are today maintained by the Berlin State Museums branch of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, Museum Island further comprises the Lustgarten park and the Berlin Cathedral. Between the Bode and Pergamon Museums it is crossed by the Stadtbahn railway viaduct, the adjacent territory to the south is the site of the former Stadtschloss and the Palace of the Republic. These include the Priams Treasure, also called the gold of Troy, excavated by Heinrich Schliemann in 1873, then smuggled out of Turkey to Berlin and today kept at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. Then, six months later, Peter-Klaus Schuster took over and set in motion a far more ambitious program intended to turn Museum Island into a Louvre on the Spree. The federal government pledged $20 million a year through 2010 for projects to enhance Berlins prestige and Unesco declaring the island a World Heritage Site. The contents of the museums were decided on as follows, The Pergamon, with the Greek altar that gives it its name, the Neues Museum presented archaeological objects as well as Egyptian and Etruscan sculptures, including the renowned bust of Queen Nefertiti. The Altes Museum, the oldest on the island, displayed Greek and Roman art objects on its first floor, the Bode Museums paintings went from Late Byzantine to 1800. And, as now, the Alte Nationalgalerie will cover the 19th century, the James Simon Gallery, a $94 million visitors’ center designed by the British architect David Chipperfield, is being built beside the Neues Museum. It will in turn be linked to the Neues, Altes, Pergamon, once the Museum Island Master Plan is completed, the so-called Archaeological Promenade will connect four of the five museums in the Museum Island. The Promenade will begin at the Old Museum in the south, lead through the New Museum, before World War II, these museums were connected by bridge passages above ground, they were destroyed due to the effects of the war. There have never been plans to them, instead, the central courts of individual museums will be lowered
3.
Fischerinsel
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Fischerinsel is the southern part of the island in the River Spree which was formerly the location of the city of Cölln and is now part of central Berlin. The northern part of the island is known as Museum Island, Fischerinsel is normally said to extend south from Gertraudenstraße and is named for a fishermens settlement which formerly occupied the southern end of the island. The original settlement of fishermen and other boatmen and their families was part of Cölln from 1237 on, in 1709, Cölln united with Berlin, whose old centre lay on the east bank of the river. In the 18th century, boating professions became less important as the city industrialised, as a result, in the early 19th century, the Fischerinsel district stopped developing and became a neighbourhood which preserved the look of old Berlin, including the last gabled houses in the city. In the 20th century it became a tourist attraction, the neighbourhood and its high street, Fischerstraße, remained comparatively untouched after World War II. Like the rest of the borough of Mitte, it fell into the Soviet Zone which became East Berlin, in 1954, a plan was drawn up for the neighbourhood which emphasised conservation of the surviving buildings. Later plans envisaged replacement with low density housing and a development of tower blocks. However, in 1960 an overall plan was adopted for central Berlin which required demolition of all the buildings in the Fischerinsel area and this was done beginning in 1964, including 30 registered landmarks, and the ancient street plan was effaced. The painter Otto Nagel, in the last years of his life, documented it in a series of pastels entitled Abschied vom Fischerkiez, after calling in vain for its preservation in 1955. In 2000 the Ahornblatt was demolished, to be replaced by a multi-use centre including a hotel, flats and offices, as a result of the redevelopment of the site, the old locations of Roßstraße, Petristraße, Grünstraße and Gertraudenstraße can be seen in places. The last of five churches on the site, the second church in the city, was designed by Heinrich Strack. It had a spire 111 metres high which was for some time the tallest building in Berlin, in its place will be built the House Of One - the worlds first house of prayer for three religions. The last Cölln Town Hall faced the Köllnischer Fischmarkt and it was designed by the court architect, Martin Grünberg, and built in 1710–23 in baroque style, but as a cost-cutting measure, the tower and entrance stairs were not built. It was popular with tourists and had been frequented and depicted by Heinrich Zille, destroyed in 1943, it was recreated in 1987 in the Nikolaiviertel as part of the East German creation of a tourist old town there. The Großgaststätte Ahornblatt, designed by Gerhard Lehmann, Ulrich Müther, Rüdiger Plaethe and it was registered as a city landmark in 1995 for its modern East German architecture, but was nonetheless demolished in 2000. Hans Kohlhase, on whom Heinrich von Kleists novella Michael Kohlhaas is based, markus Wolf, chief of foreign intelligence for the Stasi, lived in one of the tower blocks in the 1970s. Zur politischen Geschichte der Denkmalpflege in Deutschland, Fischerinsel and its surroundings on a 1932 Berlin map Geschichte von Fischerinsel, listing of former street names, Kauperts Straßenführer durch Berlin
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Alt-Berlin
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Alt-Berlin, also spelled Altberlin, is a neighbourhood, situated in the Berliner locality of Mitte, part of the homonymous borough. In the 13th century it was the town of the old Cölln. It counts in its territory the zone of Nikolaiviertel, first mentioned in 1244,7 years after Cölln, it represents the original core of the modern Berlin. The first stone fortification was built, to both cities, in 1250 and in 1251 it gained the city rights. In 1280 Berlin, gained the right to mint currency, in that period it appeared on a coat of arms for the first time, close to the symbol of the imperial eagle, two stylized bears, antecedents of the actual rampant bear, symbol of the city. On March 20,1307 the town was united with Cölln forming a union on political and security matters. Alt-Berlin, crossed at its borders by the river Spree, is located in the middle of the city. Media related to Alt-Berlin at Wikimedia Commons
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Nikolaiviertel
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Founded about 1200, the Nikolaiviertel of Alt-Berlin, together with the neighbouring settlement of Cölln, is the reconstructed historical heart of the German capital Berlin. It is located in Mitte locality, five minutes away from Alexanderplatz, situated on the eastern shore of the river Spree, it is bounded by the streets Rathausstraße, Spandauer Straße and Mühlendamm. The deconsecrated Nikolaikirche, Berlins oldest church, gives its name to the neighbourhood, the two settlements of Old Berlin as well as Cölln on the other side of the Spree originated along an old trade route, the Mühlendamm, a ford where the river could be easily crossed. The Nicholas Church, originally a late Romanesque basilica, was erected about 1230, the area around the church with its medieval alleys in the main had been preserved throughout the centuries, until it was destroyed by the air raids and the Battle of Berlin during World War II. Today the small area is famous for its traditional German restaurants, beside the Nicholas Church, the best-known building of the quarter is the Ephraim-Palais, built in 1766 for Veitel-Heine Ephraim, the financier of King Frederick II of Prussia. The Rococo façade at the intersection of Mühlendamm and Poststraße became famous as Berlins finest corner, parts of the façade were stored in the western outskirts of Berlin, West Berlin authorities delivered them to East Berlins magistrate in 1982 to support the reconstruction. The palace was rebuilt between 1983 and 1987, about 12 meters away from its original site, today it serves as a museum. On the other side of the Poststraße is the Knoblauchhaus from 1760, one of the few preserved historic original buildings, it was the residence of the notable Knoblauch family with members like the architect Eduard Knoblauch or the physicist Karl-Hermann Knoblauch. It is home of a Biedermeier museum, the oldest civic museum of Berlin, on the banks of the Spree river stands the red sandstone Kurfürstenhaus, erected in 1897 at the site of an older building, where Elector John Sigismund of Brandenburg died on December 23,1619. As he believed a White Lady haunted the Stadtschloss, he had fled to the home of his valet, history of Berlin berlin-nikolaiviertel. com Official website
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Dorotheenstadt
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Dorotheenstadt is a historic zone or neighbourhood of central Berlin, Germany, which forms part of the locality of Mitte within the borough also called Mitte. It contains several famous Berlin landmarks, the Brandenburg Gate, the Pariser Platz, neustadt received town privileges in 1674 and was renamed Dorotheenstadt in Sophie Dorotheas honour in 1681, although the term was in use earlier. As the 18th century continued, it was extended to the Spree in the north, the eastern part of Dorotheenstadt, near the museums, developed into an academic area, including the Berlin University and the Berlin State Library. Following the construction of the Berlin Stadtbahn in 1880, a vibrant urban centre grew up around Friedrichstraße station alongside the desirable, the population fell from 20,144 in 1867 to 11,492 in 1910, as the area became less residential. In 1920, with the creation of Greater Berlin, Dorotheenstadt was incorporated into the newly created borough of Mitte, since German reunification in 1990, the western part of Dorotheenstadt around the Pariser Platz has also been rebuilt. Dorotheenstraße, TBD Pariser Platz Brandenburg Gate U. S
7.
Friedrichstadt (Berlin)
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Friedrichstadt was an independent suburb of Berlin, and is now a historical neighbourhood of the city itself. The neighbourhood is named after the Prussian king Frederick I, Friedrichstadt is located south of the Dorotheenstadt neighbourhood, and southwest of the historical suburb of Friedrichswerder. It is located south of the twin-city zone of Berlin and Cölln, today, the northern part of the neighbourhood is located in the borough of Berlin-Mitte, while the southern part of the neighbourhood is located in borough of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. The border between the two boroughs runs along the side of Niederkirchnerstraße and Zimmerstraße. A large portion of the Spittelmarkt and adjoining Hausvogteiplatz were once part of a military installation associated with the suburb of Friedrichswerder. In order to assist with the layout and the placement of buildings and houses, various architects and engineers, including Johann Nering, Johann Behr. The new city was founded in 1691, Friedrichstadt was the third expansion of the Berlin-Cölln city center, after Dorotheenstadt and Friedrichswerder. Friedrichstadt was built outside of the Berlins fortifications, south of Dorotheenstadt, however, the city was protected both by the militia of Leipzig and a lengthening of the western city wall of Dorotheenstadt. Today, this is the site of Mauerstraße, toward the south, Friedrichstadt originally extended to the present-day Zimmerstraße. From that southern point, the city extended approximately to the fortifications of the city of Neu-Cölln, to enter the city from Friedrichswerder, one entered through the Leipziger Tor, and to enter from Dorotheenstadt, one came through the Friedrichs-Tor. This new area of the city, however, was not referred to as Friedrichstadt until 1706, Friedrichstadt was designed with an unusually austere geometric style for the time, with broad streets which intersected at right angles to each other. Because the ground upon which the new neighbourhood was to be built was boggy and unstable, many houses in the city had to be built on stilts and stakes. As a result of government sponsored building rush,300 houses stood in Friedrichstadt in 1692, many settlers in the city were Huguenots seeking refuge from the French government. Jerusalems Chapel, which used to stand outside of the area before, was included into Friedrichstadts municipal borders. In 1701 the Judge Krause at the neighboured Kammergericht added a chapel for his family to the church building. To accommodate more German and French settlers, ground was broken on the constructions of two churches, the French Church of Friedrichstadt, and the German New Church, in 1701. Construction of new homes continued in the city until 1708, in 1711 at the corner of Jäger and Markgrafen streets a new building for the Societät der Wissenschaften, founded by Gottfried Leibniz, opened. Today the building is occupied by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, with that, the independence of Friedrichstadt ended, as it was incorporated as a part of the new Berlin
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Luisenstadt
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Luisenstadt is a former quarter of central Berlin, now divided between the present localities of Mitte and Kreuzberg. It gave its name to the Luisenstadt Canal and the Luisenstädtische Kirche, the area of the neighbourhood was originally named Myrica and was acquired in 1261 by the city of Cölln. Luisenstadt is bounded on the north by the river Spree, in the west by the Lindenstraße, a smaller part of the zone now belongs to Mitte and the greater part to Kreuzberg
9.
Scheunenviertel
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Scheunenviertel refers to a neighborhood of Mitte in the centre of Berlin. It is situated to the north of the medieval Altberlin area, east of the Rosenthaler Straße, until the Second World War it was regarded as a slum district and had a substantial Jewish population with a high proportion of migrants from Eastern Europe. The name derives from several barns erected here outside the city walls in 1672 by order of Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg, the barns were used to store hay in connection to a large cattle market at nearby Alexanderplatz. In 1737 King Frederick William I of Prussia required Berlin Jews to settle here, prior to World War I, the Berlin City Council redeveloped parts of the area. Mielke fled to Moscow shortly afterwards and did not face trial for the murders until 1992, following German reunification the Scheunenviertel, together with the neighbouring Spandauer Vorstadt, has become a fashionable district popular with younger people. Note that Scheunenviertel is often used as a synonym for Berlins Jewish quarter. Jewish cultural and commercial life was centred on the neighbouring Spandauer Vorstadt. Located inside the workshop of Otto Weidt, the owner who employed deaf and his employees have been protected from deportation thanks him. He provided them with false ID, hiding although Jewish families in his studio, the atelier can be visited as well as historical documents and letters
10.
Oranienburger Vorstadt
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Oranienburger Vorstadt is a historic district of Berlin in what is now the northwestern part of Mitte and the adjacent Gesundbrunnen area, in the modern Mitte borough. The former suburb was located between the Berlin-Spandau Ship Canal in the west and the Brunnenstraße arterial road in the east, in the south it was confined by the 18th century Berlin Customs Wall, in the north it bordered on the Wedding area along the Panke River. A first settlement of immigrants arriving from the Upper Saxon Vogtland region arose in the mid 18th century on Ackerstraße near Rosenthaler Platz, in 1830 the suburb was incorporated into the city of Berlin. Due to the fireplaces and smoke stacks the quarter was colloquially called Feuerland by Berliners. In 1842 the large Stettiner Bahnhof railway terminus opened on Invalidenstraße, by the 1880s most of the industrial sites had been relocated to the citys outskirts. After the German unification of 1871, Oranienburger Vorstadt was largely rebuilt as a densely settled area with numerous tenement houses. The district ceased to exist as a unit with the 1920 Greater Berlin Act. After World War II the Mitte part belonged to East Berlin, in 1961 the Berlin Wall was erected along the border on Bernauer Straße. Since 1998 the Berlin Wall Memorial marks the site, today its customary to apply the name Oranienburger Vorstadt only to the part in the Mitte locality
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Town square
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A town square is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town used for community gatherings. Other names for town square are civic center, city square, urban square, market square, public square, piazza, plaza, most town squares are hardscapes suitable for open markets, music concerts, political rallies, and other events that require firm ground. Being centrally located, town squares are surrounded by small shops such as bakeries, meat markets, cheese stores. At their center is often a fountain, well, monument, many of those with fountains are actually called fountain square. In urban planning, a city square or urban square is an open area in a city. Red Square in Moscow was originally used as a marketplace and later became the stage for Soviet military parades. Similarly, Beijings Tiananmen Square was the scene of both communist parades and anti-government protests, john-F. -Kennedy-Platz was the site of the West Berlin town hall and John F. Kennedys famous Ich bin ein Berliner speech. New York Citys Times Square as well as Bryant Park, Washington, D. C. s National Mall, trafalgar Square in London does the same for the United Kingdom. Saint Peters Square in Vatican City, the enclave within Rome. Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto is a renowned and famous square in Canada, nathan Phillips Square is a popular square in front of Torontos landmark City Hall. Hviezdoslavovo námestie is one of the squares in Bratislava and a centre of a social life. Dam Square in Amsterdam for the Netherlands, Main Market Square in Kraków, Market Place in Warsaw and Wrocław Main Square for Poland. The City Hall Square, Copenhagen for Denmark, praça do Comércio, in Lisbon, Portugal, was formerly known as the Terreiro do Paço. It was destroyed after the 1755 Lisbon earthquake but was rebuilt, the symmetrical buildings around the square hold government bureaus and ministries. Wenceslas Square is one of the city squares in the New Town of Prague. In Mainland China, Peoples Square is a designation for the central town square of modern Chinese cities. These squares are the site of government buildings, museums and other public buildings, the probably best-known and largest such square in China is Tienanmen Square. The German word for square is Platz, which also means Place and these have been focal points of public life in towns and cities from the Middle Ages to today
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Berlin
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Berlin is the capital and the largest city of Germany as well as one of its constituent 16 states. With a population of approximately 3.5 million, Berlin is the second most populous city proper, due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one-third of the area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers. Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world, following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all-Germany. Berlin is a city of culture, politics, media. Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations. Berlin serves as a hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination, significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction and electronics. Modern Berlin is home to world renowned universities, orchestras, museums and its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions. The city is known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts. Since 2000 Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene, the name Berlin has its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of todays Berlin, and may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl-. All German place names ending on -ow, -itz and -in, since the Ber- at the beginning sounds like the German word Bär, a bear appears in the coat of arms of the city. It is therefore a canting arm, the first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209, although these areas did not join Berlin until 1920, the central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document,1237 is considered the founding date of the city. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, and profited from the right on the two important trade routes Via Imperii and from Bruges to Novgorod. In 1307, they formed an alliance with a common external policy, in 1415 Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440. In 1443 Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln
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Fernsehturm Berlin
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The Fernsehturm is a television tower in central Berlin, Germany. Close to Alexanderplatz in Berlin-Mitte, the tower was constructed between 1965 and 1969 by the government of the German Democratic Republic and it was intended as both a symbol of communist power and of Berlin. It remains the latter today, as it is visible throughout the central. With its height of 368 metres it is the tallest structure in Germany, of three tallest structures in Europe, it is 0. 5m shorter than the Riga Radio and TV Tower, and 8m taller than the Trbovlje Power Station in 2017. The tower has one of the most prominent symbols of the country and is often in the establishing shot of films set in Berlin. Due to its location near Alexanderplatz, it is occasionally called Alex Tower, the original total height of the tower was 365 metres, but it rose to 368 metres after the installation of a new antenna in 1997. The Fernsehturm is the fourth tallest freestanding structure in Europe, after Moscows Ostankino Tower, the Kiev TV Tower, the sphere is a visitor platform and a revolving restaurant in the middle of the sphere. The visitor platform, also called panoramic floor, is at a height of about 203 metres above the ground, the restaurant Telecafé, which rotates once every 30 minutes, is a few metres above the visitors platform at 207 metres. When first constructed, it turned once per hour, the speed was doubled following the towers 1997 renovation. Inside the shaft, two lifts shuttle visitors to the sphere of the tower within 40 seconds, a Stairway with 986 steps also provides access, however it is not accessible by wheelchair. The TV tower had several architects and its former design was done by Hermann Henselmann, and Jörg Streitparth. It was built by the East German architects Fritz Dieter, Günter Franke, Walter Herzog, Gerhard Kosel and Herbert Aust later also took part in the planning. The Tower was deliberately constructed in the center of the medieval center of Berlin. A medieval church stands next to the tower as a testament to the destruction of the old city, construction began on 4 August 1965. After four years of construction, the Fernsehturm began test broadcasts on 3 October 1969, regardless of its dark origins, it is among the best known sights in Berlin, and hosts around a million visitors a year. When the sun shines on the Fernsehturms tiled stainless steel dome, berliners nicknamed the luminous cross Rache des Papstes, or the Popes Revenge. For the same reasons, the structure was also called St. Walter, U. S. President Ronald Reagan mentioned this in his Tear down this wall speech on 12 June 1987. It is also known as the Toothpick and Telespargel due to its shape
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Rotes Rathaus
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The Rotes Rathaus is the town hall of Berlin, located in the Mitte district on Rathausstraße near Alexanderplatz. It is the home to the mayor and the government of the Federal state of Berlin. The name of the building dates from the facade design with red clinker bricks. The Rathaus was built between 1861 and 1869 in the style of the north Italian High Renaissance by Hermann Friedrich Waesemann. It was modelled on the Old Town Hall of Toruń, today Poland and it replaced several individual buildings dating from the Middle Ages and now occupies an entire city block. The building was damaged by Allied bombing in World War II. Following that time, it housed only those of the Soviet sector and they reconstructed Rotes Rathaus, then located in the Soviet sector, served as the town hall of East Berlin, while the Rathaus Schöneberg was the town hall of West Berlin. After German reunification, the administration of reunified Berlin officially moved into the Rotes Rathaus on 1 October 1991, cityMayors feature Red Town Hall 360° Panorama
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World Clock (Alexanderplatz)
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For World Clock which is actually an astronomical clock, see Jens Olsens World Clock A world clock is a clock which displays the time for various cities around the world. It could also be a map of the world with embedded analog or digital time-displays. A moving circular map of the world, rotating inside a stationary 24-hour dial ring, alternatively, the disc can be stationary and the ring moving. Light projection onto a map representing daytime, used in the Geochron, there are also worldtime watches, both wrist watches and pocket watches. Manege Square, Moscow Time zone The World Clock, The World Clock Website
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Russian Empire
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The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring powers, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia. It played a role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleons ambitions to control Europe. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, there were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts, they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia. Economically, the empire had an agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways, the land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged and he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power, Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Greats policy of modernisation along West European lines, Tsar Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and that connection by 1914 led to Russias entry into the First World War on the side of France, Britain, and Serbia, against the German, Austrian and Ottoman empires. The Russian Empire functioned as a monarchy until the Revolution of 1905. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of failures in its participation in the First World War. Perhaps the latter was done to make Europe recognize Russia as more of a European country, Poland was divided in the 1790-1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, Peter I the Great introduced autocracy in Russia and played a major role in introducing his country to the European state system. However, this vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns, the class of kholops, close to the one of slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter I converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation
17.
Alexander I of Russia
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Alexander I reigned as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825. He was the son of Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg, Alexander was the first Russian King of Poland, reigning from 1815 to 1825, as well as the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland. He was sometimes called Alexander the Blessed and he was born in Saint Petersburg to Grand Duke Paul Petrovich, later Emperor Paul I, and succeeded to the throne after his father was murdered. He ruled Russia during the period of the Napoleonic Wars. As prince and emperor, Alexander often used liberal rhetoric, in the first years of his reign, he initiated some minor social reforms and major, liberal educational reforms, such as building more universities. He promised constitutional reforms and a desperately needed reform of serfdom in Russia, Alexander appointed Mikhail Speransky, the son of a village priest, as one of his closest advisors. The Collegia was abolished and replaced by the The State Council, plans were also made to set up a parliament and sign a constitution. In foreign policy, he changed Russias position relative to France four times between 1804 and 1812 among neutrality, opposition, and alliance and he fought a small-scale naval war against Britain between 1807 and 1812. He and Napoleon could never agree, especially about Poland, the tsars greatest triumph came in 1812 as Napoleons invasion of Russia proved a total disaster for the French. As part of the coalition against Napoleon he gained some spoils in Finland and Poland. He formed the Holy Alliance to suppress revolutionary movements in Europe that he saw as threats to legitimate Christian monarchs. He helped Austrias Klemens von Metternich in suppressing all national and liberal movements, in the second half of his reign he was increasingly arbitrary, reactionary and fearful of plots against him, he ended many earlier reforms. He purged schools of teachers, as education became more religiously oriented as well as politically conservative. Speransky was replaced as advisor with the artillery inspector Aleksey Arakcheyev. Alexander died of typhus in December 1825 while on a trip to southern Russia and he left no children as heirs and both of his brothers wanted the other to become emperor. After a period of confusion that included the failed Decembrist revolt of liberal army officers, he was succeeded by his younger brother. Alexander and his younger brother Constantine were raised by their grandmother, some sources allege that she planned to remove her son Paul I from the succession altogether. From the free-thinking atmosphere of the court of Catherine and his Swiss tutor, Frédéric-César de La Harpe, but from his military governor, Nikolay Saltykov, he imbibed the traditions of Russian autocracy
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Frederick William III of Prussia
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Frederick William III was king of Prussia from 1797 to 1840. He ruled Prussia during the times of the Napoleonic Wars. Steering a careful course between France and her enemies, after a military defeat in 1806, he eventually and reluctantly joined the coalition against Napoleon in the Befreiungskriege. Following Napoleons defeat he was King of Prussia during the Congress of Vienna which assembled to settle the questions arising from the new. He was determined to unify the Protestant churches, to homogenize their liturgy, their organization, the long-term goal was to have fully centralized royal control of all the Protestant churches in the Prussian Union of churches. Frederick William was born in Potsdam in 1770 as the son of Frederick William II of Prussia and he was considered to be a shy and reserved boy, which became noticeable in his particularly reticent conversations distinguished by the lack of personal pronouns. This manner of speech came to be considered entirely appropriate for military officers. As a child, Frederick Williams father had him handed over to tutors and he spent part of the time living at Paretz, the estate of the old soldier Count Hans von Blumenthal who was the governor of his brother Prince Heinrich. They thus grew up partly with the Counts son, who accompanied them on their Grand Tour in the 1780s, Frederick William was happy at Paretz, and for this reason in 1795 he bought it from his boyhood friend and turned it into an important royal country retreat. He was a boy, but he grew up pious. His tutors included the dramatist Johann Engel, as a soldier he received the usual training of a Prussian prince, obtained his lieutenancy in 1784, became a colonel in 1790, and took part in the campaigns against France of 1792–1794. On 24 December 1793, Frederick William married Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, in the Kronprinzenpalais in Berlin, Frederick William lived a civil life with a problem-free marriage, which did not change even when he became King of Prussia in 1797. His wife Louise was particularly loved by the Prussian people, which boosted the popularity of the whole House of Hohenzollern, Frederick William succeeded to the throne on 16 November 1797. He also became, in union, the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel. He had the Hohenzollern determination to retain personal power but not the Hohenzollern genius for using it, too distrustful to delegate responsibility to his ministers, he lacked the will to strike out and follow a consistent course for himself. Disgusted with the moral debauchery of his fathers court, Frederick Williams first endeavor was to restore morality to his dynasty. He was quoted as saying the following, which demonstrated his sense of duty and peculiar manner of speech, Every civil servant has an obligation, to the sovereign. It can occur that the two are not compatible, then, the duty to the country is higher, at first Frederick William and his advisors attempted to pursue a policy of neutrality in the Napoleonic Wars
19.
Berlin Stadtbahn
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The Berlin Stadtbahn is a major railway thoroughfare in the German capital Berlin, which runs through Berlin from east to west. It connects the district of Friedrichshain with Charlottenburg in the west via 11 intermediate stations including Hauptbahnhof. The Berlin Stadtbahn is often defined as the slightly longer route between Ostkreuz and Westkreuz, although this is not technically correct. The line was built in the 1880s. It is 12 kilometers in length, and is elevated above the citys streets. The four track route carries S-Bahn, Regionalbahn, Regional-Express, Intercity, EuroCity, the Stadtbahn line is an elevated rail line with viaducts totalling 8 kilometers in length and including 731 masonry viaduct arches. A further 2 kilometers of the line are situated on 64 bridges, that cross adjoining streets, the remaining length of the line is on an embankment. The line carries four tracks, in two pairs, the northern pair are reserved for use by the S-Bahn, and are electrifed using a third rail carrying 800V DC. The S-Bahn tracks have platforms at all stations along the Stadtbahn. Six of the Stadtbahn stations have platforms on tracks, although not all trains stop at all stations, depending on the class. The longer distance tracks carry Regionalbahn and Regional-Express routes RE1, RE2, RE7, although most InterCity and Intercity-Express trains now use the north-south tunnel route via Hauptbahnhof, some trains do still remain on the Stadtbahns long distance tracks. These trains, mainly those heading toward Hanover and Cologne, usually call at Hauptbahnhof and Ostbahnhof, in 1871, eight main line railways existed in Berlin, with terminal stations at the citys edge or outside the city limits. This was very impractical for many passengers, who were forced to use hackney carriages to transfer from one train to another, therefore, a railway line was planned to connect these terminuses with each other. On 15 July 1878 the Königliche Direktion der Berliner Stadteisenbahn, under the management of Ernst Dircksen, was commissioned to manage the site, the directorate at first reported to the Prussian Ministry of Transport and later became a subsidiary of the Ministry of Public Operations. The planned railway had two each for freight and passenger traffic. Having taken similar projects in London and New York City into consideration, furthermore, the new railway line was not only to serve as a connection between the mainline terminii in Berlin, but would also offer connections to the Berlin Ringbahn and the suburban rail lines. The traffic routing was not only influenced by the location of the existing stations the line was supposed to connect. One of the drafts, which called for building the line along Leipziger Straße, had to be scrapped because of overly high land prices
20.
Hermann Tietz
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Hermann Tietz was a German merchant of Jewish origin. Tietz was born on 29 April 1837 in Birnbaum an der Warthe near Posen and he was buried in the Weißensee Cemetery. Tietz was the first to carry out the idea of the department store in Germany and founded the store later known as Hertie. In 1882, the first department store of Tietz was opened in Gera by his nephew Oskar Tietz, oskars brother Leonhard Tietz later founded his own chain store. After stores in towns like Bamberg, Erfurt, Rostock, Stralsund und Wismar had been successful. In 1900, Herrmann Tietz opened a store in Leipziger Straße, where it was located close to the department store Wertheim, in 1904, Tietz opened another luxurious store at Alexanderplatz. The impressive and palace-like stores were designed to offer the customers a unique shopping experience, another example is the Alsterhaus in Hamburg. With ten department stores Tietz was the largest chain in Berlin, in 1927 some 13,000 employees worked in the Tietz department stores. The Tietz family divided the German market into two spheres of interest, Herrmann and Oscar Tietz concentrated on the South and East, while Leonhard Tietz was active in the West and in Belgium. In the Third Reich, all businesses of the Tietz family were Aryanized, in 1933, Georg Karg, the new owner, changed the company’s name to the less Jewish-sounding “Hertie Department Stores” as an abbreviation of Hermann Tietz. In 2007 Hertie made a comeback, due to a crisis of the Karstadt department store group, Karstadt dissolved 74 of their stores. These stores were the smallest ones and been unprofitable at least, the new relaunched Hertie department store group re-opened them under the name Hertie. Today all former business relations to Karstadt have been severed and Hertie is independent, Hertie had planned to expand, but on 20 May 2009 it was decided that all 54 Hertie department stores were to close. Tietz family Leonhard Tietz Guide to the Hermann Tietz Collection at the Leo Baeck Institute, New York
21.
Berlin U-Bahn
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The Berlin U-Bahn is a rapid transit railway in Berlin, the capital city of Germany, and a major part of the citys public transport system. Together with the S-Bahn, a network of train lines. In addition, a tram network operates in the parts of the city. Opened in 1902, the U-Bahn serves 173 stations spread across ten lines, with a track length of 151.7 kilometres. Trains run every two to five minutes during peak hours, every five minutes for the rest of the day, over the course of a year, U-Bahn trains travel 132 million km, and carry over 400 million passengers. In 2015,534.5 million passengers rode the U-Bahn, the entire system is maintained and operated by the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe, commonly known as the BVG. Designed to alleviate traffic flowing into and out of central Berlin, the East Berlin U-Bahn lines from West Berlin were severed, except for two West Berlin lines that ran through East Berlin. These were allowed to pass through East Berlin without stopping at any of the stations, Friedrichstraße was the exception because it was used as a transfer point between U6 and the West Berlin S-Bahn system, and a border crossing into East Berlin. The system was reopened following the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Berlin U-Bahn is the most extensive network in Germany. In 2006, travel on the U-Bahn was equivalent to 122.2 million km of car journeys, at the end of the 19th century, city planners in Berlin were looking for solutions to the increasing traffic problems facing the city. As potential solutions, industrialist and inventor Ernst Werner von Siemens suggested the construction of elevated railways, while AEG proposed an underground system. Years of negotiations followed until, on 10 September 1896, work began on an elevated railway to run between Stralauer Tor and Zoologischer Garten, with a short spur to Potsdamer Platz. Known as the Stammstrecke, the route was inaugurated on 15 February 1902, before the year ended, the railway had been extended, by 17 August, east to Warschauer Brücke, and, by 14 December, west to Knie. In a bid to secure its own improvement, Schöneberg also wanted a connection to Berlin, the elevated railway company did not believe such a line would be profitable, so the city built the first locally financed underground in Germany. It was opened on 1 December 1910, just a few months earlier, work began on a fourth line to link Wilmersdorf in the south-west to the growing Berlin U-Bahn. The early network ran mostly east to west, connecting the areas in and around Berlin. In order to open up the network to more of the workers of Berlin, in 1920, the surrounding areas were annexed to form Groß-Berlin, removing the need for many negotiations, and giving the city much greater bargaining power over the private Hochbahngesellschaft
22.
U2 (Berlin U-Bahn)
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U2 is a line of the Berlin U-Bahn. The U2 line starts at Pankow S-Bahn station, runs through the city centre to Potsdamer Platz. The U2 has 29 stations and a length of 20.7 kilometers, together with the U1, U3, and U4 lines, it was part of the early Berlin metro network built before 1914. The route between Potsdamer Platz and Zoologischer Garten was the section of the Stammstrecke, Berlins first metro inaugurated in 1902. The line starts in what was West Berlin at Ruhleben and runs on a causeway between Rominter Allee and the line to Spandau. On the bend approaching Olympischen Straße, the line descends into tunnel to run beneath that road, subsequently, the U2 pivots towards the national highway to Theodor-Heuss-Platz, where it runs in a curve to Kaiserdamm. Under Kaiserdamm, which becomes Bismarckstraße at Sophie Charlotte-Platz, the tunnel leads straight to Ernst-Reuter-Platz, here again, it swings to the southeast, following the course of Hardenberger Straße towards Zoologischer Garten station. The elevated railway reaches its height at Nollendorfplatz station where all four lines of the small-profile network meet. In the underground part of the station, there are four more lines, the U2 continues above ground to the east of the Bülowstraße. After passing the Märkisches Museum station, it goes under the River Spree in a tunnel, after leaving Alexanderplatz, the track turns under Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße and through the station of the same name. The line then runs north underneath Schönhauser Allee and through Senefelderplatz station, before reaching Eberswalder Straße station, the line emerges from tunnel and on to an elevated viaduct through to the Schönhauser Allee station, an S-Bahn interchange. From there the line runs beyond the city limits and the elevated railway descends again into a tunnel to Vinetastraße. The increasing traffic problems in Berlin at the end of the 19th century led to a search for new efficient means of transport. Inspired by Werner von Siemens, numerous suggestions were made for overhead conveyors, such as a railway, as was later built in Wuppertal. Finally Siemens and some prominent Berliners submitted a plan for a railway on the model of New York. Finally, after years and negotiations, Siemens proposal for an elevated railway line from Warschauer Brücke via Hallesches Tor to Bülowstraße was approved. This was only possible, however, because it passed through poor areas, the richer residents of Leipziger Straße pressed the city administration to prevent the line using their street. Siemens & Halske carried out all construction work and also owned the line, the first sod was turned on 10 September 1896 in Gitschiner Straße
23.
Potsdamer Platz
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It is named after the city of Potsdam, some 25 km to the south west, and marks the point where the old road from Potsdam passed through the city wall of Berlin at the Potsdam Gate. Since German reunification, Potsdamer Platz has been the site of redevelopment projects. Potsdamer Platz began as a trading post where several roads converged just outside Berlins old customs wall. A key motivation behind the Edict was so the Elector could encourage the repopulation, restabilising and economic recovery of his kingdom. Altogether up to 15,000 Huguenots made new homes in the Brandenburg region, some 6,000 of these in its capital, two other things resulted from this huge influx. Several new districts were founded around the perimeter, just outside the old fortifications. The largest of these was Friedrichstadt, just south west of the core of Berlin, begun in 1688 and named after new Elector Frederick William III. Its street layout followed the Baroque-style grid pattern much favoured at the time, all the new suburbs were absorbed into Berlin around 1709-10. In 1721-3 a south-westwards expansion of Friedrichstadt was planned under the orders of King Frederick William I, in this expansion, a new north-south axis emerged, Wilhelmstraße. In 1735-7, after Friedrichstadt’s expansion was complete, a customs or excise wall,17 km long and 4.2 m high, was erected around Berlin’s new perimeter. Consisting of a palisade at first, it was later replaced with a brick and stone wall, pierced by 14 gates. Here taxes were levied on goods passing through, chiefly meat, the most prestigious gate was the Brandenburg Gate, for the important road from Brandenburg, but 1 km to the south was the entry point of another road that gained even greater significance. Petersburg via Aachen, Berlin and Königsberg, in 1660 the Elector Frederick William made it his route of choice to Potsdam, the location of his palace, which had recently been renovated. Starting in 1754 a daily stagecoach ran between Berlin and Potsdam, although the road was in poor shape, but in 1740 Frederick II had become King. After numerous other improvements, in 1791-3 this section was made into Prussias first all-weather road and it was around this gate that Potsdamer Platz was to develop. As a physical entity, Potsdamer Platz began as a few country roads, according to one old guide book, it was never a proper platz, but a five-cornered traffic knot on that old trading route across Europe. The Potsdam Gate itself was redesignated the Leipziger Tor around the same time, the history of Leipziger Platz has been inextricably linked with that of its neighbour almost since its creation. Yet their respective stories have in many ways very different
24.
Nightlife
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Nightlife is a collective term for entertainment that is available and generally more popular from the late evening into the early hours of the morning. It may include pubs, bars, nightclubs, parties, live music, concerts, cabarets, theatre, cinemas, shows and these venues often require a cover charge for admission. Nightlife entertainment is often more adult-oriented than daytime entertainment, people who prefer to be active during the night-time are called night owls. Nightlife has been a vibrant area of research for sociologists, nightlife establishments including pubs, bars, restaurants, and nightclubs function as third places, according to Ray Oldenburg in The Great Good Place. Some sociologists have argued that vibrant city nightlife scenes contribute to the development of culture as well as political movements, there is debate about the degree to which nightlife contributes positively to social capital and the public goods of society. David Grazian points out that nightlife can replicate the same structures of race, ethnic, nightlife venues must be licensed to serve alcohol under the Licensing Act 2003. Venues with door security are required to ensure that the security staff are licensed by the Security Industry Authority. Since the introduction of the Licensing Act 2003, pubs and bars have been able to apply to operate until later, for nightclubs, this has become a form of competition as patrons can stay in the same pub or bar rather than move on to a club
25.
Berlin Alexanderplatz
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Berlin Alexanderplatz is a 1929 novel by Alfred Döblin and is considered one of the most important and innovative works of the Weimar Republic. The story concerns a murderer, Franz Biberkopf, fresh from prison, when his criminal mentor murders the prostitute on whom Biberkopf has been relying as an anchor, he realizes that he will be unable to extricate himself from the underworld into which he has sunk. In a 2002 poll of 100 noted writers the book was named among the top 100 books of all time. The novel relates the story of Franz Biberkopf, an ex-convict, who has to deal with misery, lack of opportunities, crime, during his struggle to survive against all odds, life rewards him with an unsuspected surprise but his happiness will not last as the story continues. The novel is set in the neighborhoods near the Alexanderplatz in 1920s Berlin. It is told from multiple points of view, and uses sound effects, newspaper articles, songs, speeches, the novel was translated into English in 1931 by Eugene Jolas, a friend of James Joyce. It was not well received, in particular it was criticized for the way in which it rendered everyday working-class speech, the novel has been adapted twice for film, the first time in 1931 in a movie directed by Piel Jutzi. Döblin worked on the adaptation, along with Karl Heinz Martin, Berlin Alexanderplatz starred Heinrich George, Maria Bard, Margarete Schlegel, Bernhard Minetti, Gerhard Bienert, Albert Florath and Paul Westermeier. The second adaptation, Berlin Alexanderplatz was directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, produced for and shown on German television in 1980, it has also been shown theatrically. It runs for 15½ hours, and when it was released in New York, Berlin Alexanderplatz is considered by many to be Fassbinders magnum opus. Both films were released in November 2007 by the Criterion Collection in the US in a multi-disc DVD set, a Region 2 edition of the Fassbinder version was released in the UK by Second Sight in October that year. List of fiction set in Berlin Museum of Modern Literature, where the manuscript is held. Best German Novels of the Twentieth Century Google Books
26.
1920s Berlin
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The Golden Twenties was a vibrant period in the history of Berlin, Germany, Europe and the world in general. After the Greater Berlin Act the city became the third largest municipality in the world and it was known for its leadership roles in science, the humanities, music, film, higher education, government, diplomacy, industries and military affairs. The Weimar Republic era began in the midst of major movements in the fine arts. This culture was considered to be decadent and socially disruptive by rightists. Film was making huge technical and artistic strides during this period of time in Berlin, talkies, the Sound films, were also becoming more popular with the general public across Europe, and Berlin was producing very many of them. Berlin in the 1920s also proved to be a haven for English writers such as W. H, spenders semi-autobiographical novel The Temple evokes the attitude and atmosphere of the time. The University of Berlin became an intellectual centre in Germany, Europe. The sciences were especially favored — from 1914 to 1933, albert Einstein rose to public prominence during his years in Berlin, being awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921. He served as director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics in Berlin, physician Magnus Hirschfeld established the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft in 1919, and it remained open until 1933. Hirschfeld believed that an understanding of homosexuality could be arrived at through science, Hirschfeld was a vocal advocate for homosexual, bisexual, and transgender legal rights for men and women, repeatedly petitioning parliament for legal changes. His Institute also included a museum, politically, Berlin was seen as a left wing stronghold, with the Nazis calling it the reddest city after Moscow. The communists, who adopted the motto Beat the fascists wherever you encounter them, had their own paramilitary organization called the Roter Frontkämpferbund to battle the Nazis Sturmabteilung. In February 1927 the Nazis held a meeting in the Red stronghold of Wedding that turned into a violent brawl, beer glasses, chairs and tables flew through the hall, and severely injured people were left lying covered with blood on the floor. Despite the injuries, it was a triumph for Goebbels, whose followers beat up about 200 communists, the government began printing tremendous amounts of currency to pay reparations, this caused staggering inflation that destroyed middle-class savings. However, economic expansion resumed after mid-decade, aided by U. S. loans and it was then that culture blossomed especially. The heyday of Berlin began in the mid-1920s when it was the most industrialized city of the continent, tempelhof Airport was opened in 1923 and a start was made on S-Bahn electrification from 1924 onwards. Berlin was also the second biggest inland harbor of Germany, all of this infrastructure was needed to transport, during the interwar period high-quality architecture was built on a large scale in Berlin for broad sections of the population, including poorer people. In particular the Berlin Modernism housing estates built before the beginning of National Socialism set standards worldwide, inflation was on the up and for citizens on low incomes decent housing was becoming increasingly unaffordable
27.
Film
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A film, also called a movie, motion picture, theatrical film or photoplay, is a series of still images which, when shown on a screen, creates the illusion of moving images due to the phi phenomenon. This optical illusion causes the audience to perceive continuous motion between separate objects viewed rapidly in succession, the process of filmmaking is both an art and an industry. The word cinema, short for cinematography, is used to refer to the industry of films. Films were originally recorded onto plastic film through a photochemical process, the adoption of CGI-based special effects led to the use of digital intermediates. Most contemporary films are now fully digital through the process of production, distribution. Films recorded in a form traditionally included an analogous optical soundtrack. It runs along a portion of the film exclusively reserved for it and is not projected, Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures. They reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them, Film is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment, and a powerful medium for educating—or indoctrinating—citizens. The visual basis of film gives it a power of communication. Some films have become popular worldwide attractions by using dubbing or subtitles to translate the dialog into the language of the viewer, some have criticized the film industrys glorification of violence and its potentially negative treatment of women. The individual images that make up a film are called frames, the perception of motion is due to a psychological effect called phi phenomenon. The name film originates from the fact that film has historically been the medium for recording and displaying motion pictures. Many other terms exist for a motion picture, including picture, picture show, moving picture, photoplay. The most common term in the United States is movie, while in Europe film is preferred. Terms for the field, in general, include the big screen, the screen, the movies, and cinema. In early years, the sheet was sometimes used instead of screen. Preceding film in origin by thousands of years, early plays and dances had elements common to film, scripts, sets, costumes, production, direction, actors, audiences, storyboards, much terminology later used in film theory and criticism apply, such as mise en scène. Owing to the lack of any technology for doing so, the moving images, the magic lantern, probably created by Christiaan Huygens in the 1650s, could be used to project animation, which was achieved by various types of mechanical slides
28.
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
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Rainer Werner Fassbinder was a German film director, screenwriter, film producer and actor. Fassbinder was part of the New German Cinema movement and he also worked as an actor, author, cameraman, composer, designer, editor and theater manager. Fassbinder died on 10 June 1982 at the age of 37 from a cocktail of cocaine. Fassbinder was born in Bavaria in the town of Bad Wörishofen on 31 May 1945. He was born three weeks after the Allies occupied the town and the surrender of Germany. The aftermath of World War II deeply marked his childhood and the lives of his family, in compliance with his mothers wishes, Fassbinder later claimed he was born in 1946 in order to enhance his status as a cinematic prodigy. His real age was revealed shortly before his death and he was the only child of Liselotte Pempeit, a translator and Helmut Fassbinder, a doctor who worked out of the couples apartment in Sendlinger Strasse, near Munichs red light district. Fassbinders had an unconventional childhood about which he would later express grievances in interviews, when he was three months old, he was left with a paternal uncle and aunt in the country, since his parents feared he would not survive the winter with them. He was a year old when he was returned to his parents in Munich, Fassbinders mother came from the Free City of Danzig, from which many ethnic Germans had fled following World War II. As a result, a number of her relatives came to live them in Munich. Fassbinders parents were cultured members of the bourgeoisie and his father mainly concentrated on his career, which he saw as a means to indulge his passion for writing poetry. His mother largely ignored him as well, spending the majority of her helping her husband with his medical practice. In 1951, Liselotte Pempeit and Helmut Fassbinder divorced, when she was working, she often sent her son to the cinema in order to concentrate. Later in life, Fassbinder claimed that he saw a film every day. During this period, Pempeit was often away from her son for long periods while she recuperated from tuberculosis, in his mothers absence, Fassbinder was looked after by his mothers tenants and friends. As he was left alone, he became independent and uncontrollable. He clashed with his mothers younger lover Siggi, who lived with them when Fassbinder was around eight or nine years old and he had a similar difficult relationship with the much older journalist Wolff Eder, who became his stepfather in 1959. Early in his adolescence, Fassbinder identified as homosexual, as a teen, Fassbinder was sent to boarding school
29.
Berlin Alexanderplatz (miniseries)
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It stars Günter Lamprecht, Hanna Schygulla, Barbara Sukowa, Elisabeth Trissenaar and Gottfried John. The complete series is 15½ hours long, in 1983, it was released theatrically in the United States, where a theatre would show two or three parts per night. It garnered a following in the US and was eventually released on VHS and broadcast on PBS. It was a co-production between the German Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Bavaria Film GmbH and the Italian network RAI, production of the film at the Bavaria Film Studios took nearly a year. Director Fassbinder dreamed of making a film specifically for theatrical distribution after the completion of this series. The cast list he made for this fantasy included Gérard Depardieu as Franz Biberkopf,1, The Punishment Begins Berlin,1928. Franz Biberkopf is released after serving four years in Tegel prison for killing his girlfriend Ida, after settling into his old apartment he visits Minna, Ida’s sister. Minna succumbs to his forceful advances, in a flashback we see Franz kill Ida with a cream whip after correctly suspecting she was about to leave him. Franz later runs into his old friend Meck and has a drink with him in Max’s bar, there he meets Lina Przybilla, a young Polish woman, who moves in with him. By doing this, he is able to remain in Berlin,2, How is One to Live if One Doesn’t Want to Die. Franz employs himself by hawking necktie holders on the street, but has trouble making enough money, after turning down the opportunity to sell sex education manuals, he is talked into selling the Nazi newspaper Völkischer Beobachter and wearing a swastika armband. In the subway, Franz is confronted by an old Jewish acquaintance selling hot sausages, but denies being Antisemitic himself, Dreske admires Lenin and the Soviet Union, but Franz responds by decrying revolution and their Weimar Republic. At Max’s bar, Dreske and his friends sing The Internationale” to provoke Franz, to which he responds by singing the 19th-century patriotic songs The Watch on the Rhine, at the top of his voice, Franz accuses them of being loudmouths and crooks, before almost collapsing. The other men return to their table and he rambles about what has just happened, the men he has just met cannot understand life and do not know what it is like to be in prison. 3, A Hammer Blow to the Head Can Injure the Soul Lina is now troubled by the nature of the job Franz is fulfilling. She introduces him to a friend, Otto Lüders, who turns out to be an ex-con he knows from prison. With him, Franz begins selling shoelaces door-to-door, in the first apartment, Franz spends time with a widow whose deceased husband he closely resembles. Later, to Otto, he reports having sex with the widow, the next day, Otto goes to the widow’s home and expects the same, but she feels threatened and rejects him
30.
Peter Behrens
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Peter Behrens was a German architect and designer. He was important for the modernist movement, and several of the leading names worked for him in earlier stages of their careers. Behrens attended the Christianeum Hamburg from September 1877 until Easter 1882 and he studied painting in his native Hamburg, as well as in Düsseldorf and Karlsruhe, from 1886 to 1889. In 1890, he married Lilly Kramer and moved to Munich, at first, he worked as a painter, illustrator and book-binder in a sort of artisanal way. He frequented the circles and was interested in subjects related to the reform of life-styles. He was one of the leaders of architectural reform at the turn of the century and was a designer of factories and office buildings in brick, steel. In 1903, Behrens was named director of the Kunstgewerbeschule in Düsseldorf, in 1907, Behrens and ten other people, plus twelve companies, gathered to create the German Werkbund. As an organization, it was indebted to the principles and priorities of the Arts and Crafts movement. Members of the Werkbund were focused on improving the level of taste in Germany by improving the design of everyday objects and products. This very practical aspect made it an influential organization among industrialists, public policy experts, designers, investors. Behrens work for AEG was the first large-scale demonstration of the viability and vitality of the Werkbunds initiatives and objectives, in 1907, AEG retained Behrens as artistic consultant. He designed the corporate identity and for that he is considered the first industrial designer in history. Peter Behrens was never an employee for AEG, but worked in the capacity of artistic consultant, in 1910, Behrens designed the AEG Turbine Factory. From 1907 to 1912, he had students and assistants, and among them were Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, Adolf Meyer, from 1920 and 1924, he was responsible for the design and construction of the Technical Administration Building of Hoechst AG in Höchst. In 1922, he accepted an invitation to teach at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, peter Behrens remained head of the Department of Architecture at the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin. In 1926, Behrens was commissioned by the Englishman Wenman Joseph Bassett-Lowke to design him a home in Northampton. The house, named New Ways is often regarded as the first modernist house in Britain, in 1928 Behrens won an international competition for the construction of the New Synagogue, Žilina. The building survives as a cultural centre, Behrens became associated with Hitlers urbanistic dreams for Berlin with the commission for the new headquarters of the AEG on Albert Speers famous planned north-south axis
31.
East Germany
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East Germany, formally the German Democratic Republic, was an Eastern Bloc state during the Cold War period. The Soviet zone surrounded West Berlin, but did not include it, as a result, the German Democratic Republic was established in the Soviet Zone, while the Federal Republic was established in the three western zones. East Germany, which lies culturally in Central Germany, was a state of the Soviet Union. Soviet occupation authorities began transferring administrative responsibility to German communist leaders in 1948, Soviet forces, however, remained in the country throughout the Cold War. Until 1989, the GDR was governed by the Socialist Unity Party, though other parties participated in its alliance organisation. The economy was centrally planned, and increasingly state-owned, prices of basic goods and services were set by central government planners, rather than rising and falling through supply and demand. Although the GDR had to pay war reparations to the USSR. Nonetheless it did not match the growth of West Germany. Emigration to the West was a significant problem—as many of the emigrants were well-educated young people, the government fortified its western borders and, in 1961, built the Berlin Wall. Many people attempting to flee were killed by guards or booby traps. In 1989, numerous social and political forces in the GDR and abroad led to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the following year open elections were held, and international negotiations led to the signing of the Final Settlement treaty on the status and borders of Germany. The GDR was dissolved and Germany was unified on 3 October 1990, internally, the GDR also bordered the Soviet sector of Allied-occupied Berlin known as East Berlin which was also administered as the states de facto capital. It also bordered the three sectors occupied by the United States, United Kingdom and France known collectively as West Berlin. The three sectors occupied by the Western nations were sealed off from the rest of the GDR by the Berlin Wall from its construction in 1961 until it was brought down in 1989, the official name was Deutsche Demokratische Republik, usually abbreviated to DDR. West Germans, the media and statesmen purposely avoided the official name and its abbreviation, instead using terms like Ostzone, Sowjetische Besatzungszone. The centre of power in East Berlin was referred to as Pankow. Over time, however, the abbreviation DDR was also used colloquially by West Germans. However, this use was not always consistent, for example, before World War II, Ostdeutschland was used to describe all the territories east of the Elbe, as reflected in the works of sociologist Max Weber and political theorist Carl Schmitt
32.
European Union
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The European Union is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km2, the EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states. Within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished, a monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002, and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency. The EU operates through a system of supranational and intergovernmental decision-making. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community, the community and its successors have grown in size by the accession of new member states and in power by the addition of policy areas to its remit. While no member state has left the EU or its antecedent organisations, the Maastricht Treaty established the European Union in 1993 and introduced European citizenship. The latest major amendment to the basis of the EU. The EU as a whole is the largest economy in the world, additionally,27 out of 28 EU countries have a very high Human Development Index, according to the United Nations Development Programme. In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, through the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the EU has developed a role in external relations and defence. The union maintains permanent diplomatic missions throughout the world and represents itself at the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G7, because of its global influence, the European Union has been described as an emerging superpower. After World War II, European integration was seen as an antidote to the nationalism which had devastated the continent. 1952 saw the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, the supporters of the Community included Alcide De Gasperi, Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman, and Paul-Henri Spaak. These men and others are credited as the Founding fathers of the European Union. In 1957, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany signed the Treaty of Rome and they also signed another pact creating the European Atomic Energy Community for co-operation in developing nuclear energy. Both treaties came into force in 1958, the EEC and Euratom were created separately from the ECSC, although they shared the same courts and the Common Assembly. The EEC was headed by Walter Hallstein and Euratom was headed by Louis Armand, Euratom was to integrate sectors in nuclear energy while the EEC would develop a customs union among members. During the 1960s, tensions began to show, with France seeking to limit supranational power, Jean Rey presided over the first merged Commission. In 1973, the Communities enlarged to include Denmark, Ireland, Norway had negotiated to join at the same time, but Norwegian voters rejected membership in a referendum
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German reunification
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The end of the unification process is officially referred to as German unity, celebrated on 3 October. Following German reunification, Berlin was once designated as the capital of united Germany. The East German regime started to falter in May 1989, when the removal of Hungarys border fence with Austria opened a hole in the Iron Curtain and it caused an exodus of thousands of East Germans fleeing to West Germany and Austria via Hungary. The united Germany is the continuation of the Federal Republic. For political and diplomatic reasons, West German politicians carefully avoided the term reunification during the run-up to what Germans frequently refer to as die Wende, after 1990, the term die Wende became more common. The term generally refers to the events led up to the actual reunification, in its usual context. When referring to the events surrounding unification, however, it carries the connotation of the time. However, anti-communist activists from Eastern Germany rejected the term Wende as it was introduced by SEDs Secretary General Egon Krenz, the capital city of Berlin was divided into four occupied sectors of control, under the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and France. Germans lived under such imposed divisions throughout the ensuing Cold War, into the 1980s, the Soviet Union experienced a period of economic and political stagnation, and they correspondingly decreased intervention in Eastern Bloc politics. In 1987, US President Ronald Reagan gave a speech at Brandenburg Gate challenging Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down this wall that had separated Berlin. The wall had stood as an icon for the political and economic division between East and West, a division that Churchill had referred to as the Iron Curtain. In early 1989, under a new era of Soviet policies of glasnost, perestroika and taken to more progressive levels by Gorbachev. Further inspired by images of brave defiance, a wave of revolutions swept throughout the Eastern Bloc that year. In May 1989, Hungary removed their border fence and thousands of East Germans escaped to the West, however, events rapidly came to a head in early 1990. First, in March, the Party of Democratic Socialism—the former Socialist Unity Party of Germany—was heavily defeated in East Germanys first free elections. A grand coalition was formed under Lothar de Maizière, leader of the East German wing of Kohls Christian Democratic Union, on a platform of speedy reunification, second, East Germanys economy and infrastructure underwent a swift and near-total collapse. While East Germany had long been reckoned as having the most robust economy in the Soviet bloc, the East German mark had been practically worthless outside East Germany for some time before the events of 1989–90 further magnified the problem. Discussions immediately began for a merger of the German economies
34.
Trams in Berlin
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The Berlin tramway is the main tram system in Berlin, Germany. It is one of the oldest tram networks in the world having its origins in 1865 and is operated by Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe and it is notable for being the third largest tram system in the world, after Melbourne and St. Petersburg. Most of the recent network is within the confines of the former East Berlin—tram lines within West Berlin having been replaced by buses during the division of Berlin. In the eastern vicinity of the city there are three private tram lines not part of the main system, whilst to the south-west of Berlin is the Potsdam tram system with its own network of lines. In 1865, a tramway was established in Berlin. In 1881, the second electric tram line opened. Numerous private and municipal operating companies constructed new routes, so by the end of the 19th century the network developed rapidly. By 1930, the network had a length of over 630 km with more than 90 lines. In 1929, all operating companies were unified into the BVG, after World War II, BVG was divided into an eastern and a western company but was once again reunited in 1992, after the fall of East Germany. In West Berlin, by 1967 the last tram lines had been shut down, with the exception of two lines constructed after German reunification, the Berlin tram continues to be limited to the eastern portion of Berlin. The public transport system of Berlin is the oldest one in Germany, in 1825, the first bus line from Brandenburger Tor to Charlottenburg was opened by Simon Kremser, already with a timetable. The first bus service inside the city has operated since 1840 between Alexanderplatz and Potsdamer Bahnhof and it was run by Israel Moses Henoch, who had organized the cab service since 1815. On 1 January 1847, the Concessionierte Berliner Omnibus Compagnie started its first horse-bus line, the growing market witnessed the launch of numerous additional companies, with 36 bus companies in Berlin by 1864. On 22 June 1865, the opening of Berlins first horse tramway marked the beginning of the age of trams in Germany, two months later, on 28 August, it was extended along Dorotheenstraße to Kupfergraben near todays Museumsinsel, a terminal stop which is still in service today. Like the horse-bus, many followed the new development and built horse-tram networks in all parts of the todays urban area. On 16 May 1881, the region of Berlin again wrote transport history, in the village of Groß-Lichterfelde, which was incorporated into Berlin-Steglitz 39 years later, Werner von Siemens opened the worlds second electric tramway. The electric tram in Groß-Lichterfelde was built to 1,000 mm metre gauge and ran from todays station, East Lichterfelde. Initially, the route was intended merely as a testing facility, Siemens named it an elevated line taken down from its pillars and girders because he wanted to build a network of electric elevated lines in Berlin
35.
Graffiti
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Graffiti are writing or drawings that have been scribbled, scratched, or painted illicitly on a wall or other surface, often within public view. Graffiti range from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and they have existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, in modern times, paint and marker pens have become the most commonly used graffiti materials. In most countries, marking or painting property without the property owners permission is considered defacement and vandalism, Graffiti may also express underlying social and political messages and a whole genre of artistic expression is based upon spray paint graffiti styles. Within hip hop culture, graffiti have evolved alongside hip hop music, b-boying, unrelated to hip-hop graffiti, gangs use their own form of graffiti to mark territory or to serve as an indicator of gang-related activities. Controversies that surround graffiti continue to create disagreement amongst city officials, law enforcement, both graffiti and its occasional singular form graffito are from the Italian word graffiato. Graffiti is applied in art history to works of art produced by scratching a design into a surface, a related term is sgraffito, which involves scratching through one layer of pigment to reveal another beneath it. This technique was used by potters who would glaze their wares. In ancient times graffiti were carved on walls with a sharp object, the word originates from Greek γράφειν — graphein — meaning to write. The term graffiti referred to the inscriptions, figure drawings, and such, found on the walls of ancient sepulchres or ruins, use of the word has evolved to include any graphics applied to surfaces in a manner that constitutes vandalism. Safaitic dates from the first century BC to the fourth century AD, the first known example of modern style graffiti survives in the ancient Greek city of Ephesus. Local guides say it is an advertisement for prostitution, located near a mosaic and stone walkway, the graffiti shows a handprint that vaguely resembles a heart, along with a footprint and a number. This is believed to indicate that a brothel was nearby, with the handprint symbolizing payment, the ancient Romans carved graffiti on walls and monuments, examples of which also survive in Egypt. Graffiti in the world had different connotations than they carry in todays society concerning content. One inscription gives the address of a woman named Novellia Primigenia of Nuceria, another shows a phallus accompanied by the text, mansueta tene. Etched on the surface of the Mirror Wall, they contain pieces of prose, poetry, the majority of these visitors appear to have been from the elite of society, royalty, officials, professions, and clergy. There were also soldiers, archers, and even some metalworkers, the topics range from love to satire, curses, wit, and lament. Many demonstrate a high level of literacy and a deep appreciation of art. Most of the graffiti refer to the frescoes of semi-nude females found there, one reads, Among the ancient political graffiti examples were Arab satirist poems
36.
Hans Kollhoff
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Hans Kollhoff is a German architect and professor. He is a representative of Postmodern and New Classical Architecture, as well as a protagonist of New Urbanism, Kollhoff spent the first six years of his life on the family farm in Thuringia at the southern tip of the newly established DDR. In 1953 the family escaped to West Germany and settled in Northern Baden, Kollhoff began his architecture studies at the University of Karlsruhe in 1968. In 1974 Kollhoff studied at the Vienna University of Technology, and he returned to Karlsruhe to complete his diploma thesis in 1975. Kollhoff became an assistant to Ungers in 1977, Kollhoff opened his own studio in Berlin in 1978, and since 1984 has run the studio in partnership with Helga Timmermann. Until 1985, he was an assistant at the HdK, and until 2012, Kollhoff was Professor of Architecture and he has held several guest-professorships both at home and abroad. His projects as an architect in Germany and Europe span all scales, Hans Kollhoffs architecture is characterised by a classical building-style and the use of solid, traditional materials, such as stone and brick, worked according to traditional methods. During his career, Kollhoff has developed in the direction of a more and more traditional form, for this reason he is sometimes criticized for creating an outdated retro-architecture, that loses itself in a nostalgic imitation of traditional formalism. However Kollhoffs work, with its attention to detail also within the space, may be read as a continuation of the work of early twentieth century architects. In Berlin, he has designed in Potsdamer Platz a high-rise tower in an old-New York brick style and he was also responsible for the master planning of high-rise buildings on the Alexanderplatz. In 2005 he constructed the inner rooms of the night club Goya on Nollendorfplatz. In Frankfurt am Main he has erected the 88 meter tall residential building Main Plaza in the Deutschherrnviertel, since 2004 Kollhoff leads the Bauakademie project, whose goal is to reconstruct the Karl Friedrich Schinkel building, Berlin 1836, which was demolished in 1962
37.
Metro AG
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Metro AG, otherwise known as Metro Group, is a German global diversified retail and wholesale/cash and carry group based in Düsseldorf. It was established in 1964 by Ernst Schmidt and Wilhelm Schmidt-Ruthenbeck As of 2010, in June 2009, it was reported that the company was looking to purchase some of the assets of Arcandor, after the firm filed for bankruptcy. They split off and floated their Praktiker division in December 2006, in 2012, the company threatened Microsoft with legal action for infringing on Metro trademarks held by Metro AG. Metro had been the name of Microsofts new Windows 8-style user interface, on June 15,2015, Metro AG agreed to sell Galeria Kaufhof to Canadian retail conglomerate Hudsons Bay Company for $3.2 billion. 265 stores in Germany and 34 elsewhere as of early 2005, Media Markt and Saturn, Media Markt and Saturn are consumer electronics stores in Germany and several other European countries. · A leader in consumer products and services, comprising Media Markt and Saturn and its portfolio including strong formats. A spin-off of the wholesale and food sector of current Metro AG will be responsible for the division into two independent and publicly listed companies. Both will have their own Management, Supervisory Board and independent company profiles, as a result, the companies will be able to put a greater focus on their customer groups and markets in the future. Each of the two companies will launch as independent publicly traded company with their own management, board, and this separation will allow the two companies to focus on their own customer groups and markets. As of 2012, the Metro Group operated stores in 25 European countries,5 Asian countries, European Retail Round Table Metro Cash and Carry Media related to Metro Group at Wikimedia Commons Official website
38.
Multiplex (movie theater)
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A multiplex is a movie theater complex with multiple screens within a single complex. They are usually housed in a designed building. Sometimes, an existing venue undergoes a renovation where the existing auditoriums are split into smaller ones, the largest of these complexes can sit thousands of people and are sometimes referred to as a megaplex. Megaplex theaters always have stadium seating, and may have other amenities not found at smaller movie theaters. Multiplex theatres often feature regular seating, in about 1915 two adjacent theatres in Moncton, New Brunswick, under the same ownership were converted to share a single entrance on Main Street. There were separate ticket booths once patrons entered the door and different programs were shown, the arrangement was so unusual that it was featured by Robert Ripley in his Believe It or Not. In 1937 James Edwards twinned his Alhambra Theater in the Los Angeles area by converting an adjacent storefront into a second annex screen, while both screens would show the same feature movie, one would also offer a double bill. It did not convert to showing different movies on both screens until some time after Taylor, the main screen remained the Patricia Theatre and the Patricia Annex became known as the Little Patricia. In December 1947 Nat Taylor, the operator of the Elgin Theatre in Ottawa, Canada, opened a smaller second theater next door to his first theater. It was not until 1957, however, that Taylor decided to run different movies in each theater, Taylor opened dual-screen theaters in 1962 in Place Ville Marie in Montreal, Quebec, and at Yorkdale Plaza in Toronto, Ontario, in 1964. The programming was coordinated, so one of them showed documentary. While the other was showing feature films and they were in use at least until the 1990s. AMC followed up on the Parkway Twin with a theater in 1966. Durwoods insight was that one box office and one stand could easily serve two attached auditoriums. In 1965 Martins Westgate Cinemas became one of the first indoor two-screen theaters in Atlanta, located in East Point, Georgia, it was later converted into a three-screen venue after a fire partially destroyed one of the theaters. The Disney family film Those Calloways had its premier at the Westgate. Opening in April 1979, the 18-screen Cineplex, co-founded by Nat Taylor in Torontos Eaton Centre and it was expanded to 21 screens by at least 1981. In November 1988, Kinepolis Brussels opened with 25 screens, and is credited as being the first megaplex
39.
Berlin International Film Festival
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The Berlin International Film Festival, also called the Berlinale, is one of the worlds leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held annually in Berlin, Germany, founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978. With around 300,000 tickets sold and 500,000 admissions it is considered the largest publicly attended film festival based on actual attendance rates. Up to 400 films are shown in sections, representing a comprehensive array of the cinematic world. Around twenty films compete for the called the Golden and Silver Bears. Since 2001 the director of the festival has been Dieter Kosslick, the European Film Market, a film trade fair held simultaneously to the Berlinale, is a major industry meeting for the international film circuit. The trade fair serves distributors, film buyers, producers, financiers, the Berlinale Talent Campus, a week-long series of lectures and workshops, gathers young filmmakers from around the globe. It partners with the festival itself and is considered to be a forum for upcoming artists, the festival, the EFM and other satellite events are attended by around 20,000 professionals from over 130 countries. More than 4200 journalists are responsible for the exposure in over 110 countries. At high-profile feature film premieres, movie stars and celebrities are present at the red carpet, the Berlinale has established a cosmopolitan character integrating art, glamour, commerce and a global media attention. The Berlin International Film Festival was founded in West Berlin in 1951, alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca opened the first Berlinale. Although the film had premiered in 1940, many Germans had been unable to watch it until after the war ended, since 1978 the festival has been celebrated annually in February. The next-to-most recent festival, the 66th Berlinale, was held from 11 February to 21 February 2016, meryl Streep presided over the international jury. Joel and Ethan Coens film Hail, Caesar. was selected to open the festival, the Golden Bear was awarded to the Italian documentary Fire at Sea, directed by Gianfranco Rosi. The 67th Berlin International Film Festival was held February 9 to February 19,2017, the festival is composed of seven different film sections. Films are chosen in each category by a director with the advice of a committee of film experts. Categories include, Competition, comprises feature-length films yet to be released outside their country of origin, films in the Competition section compete for several prizes, including the top Golden Bear for the best film and a series of Silver Bears for acting, writing and production. Panorama, comprises new independent and arthouse films that deal with controversial subjects or unconventional aesthetic styles, films in the category are intended to provoke discussion, and have historically involved themes such as LGBT issues
40.
Palace of the Republic, Berlin
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The Palace of the Republic in Berlin was the seat of the parliament of the German Democratic Republic, the Volkskammer, and also served various cultural purposes. On 23 August 1990, the Volkskammer ratified the treaty on German reunification, the Palast was constructed from 1973 to 1976, having bronze-mirrored windows as a defining architectural feature. The grand opening ceremony was held on 23 April 1976, just prior to German reunification in October 1990, the structure was found to be contaminated with asbestos, and was closed to the public on 19 September 1990, by decree of the Volkskammer. By 2003, all the asbestos had been removed along with internal and external fittings allowing either safe reconstruction or safe deconstruction, demolition started on 6 February 2006, and was scheduled to last about fifteen months at a cost of €12 million. The demolition lasted longer than scheduled because of hazards to neighbouring buildings, dismantling of the structure was seriously delayed after more asbestos was discovered in various locations, and the estimated completion date was pushed back to the end of 2008. About 35,000 tonnes of steel which once held this building together were shipped to the United Arab Emirates to be used for the construction of the Burj Khalifa, in January 2006 the Bundestag definitively voted for the rebuilding of the Prussian-era Stadtschloss. It was decided three of its sides would be replicas of the original, but the fourth side. Called the Humboldtforum, the palace will house the Humboldt collection. In November 2008, the Italian architect Francesco Stella was chosen for the project, an album of this recorded concert was released titled Quichotte on East German record label Amiga, and later released to the rest of the world on Virgin Records six years later and renamed Pergamon. In October 1983, the West German rock star, Udo Lindenberg, was permitted to perform in concert at the Palast der Republik. At the concert, Lindenberg did not sing one of his songs, Sonderzug nach Pankow. The shell of the building was opened for visitors in mid-2003, beginning in early 2004, the building was used for events such as housing an exhibition of the Terracotta Army and a special concert by the famous Berlin-based band Einstürzende Neubauten. The Palast had many nicknames in the Springer press in West Berlin and among East German citizens, although the original structure in Berlin has been demolished, its sister building the Kulturpalast in the city of Dresden is still intact and currently used as a symphony orchestra hall. Centre Georges Pompidou Finlandia Hall Internationales Congress Centrum Berlin State Kremlin Palace Stop motion video of the demolition of the Palast der Republik
41.
Berlin Palace
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The Berlin City Palace was a royal and imperial palace in the centre of Berlin, the historical capital of Prussia, and subsequently Germany. It was located on the Museum Island at Schlossplatz, opposite the Lustgarten park and it was the winter residence of the Kings of Prussia and the German Emperors. In 2013 work started on reconstruction and a part of the exterior of the palace has been rebuilt, the completion is expected in 2019. The palace was built in the 15th century and changed throughout the next few centuries. It served as a residence to various Electors of Brandenburg and it was the principal residence and winter residence of the Hohenzollern Kings of Prussia from 1701 to 1918. After the unification of Germany in 1871, it was also the residence for the German Emperors. It became a museum following the fall of the German Empire in 1918, the palace was heavily damaged by Allied bombing in World War II. Although it could have repaired, the palace was demolished in 1950 by the German Democratic Republic authorities. Following the reunification of Germany, it was decided to rebuild the exterior of the palace in the original style except for one side. The new building will have the cubature of the former palace, the interior will be modern, but the facades of one of the courts will be in the original style. However, the floorplan has been designed to allow potential future reconstruction of notable historical rooms, the building will house the Humboldtforum museum and congress complex, and is scheduled to be finished 14 September 2019. The palace replaced an earlier fort or castle guarding the crossing of the Spree river at Cölln, the castle stood on Fishers Island, as the southern end of the Museum Island in the Spree is known. In 1443 Frederick II Irontooth, Margrave and Prince Elector of Brandenburg, at the completion of the castle in 1451, Frederick moved there from the town of Brandenburg. The castle also included a chapel, in 1454 Frederick II, after having returned via Rome from his pilgrimage to Jerusalem, made the castle chapel a parish church, richly endowing it with relics and altars. Pope Nicholas V ordered Stephan Bodecker, then Prince-Bishop of Brandenburg and this collegiate church became the nucleus of todays Evangelical Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church, adjoining the site of the castle. In 1538, the Margrave Joachim II demolished the palace and engaged the master builder Caspar Theiss to build a new, after the Thirty Years War, Frederick William, the Great Elector, embellished the palace further. In 1688, Nicodemus Tessin designed courtyard arcades with columns in front. Not much is known about the alterations of 1690–1695, when Johann Nering was the court architect, martin Grünberg continued the alterations in 1695–1699
42.
Berlin Alexanderplatz station
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Berlin Alexanderplatz is a German railway station in the Mitte district of Berlins city centre. It is one of the busiest transport hubs in the Berlin area, the station is named for the Alexanderplatz on which it is located, near the Fernsehturm and the World clock. Like other long-distance stations, Alexanderplatz is also a centre for selling merchandise to travelers. Due to its importance and central location, it is a site where tourists regularly change, Alexanderplatz thereby became beside Nollendorfplatz station the second major hub of the Berlin U-Bahn network. Four Regional-Express and Regionalbahn lines as well as the S-Bahn rapid transit lines S5, S7, the adjacent underground station is one of the largest on the Berlin U-Bahn network, with the lines U2, U5 and U8 calling. The station is served by four tram lines, two of which run continuously, as well as five bus lines during the day, one of which runs continuously. Alexanderplatz is also connected through the two links, from U2 to U5 and U5 to U8. Alexanderplatz station opened on 7 February 1882 on the Berlin Stadtbahn viaduct from Charlottenburg to Ostbahnhof, in 1926 the station hall spanning two platforms with four tracks was rebuilt in its present plain style. Heavily damaged in World War II, train service at the station was resumed on 4 November 1945, while the reconstruction of the hall continued until 1951. The first U-Bahn station of the present U2 line designed by Alfred Grenander entered service on 1 July 1913, then the eastern terminus of Berlins second line from Potsdamer Platz via Spittelmarkt. The platforms of the U8 and the U5 opened on 18 April 1930 and 21 December 1930 respectively, also according to Grenanders conception. The U2 station was renovated after the Alexanderplatz fire in 1972. The U8 station was also a ghost station during the division of Berlin from 13 August 1961 to 1 July 1990, the station master offices were also built, these were shifted and walls were removed. The access at Dierksenstraße had to be made again, just like the connecting stairs to the mall. Other than that, the staircase was also built towards Line E so that it goes through the dimly lit platforms. Stainallee was renamed a few months after the closure of the stairs, in all cases, the metro stations had to be recognizable as such on the surface. The U-Bahn logo has been removed in recent years and this station also had to undergo renovation works from 17 May to 30 June 1990 before the full reopening on 1 July 1990. The U5 station underwent renovation works from February 2003 to September 2004
43.
Park Inn Berlin
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The Park Inn by Radisson Berlin Alexanderplatz is the tallest building and the eleventh tallest structure in Berlin and the 29th tallest building and tallest hotel-only building in Germany. The 37-floor high-rise is in the northeast of Alexanderplatz in the central Mitte district and has a height of 125 meters, the complex was built from 1967 to 1970 in the course of the redevelopment of Alexanderplatz when it was located in East Berlin. It was designed by the team of Roland Korn, Heinz Scharlipp, however, the design as built differs in the shape and location of the tower on the lot from that envisaged in the 1964 plan for redevelopment of the square. The hotel opened as the Hotel Stadt Berlin, part of East Germanys Interhotel chain and it was a four-star hotel and mainly served for the accommodation of Comecon representatives. There was a restaurant on the 37th floor and unusually fast elevators for the time. In 1993, after German reunification, it was renamed Forum Hotel Berlin, a casino, the highest in Europe, was located in the restaurant until November 2010. There is a viewing platform on the roof. All the rooms were refurbished starting in 2001 at a cost of €20 million, between May and November 2005 the entire 15,000 sq m façade was replaced, the 6,800 new mirror glass panes cost €3 million. In October 2006, two 35 m antenna masts were erected on the roof, bringing the height of the building to 149.5 m. In December 2006 the hotel and the real estate parcels were acquired by Blackstone Group. The base of the tower rises from a commercial building that houses a Burger King, an ice cream parlor. The top floor offers direct access to the adjacent Galeria-Kaufhof, for 15 years, the ground floor and basement levels housed Berlins first Saturn electronics store, but in March 2009 this relocated to a new adjacent building
44.
Hermann Henselmann
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Hermann Henselmann was a German architect most famous for his buildings constructed in East Germany during the 1950s and 1960s. Henselmann studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Berlin from 1922 to 1925, after the war he was appointed head architect in the city of Gotha and later in Weimar in the Soviet Zone of Germany, although his projects were subjected to harsh criticism for their Modernism. Henselmann was appointed architect for the city of Berlin in 1953. Plans for a Signal Tower drafted in 1958 became early drafts for the vast Fernsehturm, other late projects in a modernist and high rise style included the cylindrical Jen-Tower in Jena and a tower for the Leipzig University in the shape of an open book. Henselmanns later projects gave a modern, technocratic face to the German Democratic Republic and he dismissed the brief period of Socialist Realism as a childhood illness, though his buildings on Karl-Marx-Allee are now protected monuments. Henselmann retired as an architect in 1972
45.
Peaceful Revolution
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In addition to the Soviet Union’s shift in foreign policy – part of its glasnost and perestroika reforms hastened the destabilization of the SED and the success of the counter revolution. Through a change in leadership and a willingness to talk with opponents, however, due to the continued political instability and the threat of national bankruptcy, control of the situation increasingly lay with the West German government under Chancellor Helmut Kohl. After a sweeping election win for the “Alliance for Germany” coalition, upon becoming elected General Secretary of the Soviet Union in 1985, Gorbachev abolished the Soviet claim of leadership over the internal developments of the socialist brother lands. With his economic and sociopolitical reform program as well as his disarmament initiatives, as the weak outpost of the Iron Curtain, the GDR profited from both a unique economic relationship with the Soviet Union and a relatively stable supply situation. It was notably the only Warsaw Pact member to have numbers of Soviet troops permanently stationed on its territory. However, Gorbachevs reforms soured relations between the GDR leadership and the Soviet Union as the SED showed an increasingly clear dissociation from these policies, information about the new developments in the Soviet Union was also placed under stronger censorship. This provoked a wave of protests from those in the GDR population, at the turn of the year 1988/89 GDR leader Erich Honecker began speaking of socialism in the colours of the GDR to emphasize the countries differences in policy. Since the start of the 1970s, Honecker had led social policies built on such as wage and pension increases. In 1981 a reduction in Soviet oil deliveries at special rates brought the GDRs planned economy into difficulties, by the end of the 1980s GDR productivity in comparison to the FRG lay at only 30%. It was attempted at high cost to become a producer of micro electronics, even the official presentation in September 1988 of a 1-Megabit-Speicher that was firstly developed in the GDR, couldnt mask the slow speed of development in comparison with the West. Outdated production facilities and methods were not only inefficient but also caused environmental damage. There were barely any ecologically intact flowing waters and lakes, the means were lacking for more environmental protection. In some especially affected regions of Leipzig-Halle-Bitterfeld, loud speaker announcements were made to keep windows, the legal but counterproductive measures of environmental protection created further hostility toward the regime. As a consequence of the heated political mood, the planned local elections of May 1989 took on greater significance than usual. However, after falsified electoral results at some polling stations in 1986 had been noted by oppositional observers, such controls were now supposed to be systematically carried out in all regions. Since the previous summer, different groups – mostly religious in nature – had called on Christians in the GDR to actively intervene in the preparation of the election on 7 May 1989. In the face of rising unrest, the SED wanted as impressive an election result as possible, hence, all those who had applied to travel abroad, known opponents of the regime and those who had failed to vote in past elections were all removed from the electoral roll. By the same token, by mid-April 1989, more than 80,000 people declared their non-participation in the election, under the codename Symbol 89, the Stasi undertook measures to hinder non-participation
46.
Alexanderplatz demonstration
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The Alexanderplatz demonstration was a demonstration for political reforms and against the government of the German Democratic Republic on Alexanderplatz in East Berlin on 4 November 1989. The demonstration was organized by actors and employees of theaters in East Berlin and it was the first demonstration in East German history that was organized by private individuals and was permitted to take place by the authorities. In early October 1989, East German authorities celebrated the 40th anniversary of the German Democratic Republic. At the same time, they had to face increasing protests across the country and an exodus of their citizens to West Germany via Hungary. On 18 October, reformist members of the Politburo forced Erich Honecker to resign as the chair of the council of state and general secretary of the Socialist Unity Party. He was replaced by the slightly less hardline Egon Krenz, who became the new party leader, in his inaugural address, he used the term Die Wende and promised political reforms. He later ordered the cessation of all actions against protesters. A few days later, on 23 October, more than 300,000 people joined the Monday demonstration in Leipzig, the Alexanderplatz demonstration was the first officially permitted demonstration in East Germany that was organized by individuals and not by the authorities. It was not the first meeting as on 7 October, the 40th anniversary of the German Democratic Republic, the application for a permit to hold a demonstration was submitted two days later to the authorities by Wolfgang Holz of the Berliner Ensemble. The application was met with confusion by the SED and Stasi who could not decide whether to ban, after long deliberations the authorities decided on 26 October to permit the demonstration. A list of speakers was prepared by the organizers, including representatives of the regime, members of the opposition, at the same time the organizers hired marshals who would wear a yellow sash with the words No violence. On 4 November 1989 the demonstration started at 9,30 with a protest march to the Alexanderplatz in the center of East Berlin, at 11,00 the first protesters arrived at the Alexanderplatz. The more than 500,000 protesters came not only from East Berlin, thousands of banners showed the slogans that were already used by hundred of thousands of protesters in other East German cities during the still illegal Monday demonstrations. Neither the opening of the Berlin wall nor a possible German reunification were among the demands, the opening speeches were given by Marion van de Kamp, Johanna Schall, Ulrich Mühe and Jan Josef Liefers, who were stage actors from East Berlin. Ulrich Mühe, actor at the Deutsches Theater demanded in his speech the abolition of the first paragraph of the East German constitution which guaranteed the role of the Socialist Unity Party. In the next three hours, a series of speakers voiced their demands for reforms in East Germany. The three-hour-long demonstration was televised live on East German television, including the scenes of representatives of the regime being jeered and booed by the protesters. In the summer of 1994 banners and other artifacts of the demonstration were permanently added to the collection of the museum and were shown in an exhibition on the Alexanderplatz demonstration
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Neptunbrunnen
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The Neptune Fountain in Berlin was built in 1891 and was designed by Reinhold Begas. The Roman god Neptune is in the center, the four women around him represent the four main rivers of Prussia at the time the fountain was constructed, the Elbe, Rhine, Vistula, and Oder. The Vistula is now entirely in Poland, while the Oder forms the border between Germany and Poland, the fountain was removed from its original location at the Schlossplatz in 1951, when the former Berliner Stadtschloss there was demolished. Eventually, after being restored, the fountain was moved in 1969 to its present location between the St Marys Church and the Rotes Rathaus, the diameter is 18 m, the height is 10 m. There was another well-known Neptunbrunnen in Breslau, but it was destroyed during World War II, in 2013 a member of the Berlin Police Force shot an armed man before the fountain. The 31-year-old man was nude, holding a knife, and was believed to be mentally disturbed
listen)) is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin, near the Fernsehturm. Berliners often call it simply Alex, referring to a larger neighbourhood stretching from Mollstraße in the northeast to Spandauer Straße and the Rotes Rathaus in the southwest.
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