location

Situation in Germany and the European Union

Berlin's distinctive reference point, the Red City Hall, has a geographical location: latitude 52° 31′ 7″ N, longitude 13° 24′ 30″ E, the center of gravity of the town lies approximately two kilometers south of Kreuzberg (52° 30′ 10,4″ N, 13° 24′ 15,1″ E 52,50288888888913,404194444444). The largest area of the city in east-west direction is about 45 kilometers, in north-south direction about 38 kilometers. The area of Berlin is almost 892 km². The city is located in the north-east of the Federal Republic of Germany and is completely surrounded by the Land of Brandenburg.

The historical center is located at the narrowest and therefore most convenient point of the Warsaw-Berlin Urstromttal valley, which crosses Berlin from the southeast to the northwest and from the river Spree in east-west direction. The north-eastern part of Berlin is located on the plateau of Barnim, just under half of the city area in the south-western part lies on the plateau of Teltow. Spandau, the most western district, is spread over the Berlin Urstromtal valley, the Brandenburg-Potsdamer Havelgebiet and Zehdenick-Spandauer HavelNiederung. The landscape of Berlin was created in the Ice Age during the recent ice age, the Vistula Ice Age. About 20,000 years ago, the area of Berlin was covered by the Scandinavian ice sheet (glacier), which is several hundred meters thick. When the glacier was remelted, the Urstromtal valley in Berlin was formed about 18,000 years ago.

Waters and surveys

Extension of urban space from the center to the north

Berlin has many rivers and lakes. The river Spree flows into the Havel in Spandau, which flows north-south towards the west of Berlin. Berliner tributaries of the river Spree are the Panke, the Dame, the Wuhle and the Erpe. The river of the Havel, actually a glacial channel, often resembles a lakeside landscape. the largest canyons are the Tegeler See and the Great Wannsee. The streams Tegeler Fava and Bäke, which flow into the Havel, are located in Berlin. The largest lake in Berlin is the Große Müggelsee in Treptow-Köpenick.

In Berlin, 13 water protection areas covering an area of around 212 km² are designated by water protection regulations. In relation to the total urban area of around 890 km², about a quarter of the urban area is classified as water protection areas.

The highest peaks in Berlin are the highest natural elevation of the Große Müggelberg (115 meters above sea level). NHN) in the district of Treptow-Köpenick, the Arkenberge (122 meters above sea level from building waste. NHN) in the district of Pankow, the Devil's Mountain (120 meters above sea level, which was spilled from debris from World War II. NHN) in the district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and the Ahrensfelder Berge (114 meters above sea level). NHN) in the Wuhletal Landscape Park in the Marzahn-Hellersdorf district. The lowest point in Berlin is at 28.1 meters above sea level. NHN) at Lake Spectee in the Spandau district.

Forests and parks

The Great Tiergarten, 2006

In addition to extensive forest areas in the west and southeast of the city (Berlin Forsten), Berlin has many large parks. Since almost all roads are lined with trees, Berlin is considered a particularly green city. In Berlin there are a total of 440,000 road trees, including 153,000 lime trees, 82,000 maple trees, 35,000 oaks, 25,000 platanas and 21,000 chestnuts. The more than 2500 public green, recreational and park facilities cover a total area of more than 5500 hectares and offer a wide range of leisure and recreational facilities. The largest complex in Berlin today called the park is the Tempelhofer Park, which was built at the former Tempelhof airport.

In the center of the city is the Great Tiergarten. It is the oldest and the second largest and most important park in Berlin, with 210 hectares, and has been designed over more than 500 years. Originally an extensive forest area at the city gates, used by the Prussian noblemen as a hunting and exiting area, it was gradually surrounded by the urban development. Today it stretches from the train station Zoo to the Brandenburg Gate and borders directly to the government district. Some large streets cut through the Tiergarten, including the 17th century street. June as East-West axis. They cross at the Great Stern, in the middle of which the Victory Column has been standing since 1939. The large Tiergarten park is built in a natural park landscape: Characteristic are the large lawns, dotted with small watercourses and tree-lined lakes, lakes with small islands and numerous bridges and paths. Facilities such as the English Garden, the Luiseninsel and the rose garden set the tone in some places.

Botanical garden in Lichterfelde

In addition to the Tiergarten, the Treptower Park in south-east Berlin is one of the most important parks in the city. He was created from 1876 to 1882 by the first Berlin Gardening Director Gustav Meyer and was the venue for the Great Berlin Industrial Exhibition in 1896. The wide garden landscape that stretches along the river Spree is one of the most popular excursions in Berlin, not least because of the present restaurant Zenner, which was already built in 1821/1822 by Carl Ferdinand Langhans as an inn at the river Spree.

Gardens of the world

A special feature among the parks is the Botanical Gardens. Located in the south-west of the city, it is used as a recreational park in addition to its scientific purpose (it belongs to the Free University of Berlin). The predecessor facility already existed since 1697 on the site of the present Kleist Park in Schöneberg. From 1897 the new park in Dahlem and Grosslander was built. The Botanical Garden is located in the village of Lichterfelde, according to the 1920 GrossBerlin Act and the 1938 regional reform. With an area of over 43 hectares, it is the fourth largest botanical garden in the world. It covers about 22,000 different plant species. The Grand Tropical House, 25 meters high, 30 meters wide and 60 meters long, is the highest greenhouse in the world.

Other parks in Berlin include the Schlossgardens in Charlottenburg, Glienicke and on the Pfaueninsel (the last two belong to the UNESCO World Heritage), the historic parks of Lustgarten, Victoriapark, Rudolph Wilde Park and Schillerpark, and the numerous large national gardens. In 1985 the "Bundesgartenschau" (Garden Show) took place in the Britz Garden, and in today's gardens in the world in 1987 the Berlin Gartenschau (Garden Show). In 2017, the International Garden Exhibition took place there. The Wall Park on the former death strip of the Berlin Wall, the Nature Reserve Schöneberger Südtergebiet, the Görlitzer Park and the Spreebogenpark are among the younger parks in Berlin.

Zoos and protected areas

Tiger in Tierpark Berlin (district of Friedrichsfelde)

Zoo in Tiergarten district, world's largest zoo and only zoo in Germany with panoramic bears

Berlin has several zoological facilities: the zoological garden, the aquarium and the zoo. Opened in 1844 at the then city border with Charlottenburg, the Zoological Garden is the oldest zoo in Germany and at the same time the richest in the world (about 15,000 animals in 1,500 species). The much younger animal park owes its origin to the division of Germany after 1945: Because the zoological garden was located in the British sector of the city, the capital of the GDR. lacked its own animal-care facility. In 1954 an animal park was opened in Friedrichsfelde on the grounds of the Schlosspark Friedrichsfelde. With 160 hectares, it is the largest landscape animal park in Europe.

There are 43 nature reserves in Berlin (status: 2018), with a total area of 2668 hectares, i.e. approximately 3.0% of the land area. In addition, there are 56 nature reserves, which account for a further 14 percent of the land area. In addition, the Pankow and Reinickendorf districts account for 5.4% of the Barnim National Park, which covers an area of 75,000 hectares.

climate

The city is located in the temperate climate zone at the transition from maritime to continental climate. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the annual average temperatures have fluctuated between 7 °C and 11 °C, with a rising trend. The average annual temperature in Berlin-Dahlem is 9,5 °C and the average annual rainfall is 591 mm. The warmest months are July and August with an average of 19.1 and 18.2 degrees, respectively, while the coldest months are January with an average of 0.6 degrees. The previous temperature limit of 38.6 °C in Berlin was measured at Kaniswall Station on 16 July 2007. Most rainfall in August is 64 mm on average, the lowest in April is 33 mm on average (all averages from 1981 to 2010 from the German Weather Service).

There is a two-tier maximum for wind speeds and wind direction distribution. According to the report, the northwest and southwest wind is most frequently observed in Berlin, which is connected with higher speeds especially in winter and usually brings in marine air, which is well mixed and clean. The second peak from the south-east and east is often characterized by high weather conditions of continental air masses, which can lead to very hot or very cold days depending on the season. These weather conditions were characteristic of smog situations until the 1980s, as the pollutants produced in the city (mainly from kiln fires and car exhaust) could not evaporate due to the exchange-low weather. The sharp decline in furnace heating and the emergence of exhaust filters and vehicle catalytic converters in the 1990s have greatly mitigated this problem.

The low elevation differences within the city actually lead to a rather homogeneous urban climate, but the dense construction in the city and the district centers leads to some marked temperature differences compared to large urban open spaces and, above all, the extensive agricultural areas in the surrounding area. In summer nights in particular, temperature differences of up to 10 °C are measured. However, in this context, Berlin also benefits from its large share of green space: More than 40 per cent of the urban area is green; In 2012, 439,971 trees lined the streets. The large number of small open spaces, especially urban green areas such as the Great Tiergarten, the Grunewald and the former Tempelhof Airport with the adjacent Hasenheide, generate a cooling effect and are therefore also known as the "cold islands".

city

Pankow City Hall (left) is the seat of the Mayor of the Pankow District

The administration of the Land of Berlin is carried out by the Senate of Berlin (the head office) and the twelve district administrations. The head office shall carry out the overall urban tasks and shall comprise the Senate administrations, the subordinate authorities (special authorities) and non-legal entities, and the self-employed entities under its supervision.

Since Berlin is a single municipality, the districts do not constitute separate municipalities, but in terms of population, they are comparable to larger districts in land states. The districts are subject to district supervision by the Senate. In each district there is a district assembly (BVV). The district council, consisting of district mayors and four municipal councilors, chooses the district council according to party proportions. The mayor is made by the largest faction or a larger community of factions. District mayors and city councilors hold the status of electoral officer despite their quasi-political election. The mayors of the districts, chaired by the Mayor-in-Office, form the Council of Mayors advising the Senate.

The structure and tasks of the Berlin administration are determined by the General Responsibility Act (AZG). The structure and tasks of the Berlin district administration are defined in more detail in the district administration law (BezVwG). Since 1990 an administrative reform has been implemented in stages in Berlin.

The administrative structures and authorities of the city state are being developed (status: 2016/17), both within Berlin and Germany, were considered to be too slow to work and in need of modernization.

According to the Berlin Constitution, Berlin is divided into twelve districts. These are divided into 96 districts, with the National Constitution classifying them as districts. Although the districts do not constitute administrative units, they form the basis of official local information and therefore also have administrative limits.

In 1920, the "GrossBerlin Act" brought together eight towns and 59 counties and 27 counties. The new Greater Berlin initially comprised 20 districts with then 94 districts, which with no changes in the border procedures were equal to the previous divisions. Out of these 20 districts, twelve were in West Berlin and eight in East Berlin after the division of the city.

On the occasion of the creation of new development areas on the eastern outskirts of the city, the number of districts in East Berlin was increased to eleven, with no municipalities, between 1979 and 1986. The division in West Berlin remained unchanged (except for a territorial exchange in 1945, when the eastern part of Greater Glienicke came to Berlin in exchange for West-Staaken and the 95. part).

In 1990, the reunified Berlin counted 23 districts, the number of which was then reduced to twelve in 2001 by district mergers in the context of a territorial reform. The number and layout of the districts has also been changed several times over the last few decades.

Key figures of the Berlin District December 2019

No.	Berlin District	resident	surface in km²	resident per km²
1.	center	385,748	0039.47	09,733
2.	Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg  Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg	290,386	0020.34	14,246
3.	Pankov  Pankov	409,335	0103.07	03,956
4.	Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf  Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf	343,592	0064.72	05,289
5.	Spandau  Spandau	245,197	0091.87	02,656
6.	Steglitz-Zehlendorf  Steglitz-Zehlendorf	310,071	0102.56	3/0/10
7.	Tempelhof-Schöneberg  Tempelhof-Schöneberg	350,984	0053.10	06,622
8.	Neukölln  Neukölln	329,917	0044.93	07,338
9.	Treptow-Köpenick  Treptow-Köpenick	273,689	0168.42	1,610
10th	Marzahn-Hellersdorf  Marzahn-Hellersdorf	269,967	0061.78	04,347
11th	Lichtenberg  Lichtenberg	294,201	0052.12	05,592
12th	Reinickendorf  Reinickendorf	266,408	0089.31	02,970
	Land Berlin (total)	3,669,491	0891.68	04,088

1. ↑ The population of the whole of Berlin is based on the population update based on the census of 2011 (this is the official population for Berlin), while the figures for the districts are based on the municipal population register. The total population of the districts may therefore differ from the population of the entire city.

name formation and first settlements

The name Berlin probably derives from the Slavic term br’lo or berlo with the meanings "swamp, morass, moist" or "dry spot in a wetland" and the suffix -in which is common in Slavic village names. This is mainly due to the fact that the name appears repeatedly in documents with articles ("der Berlin").

The name of the town is not due to the alleged founder of the city, Albrecht the Bear, nor to the Berlin Wappentier. This is a talking coat of arms, which attempts to visualize the name of the city in German interpretation. The captive thus derives from the name of the town, not the other way round.

chart and princess

Reconstructed plan of Berlin and Kölln around 1230 (by Karl Friedrich von Klöden)

The town of Kölln, located on the island of Spreen, was first documented in 1237. In 1244 the mention of (Alt-) Berlin followed, which lies on the north-eastern bank of the river Spree. Recent archeological findings show that in the second half of the 12th century there were suburban settlements on both sides of the river Spree. In 1280 the first demonstrable March Landtag took place in Berlin. This points to an early lead, as also seen in the Karls IV mansion. (1375), Berlin with Stendal, Prenzlau and Frankfurt/Oder are shown as the cities with the highest tax revenue. In 1307, the two cities of Berlin and Kölln had a common town hall.

Berlin shared the fate of Brandenburg among the Ascanians (1157-1320), Wittelsbachern (1323-1373) and Luxembourgers (1373-1415). In 1257, Brandenburg's mayor was the first to be the only constituency eligible for the royal elections. The exact rules were laid down in 1356 with the Golden Bulle; Since then, Brandenburg has been considered a principality. After the German king Sigismund of Luxembourg 1415 Friedrich I. of Hohenzollern with the mark Brandenburg, this family ruled in Berlin until 1918 as marketers and princes of Brandenburg and from 1701 also as kings in and from Prussia.

In 1448 inhabitants of Berlin revolted against the new castle construction of the Kurfürst Friedrich II in the "Berlin Inwill". (‘iron tooth’). But this protest was not successful, and the city lost many of its political and economic freedoms that it has now endured. In 1486, Kurfürst Johann Cicero declared Berlin the capital of the Brandenburg Kurfürstentum.

Since 1280 there have been trade relations with Hanse, especially Hamburg. 14. In 1518, Berlin formally left the Hanseatic League or was excluded from it.

Churfürstliche Residenzstadt Berlin and Cöln around 1645 (Copper engraving by Matthaeus Merian)

The Reformation was founded in 1539 under Kurfürst Joachim II. in Berlin and Kölln, without major disputes. The Thirty Years' War between 1618 and 1648 had devastating consequences for Berlin: One-third of homes were damaged, and the population halved. Friedrich Wilhelm, known as the Great Prince, took over the government business from his father in 1640. He started a policy of immigration and religious tolerance. From the following year the suburbs of Friedrichswerder, Dorotheenstadt and Friedrichstadt were founded.

In 1671, 50 Jewish families from Austria were given a home in Berlin. With the edict of Potsdam in 1685, Friedrich Wilhelm invited the French Hugenotten to Brandenburg. More than 15,000 French people came, 6,000 of whom settled in Berlin. By 1700, 20 percent of Berlin's inhabitants were French, and their cultural influence was great. Many immigrants also came from Bohemia, Poland and Salzburg. From 1658 to 1683 the double city of Berlin-Cölln was extended to a fortress with a total of 13 bastions.

Prussia and the German Empire

The Berlin Castle, the main residence of the Prussian kings since 1702 and from 1871 the German Emperor (picture around 1900)

In 1701, Berlin became the crown of Friedrichs I. to the king in Prussia the position of the Prussian capital, which was achieved by the edict to the formation of the Royal Residence Berlin by merging the cities Berlin, Kölln, Friedrichswerder, Dorotheenstadt and Friedrichstadt on 17. 17 January 1709. The population of Berlin rose to around 55,000. Soon after, new suburbs emerged, enlarging Berlin.

King Frederick Wilhelm III left after Prussia's defeat of Napoleon's armies in 1806. Berlin direction Königsberg. Authorities and wealthy families moved from Berlin. French troops occupied the city from 1806 to 1808. Under the reformer Freiherr von und zum Stein, the new Berlin City Order was adopted in 1808, which led to the first freely elected assembly of city councilors. A mayor has been elected to head the new administration. The new city council, known as the Magistrat, was sworn in in Berlin's city hall.

The creation of a Berlin university, proposed by Wilhelm von Humboldt, played an important role in the reforms of schools and scientific institutions. The new university (1810) quickly became the spiritual center of Berlin and soon became famous. Other reforms, such as the introduction of a business tax, the Commercial Police Act (with the abolition of the guild code), passed by Chancellor Karl August von Hardenberg, the civil equality of Jews and the renewal of the army system led to a new growth boost in Berlin. Above all, they laid the foundation for the later industrial development in the city. The king returned to Berlin at the end of 1809. 28. On 18 May 1813, death sentences were passed in Prussia for burning at the stake.

In the following decades, until 1850, new factories were established outside the city walls, where immigrants found employment as workers or workers. This has doubled the number of inhabitants by bringing them from the eastern parts of the country. Major companies such as Borsig, Siemens and AEG were created and led to Berlin becoming an industrial city. This was accompanied by the political rise of the Berlin workers' movement, which has become one of the strongest in the world.

In the wake of the March Revolution, the King made numerous concessions. In 1850, a new municipal constitution and order was adopted, abolishing freedom of the press and assembly, introducing a new three-class electoral law, and severely restricting the powers of municipal councils. The rights of police president Hinckeldey have been strengthened. During his tenure until 1856, he was responsible for the construction of urban infrastructure (mainly urban cleaning, water works, water pipelines, construction of bathing and washing facilities). A detailed account of the situation at the time in Berlin can be found in the work of Robert Springer Berlin’s streets, pubs and clubs in 1848.

Unter den Linden, corner Friedrichstraße, around 1900

In 1861, Moabit and the Wedding as well as the Tempelhofer, Schöneberger, Spandauer and other suburbs were formed. The development of the city was regulated by the Hobrecht Plan from 1862. The block construction, with a height of 22 meters, characterizes many Berlin neighborhoods. The rapid increase in population, speculation in construction and poverty have led to precarious housing conditions in the rents of the emerging labor quarters, with their multi-tiered narrow backyards typical of Berlin.

Advertising poster in Berlin, 1912

On 18 June 2006, the Prime Minister of Prussia Otto von Bismarck agreed to the German nation state. In 1871 Berlin became the capital of the German Empire (until 1945). After the imperial Empire was established, the founding period followed, in which Germany became the world power and Berlin became the world city. In 1877, Berlin first became a city of millions and first crossed the two million inhabitants border in 1905. The four-decade peace ended with the start of World War I in 1914. After the defeat of Germany in 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm II returned. no longer back to Berlin. He fled to the Netherlands.

Weimar Republic and Greater Berlin

After the end of World War I, the Republic was declared in Berlin on November 9, 1918. In the months following the November Revolution, there were several bloody conflicts between the government and its free corps, as well as revolutionary workers. At the beginning of 1919, the January uprising shook the city, two months later a general strike. In the March campaigns in Berlin, field shelters, mortar and airplanes were used with bombs against the population on orders of the Social Democratic Minister of the German Reich, Gustav Noske. A total of 1200 people died in Lichtenberg from 3 to 16 March.

In 1920 the bloodbath occurred before the Reichstag and later the Cape Putsch. In the second half of the year, however, the founding of Greater Berlin was followed by the largest communal area in the history of the city, which was accompanied by a great upswing in the future, with Berlin, which had existed until then, with several surrounding towns and rural communities and numerous counties, becoming the united part of what is now understood as "Berlin". The enlarged city thus had about four million inhabitants and in the 1920s was the largest city in continental Europe and the third largest city in the world after London and New York. In the following years, the city was flourished in the arts, culture, science and technology and became the largest industrial city in Europe due to the inclusion of the industrial suburbs in 1920. This era was later known as the "Golden Twenties", which came to an age with the Great Depression at the end of the decade, including in Berlin.

national socialism

After the Nazi "seizure of power" in 1933, Berlin became the capital of the Third Reich, and again became more important, mainly because of the centralization associated with the "synchronization" of the state governments. Adolf Hitler and general construction inspector Albert Speer developed architectural concepts for the transformation of the city into the "world capital Germania", which were never realized.

The Nazi regime destroyed Berlin's Jewish community, which before 1933 had around 160,000 members. After the November pogroms of 1938, thousands of Berlin Jews were deported to the nearby concentration camp of Sachsenhausen. Some 50,000 of the 66,000 Jews still living in Berlin were deported from 1941 to ghtos and labor camps in Litzmannstadt, Minsk, Kaunas, Riga, Piaski or Theresienstadt. Many died in the harsh living conditions there, while others were later abducted and murdered in extermination camps such as Auschwitz during the Holocaust.

Potsdamer Platz, 1945

During World War II, Berlin was first attacked by British bombers on August 25, 1940. Allied air strikes increased massively from 1943 onwards, with large parts of Berlin being destroyed. The battle over Berlin in 1945 led to further destruction. Almost half of the buildings had been destroyed, and only a quarter of all the apartments had been left intact. Of 226 bridges, only 98 remained.

divided city

Map of the divided city

After the city was seized by the Red Army and the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht on 8 July 1994. In July 1945, Berlin was divided into four sectors in accordance with the London Protocols - according to the layout of the whole of Germany into occupation zones. The sectors of the US, the UK, France, and the Soviet Union were created. Neither the Yalta Conference nor the Potsdam Agreement provided for a formal division into the western and eastern sectors (West Berlin and East Berlin). In 1945-46, this group was formed partly by the common interest of the West Allies.

Berlin Wall seen from Kreuzberg, 1986

On May 19, 1945, the Soviet Military Council in Germany created a magistrate for Berlin. He consisted of a non - partisan mayor, four deputy mayors and 16 councilors. However, the overall responsibility of all four winning powers remained for Greater Berlin. The growing political differences between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union led to an economic blockade of West Berlin after a currency reform in the West's sectors in 1948-1949, which the West Allies crossed with the "Berlin Airlift."

The Cold War also consolidated in Berlin with the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany in the west of Germany and the German Democratic Republic (GDR.) in the east of Germany in 1949. While the Federal Republic established its headquarters in Bonn, the GDR. proclaimed Berlin as capital. Since 1949, West Berlin has been de facto a country of the Federal Republic with a special legal status and East Berlin has de facto been a part of the GDR. The East-West conflict culminated in the Berlin crisis and led to the construction of the Berlin Wall by the GDR. on 13 June 1998. August 1961.

The east and west of the city have been separated since then. The transition was possible only at certain checkpoints, but no longer for the inhabitants of the GDR. and East Berlin and until 1972 only in exceptional cases for residents of West Berlin who did not hold only the Berlin identity card.

Bornholmer Straße, 1989: After the fall of the Berlin Wall, visitors from the GDR. will be received by a welcome paler.

In 1972, the quadripartite agreement on Berlin entered into force. Whereas the Soviet Union referred to the four-power status only in West Berlin, in 1975 the Western powers emphasized in a note to the United Nations their view of the four-power status over the whole of Berlin. The problem of the controversial status of Berlin is also called the Berlin question.

In the GDR., political change took place in 1989, and the wall was opened on November 9.

reunited city

Reunification of Germany and Berlin

On October 3, 1990, the two German states were reunified by the accession of the GDR. to the Federal Republic of Germany and Berlin was reunified by the unification agreement of the Federal Capital. In 1994 the troops of the former occupying powers finally withdrew from Berlin.

On June 20, 1991, the Bundestag passed the capital's decree following controversial public debate, and decided that the city should be the seat of the German Federal Government and the Bundestag. In 1994, at the initiative of Richard von Weizsäcker, Bellevue Castle became the first seat of the President of the Confederation. The Federal President's Office was subsequently established in the immediate vicinity. In 1999, the government and parliament resumed their work in Berlin. In 2001, the new Chancellor's Office was inaugurated and moved to the former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. The vast majority of the representations abroad in Germany moved to Berlin in the following years.

As of 1 January 2001, the number of districts has been reduced from 23 to 12 in order to make management and planning more efficient.

development

Population pyramid of Berlin 2010

The conurbation of Berlin has received approximately €4.5 million. resident

Berlin had December 2019 total population 3,669,491, making it the most populous city in Germany. Berlin is the largest city in the European Union by population within administrative borders. The agglomeration of Berlin has a population of 4.5 million (31 December 2015), while the metropolitan area of Berlin/Brandenburg, which comprises both Länder, has a population of 6 million.

By the middle of the 17th In the 19th century, the Berlin area was sparsely populated, and the Thirty Years War had halved the population of Berlin. But, after Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm took over the government business from his father in 1640, he brought many Huguenots from France to the region, among other things. The population rose from around 6,000 in 1648 to around 57,000 in 1709. The population grew steadily and Berlin became a major city in 1747 and a millionaire city in 1877.

The increase in the population in the Berlin area had been accelerated as a result of the industrialization which began after the Prussian reforms. Berlin in the last quarter of the 19th century. Only 40 % of the inhabitants were born in Berlin. In 1900, more than 20% of the 1.9 million Berliners from the Prussian provinces of Brandenburg, 9% of East and West Prussia, Silesia 7%, Pomerania 6%, Poznan 5% and Saxony 4%. Immigration from other regions of Germany was rather low, at 3-4%, and from abroad at over 1.5%. In 1895, Berlin's share of native German speakers was more than 98%. With the 1920 "GrossBerlin Act", the population grew to almost four million by including previously independent towns and villages. In the 1920s and 1930s, Berlin was the second largest city in the world, after Los Angeles and after New York City and London, the third largest city in the world. The population exceeded the four million mark in the 1920's, peaking at 4.48 million in 1942 (only a theoretical value at that time).

development

from 1220 to 2018

from 1871 to 2018

from 1220 to 2018 in logarithmic

World War II brought the number back to a relatively constant level of between 3.0 and 3.5 million inhabitants. Between 1957 and 1990, a transfer to West Berlin offered young men from the Bundeswehr the opportunity to withdraw from military service because the German military legislation did not apply there. Since 1991, the number of trains such as the train has ranged from 100,000 to 145,000 per year. The oft-quoted 2007 claim that 1.7 million Berliners left the city after reunification (since 1991), that 1.8 million people had been and in order to ensure a large-scale population exchange, it is based on a mere addition of all trains and all trains and overstates the real population fluctuation. Berlin has always had a population movement far above average in Germany. In 2014 alone, 317,151 people moved to Berlin, while 275,259 inhabitants left the city, giving a positive migration balance of 41,892.

population

Berlin is no later than the end of the 17th The city is also home to a large number of German tourists. In 2009, the migration profit compared to the rest of Germany was about 18,000 persons. Around 70% of the population of Berlin, about 2,500,000 inhabitants, is from Germans with German-speaking parents and ancestors.

In addition to the 2.4 million Germans without a migrant background, some 780,000 immigrants and 542,000 Germans with a migrant background live in Berlin.

In the decades after 1945, many migrant workers from southern Europe and Turkey came to West and contract workers, mainly from Vietnam to East Berlin. Since the 1980's, many Russian German ethnic Germans, and since reunification, Jews from Eastern Europe, especially Ukraine and Russia, and later from Israel, began to move. The city is home to citizens from around 190 countries.

Among the many Europeans migrating to the city, a 2015 study found that a particularly high proportion of young graduates, 24.3%, are mainly French, Spanish, and Italian.

Wikipedia:WikiProject Events/Past/2010

Kreuzberg and Neukölln are the focal points of the German-Turkish population. With about 180,000 Turkish citizens, Berlin is considered one of the largest Turkish municipalities outside Turkey. In addition, about 70,000 Afrodmates live in Berlin.

There are more than 25 groups, each with more than 10,000 people, with a migrant background.

It is estimated that between 100,000 and 250,000 unregistered immigrants live in Berlin, mainly from Africa, Asia, the Balkans or Latin America. Due to the difficulties in defining the migrant background in a uniform way and in surveying, the actual share of people with a migrant background could differ significantly from the above figures.

Berlin intends to accept additional asylum seekers in addition to the allocated quota and to this end is organizing itself with other municipalities in the "Solidarity City" urban network and in the "Towns and Safe Ports" association.

language

The official language of Berlin is German. Berlinisch (also in English: Berlin) is a so-called balancing mouthpiece that has been established in Berlin as a city center over the centuries from various linguistic influences. Linguistic, Berlinische is indeed a metrolyte, a urban language mixture that is not only of regional origin, but has originated from a mixture of dialects of different origins. The substrate is the Lower German, which was gradually overlaid by immigration from other regions and the influence of the East German. However, individual forms perceived as "specific berlineric" were such as det'wat' loofen' koofen (unlike the standard German, buy what's running).

Berlin took numerous words and phrases from other languages and dialects such as French (the settlement of Hugenotten after the Thirty Years War), Jewish (Jewish refugees since the 16th, but especially in the 19th and 20th centuries). and the Silesian/Polish (after the conquest of Silesia and the Polish divisions at the end of the 18th century). 1990). Berlinisch is spoken in Berlin and in the Berlin area, and it only contains customary (verbal) words or coined ironic phrases, the so-called "Berolinisms".

In the neighborhood of Berlin and in the districts that were villages without significant contact with the capital until the settlement, the original dialects of East German were mark-Brandenburg. Since the end of the 19th Berlin, a growing metropolis, also radiated more and more to the surrounding area, and the Berlin colloquial language displaced or at least significantly changed the dialects there. In fact, Brandenburg today is a variety of the Berlin metrology.

Historically, Berlinische was the language of ordinary people; the education class used to maintain a perfect high German. Many New-Berliners accepted parts of Berlin, but the constant use was considered rather "unfine." In the GDR., this attitude changed in part, so that Berlin was also maintained in educated circles. This means that the centers of increased use are mostly located in the former eastern districts, the old western working districts and the surrounding countryside. The language in Berlin is constantly influenced by migrant waves and media-influenced language habits, which means that the language used is constantly evolving.

religions and beliefs

World religions in Berlin (stand: 2017)

Berlin Cathedral (Protestant)

St. Hedwigs Cathedral (Roman Catholic)

St. Konstantin and Helena Church (Russian Orthodox Church)

New synagogue

Şehitlik Mosque

In 2011, it was established that 21.6 % of the Berlin population belonged to the Protestant Church, 9.6 % of the Catholic Church, 1.5 % of an Orthodox Church and 0.7 % of a Protestant Church. In total, 37.4% of the population considered themselves Christians, 9.0% thought they had a different religion or belief, 23.4% felt they were not Christians and 30.2% said they did not. According to a calculation of the censuses for those with a migrant background, the Muslim population in Berlin was 7.6% in 2011 (around 249,200 persons), close to the figure published by the Statistical Office for 2009 (around 249,000), whereas the BAMF Muslim life in Germany was estimated by some 279,800 Muslims in Berlin in 2008 (6.9% of about 4,055,100 Muslims in the Federal Republic of Germany).

In 2019, 14.4% of the population was Protestant and 8.3% Catholic. According to research, in 2018, Islamic faiths were attributed to between 250,000 and 300,000 (7-9%) individuals.

In Berlin, several humanist and other associations of non-religious people are represented. For example, the Humanist Association of Germany, whose Berlin National Association had around 7,800 members in 2012, and the Humanities Academy Germany are based in Berlin. In 1982, the Humanist Life School was introduced in the western part of Berlin, with a total of 62,650 students attending in 2017.

Due to the different development during the German division, there are differences in faith between East and West, especially in the Protestant Church, which has dominated since the Reformation in Berlin. At the end of 2018, more than 30% of German residents were Protestant or Catholic in some parts of the western part of Germany, while in some newly built areas built in the GDR., the proportion was less than 20%. From 2010 to 2017, the number of Catholics rose steadily from 330,000 to 340,000. By 31 December 2019, however, the number had already fallen to 312,346.

Bishop of the Protestant Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Oberlausitz is Christian Stablein. Archbishop of Berlin and Metropolitan of Berlin's parish province Heiner Koch has been a chef since 2015. The Land of Berlin pays 8,146,910 euros annually to the Protestant Church and 2,860,000 euros annually to the Roman Catholic Church (status: 2009).

The self-employed Evangelical Lutheran Church, which is represented in the city area with eight church congregations, was mostly born from the Evangelical-Lutheran Church, which was founded in 1830. These parishes belong to the parish of Berlin-Brandenburg, which is headed by superintendent Peter Brückmann, Wedding.

Also located in Berlin are a Russian Orthodox and a Bulgarian Orthodox bishop, most other Orthodox and Old Oriental churches are also represented with municipalities.

The Anglican community, or the Church of England, has a so-called "Chaplaincy," St. George’s Anglican/Episcopal Church. The community has its church in Westend in the Prussian avenue. In addition, there is an old Catholic community in Wilmersdorf which was a guest in the Alt-Schöneberg village church, but since 2010 has its own house church near the Bundesplatz. The old Catholic and Anglican communities are in church communities and celebrate common services in the Church of the Virgin Mary.

Baptists have existed in Berlin since the middle of the 19th century. With its 36 municipalities, they form the largest free church in the city. Among other things, there are 29 parishes of the New Apostolic Church. There are six municipalities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The oldest Berlin Mennonite municipality has existed since 1887. The legal seat of the German branch of the religious community of Jehovah's Witnesses is located in Berlin. The organization Scientology is represented in Charlottenburg. Soka Gakkai International operates a peace center in Halensee.

Since 1999, Berlin has been the seat of the Central Jewish Council in Germany. The Jewish community in Berlin, the largest Jewish community in Germany, has more than 12,000 members. There are over 11 synagogues, several Buddhist temples, seven mosque buildings and 91 Islamic prayer rooms in the city. Since 1907 there have been Bahai in Berlin who regularly take part in the inter-religious dialog in Berlin.

personality

Honorary citizens are included in the list of honorary citizens of Berlin, persons born in the city are collected in the list of sons and daughters of Berlin, biographies of people with a clear connection to Berlin are collected in the category Person (Berlin). The members of the Berlin state governments since 1948 can be found in the lists of Mayor of Berlin and the list of Senators of Berlin. Various city originals are combined under Berlin originals.

German capital

Reichstag building, seat of the German Bundestag

In 1991, after reunification in the so - called "capital city decree", the German Bundestag decided that Berlin as the federal capital should also become the seat of the Bundestag and the federal government. The Berlin/Bonn Act is a consequence of the Capital City Decision of 20 June 2008. 1991, in which Berlin was also designated as a seat of government.

Bellevue Castle, seat of the President

Federal Chancellery

Prussian House, seat of the Federal Council

Since 1994, the President's First Headquarters have been located at Bellevue Palace in Berlin. In 1999, most of the federal government moved from Bonn to Berlin. Since then, the Bundestag (in the Reichstag building), the Bundesrat (upper house of parliament) and the federal government have begun operating in the capital. In 2001, the Federal Chancellery was inaugurated and received for the first time from Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. The newly established headquarters of the Federal Intelligence Service was received in November 2018.

Of the 14 federal ministries of the 17th German federal cabinets have their headquarters in Berlin. These include the Foreign Office and the Federal Ministries of Finance; family, senior citizens, women and youth; for employment and social affairs; internal; justice and consumer protection; for the economy and energy; for transport and digital infrastructure. The other six federal ministries are based in Bonn. All ministries, including those based in the capital, have a branch office in the other city.

Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy in the middle

In Berlin, the Federal Ministries of Education and Research are: for food and agriculture; health; environment, nature protection, construction and reactor safety; for defense and for economic cooperation and development. Approximately two thirds of ministry employees, about 12,600 civil servants and wage employees (status: 2018), working in Berlin.

In Berlin, 158 states have their German embassy seat, while the 16 states are represented by state representatives. A large number of diplomatic representations are located in the Tiergarten district.

As the seat of government of the state with the largest economy in Europe, Berlin is one of the influential and sought-after centers of European politics. Party headquarters, trade unions, foundations, associations and lobbying organizations of companies are located there to exercise their influence on the decision-making processes in parliament and government on the ground. State visits and receptions at all political levels, as well as state acts and socially important celebrations characterize the political annual calendar of Berlin. The Federal Law Gazette, on the other hand, is published today in Bonn, and not a single federal court is based in Berlin.

Land Berlin

Rotes Town Hall, seat of the Berlin Senate

From 1808 to 1935 and from 1945 to 1948, the Prussian capital of Berlin was administered by a magistrate headed by a mayor. From 1935 to 1945 there was no magistrate according to the German Municipal Code. From 1948 until reunification in 1990, the divided city had a magistrate in East Berlin and a Senate in West Berlin.

Today's Berlin (BE appendix code) is a German country only since reunification. This includes exactly the city of Berlin. In addition to the Berlin constitution of 1950, the German constitution also declared the Land of Berlin a member state of the Federal Republic of Germany, but until then this had been ineffective under international law because of the reservations of the Allies. In fact, since 1949, West Berlin has been part of the Federal Republic of Germany with some restrictions, while the same has had no practical effect on East Berlin, which is formally included. Article 3 of the unification treaty sets out the Federal Republic's constant legal view that the Basic Law applied in West Berlin before reunification.

The Land of Berlin is divided into twelve districts. According to the Berlin Constitution, the state parliament of the Land, the legislative power, is the parliament of Berlin. At present, members of parliament from the SPD, the CDU, the left, Alliance 90/The Greens, the SPD and the FDP are represented.

Prussian Landtag, seat of the Berlin Chamber of Deputies

The Senate of Berlin, consisting of the Mayor and ten senators, forms the state government. The Mayor is also the head of the country and the city, and since 2016 he is also responsible for the Senate Administration for Science and Research. The Senate administrations correspond to ministries in the area and are currently being constituted (status: 2017) as follows: Senate Administration of Finance, Senate Administration of Integration, Labor and Social Affairs, Senate Administration of Education, Youth and Family, Senate Administration of Health, Care and Gender Equality, Senate Administration of Home Affairs and Sport, Senate Administration of Justice, Consumer Affairs and Anti-Discrimination, Senate Administration of Urban Development and Housing, Senate Administration of Economy, Energy and Business, Senate Administration of Culture and Europe, and Senate Administration of Environment, Transport and Climate Change. The Berlin Senate has been led by the SPD since 2001. Since then, most of the parties involved were The Left, but some also the CDU and Alliance 90/The Greens.

Following the election to the Chamber of Deputies The senate was formed by the SPD and the CDU under the leadership of Klaus Wowereit (SPD) as mayor of the government on 19 September 2011. On 11 December 2014, the new red-black government was formed by the Senate of Mueller I. Since 2016, the first red-red-green federal government in the country to be led by the SPD has been governed by the Mueller II Senate in Berlin.

In 2012, the Land of Berlin spent EUR 22.5 billion. In 2013, the total debt of the Land of Berlin amounted to approximately EUR 59.8 billion, or 57.72% of gross domestic product. In 2012, the country received approximately €3.2 billion from the fiscal equalization and approximately €2.4 billion from federal supplementary allocations. The European Union will add some EUR 850 million to the budget during the period 2014-2020. In 2018, Berlin led the list of four recipient countries by a significant margin, with 4.4 billion euros in contributions from the fiscal equalization system.

Coats of arms and flags

Berlin State symbol (for free use, not to be confused with the official coat of arms)

The Berlin Coat of Arms displays in the silver (white) sign a red-worn and red-pointed, upright black bear, the so-called Berlin bear. A five-leaf golden decree rests on the shield, whose forehead is designed as a masonry with a closed gate in the center. The origin of the bear as a coat of arms is unknown, no documents or documents are available. There are several theories of why the city's representatives chose the bear. One of them is that the Berliners at Albrecht thought the bear, the founder of Mark Brandenburg. Another is based on the noisy interpretation of the name of the city. The bear can be seen for the first time on a seal of 1280. For several centuries, the bear had to share the pictures of the seals and the crest with the eagle of Brandenburg and Prussia. Only in the 20th In the 19th century, the Berlin bear was able to assert itself against the eagles as the emblem of the city.

standard flagging (towards the national service buildings):

The Berlin regional flag shows the Berlin bear against a white background, with a red stripe at the top and bottom of the flag. It has been run by Berlin since 1911 with minor stylistic changes and for the first time blew over the Red City Hall in 1913. Previously, Berlin had a flag in the colors black-red-white, which was exchanged for the bear flag because of constant confusion with the later flag of the German Empire. The land symbol is the bear sign without a leaf crown in three color versions. It is provided by the Senate Administration for Home Affairs and Sport to enable private individuals, companies and non-governmental organizations to document the connection with Berlin with a symbol. The Berlin districts have their own coat of arms. As a connecting element of all Berlin districts with the city of Berlin, but also with one another, a three-door wall crown is built on the signs, the center tower of which is covered by the Berlin shield (silver).

town twinning

The Land of Berlin has the following town twinning arrangements:

The individual Berlin districts maintain further partnerships, often with a single part of other major cities.

police and fire brigade

"The Police President in Berlin" is the official name of the police of the Land Berlin. The National Police is divided into six local and a local directorate, as well as the National Criminal Office.

The authority The President of the Police in Berlin employs some 23,000 people, of whom about 16,000 are in the police service and about 3,000 in the administration. The total expenditure on internal security and police in Berlin amounts to approximately EUR 1.1 billion per year.

The Federal Ministry of the Interior is under the authority of the Federal Police Directorate Berlin, which is based in Oberschöneweide. The staff is responsible for the states of Berlin and Brandenburg and employs some 3,700 people (stand: 2017).

The Berlin fire brigade was founded in 1851 and is the first professional fire brigade in Germany. With around 4,050 employees (status: 2016) and 34 professional fire stations, it is also the largest urban fire brigade in Germany. It is supported by 58 volunteer fire brigades with around 1,400 active volunteers and, if necessary, by the Technical Assistance Agency (THW).

justice

Berlin has numerous courts and active and former prison institutions. The memorial Berlin-Hohenschönhausen is located on the site of the former central investigative detention center of the Ministry of State Security of the GDR. in the Berlin district of Lichtenberg.

WISTA Technology and Business Center in Adlershof

Economic performance is increasing in Berlin with high momentum. Between 2009 and 2019, GDP grew by an average of 4.5% per year, compared to 3.5% in Germany. In 2019, the Land of Berlin’s nominal GDP was €153.29 billion. Berlin is the largest urban economy in Germany and the fourth largest in the European Union in terms of nominal GDP. In 2019, GDP per capita in the Land of Berlin was €41,967.

In 2019, the number of people employed in Berlin was around 2,064 million. This was 2.4% more than in the previous year.

Berlin is an international service center and is considered a world city with a high quality of life.

Berlin’s most important economic sectors are creative and cultural industries, tourism, biotechnology, medical technology, pharmaceutical industry, media/information and communication technology, construction, retail, transport systems technology, optics and energy technology. The services sector accounts for about 80% of Berlin's total economic output.

History of the wealth ratio for incomes in Berlin compared to the whole of Germany and the new states.

The main factors of location in the Berlin-Brandenburg region include the prestigious university and research landscape, the cultural attractiveness of the metropolis, a large number of academically trained workers, the proximity to the Federal Republic of Germany’s government headquarters, access to venture capital providers, and highly differentiated local transport infrastructure and medical care. In various international studies and rankings, the quality of life in Berlin is also considered to be very above average.

One of the biggest problems in the Berlin economy is the low birth rate in international comparison and the high level of childlessness in large parts of the population. In the medium and long term this could lead to an increasing shortage of skilled workers and a loss of innovation capacity. In the Future Atlas 2019, the City of Berlin occupied 93 of 402 districts, municipal associations and district-free cities in Germany. Berlin's greatest strength, according to the report, is the city's high dynamism, while its comparatively low level of value added is the greatest weakness.

company

Train tower at Potsdamer Platz (3rd floor). tower v. (l), seat of Deutsche Bahn AG

Of the 30 German companies listed in the DAX, Delivery Hero SE, Deutsche Wohnen SE and Siemens AG (divided with Munich) have a nominal headquarter in Berlin. Berlin is now the second most Dax company in Germany after Munich. Deutsche Bahn AG, headquartered in Berlin in 2020, ranks 232 among the world’s most profitable companies (Fortune Global 500). Of the 50 MDAX companies, HelloFresh SE, Rocket Internet SE and Zalando SE are based in Berlin in 2020. In the same year, two other Berlin companies were listed on the SDAX. Furthermore, the real estate companies Aroundtown (MDAX) and ADO Properties (SDAX) each have their operational headquarters in Berlin despite their legal headquarters in Luxembourg.

After the year 2000, Berlin recorded a very above-average founding event in German and European comparison. New companies have been set up in a variety of industries. Both German and international young entrepreneurs realized their business models in Berlin. In 2015, 41,400 companies were created. There were 29 new businesses in Berlin (German average: four). Due to the dynamism of new companies, Berlin is ranked among the ten outstanding founding sites worldwide.

In 2016, the 15 largest companies represented in Berlin by employee:

tourism

Bikini house in Charlottenburg, in the background the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church and the zoo window

Berlin is one of the most visited centers of national and international city tourism. In 2016, around 31 million overnight stays were counted in Berlin's tourist accommodation facilities, with more than 12.7 million guests. This represents an increase of about 250% compared to 2001 (11.3 million overnight stays of 4.9 million guests). The city is therefore a preferred destination in Europe after London and Paris.

In 2015, Berlin's tourist accommodation landscape consisted of 814 accommodation units with a total bed capacity of around 136,000 and an average occupancy rate of 60.5%. The average stay of the hotel is 2.4 days. International guests account for about 40% of the number of visitors. Visitors from the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the United States are among the top performers. The main attractions are architecture, historical sites, museums, festivals, shopping, nightlife and major events that attract hundreds of thousands of visitors every year.

The positive development has made the tourism sector in Berlin an important pillar of the regional economy. In addition to the hotel industry and gastronomy, the retail sector also benefits to a large extent from Berlin tourists.

fair and congress economy

Main entrance of Berlin exhibition grounds and radio tower in Westend

Berlin is one of the world’s most visited and most profitable venues for trade fairs and congresses. In 2011, some 115,700 events were organized with around 9.7 million participants. According to ICCA statistics, Berlin ranks first in all congress cities, measured by the number of congresses with international participation in 2015.

The exhibition grounds in the district of Westend of the district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf around the Funkturm were opened in 1921 with an automobile exhibition, then in a single exhibition hall, and have an exhibition space of 160,000 square meters and an open space of approximately 100,000 square meters. The operator is the 99%-owned event organizer Messe Berlin.

A variety of internationally relevant leading trade fairs are established at the Berlin ExpoCenter City and Berlin ExpoCenter Airport in Brandenburg. These include: a. the IFA Consumer Electronics Fair, the ITB Tourist Exchange, the ILA Berlin Air Show, the InnoTrans railway trade fair, the Green Week agricultural show, the Fruit Logistica food fair and the Venus Berlin trade fair for erotic & adult entertainment. The European Film Market will take place during the Berlinale in the Martin-Gropius-Bau.

The congress economy, which includes international, national as well as local meetings, information events and business meetings of all kinds, is another branch of the Berlin economy. A large number of hotels are set up for meetings and earn an important part of their annual turnover. The ICC, closed in 2014, was the largest conference center in Europe.

health

Headquarters of Bayer AG's Pharmaceuticals Division in Wedding

With a gross value added of 10.7 billion euros in 2009 or a value added share of more than 13% of the total urban economy, the health economy is considered one of Berlin's growth engines. It covers health and social services, the pharmaceutical industry, specialized, retail and wholesale trade and medical technology. The health and social services sector is by far the largest contributor (66%) to gross value added.

A total of 226,000 people, or 14% of Berlin's workforce, are employed in the health sector. Of these, 79% are active in the health and social sectors, and just under 6% in manufacturing and trade.

The Berlin/Brandenburg metropolitan area is one of the leading locations in biotechnology in Europe. In Berlin-Brandenburg, some 200 small and medium-sized biotechnology companies and more than 20 pharmaceutical companies employ some 3700 people and are active in production, research and development.

creative economy

Headquarters of Universal Music GmbH in Friedrichshain

Berlin is one of the leading locations in the information and creative industries in Europe. The business sector comprises the book and press markets, software development, telecommunications services, advertising markets, market research, the cinema and broadcasting industries, the art market, the music industry, the architects, the design industry and the performing arts market.

The creative and cultural economy is an important location and economic factor in Berlin and is growing continuously. In 2017, more than 41,000 mostly small and medium-sized enterprises with about 202,000 employees generated a turnover of EUR 25.7 billion, representing more than 15% of the total turnover of the Berlin economy. The largest promoters were the software/games/information and communication technology industry, the book and press market and the film and radio industry.

The textile and fashion industries also have an important location in Berlin. In total there are over 2,500 companies in Berlin with more than 22,000 employees in the fashion industry (status: 2017). Their leading event is the annual Berlin Fashion Week in January and July, together with a variety of fashion fairs such as the Premium, the Panorama or the Zalando Messe Bread & Butter.

In Europe, Berlin is one of the leading centers of the Internet economy. In terms of investment in start-ups, Berlin is even the leading European player: In 2015, young Berlin companies received more than €2.1 billion in investment. The city ranked first in Europe's cities ahead of London, Stockholm, and Paris.

media

Headquarters of Axel Springer SE in Kreuzberg

A large number of television channels, radio stations, publishers, film companies, music labels, print media, advertising agencies, computer game producers, press services, social networks and Internet media are based in Berlin.

More than 20 news agencies from all over the world are represented in the city with offices, a. dpa, Thomson Reuters, AFP and ANSA. The public service broadcaster rbb and the private broadcasters TV Berlin and Welt are based in Berlin. Most German transregional channels such as Das Erste, ZDF or RTL operate studios and editorial buildings. Television producers such as MTV and Deutsche Welle have outlets in the city. More than 30 radio stations with local and national coverage are distributing their program from Berlin.

With 151 publishers in 2016, Berlin is one of the most important publishing locations in Europe. Axel Springer SE is one of Europe’s largest media groups. Walter de Gruyter, the educational and scientific publishers, Cornelsen Verlag and the international Springer Nature Group are based in the city. Among the major publishing houses are: a. the Berlin publishing house, the building publishing house and the Suhrkamp publishing house.

No other German-speaking city has more newspapers and their internet portals. The most widely-produced transregional newspapers include the picture and the world. The taz is also mentioned here, probably the largest newspaper of the cooperative. One of the few media brands published in English is the Handelsblatt Global. Local newspapers published daily and their internet pages are the Berliner Zeitung, the Berliner Morgenpost and Der Tagesspiegel. There are also local boulevard newspapers B.Z. and the Berlin courier and city magazines such as the tip, the Zitty and the English-speaking Exberliner. Among the magazines produced in Berlin are: a. the Focus, Cicero and Capital.

Due to the high concentration of media and entertainment producers in the city, Berlin was one of the top ten media outlets in the world in 2014.

industry

Motorcycle from the BMW plant in Berlin

The industrial sector, which comprises 333 companies with around 79,300 employees, generated a turnover of 23.5 billion euros in 2017. The manufacturing industry with the highest turnover is chemicals (8.2 billion), food industry (2.3 billion), machinery and plant construction (2.1 billion) and electrical engineering (4.5 billion).

The company Siemens, founded in Berlin in 1847, operates an important site in Siemensstadt and produces gas turbines for the international market in the Mitte district. The Mercedes-Benz Berlin plant, founded in 1902 by Daimler AG today, is one of the largest industrial employers in Berlin, with about 2500 employees. The Marienfelde plant produces a wide variety of vehicles.

Opened in 1969, the BMW-Werk Berlin in Spandau employs about 2000 people. The plant produces around 700 motorcycles daily for the world market.

Stadler Rail, a Swiss manufacturer of rail vehicles, operates a plant in Pankow with about 1200 employees. In Tempelhof, bakery manufacturers Bahlsen and Procter & Gamble produce goods for the German and European markets. In Reinickendorf, one of Europe's largest pizza factories is operated by the Berlin food manufacturer Freiberger Food.

trade and finance

Hackesche Höfe

Berlin is one of the strongest sales locations of stationary retailers in Europe. From international retail chains that operate prestigious stores in Berlin to a large number of shopping centers, to individual shopping concepts in lively pines, all forms of retail are represented in the city. In 2014, there were 65 shopping malls in Berlin. KaDeWe is one of the most famous retail outlets.

Founded in 1695, the Berlin Stock Exchange is a regional exchange and is based in the Ludwig-Erhard-Haus. In 2017, the stock exchange’s annual turnover was approximately EUR 56 billion. 48 credit institutions and 25 financial service providers participated in the trading. Berlin is also Germany's most profitable location for real estate trading. In 2015, Berlin traded land and real estate worth €8 billion.

After the year 2000, Berlin has become an important location for electronic commerce companies. Among the most successful traders are: a. Zalando, Auto1 and car parts24.

Among the main banks based in Berlin are: a. Deutsche Kreditbank (DKB), a wholly owned subsidiary of Bayerische Landesbank and Berliner Sparkasse, a public-law credit institution. The Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe, which comprises more than 600 decentralized companies in Germany in the field of financial services, is also based in the city. The Investment Bank Berlin (IBB) is the central promotional institution of the Land of Berlin. The largest private banks include Berlin Hyp, Weberbank, Quirin Privatbank and N26.

Since about 2015 Berlin has been the city with the largest number of private venture capital companies in Germany. Around a quarter of all investment companies in the country are based there.

climate balance

According to the National Statistics Office, Berlin emits a total of about 20 million tons of CO₂ per year (as of 2016). Compared to the other city states of Hamburg (8.2 CO₂ t/head) and Bremen (19.9 CO₂ t/head), Berlin emits relatively little carbon dioxide at 4.5 tons per capita per year.

Berlin aims to become a climate-neutral city by 2050. In this context, Berlin adopted a 2030 Energy and Climate Change Program (BEK 2030) in 2017 and is developing a SolarCity Master Plan.

In March 2019, a study by the University of Technology and Economics Berlin carried out an evaluation and detailed analysis of the distribution of solar roof potential in the Berlin building stock as part of the project "PV2City". According to the Berlin Energy and Climate Change Program 2030 (BEK 2030), "a quarter of Berlin’s electricity supply should be covered by solar energy as soon as possible".

The Berlin local transport bus fleet is to be electrified by 2030.

public transport

Berlin is an important hub for international long-distance traffic, especially for trains between Western and Eastern Europe. In 2006, the main railway station became the central railway station and, in connection with it, the North-South trunk railway tunnel, the public railway stations of Healthbrunnen and Südkreuz, as well as the regional railway stations of Potsdamer Platz (underground), Jungfernheide and Lichterfelde East. In this way, regional and long-distance rail traffic received an underground regional and long-distance rail link in the north-south direction in addition to the East-West train, in accordance with the so-called Mushroom concept. The change between the North-South railway tunnel and the city railway takes place at the main railway station. Since then, trains that reach Berlin from a southern direction generally travel via the new north-south route from Lichterfelde East via Südkreuz, Potsdamer Platz, Hauptbahnhof via the transfer to health fountain or westbound via Jungfernheide to Spandau.

Moabit Central Station

There are 16 S-Bahn (city rail) lines (operated by the S-Bahn Berlin GmbH) and nine metro lines, 22 tram lines, 150 bus lines and six ferry lines (all operated by BVG) in the city center. The city center is crossed in east-west direction by the city railway, which is run parallel to the S-Bahn and regional and long-distance traffic. It connects the Ostbahnhof with the Charlottenburg train station, passing the Zoologischer Garten railway station, Hauptbahnhof railway station, Friedrichstraße and Alexanderplatz. In the north-south direction, the subway lines U9 and U6 take over most of the passenger traffic, supplemented by the underground north-south path of the S-Bahn. This S-Bahn railway station crosses the city railway at Friedrichstraße station. The train service will be completed by the ring-road that surrounds the city center. All other lines touch these paths. The accessibility of railway stations is largely guaranteed.

underground train of line U1 on the Oberbaumbrücke bridge between Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg

The city bus network is divided into express buses (point X), MetroBuses (point M) and buses (with three-digit number). In the same way, a part of the tram lines (double-digit number) is particularly highlighted by preceding an M as metroTram. Night buses have as their name an N before the line number, metro lines (both buses and trams) also run at night. In the nights prior to Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, almost all S-Bahn and U-Bahn lines run continuously, with the S-Bahn partly with changed route. The central bus station at the Funkturm (ZOB) is used for long-distance bus transport to German and European destinations. Located opposite the exhibition center, it is directly accessible via the Berlin City Ring (A 100) and is connected to public transport by bus, underground and S-Bahn lines.

In 2008, about 3100 companies were active in the taxi industry in Berlin, more than three quarters of them with only one vehicle. Berlin had about 7600 taxis in January 2012, making it the city with the most taxis in Germany. In Berlin, there is no license or license restriction for the licenses.

S-Bahn and U-Bahn lines in Berlin, centrally located the Ringbahn

F74 subway train from Berlin

Deutsche Bahn S-Bahn 481/482 train

road

map of the Berlin road network

In 2012, 324 cars were registered per 1000 inhabitants, compared to 319 in 2008. Berlin has the lowest density of cars compared to other German cities.

The city center is surrounded from the west by a semi - circle of motorways (A 100 - Berlin ring), which is to be completed in the long term into a ring and is a pure city motorway. The so-called BA 16 section of the A 100 is under construction (stand: 2018). The A100 near the Funkturm triangle is the busiest section of the motorway in Germany. The A10 motorway (E55 - Berliner Ring) runs round Berlin.

From the A100, several motorway sections lead within the city area towards the Berlin Ring. The A111 (E26) leads northwest towards Hamburg and Rostock. The A113 towards the southeast (after Dresden and Cottbus) starts at the triangle of Neukölln and leads to the Schönefelder Kreuz (A10) and links the Berlin Brandenburg Airport which is under construction to the motorway network. The A 115 (E 51) extends southwest (direction Hannover and Leipzig). Their northern straight section is known as AVUS.

In the north of the city there is the A 114 from the Prenzlauer Promenade in the Pankow district to the A 10 in the direction of Szczecin. The A 104, a few kilometers long, which links the Berlin ring (A 100) southwest of the city with the district of Steglitz, has been downgraded to the autostraße. The A103 (Westtangente), on which the federal highway 1 runs, connects the ring of the city of Berlin - from a further east to the southwest - to the roundabout of Steglitzer in the direction of Potsdam.

The historical center of Berlin is surrounded by the inner city ring. In addition, the federal roads B 1, B 2, B 5, B 96, B 96a, B 101, B 109 and B 158 pass through Berlin.

Berlin streets are numbered according to two different house numbering systems. Until 1929, the circular horseshoe numbering was used, since then the orientation numbering in the zigzag. Since, not least because of the political upheavals, many Berlin streets have been renamed and since 1929 these changes have often been used to introduce the orientation numbering on the road in question, the orientation numbering is also present in many older roads.

bridge

Glienicker Bridge linking Wannsee (right) to Potsdam (left)

Berlin, with its exposed location on rivers and canals and its unusually large territory, has numerous bridges and crossings in its urban area. Officially there are 916 bridges in Berlin. 732 of these are public roads, the remaining 184 are green roads. Depending on the definition and understanding, other buildings in Berlin are counted among the bridges. There are 564 bridges over all kinds of waters and 300 high-altitude viaducts of the subway. The highest number comes from a publication by the Senate, which in 1993 reported the number with 2100 (including viaducts).

The oldest Berlin trackings are the Jungferner, Mühlendamm, Rathaus and Rossstrasse Bridge, with contemporary structures being more recent. The longest bridge in the city, at over 930 meters, is the Rudolf Wissell Bridge, while the Oberbaumbrücke, the landmark of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district, and the Glienicker Bridge, which hosted the exchange of agents between the United States and the Soviet Union worldwide in 1962-1986 the best known bridges in Berlin.

bicycle traffic

In Berlin, there are cycle paths and bicycle lanes on busy roads, and some quieter roads have been marked as bicycle roads. About 1.5 million paths are traveled every day by bicycle as the main means of transport. This is why Berlin is one of the millions of metropolises in Europe with an above-average number of bicycle users.

The share of cycling in the total traffic in Berlin has more than doubled since 1992. In 1992, around 7% of all roads were cycled, compared to around 15% in 2009. The average distance of a cycle distance is 3.7 kilometers. The bike lanes were extended from a total of 50 kilometers in 2004 to 191 kilometers in 2014. In June 2016, the initiative Referendum Bike handed 105,425 signatures for a petition for a referendum. In June 2018, the Berlin Mobility Act was adopted, which took over the main objectives of the initiative in favor of cycling.

The cross-regional tourist bike trails lead through Berlin, such as the Berlin-Copenhagen cycle path, the Berlin-Usedom cycle path, the Berlin-Leipzig cycle path, the R1 europeanadweg, the D-Net route D11 and the D-Net route D3 (Europaroute). Along the former course of the Berlin Wall, the Berlin Wall Way runs. Several thousand bicycles can be rented in the inner city area by telephone call or (mobile) internet. In some areas of the city, bicycle taxis are available for tourists.

air

Location of Berlin airports

Tegel airport (IATA airport code: TXL) is the only operating airport in Berlin. In 2016, some 21.3 million passengers were checked in.

The Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), located just outside the city border, belongs to the municipality of Schönefeld. The former autonomous airport Schönefeld site was the second international airport in the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan area and in 2016 produced approximately 11.7 million passengers. The airport area of Schönefeld, which was extended further south, has been the site of the Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) since 2006, which was opened on 31 October 2020 following numerous delays.

Tegel airport is due to close on 8 November 2020.

inland waterway

Main port in Moabit (North basin with BEHALA administration building)

Inland waterways in Berlin

Berlin is located in the center of the Federal Waterway Area East. The city is developed on a number of waterways, and there are three waterways to and from Berlin. The most important route is via the Havel, Elbe-Havel canal and Mittelland Canal to the Elbe and North Sea respectively Weser and Rhine. In addition, the Havel-Oder-Wasserstraße links Berlin with the Lower Oder and the Baltic Sea. The Spree-Oder-Waterway is also a limited extension and less frequented as a connection via the River Spree to the Upper Oder and Silesia.

Three public port facilities can be used to handle goods: the port of Neukölln, the southern port of Spandau and the Westhafen. The latter is located in Moabit, on the northern edge of Berlin's city center, and is the largest and most important of all three ports. The facilities at the west port and the southern port of Spandau also allow goods to be handled between inland waterway vessels, railways and trucks. The ports are operated by BEHALA. The eastern port is now used as a media site and has lost its port function.

water supply

The water supply in Berlin is provided by the nine water plants Beelitzhof, Friedrichshagen, Kaulsdorf, Kladow, Spandau, Stolpe, Tegel, Dewerder and Wuhlheide operated by the Berlin Water Works (AöR). After reunification, the city's water consumption has decreased significantly, especially in the eastern part of the city. Due to the lower take-off of groundwater, the groundwater level rose significantly in large parts of the Urstromtal valley. This caused damage to buildings, especially near the waterworks. An average of 585,000 m³ of drinking water is provided per day and about 602,000 m³ of waste water is discharged. The 9500 km-long sewage system provides access to six large sewage works.

energy

Wilmersdorf power station

The Municipal Electricitäts-Werke for Berlin’s electricity supply was founded in 1884. After a ten-year period of municipal management by the city at the beginning of World War I, the newly established private law company Bewag took over the lease of the electricity network in 1924. In the 1920s, the Berlin power grid experienced its biggest expansion phase: Between 1922 and 1933, the proportion of dwellings connected increased from 11% to 76%. Until 1997, when Berlin sold its shares, it held the majority of the shares in Bewag. In 2003, it was completely purchased by the Vattenfall Group. With the foundation of the Berlin Stadtwerke in 2014, Berlin once again has its own municipal energy company, which, with the construction of its own solar and wind power plants, is intended to support the objective of climate neutrality in Berlin until 2050. In March 2019 it was announced that the Finance Ministry had completed the procedure for awarding the power grid concession which has been running for years and that it had decided to award the municipal candidate Landesbetriebe Berlin Energie (in short, Berlin Energie). The current operator, Vattenfall, wants to have the decision examined.

During the German division, the energy supply of West Berlin was cut off from the surrounding electricity network. The electricity supply had to come from thermal power stations located in the urban area, such as the Reuter-West power station, the Wilmersdorf power station and others. In order to buffer the peak loads, accumulators were installed in some of these power plants from the 1980s onwards, connected to the power grid via inverters, and charged during off-peak periods and unloaded during start-up periods. In 1993, the connection with the surrounding area was rebuilt. In the western districts of Berlin, with a few exceptions, all power lines are powered by earth cables. The earth cable section of the 380 kV cable diagonal between the Reuter and Marzahn substations is the longest 380 kV earth cable in Germany.

book   Charlottenb   Klingenberg   köpenick   light field   tap   center   moabit   Neukölln   Pankow   Reuter   Reuter West   Rudow   Wilmersd.   field

Power plants in Berlin and its surroundings

In 2014, the electricity concession of the current network operator, Strometz Berlin GmbH (a subsidiary of Vattenfall), expired after 20 years. The Land of Berlin is currently conducting a licensing procedure for the electricity and gas sectors. In the electricity sector, eight interested parties came forward, of which three were left in the second procedural letter: in addition to the incumbent operator, a country-owned company to recommunalize the electricity network and a cooperative to operate the electricity network in the hands of the citizens. A referendum on the recommunalization of Berlin's energy supply failed in 2013.

Electricity generation in Berlin is based mainly on the use of coal and natural gas. The contribution of coal use to net electricity generation was 45% in 2009, well above the national average of 18%. The use of natural gas is also above average: The figure was 42%, which is also above the German average of 13%. In the German Länder, natural gas thus accounts for a more important share of electricity generation only in Rhineland-Palatinate - 69% in the same year. Lignite contributed 9% to production and was well below the national average of 24%. The contribution of renewable energies is also below average: The share was 3%, compared to the German average of 17%.

Final energy consumption remained relatively stable over time and in 2010 amounted to approximately 267.8 petajoules. Although consumption was 7.4% higher than in 1990, it rose only slightly, by 2.4%, compared to 1990. The final energy consumption per inhabitant in the country was thus 77.4 gigajoules in 2010. The increase in this share, at 1.3%, is less than the increase in total final energy consumption in the country compared to 1990. Relative to sectors shows that the range "weight. v. Stones and Earthen, otherwise. mining and manufacturing" has the lowest share of final energy consumption (6.3%). The transport sector needs almost four times as much energy, at 24.6%. However, the largest share is in the household, commercial, trade and services and other consumers sector, which accounts for 69.1%.

universities

Berlin has a history of more than 200 years of science. 40 Nobel laureates taught and worked at the institutes and universities of the city. A large number of international scientific and research institutions are also currently active in Berlin. As a university town, Berlin is one of the world's most prestigious educational centers.

In the winter semester 2016/17, around 180,000 students were enrolled in a total of 42 universities and colleges, including four art colleges. This is the largest number of students in Germany. In the global environment, Berlin is one of the world cities with very favorable study conditions.

The four universities in Berlin together represent around 110,000 students. The Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, founded by Wilhelm von Humboldt during the Prussian reforms and opened in 1809 (formerly: Berlin University) currently has some 34,200 students. The Freie Universität Berlin has about 36,000 students, the Technische Universität Berlin about 34,000 and the Universität der Künste Berlin about 4,500 students. The Beuth Hochschule für Technik has over 12,000 students, the Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin has over 13,000 enrollments and around 7,200 students study at the Charité.

• Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in Mitte

• European School of Management and Technology

• Charité

• The Free University in Dahlem

• EIT Building TU Berlin

In 2003, the medical faculties of the Free University and the Humboldt University were brought together to become Charité - University Medicine in Berlin. Since then, with its four sites, it has been the largest medical school in Europe.

Within the framework of the Initiative for Excellence, the Freie Universität Berlin and the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin were positively assessed in the third funding line. The future concept "International Network University" of the Free University, which was awarded in 2007, was confirmed in the 2012 evaluation. The Humboldt University was successful in 2012 with its concept "Education through Science". This makes both universities one of the eleven elite German universities.

With the announcement of the results of the strategy of excellence on July 19, 2019, the Free University, the Humboldt University, the University of Technology and the Charité University Medicine as institutions of the Berlin University Alliance are jointly among the eleven German universities of excellence.

The European School of Management and Technology (ESMT) has a doctoral right and is one of the leading business schools in Germany and Europe. The Steinbeis University of Berlin, the ESCP Europe Campus Berlin and the International Psychoanalytic University Berlin (IPU) also have a doctoral status. Other private teaching establishments include: a. the Media Design University, the SRH Fernhochschule - The Mobile University, the Games Academy and the SAE Institute.

research

Supercomputer at the Konrad Zuse Institute

Since 2012, Berlin has been the most research-intensive region in Germany. Every year in Berlin about 1.8 billion euros of public funding are invested in science and research.

More than 60,000 employees teach, carry out research and work at more than 70 non-university publicly funded research institutions. The large national research organizations Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Helmholtz-gemeinschaft, Leibniz-gemeinschaft and Max Planck-Gesellschaft are also represented with several institutes, as are various ministries with a total of eight research institutes. Most of the scientific institutions are located in the locations of Buch, Charlottenburg, Dahlem, Mitte and the scientific and business location of Adlershof. The Land of Berlin is "a member of the Max Planck Society".

The International Mathematical Union, a worldwide association of mathematics, is based in Berlin, Germany. Every four years it is awarded the globally renowned Fields medal.

Childcare and school system

From the age of one, every child in Berlin is entitled to a daily half-day allowance of up to seven hours in a nursery or nursery. Crib courts are free of charge since August 2018. In 2016, around 46% of people under three in the city and around 95% of 3-6 year olds were looked after in Kitas.

Freiherr-von-Stein-Gymnasium in Spandau

Berlin has a six-year elementary school and since 2010 a subsequent two-tier high school system with integrated secondary schools and high schools. In the 2015-16 school year, there were almost 340,000 pupils in 799 general education schools in Berlin, including 138 private schools. The country has 433 primary and 165 integrated secondary schools, 113 secondary schools, 10 Waldorf schools and 77 special schools.

In January 2004, the Chamber of Deputies adopted a new school law with the following key reforms. reduction of school-to-university (general university) education from thirteen to twelve years, 10th grade secondary education and a written examination to obtain secondary school diploma. This exam is also taken at the high schools. The Central Baccalaureate was introduced in the fields of German, mathematics and foreign languages. At thirteen high schools with a "fast-track program", it is possible to drop out of school one year earlier, that is, since the new school law came into force after eleven years.

A total of 38,633 apprentices were in vocational training in 2016, including 9,355 in the craft sector. In the year 2572, the most occupied training occupations in Berlin were office management clerks and businessmen, followed by retail clerks and businessmen (2251). 18,273 Azubis earned a degree.

libraries

State Library at the Kulturforum in Tiergarten

The Berlin State Library, with over ten million printed texts, is the largest universal scientific library in the German language area. Other major scientific libraries include the University Library of the Free University, the University Library of the Humboldt University and the Central Library of the University of Technology and the UdK. The U.S. Memorial Library is part of the Central and State Library in Berlin.

The Berlin Art Library of the State Museums zu Berlin with its collection (about 400,000 volumes on the European art history from the late antiquity to the present, around 1400 international magazines) is one of the most important specialized art libraries in Germany.

There is at least one district library in every district in Berlin, and other branches are located in the parts of Berlin. The library program (2007-2015) in the district (BIST) also ensured the decentralized supply of books, magazines and media to the population.

dance review in the Friedrichstadt Palace

Berlin is an outstanding artistic and cultural center and stands in the reputation of a European world city. As a production site for various branches of the creative industry, the city is considered an international attraction for cultural professionals.

Renowned institutions of high culture, daily events of popular arts and a constantly changing scene life characterize the cultural landscape of Berlin.

One of the city's major institutions is the city. a. the German Film Academy, which annually awards the German Film Awards in Berlin. The European Film Academy, founded in 1988, is also based in Berlin.

music

Berlin Philharmonic in Tiergarten

See also: List of songs about Berlin

Berlin has three opera houses: The State Opera Unter den Linden, the German Opera and the Comic Opera. There are also several orchestras in Berlin: The internationally renowned Berlin Philharmonic, the State Chapel Berlin, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Rundfunk-Symphony Orchestra Berlin, the Rundfunkchor Berlin, the Schöneberger Sängerknaben and the RIAS Kammerchor. These ensembles perform at the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Berlin Philharmonic and other venues in Germany or on tours around the world.

The Chorverband Berlin has 236 layman choirs with over 10,000 members. The Sing Academy of Berlin has been the birthplace of civic music care in Berlin since 1791.

As composers, Paul Lincke and Walter Kollo should be mentioned here.

The music scene in Berlin is very diverse. Among the most successful artists and bands that have worked or performed in Berlin are: a. Herbert von Karajan, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Simon Rattle, Kirill Petrenko, Kurt Sanderling, Nina Hagen, Thomas Quasthoff, Tangerine Dream, Max Raabe, Paul van Dyk, Harald Juhnke, Ton Steine Scherben, Einstürzende Neubauten, Reinhard Mey, Roland Kaiser, The Doctors, Rammstein, Helga Hahnemann Ann, Frank Zander, Seeed, Sido and the Comedian Harmonists.

With the Berlin Waldbühne and the Kindl-Stage Wuhlheide, two outdoor stages are regularly used for musical events.

festivals

Berlin annual film festival in February

Several thousand events with a wide variety of cultural styles take place every month in Berlin. The International Film Festival will be held in February. The Berlinale Festival of the A-category is considered to be the largest public festival in the world and one of the most important international film festivals. The contest closes with the award of the Golden and Silver Bears.

Carnival of Cultures in Kreuzberg

Throughout the year, Berlin is the venue for other international festivals, some of which take place under the organizational umbrella of the Berlin Festival. At the Berlin Theatertreffen, the most remarkable German-language theater productions are presented in a season. Other festivals include the literary festival, dance days in Berlin, dance in August, Young Euro Classic and the Berlin Biennale.

Exchanges, parades and open-air concerts are also well-established events in the city’s calendar of events. The Carnival of Cultures, Christopher Street Day Berlin, the Carnival procession in Berlin and the Myfest in Berlin are among the most famous.

The Jazzfest Berlin has been held since 1964. With pop culture there is a series of events for various musical styles. Since 2015 the Lollapalooza Festival has been held in Berlin.

The Festival of Lights Berlin is one of the most famous light art festivals in the world.

No other European metropolis has a similar number of Christmas markets. More than 80 Christmas markets take place every year in Berlin. The New Year's Eve celebration at the Brandenburg Gate is one of the most visited events on the continent.

theater

Show at Lehniner Platz in Wilmersdorf

Numerous theater stages characterize the cultural landscape of the metropolis. The most famous are the Berlin ensemble, the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz, the German theater, the Maxim Gorki theater, the Renaissance theater, as well as the youth theater Grips-Theater and Theater an der Parkaue.

The Theater des Westens and the Theater am Potsdamer Platz offer musicals in the first place. Major revisions will be shown in the Friedrichstadt Palace. The winter garden, where the International Burlesque Festival takes place every year, and the Chameleon are famous for its variety.

Stages such as the Wühlmäuse, the Distel or the Quatsch Comedy Club are known for cabaret and satirical entertainment. The radial system V has made a name for itself with dance and performance pieces.

museums

Museum of the Bode at the Museum Island in the middle

Hamburg railway station - Museum of the present

Berlin has many museums. In 1841, a royal order, the museum island in the northern part of the island of Spree and copper digging, designated a district dedicated to art and ancient science. The Alte Museum at the Lustgarten was built there before. Several museums, such as the New Museum, the Old National Gallery, the Bode Museum today, and the Pergamon Museum, followed. These museums are famous mainly for their antique exhibits. In 1999, the Museumisland was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Outside the Museumsinsel, there are museums with different themes: With over 30 million objects and the highest dinosaur skeleton in the world, the Museum of Natural History is one of the most important natural art museums in the world. Exhibitions and experiments on the topic of technology are exhibited at the German Technology Museum Berlin on 25,000 m². The painting gallery and the New National Gallery are art museums in the Kulturforum, the Bauhaus Archive is an architectural museum. The German Historical Museum at the Zeughaus Unter den Linden illustrates German history from 2000 years. The Jewish Museum presents an equally long period of Jewish-German history in a permanent exhibition.

The hunting castle Grunewald houses a collection of paintings from the 15th to the 19th centuries. century. In Lichtenberg, the research and memorial site of Norman Road and the memorial memorial of Berlin-Hohenschönhausen are located on the premises of the former Ministry of State Security of the GDR. The Wall Museum at Checkpoint Charlie shows stories and events about the Berlin Wall. Near Potsdamer Platz is the "monument to the murdered Jews of Europe".

In Berlin, the foundation of Prussian Cultural Property, jointly sponsored by the Federal Government and all the Länder, has its headquarters. The foundation Prussian castles and gardens Berlin-Brandenburg also have important locations here. Both manage, preserve, maintain and supplement the cultural assets of the former State of Prussia in their internationally important institutions.

The Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin unites other traditional museums in Berlin. Founded in 1995, the Foundation is the largest city-historical museum in Germany. As a regional museum for the culture and history of Berlin, it was built in its core from the association of the Märkisches Museum (founded in 1874) and the Berlin Museum (founded in 1962). The wide range of the various, some already in the 19th century. In the 19th century, collections founded in the 19th century document in great variety all aspects of the development of Berlin from the first traces of human settlement in the Stone Age to the present.

structures

Brandenburg Gate at Pariser Platz

Built between 1788 and 1791, the Brandenburg Gate is Berlin's landmark and symbol of the faded division. It is modeled on the proyllas at the Acropolis in Athens and crowned by a quadriga with the victory goddess Victoria. Until the reunification of Germany on On October 1990, the border between the two halves of the city was drawn west of the gate. The gate is the western end of Unter den Linden boulevard, which stretches as far as the castle bridge that crosses the river Spree. Beyond the bridge, the Spresel Island is home to the Lustgarten, Museumsinsel and the Cathedral of Berlin. Monbijou Castle, the remains of which were completely cleared after the Second World War, was located opposite the museums. The Humboldt Forum is currently under construction south of the Cathedral, which is to be built in the largely reconstructed facades of the Berlin Castle, which was also destroyed at the time.

French Cathedral at Gendarmenmarkt during the Festival of Lights

This area is home to the State Opera Unter den Linden, the Crown Prince’s Palace and the Princess’s Palace, which was built between 1774 and 1780 in the style of palladianism, and the Old Library, often called "Kommode", built between 1774 and 1780, and the 1706 by Andreas Schlüter Five magnificent buildings from the 18th century were built in Baroque Zeughaus directly on Unter den Linden boulevard. The Palais des Princes Heinrich and the Classicist New Guard were also created at the time and are now serving the Humboldt University. To the south of the opera is the St. Hedwigs Cathedral, the main church of the Catholic Archbishop of Berlin, built between 1747 and 1773. The French cathedral on the Gendarmenmarkt was built in the 17th century. The center of the French quarter. The Gendarmenmarkt also houses Karl Friedrich Schinkel's theater, now used as a concert house, and the German Cathedral, which is the equivalent of the French Cathedral, also by Carl von Gontard.

World clock at Alexanderplatz, in front of the TV tower

To the east of the two Spree Islands, which flow around the Spresel Island, lies Alexanderplatz with many shops and restaurants, close to the 368-meter-high TV tower - the highest building in Germany - the Gothic Church of the Marienkirche and the Red City Hall.

On the occasion of Berlin's 750-year celebration in 1987, the destroyed Nikolaiviertel was rebuilt in a cliché to its historical form. The Nikolaikirche in the center is the oldest church in Berlin. The baroque Parochial Church is not far from the Gray Monastery.

The Oranienburger Straße was the center of the Jewish quarter before the Second World War. The restoration of the New Synagogue, completed in 1866, was associated with its reconstruction in 1995 and is now the focal point for the study and preservation of Jewish culture. The Baroque Sophia Church has also been preserved in the Spandau suburb.

View over Unter den Linden boulevard to Potsdamer Platz

The Potsdamer Platz is a traffic hub in central Berlin. He had his first birthday. It was built in the 16th century before the Potsdam Gate, which was the exit of a road. In 1923 the history of broadcasting in Germany began from the nearby Vox-Haus. Until 1940, Potsdamer Platz was one of the most busy places in Europe. In 1961, it was divided by the Berlin Wall and the area fell. The former course of the Berlin Wall has been marked for several years by cobblestones which have been inserted into the ground. After 1990, when the Potsdamer Platz was rebuilt, it was transformed into a lively business location, providing space for a large number of shops and restaurants. Similar to the square itself, the eastern neighborhood in the district of Mitte, where the district of government with the Reichstag and the Reichstag before the war was completely changed. Many Baroque buildings such as the Trinity Church or the Prince-Albrecht-Palais, to name a few, no longer exist today.

North of the Brandenburg Gate is the Reichstag building, built between 1884 and 1894. It was launched on 27. In 1933, the fire was severely damaged by a fire and again suffered significantly during World War II. Since 1973 the building has been used by the German Bundestag and has been in its seat since 1999. Every year, two million people transform through its glass dome. The Reichstag is now the second largest tourist magnet in the Republic, after the Cologne Cathedral.

Bellevue Castle is further west on the northern edge of the Great Tiergarten between the River Spree and the Victory Column. Built in 1785-1786, the classicist three-winged complex now serves as the seat of the Federal President. The most famous shopping promenade in Berlin is the Kurfürstendamm with its numerous hotels, shops and restaurants. The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, which was destroyed in World War II, was built between 1891 and 1895. It marks the eastern end of the boulevard. Her tower remains as a memorial. The eastern prolongation of the Kurfürstendamm is the Tauentzienstraße (Tauentzienstraße), where the KaDeWe (department store of the West) is the largest department store on the European continent and the Europa-Center, built between 1963 and 1965. The 22-story building houses many shops, restaurants, offices and a viewing platform. This part of the city around Tauentzienstraße and Kurfürstendamm is called the New West.

Borsigturm in Berlin-Tegel from 1922, the oldest tower in Berlin

The 150 meter high radio tower is located in Charlottenburg. It was built between 1924 and 1926 on the occasion of the 3rd edition of the Radio Tower. The German Radio Exhibition was founded and quickly became one of Berlin's landmarks. Other buildings in the West of Berlin include Charlottenburg Castle (construction started in 1695), a baroque representation building of Hohenzollern with an important collection of paintings, the Spandau Citadel and Glienicke Castle, located at Havel and Glienicker Bridge. Tegel Castle, also converted by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in the classic style (also: The brothers Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt grew up.

In the district of Prenzlauer Berg there are many residential buildings from the founder and lively streets such as the Kastanienallee.

After the destruction of the Second World War, ambitious construction projects were carried out in divided Berlin. In the eastern part of the city, the Karl-Marx-Allee was founded today in the representative style of socialist classicism. It runs from Alexanderplatz via Strausberger Platz to the Frankfurt gate. The twin towers were built following the twin domes of the Gendarmenmarkt under the German architect Hermann Henselmann.

In the western part of the city, modern architecture was advanced. At the international construction exhibition Interbau in 1957, renowned architects such as Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer presented their designs. The construction works in the Hansaviertel were realized. The congress hall with its roof structure was built in 1957 as a contribution of the United States to the construction of the roof.

A special feature of Berlin is the gas lamps used to illuminate the streets, which have been preserved in large parts of the city. In total, more than 44,000 gas lanterns are in operation in Berlin, more than in any other city in the world. In Tiergarten, near the S-Bahn (city rail) station of the same name, you will find a gas-fired open-air museum.

sport

Olympic Stadium in Westend

In 2016, there were some 2,400 sports clubs in Berlin, in which some 640,000 participants devoted themselves to grassroots sport. In 2015, 73 Berlin teams were represented in the first German federal leagues and 70 in the second federal leagues. Some clubs are active in the field of professional sports. Hertha BSC and the 1st of May are the most prominent representatives. FC Union Berlin (soccer), Alba Berlin (basketball), the polar bears Berlin (ice hockey), the foxes Berlin (handball), the Berlin Recycling Volleyball. and the water enthusiasts of Spandau 04 (water ball).

Berlin has been the venue for international sporting competitions on several occasions in history. In 1936, the summer Olympics were held in the city. During the 1974 World Cup three matches of the first finals were played in Berlin. In 2006, the Olympic Stadium hosted a round-off, a quarterfinal and the final of the World Cup. In 2009 the athletics world championships were also held there.

Berlin Marathon 2016

Each year, one of the world’s largest marathons, the finals of the DFB Cup and the athletics event ISTAF takes place in Berlin. Since 2015 the Berlin E-Prix, an automobile race of the FIA Formula E Championship, has been held in Berlin.

Every two years for the European and World Cup, there are major public TV broadcasts, with tens of thousands of spectators watching the football matches on big screens. The venue, the Fanmeile, has its place in the street of June 17.

Arena at Ostbahnhof in Friedrichshain

In Berlin the current world records (status: 2018) situated in the marathon (Eliud Kipchoge), in the 100 and 200 meters running (both Usain Bolt).

The German Olympic Sports Association runs one of 19 Olympic bases with the Olympic base in Berlin. About 500 federal cadres from more than 30 Olympic sports form the performance sports contingent. Known Berlin or Berlin-based Olympic athletes are Franziska van Almsick, Christoph and Robert Harting, Katarina Witt and Claudia Pechstein.

Among the city’s largest sports centers are the Olympic Stadium with 74,649 seats, the Alte Försterei stadium with around 22,000 seats, the Friedrich Ludwig Jahn sports park with 19,000 seats, the Mercedes-Benz Arena with a maximum capacity of 17,000 seats, Velodrom with a maximum capacity of 12,000 seats and the Max-Schmeling-Halle with up to 11,900 seats.

leisure

About 18% of Berlin's city area is wooded. The Stadtforstverwaltung Berliner Forsten covers the largest urban forest area in Germany with about 29,000 hectares. Among the largest forests are the Grunewald forest, which is crossed by the Grunewaldsee chain and bordered by the Havel in the west, and the Spandauer Forst in the extreme northwest. The 273-hectare Wannsee is an extension of the Havel. Zehlendorf has a much visited recreational area with it, which is especially famous for the bathing area Wannsee.

Spree in Tiergarten

In the south-east of Berlin, the Müggelsee lake with the Müggelbergen mountains and the Müggelsee beach in Rahnsdorf forms a large recreational area. The new Müggelturm was built on the west slope of the Kleinen Müggelberg until 1961. It offers a view of the surrounding lakes and forests and the silhouette. Not far from it is Wuhlheide, a woodland area with the former Volkspark Wuhlheide and the leisure and recreation center (FEZ), the model park Berlin-Brandenburg and the Berlin Parking Railway.

In the more urban areas of the city, the river and lakeside landscapes of the Spree and Havel have established numerous beach bars. The 20 green main paths connect a large part of the parks, green areas, surrounding regional parks and Berlin watercourses as hiking trails. Berlin is also one of the most popular geocaches in Germany: "Lego - one is too much" with 8760 favorites (status: 2017).

Berlin is also known worldwide for its nightlife. The high number of students in the city, a large creative music scene, many young party tourists, as well as the widespread vacancy after the fall of the Berlin Wall, contributed to the formation of the club landscape. In this context, former clubs such as the Kunsthaus Tacheles or the E-Werk and existing nightclubs such as the safe, the Watergate, the KitKatClub, the Visionaries Club, the Berghain, the Wild Renate Salon and the Blue Cat (stand: 2018).

gastronomy

There are about 5000 cafés, bars and restaurants in Berlin. The top astronomy in Berlin has developed successfully since the beginning of the 2000s. In 2020, the Michelin Guide, with the attention of the chef Marco Müller, recorded a restaurant with three Michelin stars, five restaurants with two and 17 restaurants with one star.

kitchen

The typical Berlin dishes are casseler, icy bein and liver in "Berliner Art", currywurst, bulette and the snack variant of the Döner Kebab. The potato is an ubiquitous food supplement in its various forms of preparation in Berlin, while the stained and pancakes are typical Berlin pastries. Berlin also has a long tradition of brewing. The most popular beer is Pilsener, while Berlin White is as typical as the "barrel drink". The traditional mix drink is the Futschi.

Berlin in Art

film

Berlin is the venue and venue for many German and international film productions

Babylon cinema in the middle

Berlin played a special role as a production location in film history. In the heyday, in the years after 1920, the Berlin film industry was famous for its stylish and genre-representing cinemas. Many productions were made in the studios of Babelsberg. After 1945 and 1990, however, the film manifested itself in a very weak position within the German cultural promotion system. In the aftermath, the film rarely reached international standards. Although the city is currently one of the largest film production sites in Germany, it is difficult for the films produced there to attract the public in the domestic and European market.

The following selection of films will play in Berlin or act from the metropolis:

• Berlin - The symphony of the big city, directed by: Walter Ruttmann, Germany 1927
• M, Director: Fritz Lang, Germany 1931
• Germany in year zero, Directed: Roberto Rossellini, Germany 1946
• Captain Köpenick, Director: Helmut Käutner, Germany 1956
• One, two, three, Directed: Billy Wilder, United States/Germany 1961
• Cabaret, Director: Bob Fosse, 1972
• The legend of Paul and Paula, directed by: Heiner Carow, GDR. 1973
• Christiane F. - We children from the train station Zoo, directed: Uli Edel, Germany 1981
• The skies over Berlin, directed by: Wim Wenders, Germany 1987
• Line 1, (Musicalfilm), Directed: Reinhard Hauff, 1988
• Lola runs, Directed: Tom Tykwer, Germany, 1998
• Sonnenallee, Directed: Leander Haußmann, Germany 1999
• Good Bye, Lenin!, Director: Wolfgang Becker, Germany 2003
• The lives of the Other, Directed: Florian Henckel von Thundersmarck, Germany 2006

music

Cornelia Froboess, 1960

Hildegard Knef, 1969

David Bowie, 1976

Bono from the band U2, 1992

Since the development of Berlin as a metropolis of millions at the end of the 19th century. In the 19th century, pop culture created a multitude of songs depicting Berlin and life in the city, often in its contemporary context.

One of the early pieces of music is Berliner Luft, which Paul Lincke wrote for the operette Mrs. Luna in 1899 and which is sometimes played as an unofficial national anthem. Other well-known songs are the pack sung by Conny Froboess (1951) or Hildegard Knef’s home ache after the Kurfürstendamm (1963).

Until 1990, the division of Berlin led to very different songs about the city. While the moods of the 1970s and 1980s were expressed in West Berlin titles, for example in songs by Rio Reiser, the brothers Blatschuss or Ideal, pieces of the band City, such as "The City", were recorded. B. Wall on wall (1987), which reflects East Berlin's zeitgeist.

International musicians such as Leonard Cohen, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed or Band U2 sang about Berlin or produced their albums in the city. The Hansa sound studios were an important point of contact for many artists to realize their music recordings.

painting

A community of artists from E. 1. Kirchner, 1926

From 1893 on, the large art exhibition in Berlin, which is of a nationwide importance, took place every year. With the advent of the Berlin Secession in 1898, which marked impressionism in painting, Berlin established itself as an outstanding center of art in Germany.

The art scene of the metropolis became world-famous with the move of the expressionist artists group "Brücke" to Berlin. After 1933 and 1945, however, the international art world was no longer connected.

Only at the beginning of the 21st century. The city's importance for the visual arts has increased significantly again. Since then, a number of renowned artists have lived and worked in the city. Due to the very large number of galleries in Germany, which are located in more than 300 locations, the location within Germany also plays an important role in the art market.

literature

Many successful writers, philosophers, dramaturgons, historians, critics, humorists and screenwriters live and work in Berlin. Among the most recognized writers in the past and present are: a. Moses Mendelssohn, Wilhelm von Humboldt, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Theodor Mommsen, Georg Simmel, Alfred Kerr, Alfred Döblin, Christian Morgenstern, Joachim Ringelnatz, Kurt Tucholsky, Walter Benjamin, Bertolt Brecht, Vladimir Nabokov, Erich Kästner, Christopher Isherovsky wood, Robert Jungk, Günter Grass, Heiner Müller, Christa Wolf, Wolfgang Kohlhaase, Heinrich August Winkler, Herta Müller, Max Goldt, Jonathan Franzen and Maxim Biller.