Berlin (/bərˈlɪn/, German: [bɛɐ̯ˈliːn] (
listen)) is the capital of Germany and one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.5 million people,[4] it is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union.[5] Located in northeastern Germany on the banks of Rivers Spree and Havel, it is the centre of the Berlin-Brandenburg Metropolitan Region, which has about six million residents from over 180 nations.[6][7][8][9] Due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one-third of the city's area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers and lakes.[10]
First documented in the 13th century, Berlin became the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg (1417-1701), the Kingdom of Prussia (1701–1918), the German Empire (1871–1918), the Weimar Republic (1919–1933) and the Third Reich (1933–1945).[11] Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world.[12] After World War II, the city was divided; East Berlin became the capital of East Germany while West Berlin became a de facto West German exclave, surrounded by the Berlin Wall (1961–1989).[13] Following German reunification in 1990, Berlin was once again designated as the capital of all Germany.
Berlin is a world city of culture, politics, media, and science.[14][15][16][17] Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the service sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations, and convention venues.[18][19] Berlin serves as a continental hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination.[20] Significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction, and electronics.
Modern Berlin is home to renowned universities, orchestras, museums, entertainment venues, and is host to many sporting events.[21] Its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions.[22] The city is well known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts, and a high quality of living.[23] Over the last decade Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene.
The earliest evidence of settlements in the area of today's Berlin are a wooden rod dated from approximately 1192[27] and leftovers of wooden houseparts dated to 1174 found in a 2012 digging in Berlin Mitte.[28] The first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209, although these areas did not join Berlin until 1920.[29] The central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document, and Berlin, across the Spree in what is now called the Nikolaiviertel, is referenced in a document from 1244.[27] The former (1237) is considered to be the founding date of the city.[30]
The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties. In 1307
they formed an alliance with a common external policy, their internal
administrations still being separated.[31][32]
In 1415, Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440.[33] During the 15th century his successors would establish Berlin-Cölln as capital of the margraviate, and subsequent members of the Hohenzollern family ruled until 1918 in Berlin, first as electors of Brandenburg, then as kings of Prussia, and eventually as German emperors. In 1443, Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new royal palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln. The protests of the town citizens against the building culminated in 1448, in the "Berlin Indignation" ("Berliner Unwille").[34][35] This protest was not successful, however, and the citizenry lost many of its political and economic privileges. After the royal palace was finished in 1451, it gradually came into use. From 1470, with the new elector Albrecht III Achilles, Berlin-Cölln became the new royal residence.[32] Officially, the Berlin-Cölln palace became permanent residence of the Brandenburg electors of the Hohenzollerns from 1486, when John Cicero came to power.[36] Berlin-Cölln, however, had to give up its status as a free Hanseatic city. In 1539, the electors and the city officially became Lutheran.[37]
The Thirty Years' War
between 1618 and 1648 devastated Berlin. One third of its houses were
damaged or destroyed, and the city lost half of its population.[38] Frederick William, known as the "Great Elector", who had succeeded his father George William as ruler in 1640, initiated a policy of promoting immigration and religious tolerance.[39] With the Edict of Potsdam in 1685, Frederick William offered asylum to the French Huguenots.[40] By 1700, approximately 30 percent of Berlin's residents were French, because of the Huguenot immigration.[41] Many other immigrants came from Bohemia, Poland, and Salzburg.[42]
Since 1618, the Margraviate of Brandenburg had been in personal union with the Duchy of Prussia. In 1701, however, the dual state formed the Kingdom of Prussia, as Frederick III, Elector of Brandenburg now crowned himself as king Frederick I in Prussia.
Berlin became the capital of the new Kingdom. This was a successful
attempt to centralise the capital in the very outspread state, and it
was the first time the city began to grow. In 1709 Berlin merged with
the four cities of Cölln, Friedrichswerder, Friedrichstadt and
Dorotheenstadt under the name Berlin, "Haupt- und Residenzstadt Berlin".[31]
In 1740, Frederick II, known as Frederick the Great (1740–1786), came to power.[43] Under the rule of Frederick II, Berlin became a center of the Enlightenment.[44] Following France's victory in the War of the Fourth Coalition, Napoleon Bonaparte marched into Berlin in 1806, but granted self-government to the city.[45] In 1815, the city became part of the new Province of Brandenburg.[46]
The Industrial Revolution transformed Berlin during the 19th century; the city's economy and population expanded dramatically, and it became the main railway hub and economic centre of Germany. Additional suburbs soon developed and increased the area and population of Berlin. In 1861, neighboring suburbs including Wedding, Moabit and several others were incorporated into Berlin.[47] In 1871, Berlin became capital of the newly founded German Empire.[48] In 1881, it became a city district separate from Brandenburg.[49]
In the early 20th century, Berlin had become a fertile ground for the German Expressionist movement.[50] In fields such as architecture, painting and cinema new forms of artistic styles were invented. At the end of World War I in 1918, a republic was proclaimed by Philipp Scheidemann at the Reichstag building. In 1920, the Greater Berlin Act
incorporated dozens of suburban cities, villages, and estates around
Berlin into an expanded city. The act increased the area of Berlin from
66 to 883 km2 (25 to 341 sq mi). The population almost doubled and Berlin had a population of around four million. During the Weimar era, Berlin underwent political unrest due to economic uncertainties, but also became a renowned center of the Roaring Twenties.
The metropolis experienced its heyday as a major world capital and was
known for its leadership roles in science, technology, the humanities,
city planning, film, higher education, government, and industries. Albert Einstein rose to public prominence during his years in Berlin, being awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921.
In 1933, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power.
NSDAP rule effectively destroyed Berlin's Jewish community, which had
numbered 160,000, representing one-third of all Jews in the country.
Berlin's Jewish population fell to about 80,000 as a result of
emigration between 1933 and 1939. After Kristallnacht in 1938, thousands of the city's persecuted groups were imprisoned in the nearby Sachsenhausen concentration camp or, starting in early 1943, were shipped to death camps, such as Auschwitz.[51] During World War II, large parts of Berlin were destroyed in the 1943–45 air raids and during the Battle of Berlin. Around 125,000 civilians were killed.[52] After the end of the war in Europe
in 1945, Berlin received large numbers of refugees from the Eastern
provinces. The victorious powers divided the city into four sectors,
analogous to the occupation zones into which Germany was divided. The sectors of the Western Allies (the United States, the United Kingdom and France) formed West Berlin, while the Soviet sector formed East Berlin.[53]
All four Allies
shared administrative responsibilities for Berlin. However, in 1948,
when the Western Allies extended the currency reform in the Western
zones of Germany to the three western sectors of Berlin, the Soviet Union imposed a blockade on the access routes to and from West Berlin, which lay entirely inside Soviet-controlled territory. The Berlin airlift,
conducted by the three western Allies, overcame this blockade by
supplying food and other supplies to the city from June 1948 to May
1949.[54] In 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany was founded in West Germany
and eventually included all of the American, British, and French zones,
excluding those three countries' zones in Berlin, while the Marxist-Leninist German Democratic Republic
was proclaimed in East Germany. West Berlin officially remained an
occupied city, but it politically was aligned with the Federal Republic
of Germany despite West Berlin's geographic isolation. Airline service
to West Berlin was granted only to American, British, and French
airlines.
The founding of the two German states increased Cold War
tensions. West Berlin was surrounded by East German territory, and East
Germany proclaimed the Eastern part as its capital, a move that was not
recognized by the western powers. East Berlin included most of the
historic center of the city. The West German government established
itself in Bonn.[55] In 1961, East Germany began the building of the Berlin Wall between East and West Berlin, and events escalated to a tank standoff at Checkpoint Charlie.
West Berlin was now de facto a part of West Germany with a unique legal
status, while East Berlin was de facto a part of East Germany. John F. Kennedy gave his "Ich bin ein Berliner"
– speech in 1963 underlining the US support for the Western part of the
city. Berlin was completely divided. Although it was possible for
Westerners to pass from one to the other side through strictly
controlled checkpoints, for most Easterners travel to West Berlin or
West Germany was prohibited. In 1971, a Four-Power agreement guaranteed access to and from West Berlin by car or train through East Germany.[56]
In 1989, with the end of the Cold War and pressure from the East German population, the Berlin Wall fell on 9 November and was subsequently mostly demolished. Today, the East Side Gallery preserves a large portion of the Wall. On 3 October 1990, the two parts of Germany were reunified as the Federal Republic of Germany, and Berlin again became the official German capital. In 1991, the German Parliament, the
Bundestag, voted to move the seat of the German capital from Bonn to Berlin, which was completed in 1999. Berlin's 2001 administrative reform merged several districts. The number of boroughs was reduced from 23 to 12. In 2006, the FIFA World Cup Final was held in Berlin.
Berlin is situated in northeastern Germany, in an area of low-lying marshy woodlands with a mainly flat topography, part of the vast Northern European Plain which stretches all the way from northern France to western Russia. The Berliner Urstromtal (an ice age glacial valley), between the low Barnim Plateau to the north and the Teltow Plateau to the south, was formed by meltwater flowing from ice sheets at the end of the last Weichselian glaciation. The Spree follows this valley now. In Spandau, Berlin's westernmost borough, the Spree empties into the river Havel,
which flows from north to south through western Berlin. The course of
the Havel is more like a chain of lakes, the largest being the Tegeler
See and Großer Wannsee. A series of lakes also feeds into the upper Spree, which flows through the Großer Müggelsee in eastern Berlin.[57]
Substantial parts of present-day Berlin extend onto the low plateaus on both sides of the Spree Valley. Large parts of the boroughs Reinickendorf and Pankow lie on the Barnim Plateau, while most of the boroughs of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Tempelhof-Schöneberg, and Neukölln lie on the Teltow Plateau.
The borough of Spandau lies partly within the Berlin Glacial Valley and partly on the Nauen Plain, which stretches to the west of Berlin. The highest elevations in Berlin are the Teufelsberg and the Müggelberge in the city's outskirts, and in the center the Kreuzberg. While the latter measures 66 m (217 ft) above sea level, the former both have an elevation of about 115 m (377 ft). The Teufelsberg is in fact an artificial hill composed of a pile of rubble from the ruins of World War II.
Berlin has a Maritime temperate climate (Cfb) according to the Köppen climate classification system.[58]
There are significant influences of mild continental climate due to its
inland position, with frosts being common in winter and there being
larger temperature differences between seasons than typical for many
oceanic climates.
Summers are warm and sometimes humid with average high temperatures of 22–25 °C (72–77 °F) and lows of 12–14 °C (54–57 °F). Winters are cool with average high temperatures of 3 °C (37 °F) and lows of −2 to 0 °C (28 to 32 °F). Spring and autumn are generally chilly to mild. Berlin's built-up area creates a microclimate, with heat stored by the city's buildings. Temperatures can be 4 °C (7 °F) higher in the city than in the surrounding areas.[59]
Annual precipitation is 570 millimeters (22 in) with moderate rainfall throughout the year. Snowfall mainly occurs from December through March.[60]
Berlin's history has left the city with a highly eclectic array of
architecture and buildings. The city's appearance today is predominantly
shaped by the key role it played in Germany's history in the 20th
century. Each of the national governments based in Berlin — the Kingdom
of Prussia, the 1871 German Empire, the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany,
East Germany, and now the reunified Germany — initiated ambitious
(re-)construction programs, with each adding its own distinctive style
to the city's architecture.
Berlin was devastated by bombing raids, fires and street battles during World War II, and many of the buildings that had remained after the war were demolished in the post-war period in both West and East Berlin. Much of this demolition was initiated by municipal architecture programs to build new residential or business quarters and main roads. Many ornaments of pre-war buildings were destroyed following modernist dogmas. While in both systems and in reunified Berlin, various important heritage monuments were also (partly) reconstructed, including the Forum Fridericianum with e.g., the State Opera (1955), Charlottenburg Palace (1957), the main monuments of the Gendarmenmarkt (1980s), Kommandantur (2003) and the project to reconstruct the baroque facades of the City Palace. A number of new buildings is inspired by historical predecessors or the general classical style of Berlin, such as Hotel Adlon.
Clusters of high-rise buildings emerge at e.g., Potsdamer Platz, City West and Alexanderplatz. Berlin has three of the top 40 tallest buildings in Germany.
The Fernsehturm (TV tower) at Alexanderplatz in Mitte
is among the tallest structures in the European Union at 368 m
(1,207 ft). Built in 1969, it is visible throughout most of the central
districts of Berlin. The city can be viewed from its 204 m (669 ft) high
observation floor. Starting here the Karl-Marx-Allee heads east, an avenue lined by monumental residential buildings, designed in the Socialist Classicism style. Adjacent to this area is the Rotes Rathaus (City Hall), with its distinctive red-brick architecture. In front of it is the Neptunbrunnen, a fountain featuring a mythological group of Tritons, personifications of the four main Prussian rivers and Neptune on top of it.
The Brandenburg Gate is an iconic landmark of Berlin and Germany. The Reichstag building is the traditional seat of the German Parliament, was remodeled by British architect Norman Foster
in the 1990s and features a glass dome over the session area, which
allows free public access to the parliamentary proceedings and
magnificent views of the city.
The East Side Gallery is an open-air exhibition of art painted directly on the last existing portions of the Berlin Wall. It is the largest remaining evidence of the city's historical division.
The Gendarmenmarkt, a neoclassical square in Berlin the name of which derives from the headquarters of the famous Gens d'armes regiment located here in the 18th century, is bordered by two similarly designed cathedrals, the Französischer Dom with its observation platform and the Deutscher Dom. The Konzerthaus (Concert Hall), home of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, stands between the two cathedrals.
The Museum Island in the River Spree houses five museums
built from 1830 to 1930 and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Restoration and the construction of a main entrance to all museums, as
well as the reconstruction of the Stadtschloss is continuing.[64][65] Also located on the island and adjacent to the Lustgarten and palace is Berlin Cathedral, emperor William II's ambitious attempt to create a Protestant counterpart to St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. A large crypt houses the remains of some of the earlier Prussian royal family. St. Hedwig's Cathedral is Berlin's Roman Catholic cathedral.
Unter den Linden
is a tree-lined east–west avenue from the Brandenburg Gate to the site
of the former Berliner Stadtschloss, and was once Berlin's premier
promenade. Many Classical buildings line the street and part of Humboldt University is located there. Friedrichstraße was Berlin's legendary street during the Golden Twenties. It combines 20th-century traditions with the modern architecture of today's Berlin.
Potsdamer Platz is an entire quarter built from scratch after 1995 after the Wall came down.[66] To the west of Potsdamer Platz is the Kulturforum, which houses the Gemäldegalerie, and is flanked by the Neue Nationalgalerie and the Berliner Philharmonie. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a Holocaust memorial, is situated to the north.[67]
The area around Hackescher Markt is home to the fashionable culture, with countless clothing outlets, clubs, bars, and galleries. This includes the Hackesche Höfe, a conglomeration of buildings around several courtyards, reconstructed around 1996. The nearby New Synagogue is the center of Jewish culture.
The Straße des 17. Juni, connecting the Brandenburg Gate and Ernst-Reuter-Platz, serves as the central East-West-Axis. Its name commemorates the uprisings in East Berlin of 17 June 1953. Approximately half-way from the Brandenburg Gate is the Großer Stern, a circular traffic island on which the Siegessäule
(Victory Column) is situated. This monument, built to commemorate
Prussia's victories, was relocated 1938–39 from its previous position in
front of the Reichstag.
The Kurfürstendamm is home to some of Berlin's luxurious stores with the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at its eastern end on Breitscheidplatz. The church was destroyed in the Second World War and left in ruins. Nearby on Tauentzienstraße is KaDeWe, claimed to be continental Europe's largest department store. The Rathaus Schöneberg, where John F. Kennedy made his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner!" speech, is situated in Tempelhof-Schöneberg.
West of the center, Schloss Bellevue is the residence of the German President. Schloss Charlottenburg, which was burnt out in the Second World War is the largest historical palace in Berlin.
The Funkturm Berlin is a 150 m (490 ft) tall lattice radio tower at the fair area, built between 1924 and 1926. It is the only observation tower which stands on insulators and has a restaurant 55 m (180 ft) and an observation deck 126 m (413 ft) above ground, which is reachable by a windowed elevator.
On 31 December 2014, the city-state of Berlin had a population of 3,562,166 registered inhabitants[4] in an area of 891.85 km2 (344.35 sq mi).[68] The city's population density was 3,994 inhabitants per km2. Berlin is the second most populous city proper in the EU. The urban area of Berlin comprised about 4 million people making it the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union.[5] The metropolitan area of the Berlin-Brandenburg region was home to about 4.5 million in an area of 5,370 km2 (2,070 sq mi). In 2004, the Larger Urban Zone was home to about 5 million people in an area of 17,385 km2 (6,712 sq mi).[9] The entire Berlin-Brandenburg capital region has a population of 6 million.[69]
National and international migration into the city has a long history. In 1685, following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in France, the city responded with the Edict of Potsdam, which guaranteed religious freedom and tax-free status to French Huguenot refugees for ten years. The Greater Berlin Act
in 1920 incorporated many suburbs and surrounding cities of Berlin. It
formed most of the territory that comprises modern Berlin and increased
the population from 1.9 million to 4 million.
Active immigration and asylum politics in West Berlin triggered waves of immigration in the 1960s and 1970s. Currently, Berlin is home to about 200,000 Turks,[70] making it the largest Turkish community outside of Turkey. In the 1990s the Aussiedlergesetze enabled immigration to Germany of some residents from the former Soviet Union. Today ethnic Germans from countries of the former Soviet Union make up the largest portion of the Russian-speaking community.[71] The last decade experienced an influx from various Western countries and some African regions.[72] Young Germans, EU-Europeans and Israelis have settled in the city.[73]
Since the reunification on 3 October 1990, Berlin has been one of the three city states in Germany among the present 16 states of Germany. The city and state parliament is the House of Representatives (Abgeordnetenhaus), which currently has 141 seats. Berlin's executive body is the Senate of Berlin (Senat von Berlin). The Senate of Berlin consists of the Governing Mayor (Regierender Bürgermeister) and up to eight senators holding ministerial positions, one of them holding the official title "Mayor" (Bürgermeister) as deputy to the Governing Mayor.
The Social Democratic Party (SPD) and The Left (Die Linke) took control of the city government after the 2001 state election and won another term in the 2006 state election.[87] Since the 2011 state election, there has been a coalition of the Social Democratic Party with the Christian Democratic Union, and for the first time ever, the Pirate Party won seats in a state parliament in Germany.
The Governing Mayor is simultaneously Lord Mayor of the city (Oberbürgermeister der Stadt) and Prime Minister of the Federal State (Ministerpräsident des Bundeslandes). The office of Berlin's Governing Mayor is in the Rotes Rathaus (Red City Hall). Since 2014 this office has been held by Michael Müller of the SPD.[88] On 26 August 2014, Wowereit announced his resignation as of 11 December 2014.[89]
The total annual state budget of Berlin in 2007 exceeded €20.5 ($28.7) billion including a budget surplus of €80 ($112) million.[90] The total budget included an estimated amount of €5.5 ($7.7) bn, which is directly financed by either the German government or the German Bundesländer.[91]
Each borough is governed by a borough council (Bezirksamt) consisting of five councilors (Bezirksstadträte) including the borough mayor (Bezirksbürgermeister). The borough council is elected by the borough assembly (Bezirksverordnetenversammlung). The boroughs of Berlin are not independent municipalities. The power of borough administration is limited and subordinate to the Senate of Berlin. The borough mayors form the council of mayors (Rat der Bürgermeister), led by the city's governing mayor, which advises the senate. The localities have no local government bodies.
There are several joint projects with many other cities, such as Beirut, Belgrade, São Paulo, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Oslo, Shanghai, Seoul, Sofia, Sydney, New York City and Vienna. Berlin participates in international city associations such as the Union of the Capitals of the European Union, Eurocities, Network of European Cities of Culture, Metropolis, Summit Conference of the World's Major Cities, and Conference of the World's Capital Cities. Berlin's official sister cities are:[92]
Berlin hosts 158 foreign embassies[98] as well as the headquarters of many think tanks, trade unions, non-profit organizations, lobbying groups, and professional associations. Due to the influence and international partnerships of the Federal Republic of Germany as a state, the capital city has become a venue for German and European affairs. Frequent official visits, and diplomatic consultations among governmental representatives and national leaders are common in contemporary Berlin.
In 2013, the nominal GDP of the citystate Berlin experienced a growth
rate of 1.2% (0.6% in Germany) and totaled €109.2 (~$142) billion.[99]
Berlin's economy is dominated by the service sector, with around 80% of
all companies doing business in services. The unemployment rate reached
a 20-year low in June 2014 and stood at 11.0% .[100]
Important economic sectors in Berlin include life sciences, transportation, information and communication technologies, media and music, advertising and design, biotechnology, environmental services, construction, e-commerce, retail, hotel business, and medical engineering.[101]
Research and development have economic significance for the city. The metropolitan region ranks among the top-3 innovative locations in the EU.[102] The Science and Business Park in Adlershof is the largest technology park in Germany measured by revenue.[103] Within the Eurozone, Berlin has become a center for business relocation and international investments.[104]
Many German and international companies have business or service
centers in the city. For some years Berlin has been recognized as a
center of business founders in Europe.[105] Among the 10 largest employers in Berlin are the City-State of Berlin, Deutsche Bahn, the hospital provider Charité and Vivantes, the local public transport provider BVG, and Deutsche Telekom.
Daimler manufactures cars, and BMW builds motorcycles in Berlin. Bayer Health Care and Berlin Chemie are major pharmaceutical companies headquartered in the city. The second largest German airline Air Berlin is based there as well.[106]
Siemens, a Global 500 and DAX-listed company is partly headquartered in Berlin. The national railway operator Deutsche Bahn and the MDAX-listed firms Axel Springer SE and Zalando have their headquarters in the central districts.[107] Berlin has a cluster of rail technology companies and is the German headquarter or site to Bombardier Transportation,[108] Siemens Mobility,[109] Stadler Rail and Thales Transportation.[110]
Berlin had 788 hotels with 134,399 beds in 2014.[111] The city recorded 28.7 million overnight hotel stays and 11.9 million hotel guests in 2014.[111]
Tourism figures have more than doubled within the last ten years and
Berlin has become the third most-visited city destination in Europe.
Berlin is among the top three congress cities in the world and home to Europe's biggest convention center, the Internationales Congress Centrum (ICC) at the Messe Berlin.[18] Several large-scale trade fairs like the consumer electronics trade fair IFA, the ILA Berlin Air Show, the Berlin Fashion Week (including the Bread and Butter tradeshow), the Green Week, the transport fair InnoTrans, the tourism fair ITB and the adult entertainment and erotic fair Venus are held annually in the city, attracting a significant number of business visitors.
Berlin is home to many international and regional television and radio stations.[114] The public broadcaster RBB has its headquarters in Berlin as well as the commercial broadcasters MTV Europe, VIVA, and N24. German international public broadcaster Deutsche Welle has its TV production unit in Berlin, and most national German broadcasters have a studio in the city including ZDF and RTL.
Berlin has Germany's largest number of daily newspapers, with numerous local broadsheets (Berliner Morgenpost, Berliner Zeitung, Der Tagesspiegel), and three major tabloids, as well as national dailies of varying sizes, each with a different political affiliation, such as Die Welt, Neues Deutschland, and Die Tageszeitung. The Exberliner, a monthly magazine, is Berlin's English-language periodical focusing on arts and entertainment. Berlin is also the headquarters of the two major German-language publishing houses Walter de Gruyter and Springer, each of which publish books, periodicals, and multimedia products.
Berlin is an important centre in the European and German film industry.[115] It is home to more than 1000 film and television production companies, 270 movie theaters, and around 300 national and international co-productions are filmed in the region every year.[102] The historic Babelsberg Studios and the production company UFA are located outside Berlin in Potsdam. The city is also home of the European Film Academy and the German Film Academy, and hosts the annual Berlin International Film Festival. With around 500,000 admissions it is the largest publicly attended film festival in the world.[116][117]
Berlin's transport infrastructure is highly complex, providing a diverse range of urban mobility.[118]
A total of 979 bridges cross 197 km (122 mi) of inner-city waterways.
5,422 km (3,369 mi) of roads run through Berlin, of which 77 km (48 mi)
are motorways ("Autobahn").[119] In 2013, 1.344 million motor vehicles were registered in the city.[119] With 377 cars per 1000 residents in 2013 (570/1000 in Germany), Berlin as a Western global city has one of the lowest numbers of cars per capita.
Long-distance rail lines connect Berlin with all of the major cities of Germany and with many cities in neighboring European countries. Regional rail lines provide access to the surrounding regions of Brandenburg and to the Baltic Sea. The Berlin Hauptbahnhof is the largest grade-separated railway station in Europe.[120] Deutsche Bahn runs trains to domestic destinations like Hamburg, Munich, Cologne and others. It also runs an airport express rail service, as well as trains to several international destinations, e.g., Vienna, Prague, Zürich, Warsaw and Amsterdam.Berlin city
listen)) is the capital of Germany and one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.5 million people,[4] it is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union.[5] Located in northeastern Germany on the banks of Rivers Spree and Havel, it is the centre of the Berlin-Brandenburg Metropolitan Region, which has about six million residents from over 180 nations.[6][7][8][9] Due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one-third of the city's area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers and lakes.[10]First documented in the 13th century, Berlin became the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg (1417-1701), the Kingdom of Prussia (1701–1918), the German Empire (1871–1918), the Weimar Republic (1919–1933) and the Third Reich (1933–1945).[11] Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world.[12] After World War II, the city was divided; East Berlin became the capital of East Germany while West Berlin became a de facto West German exclave, surrounded by the Berlin Wall (1961–1989).[13] Following German reunification in 1990, Berlin was once again designated as the capital of all Germany.
Berlin is a world city of culture, politics, media, and science.[14][15][16][17] Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the service sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations, and convention venues.[18][19] Berlin serves as a continental hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination.[20] Significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction, and electronics.
Modern Berlin is home to renowned universities, orchestras, museums, entertainment venues, and is host to many sporting events.[21] Its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions.[22] The city is well known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts, and a high quality of living.[23] Over the last decade Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene.
History
Main articles: History of Berlin and Timeline of Berlin
Etymology
The origin of the name Berlin is uncertain. It may have its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of today's Berlin, and may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl- ("swamp").[25] Folk etymology connects the name to the German word for bear, Bär. A bear also appears in the coat of arms of the city.[26]12th to 16th centuries
Map of Berlin in 1688
In 1415, Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440.[33] During the 15th century his successors would establish Berlin-Cölln as capital of the margraviate, and subsequent members of the Hohenzollern family ruled until 1918 in Berlin, first as electors of Brandenburg, then as kings of Prussia, and eventually as German emperors. In 1443, Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new royal palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln. The protests of the town citizens against the building culminated in 1448, in the "Berlin Indignation" ("Berliner Unwille").[34][35] This protest was not successful, however, and the citizenry lost many of its political and economic privileges. After the royal palace was finished in 1451, it gradually came into use. From 1470, with the new elector Albrecht III Achilles, Berlin-Cölln became the new royal residence.[32] Officially, the Berlin-Cölln palace became permanent residence of the Brandenburg electors of the Hohenzollerns from 1486, when John Cicero came to power.[36] Berlin-Cölln, however, had to give up its status as a free Hanseatic city. In 1539, the electors and the city officially became Lutheran.[37]
17th to 19th centuries
Frederick the Great (1712–1786) was one of Europe's enlightened monarchs.
Berlin became the capital of the German Empire in 1871 and expanded rapidly in the following years. (Unter den Linden in 1900)
In 1740, Frederick II, known as Frederick the Great (1740–1786), came to power.[43] Under the rule of Frederick II, Berlin became a center of the Enlightenment.[44] Following France's victory in the War of the Fourth Coalition, Napoleon Bonaparte marched into Berlin in 1806, but granted self-government to the city.[45] In 1815, the city became part of the new Province of Brandenburg.[46]
The Industrial Revolution transformed Berlin during the 19th century; the city's economy and population expanded dramatically, and it became the main railway hub and economic centre of Germany. Additional suburbs soon developed and increased the area and population of Berlin. In 1861, neighboring suburbs including Wedding, Moabit and several others were incorporated into Berlin.[47] In 1871, Berlin became capital of the newly founded German Empire.[48] In 1881, it became a city district separate from Brandenburg.[49]
20th to 21st centuries
Street, Berlin (1913) by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Berlin in ruins after World War II (Potsdamer Platz, 1945).
The Berlin Wall
in 1986, painted on the western side. People crossing the so-called
"death strip" on the eastern side were at risk of being shot.
The fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989. On 3 October 1990, the German reunification process was formally finished.
In 1989, with the end of the Cold War and pressure from the East German population, the Berlin Wall fell on 9 November and was subsequently mostly demolished. Today, the East Side Gallery preserves a large portion of the Wall. On 3 October 1990, the two parts of Germany were reunified as the Federal Republic of Germany, and Berlin again became the official German capital. In 1991, the German Parliament, the
Bundestag, voted to move the seat of the German capital from Bonn to Berlin, which was completed in 1999. Berlin's 2001 administrative reform merged several districts. The number of boroughs was reduced from 23 to 12. In 2006, the FIFA World Cup Final was held in Berlin.
Geography
Main article: Geography of Berlin
View from the Victory Column towards Mitte, Berlin, Germany in the 21st century.
Mitte, the historical center: Unter den Linden boulevard in the foreground, high-rise buildings of Potsdamer Platz up to the right.
Topography
Aerial view over Berlin Mitte.
Substantial parts of present-day Berlin extend onto the low plateaus on both sides of the Spree Valley. Large parts of the boroughs Reinickendorf and Pankow lie on the Barnim Plateau, while most of the boroughs of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Tempelhof-Schöneberg, and Neukölln lie on the Teltow Plateau.
The borough of Spandau lies partly within the Berlin Glacial Valley and partly on the Nauen Plain, which stretches to the west of Berlin. The highest elevations in Berlin are the Teufelsberg and the Müggelberge in the city's outskirts, and in the center the Kreuzberg. While the latter measures 66 m (217 ft) above sea level, the former both have an elevation of about 115 m (377 ft). The Teufelsberg is in fact an artificial hill composed of a pile of rubble from the ruins of World War II.
Climate
The outskirts of Berlin are covered with woodlands and numerous lakes
Summers are warm and sometimes humid with average high temperatures of 22–25 °C (72–77 °F) and lows of 12–14 °C (54–57 °F). Winters are cool with average high temperatures of 3 °C (37 °F) and lows of −2 to 0 °C (28 to 32 °F). Spring and autumn are generally chilly to mild. Berlin's built-up area creates a microclimate, with heat stored by the city's buildings. Temperatures can be 4 °C (7 °F) higher in the city than in the surrounding areas.[59]
Annual precipitation is 570 millimeters (22 in) with moderate rainfall throughout the year. Snowfall mainly occurs from December through March.[60]
Cityscape
Berlin Mitte landmarks from left to right: Reichstag building, Fernsehturm Berlin, Berlin Cathedral, City hall, Brandenburg Gate
Berlin was devastated by bombing raids, fires and street battles during World War II, and many of the buildings that had remained after the war were demolished in the post-war period in both West and East Berlin. Much of this demolition was initiated by municipal architecture programs to build new residential or business quarters and main roads. Many ornaments of pre-war buildings were destroyed following modernist dogmas. While in both systems and in reunified Berlin, various important heritage monuments were also (partly) reconstructed, including the Forum Fridericianum with e.g., the State Opera (1955), Charlottenburg Palace (1957), the main monuments of the Gendarmenmarkt (1980s), Kommandantur (2003) and the project to reconstruct the baroque facades of the City Palace. A number of new buildings is inspired by historical predecessors or the general classical style of Berlin, such as Hotel Adlon.
Clusters of high-rise buildings emerge at e.g., Potsdamer Platz, City West and Alexanderplatz. Berlin has three of the top 40 tallest buildings in Germany.
Architecture
Main article: Architecture in Berlin
A residential building in Kreuzberg.
The Brandenburg Gate.
The East Side Gallery is an open-air exhibition of art painted directly on the last existing portions of the Berlin Wall. It is the largest remaining evidence of the city's historical division.
The Gendarmenmarkt, a neoclassical square in Berlin the name of which derives from the headquarters of the famous Gens d'armes regiment located here in the 18th century, is bordered by two similarly designed cathedrals, the Französischer Dom with its observation platform and the Deutscher Dom. The Konzerthaus (Concert Hall), home of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, stands between the two cathedrals.
Potsdamer Platz at night.
View of Friedrichstraße
Potsdamer Platz is an entire quarter built from scratch after 1995 after the Wall came down.[66] To the west of Potsdamer Platz is the Kulturforum, which houses the Gemäldegalerie, and is flanked by the Neue Nationalgalerie and the Berliner Philharmonie. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a Holocaust memorial, is situated to the north.[67]
The area around Hackescher Markt is home to the fashionable culture, with countless clothing outlets, clubs, bars, and galleries. This includes the Hackesche Höfe, a conglomeration of buildings around several courtyards, reconstructed around 1996. The nearby New Synagogue is the center of Jewish culture.
Schloss Charlottenburg is the largest existing palace in Berlin.
The Kurfürstendamm is home to some of Berlin's luxurious stores with the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at its eastern end on Breitscheidplatz. The church was destroyed in the Second World War and left in ruins. Nearby on Tauentzienstraße is KaDeWe, claimed to be continental Europe's largest department store. The Rathaus Schöneberg, where John F. Kennedy made his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner!" speech, is situated in Tempelhof-Schöneberg.
West of the center, Schloss Bellevue is the residence of the German President. Schloss Charlottenburg, which was burnt out in the Second World War is the largest historical palace in Berlin.
The Funkturm Berlin is a 150 m (490 ft) tall lattice radio tower at the fair area, built between 1924 and 1926. It is the only observation tower which stands on insulators and has a restaurant 55 m (180 ft) and an observation deck 126 m (413 ft) above ground, which is reachable by a windowed elevator.
See also: List of sights in Berlin and List of tallest buildings in Berlin
Demographics
Main article: Demographics of Berlin
Young Berliners at the Tiergarten
Berlin's population 1880–2012
Active immigration and asylum politics in West Berlin triggered waves of immigration in the 1960s and 1970s. Currently, Berlin is home to about 200,000 Turks,[70] making it the largest Turkish community outside of Turkey. In the 1990s the Aussiedlergesetze enabled immigration to Germany of some residents from the former Soviet Union. Today ethnic Germans from countries of the former Soviet Union make up the largest portion of the Russian-speaking community.[71] The last decade experienced an influx from various Western countries and some African regions.[72] Young Germans, EU-Europeans and Israelis have settled in the city.[73]
Government
Main article: Politics of Berlin
City state
Rotes Rathaus, seat of the Berlin Senate
The Social Democratic Party (SPD) and The Left (Die Linke) took control of the city government after the 2001 state election and won another term in the 2006 state election.[87] Since the 2011 state election, there has been a coalition of the Social Democratic Party with the Christian Democratic Union, and for the first time ever, the Pirate Party won seats in a state parliament in Germany.
The Governing Mayor is simultaneously Lord Mayor of the city (Oberbürgermeister der Stadt) and Prime Minister of the Federal State (Ministerpräsident des Bundeslandes). The office of Berlin's Governing Mayor is in the Rotes Rathaus (Red City Hall). Since 2014 this office has been held by Michael Müller of the SPD.[88] On 26 August 2014, Wowereit announced his resignation as of 11 December 2014.[89]
The total annual state budget of Berlin in 2007 exceeded €20.5 ($28.7) billion including a budget surplus of €80 ($112) million.[90] The total budget included an estimated amount of €5.5 ($7.7) bn, which is directly financed by either the German government or the German Bundesländer.[91]
Boroughs
Main article: Boroughs and localities of Berlin
Berlin is subdivided into twelve boroughs (Bezirke). Each borough contains a number of localities (Ortsteile),
which often have historic roots in older municipalities that predate
the formation of Greater Berlin on 1 October 1920 and became urbanized
and incorporated into the city. Many residents strongly identify with
their localities or boroughs. At present Berlin consists of 96
localities, which are commonly made up of several city
neighborhoods—called Kiez in the Berlin dialect—representing small residential areas.
Each borough is governed by a borough council (Bezirksamt) consisting of five councilors (Bezirksstadträte) including the borough mayor (Bezirksbürgermeister). The borough council is elected by the borough assembly (Bezirksverordnetenversammlung). The boroughs of Berlin are not independent municipalities. The power of borough administration is limited and subordinate to the Senate of Berlin. The borough mayors form the council of mayors (Rat der Bürgermeister), led by the city's governing mayor, which advises the senate. The localities have no local government bodies.
Sister cities
Berlin maintains official partnerships with 17 cities.[92] Town twinning between Berlin and other cities began with sister city Los Angeles in 1967. East Berlin's partnerships were canceled at the time of German reunification and later partially reestablished. West Berlin's partnerships had previously been restricted to the borough level. During the Cold War era, the partnerships had reflected the different power blocs, with West Berlin partnering with capitals in the West, and East Berlin mostly partnering with cities from the Warsaw Pact and its allies.There are several joint projects with many other cities, such as Beirut, Belgrade, São Paulo, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Oslo, Shanghai, Seoul, Sofia, Sydney, New York City and Vienna. Berlin participates in international city associations such as the Union of the Capitals of the European Union, Eurocities, Network of European Cities of Culture, Metropolis, Summit Conference of the World's Major Cities, and Conference of the World's Capital Cities. Berlin's official sister cities are:[92]
Capital city
Berlin is the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany. The President of Germany, whose functions are mainly ceremonial under the German constitution, has his official residence in Schloss Bellevue.[96] Berlin is the seat of the German executive, housed in the Chancellery, the Bundeskanzleramt. Facing the Chancellery is the Bundestag, the German Parliament, housed in the renovated Reichstag building since the government moved back to Berlin in 1998. The Bundesrat ("federal council", performing the function of an upper house) is the representation of the Federal States (Bundesländer) of Germany and has its seat at the former Prussian House of Lords.-
The German Chancellery
-
The Italian embassy
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The Federal Ministry of Finance
Berlin hosts 158 foreign embassies[98] as well as the headquarters of many think tanks, trade unions, non-profit organizations, lobbying groups, and professional associations. Due to the influence and international partnerships of the Federal Republic of Germany as a state, the capital city has become a venue for German and European affairs. Frequent official visits, and diplomatic consultations among governmental representatives and national leaders are common in contemporary Berlin.
Economy
Main article: Economy of Berlin
Berlin is a UNESCO "City of Design" and recognized for its creative industries and start-up environment.
Important economic sectors in Berlin include life sciences, transportation, information and communication technologies, media and music, advertising and design, biotechnology, environmental services, construction, e-commerce, retail, hotel business, and medical engineering.[101]
Research and development have economic significance for the city. The metropolitan region ranks among the top-3 innovative locations in the EU.[102] The Science and Business Park in Adlershof is the largest technology park in Germany measured by revenue.[103] Within the Eurozone, Berlin has become a center for business relocation and international investments.[104]
Companies
Air Berlin is headquartered in Berlin.
Daimler manufactures cars, and BMW builds motorcycles in Berlin. Bayer Health Care and Berlin Chemie are major pharmaceutical companies headquartered in the city. The second largest German airline Air Berlin is based there as well.[106]
Siemens, a Global 500 and DAX-listed company is partly headquartered in Berlin. The national railway operator Deutsche Bahn and the MDAX-listed firms Axel Springer SE and Zalando have their headquarters in the central districts.[107] Berlin has a cluster of rail technology companies and is the German headquarter or site to Bombardier Transportation,[108] Siemens Mobility,[109] Stadler Rail and Thales Transportation.[110]
Tourism and conventions
The ICC is part of the city's exhibition and congress center.
Berlin is among the top three congress cities in the world and home to Europe's biggest convention center, the Internationales Congress Centrum (ICC) at the Messe Berlin.[18] Several large-scale trade fairs like the consumer electronics trade fair IFA, the ILA Berlin Air Show, the Berlin Fashion Week (including the Bread and Butter tradeshow), the Green Week, the transport fair InnoTrans, the tourism fair ITB and the adult entertainment and erotic fair Venus are held annually in the city, attracting a significant number of business visitors.
Creative industries
Industries that do business in the creative arts and entertainment are an important and sizable sector of the economy of Berlin. The creative arts sector comprises music, film, advertising, architecture, art, design, fashion, performing arts, publishing, R&D, software,[112] TV, radio, and video games. Around 22,600 creative enterprises, predominantly SMEs, generated over 18,6 billion euro in revenue. Berlin's creative industries have contributed an estimated 20 percent of Berlin's gross domestic product in 2005.[113]Media
Main articles: Media in Berlin and List of films set in Berlin
Headquarter of the Axel Springer SE
Berlin has Germany's largest number of daily newspapers, with numerous local broadsheets (Berliner Morgenpost, Berliner Zeitung, Der Tagesspiegel), and three major tabloids, as well as national dailies of varying sizes, each with a different political affiliation, such as Die Welt, Neues Deutschland, and Die Tageszeitung. The Exberliner, a monthly magazine, is Berlin's English-language periodical focusing on arts and entertainment. Berlin is also the headquarters of the two major German-language publishing houses Walter de Gruyter and Springer, each of which publish books, periodicals, and multimedia products.
Berlin is an important centre in the European and German film industry.[115] It is home to more than 1000 film and television production companies, 270 movie theaters, and around 300 national and international co-productions are filmed in the region every year.[102] The historic Babelsberg Studios and the production company UFA are located outside Berlin in Potsdam. The city is also home of the European Film Academy and the German Film Academy, and hosts the annual Berlin International Film Festival. With around 500,000 admissions it is the largest publicly attended film festival in the world.[116][117]
Infrastructure
Transport
Main article: Transport in Berlin
Berlin Hauptbahnhof is the largest grade-separated railway station in Europe.
Long-distance rail lines connect Berlin with all of the major cities of Germany and with many cities in neighboring European countries. Regional rail lines provide access to the surrounding regions of Brandenburg and to the Baltic Sea. The Berlin Hauptbahnhof is the largest grade-separated railway station in Europe.[120] Deutsche Bahn runs trains to domestic destinations like Hamburg, Munich, Cologne and others. It also runs an airport express rail service, as well as trains to several international destinations, e.g., Vienna, Prague, Zürich, Warsaw and Amsterdam.Berlin city
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