Neukölln (locality)

Neukölln (German: [nɔʏˈkœln] ^ⓘ), formerly Rixdorf (German: [rˈɪksdɔɾf]), from 1899 to 1920 an independent city, is a large inner-city quarter of Berlin in the homonymous borough of Neukölln, and evolved around the historic village of Rixdorf. With 162,548 inhabitants (2025) the quarter has the second-largest population of Berlin after Prenzlauer Berg. Since the early 13th century, the local settlements, villages and cities down to the present day have always been a popular destination for colonists and immigrants. In modern times, it was originally shaped by the working class and gastarbeiters, but western immigration since the turn of the millennium has led to gentrification and a rejuvenation of the quarter's culture and nightlife.

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Neukölln
Quarter of Berlin
Hasenheide on the western outskirts of Neukölln with St. John's Basilica
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Neukölln in Neukölln borough and Berlin
Location of Neukölln
Neukölln Show map of Germany Neukölln Show map of Berlin
Coordinates: 52°28′39.3″N 13°26′31.5″E
Country	Germany
State	Berlin
City	Berlin
Borough	Neukölln
Founded	26 June 1360 (official), 1190–1210 (unofficial)
Subdivisions	9 neighborhoods or 5 regions with 21 planning areas
Government
• Borough mayor	Martin Hikel (SPD)
Area
• Total	11.7 km² (4.5 sq mi)
Elevation	43.6 m (143 ft)
Population (2023-12-31)^[1]
• Total	163,735
• Density	14,000/km² (36,200/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	12043, 12045, 12047, 12049, 12051, 12053, 12055, 12057, 12059
Vehicle registration	B
Website	https://www.berlin.de/ba-neukoelln/

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Geography

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Perspective

Neukölln is on the North European Plain, which is typically characterized by low-lying marshy woodlands with a mainly flat topography. The quarter lies on the geological border between the shallow Weichselian Warsaw-Berlin Urstromtal glacial valley and the northernmost edge of the Teltow young drift ground moraine plateau, specifically the Rollberge,^{[note 1]} a small range of glacial hills rising to the south of Hermannplatz and the street Hasenheide, and to the west of Rixdorf and the street Karl-Marx-Straße. Neukölln's average natural elevation is 43.6 m (143 ft) above NHN, ranging from 32.3 m (106 ft) to 54.8 m (180 ft),^{[note 2]} with the highest man-made elevation at 67.9 m (223 ft) achieved by the Rixdorfer Höhe, a schuttberg in the Volkspark Hasenheide.^{[note 3]} Neukölln's geographical center, based on a minimum bounding plane, is located east of Richardstraße 101 near Kirchgasse at a linear distance of approximately 2.3 km (1.4 mi) to the river Spree with an elevation of 34.8 m (114 ft).

Location

Neukölln forms the lower east side of Berlin's city center within the Ringbahn, and is the northernmost quarter in the homonymous borough of Neukölln, with the borough stretching all the way to Berlin's southern border with Brandenburg. The quarter, administratively abbreviated Neukö, is officially an Ortsteil, and the borough a Verwaltungsbezirk (administrative district), in Berlin designated Bezirk (district).^{[note 4]} Different from the borough, the smaller quarter of Neukölln has no mayor or representative assembly of its own. To distinguish the quarter from the borough, the latter is sometimes informally called Groß-Neukölln ("Greater Neukölln"), while the quarter is also called Berlin-Neukölln^{[note 5]} or Nord-Neukölln.^{[note 6]}

In the south, the quarter Neukölln is adjacent to the quarter Britz, which is also part of greater Neukölln, and to Späthsfelde in the quarter Baumschulenweg east of Britz. In the north and north-west, it borders on the quarter Kreuzberg in the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough, namely the southern part of the historical Luisenstadt district in the SO 36 neighborhood, and the Graefekiez and Bergmannkiez in the Kreuzberg 61 neighborhood, which were once part of the historical Tempelhofer Vorstadt district. Neukölln's northernmost tip is also adjacent to Kreuzberg's neighborhood Wassertorplatz in the southern part of the historical Friedrichstadt district. In the west and south-west, Neukölln borders on the quarter Tempelhof in the Tempelhof-Schöneberg borough. In the north-east to south-east, Neukölln borders on the quarters Alt-Treptow, Plänterwald and western Baumschulenweg, which, together with Späthsfelde, are all part of the Treptow-Köpenick borough in former East Berlin.

Neukölln is separated from Kreuzberg by the park Volkspark Hasenheide, the Landwehr Canal, and the streets Kottbusser Damm and Hasenheide as far as the city square Südstern, which conforms to Berlin's historical Weichbildgrenze (1861–1919). With Tempelhof, Neukölln shares the Tempelhofer Feld, the vast field of the former Tempelhof Airport, now a popular recreation area. The Britz Canal, the green corridor Heidekamppark with the trench Heidekampgraben, the Kiefholzstraße and several urban streets in the Harzer Kiez separate Neukölln from the quarters of Treptow-Köpenick in former East Berlin. Finally, the Stadtring motorway with the Carl-Weder-Park, streets like Britzkestraße, Juliushof and Grenzallee, as well as the southern end of the Neukölln Ship Canal, form the administrative border with the Britz quarter.

The Teltow Canal, on the other hand, forms the geographical and demographic border within the borough Neukölln. The canal separates the dense urban areas of Neukölln and northern Britz with their higher share of immigrants and lower-income citizenry from the borough's southern residential areas, which, with the exception of Gropiusstadt, are mainly characterized by a larger number of family homes and middle-class households.^{[note 7]}

Subdivisions

Neighborhoods

Neukölln has nine primary neighborhoods (Kieze), administratively called Ortslagen,^[2] among them the historical sites of Neukölln's foundation south-east of the quarters's geographical center,

Richardplatz-Süd^{[note 8]}

to the south and south-east of the central plaza Richardplatz, and

Böhmisch-Rixdorf^{[note 9]}

to the north and north-west, which together are commonly referred to as Rixdorf or Alt-Rixdorf ("Old Rixdorf").^{[note 10]} The other primary neighborhoods are (from north to south):

Reuterkiez,^{[note 11]}
Flughafenkiez,^{[note 12]}
Schillerkiez,^{[note 13]}
Rollberg,^{[note 14]}
Weiße Siedlung,^{[note 15]}
Körnerpark,^{[note 16]} and
High-Deck-Siedlung.^{[note 17]}

Other sites

Several commonly recognized secondary neighborhoods exist in Neukölln. The most important and oldest central urban community is the Donaukiez along Donaustraße between Sonnenallee and Karl-Marx-Straße, including Hermannplatz at its western end.^{[note 18]} The oldest suburban community is the historically important Dammwegsiedlung just south of the Weiße Siedlung, an early modern housing estate from the 1920s.^{[note 19]} A recently evolved neighborship of cultural importance is the Weserkiez with its famous party mile around Weserstraße north of Sonnenallee.^{[note 20]} Due to urban development and expansion, many other kiez communities have formed over the decades, sometimes distinguished in the city's official LOR framework (see below) or the focus of current or former neighborhood management,^{[note 21]} while an outlier is Kreuzkölln, which is a meta-neighborhood and loosely defined cultural sphere, described by a modern jocular toponym,^{[note 22]} which since the mid-2000s has often been used for the northern parts of the quarter and the surrounding regions of Kreuzberg.^{[note 23]}

Urban planning

Berlin's official urban planning framework, on the other hand, divides Berlin's boroughs and quarters into so-called Lebensweltlich orientierte Räume ("lifeworld-oriented regions"). In this LOR framework, the quarter of Neukölln, non-administrative district 10 in borough 08, as of 2025, is divided into five regions, each of them further compartmentalized into a total of 21 LORs, also called Planungsräume (planning areas).^[3]

More information Region, Region number ...

Overview: regions, planning areas, neighborhoods and other areas of Neukölln
Region	Region number	Planning area (LOR)	Area number	Primary neighborhoods	Secondary neighborhoods	Neighborships	Other areas	Industry	Other localities
Schillerpromenade	01	Hasenheide	01		Hasenheide		Volkspark Hasenheide		Tierpark Neukölln
Schillerpromenade Nord	02	Schillerkiez			Tempelhofer Feld
Schillerpromenade Süd	03
Wartheplatz	04		Warthekiez			Werner-Seelenbinder-Sportpark
Silbersteinstraße	05		Silbersteinkiez				Emmauswald, Carl-Weder-Park
Neuköllner Mitte/Zentrum	02	Flughafenstraße	06	Flughafenkiez
Rollberg	07	Rollberg			Lessinghöhe
Körnerpark	08	Körnerpark			Thomashöhe		Körnerpark
Glasower Straße	09		Glasower Kiez	Kranoldkiez		Industrial park Lahnstraße
Reuterstraße	03	Maybachufer	10	Reuterkiez		Friedelkiez	Kreuzkölln
Reuterplatz	11
	Weserkiez
Weichselplatz	12
Bouchéstraße	13		Harzer Straße
Donaustraße	14		Donaukiez				Hermannplatz
Rixdorf	04	Ganghoferstraße	15			Ganghoferstraße
Alt-Rixdorf	16	Böhmisch-Rixdorf
Richardplatz-Süd					Richardplatz
Braunschweiger Straße	17
Hertzbergplatz	18			Weserkiez	Wohnanlage Ossastraße	Treptow freight yards, industrial park Ederstraße, Neukölln Docklands	Wildenbruchplatz
Treptower Straße Nord	19		Harzer Straße			Treptow freight yards, industrial park Treptower Straße
Köllnische Heide	05	Weiße Siedlung	20	Weiße Siedlung	Dammwegsiedlung			Neukölln Docklands	Heidekamppark, suburban garden allotments
Schulenburgpark	21	High-Deck-Siedlung		Schulenburgpark		Neukölln Harbor, industrial parks Köllnische Heide (Nobelstraße) & Lahnstraße	Heidekamppark, Von-der-Schulenburg-Park

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Nature

Summarize

Perspective

Tempelhofer Feld
Hasenheide
Körnerpark
Emmauswald
Neukölln Ship Canal
Rixdorfer Teich, Hasenheide
Red fox, Tempelhofer Feld
Common kestrel, Tempelhofer Feld

As of 2024, Berlin ranks among the greenest cities in Germany with only 44.5% of sealed ground, an average of 4.24 m³/m² (4.64 cu yd/sq yd) of vegetation, and a 50.6% share of surface area with green space (44%) or water bodies (6.6%), which provides a cooler urban climate and many options for natural habitats and urban recreation.^{[note 24]} Similarly, the borough of Neukölln has only 45.6% of sealed ground, mainly due to its extensive recreational parks, which, together with other nature areas, have a share of ca. 43%, with green spaces at 35%, of which 19.9% are parks and meadows, and up to 8% of water surfaces. However, due to the absence of large-scale true forests (see below), the borough only has an average of 3.0 m³/m² (3.3 cu yd/sq yd) of vegetation. Nevertheless, from 2019 to 2024 this was still enough to ensure an average maximum summer midday surface temperature of 36.01 °C (96.82 °F), more than one degree Celsius (two degrees Fahrenheit) lower than Berlin's hottest borough of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, which measured 37.22 °C (99.00 °F). Together with Pankow, this makes Neukölln one of the coolest boroughs in Berlin's inner city, and places it slightly below the class of boroughs that is categorized by an above-average risk of heat exposure for its residents.^[4] However, average estimates for the northern quarter of Neukölln with 72.5% sealed ground and only 15% green areas would result in a much higher heat exposure compared to the borough's southern quarters, even though at approximately 7.5%, the quarter Neukölln (including Kreuzberg's Landwehr Canal) has a rather high share of water surface area.

Parks and forests

The borough of Neukölln, and especially its homonymous quarter, is densely populated and urbanized, and only has 3.1% (2019) of original natural land and true forests left, second to last before the borough Tempelhof-Schöneberg.^[5] However, the lack of true forests, which in Neukölln are only 0.1% of the overall surface area, is offset by many green plazas, parks and other vegetated recreational areas at an overall share of 35%, not counting active cemeteries,^{[note 25]} which actually make Neukölln one of the greenest of all Berlin boroughs, even taking the city's top spot with 19.9% of parks and meadows.^{[note 26]}

Green space in the quarter Neukölln has a relatively low share of approximately 15% and is dominated by small to medium-sized parks, but the two major parks in the western part of Neukölln, the Volkspark Hasenheide and the Tempelhofer Feld, more than make up for the lack of large green areas in other spots. Smaller parks are found in all neighborhoods, many of which are among Neukölln's historical garden monuments,^[6] for example the Anita-Berber-Park (Schillerpromenade), a former cemetery, and the stadium park of the Werner Seelenbinder sporting grounds, both of which connect to the Tempelhofer Feld, the recently decommissioned cemetery Neuer St. Jacobi Friedhof (Schillerpromenade), now mostly used as a park, with parts under management by the Prinzessinnengärten gardening project, Lessinghöhe and Thomashöhe (Körnerpark), the Körnerpark itself, a former gravel quarry, with the Rübelandpark connecting Thomashöhe and Körnerpark, the Comenius Garden (Rixdorf), Herbert-Krause-Park and Von-der-Schulenburg-Park near High-Deck-Siedlung, and extensive stretches of garden allotments like Helmutstal and Märkische Schweiz close to the quarter's eastern border, including the Heidekamppark, a long green corridor adjacent to the trench Heidekampgraben. On the southern and south-western borders to the quarters Britz and Tempelhof respectively is the Carl-Weder-Park, a stretched park above the underground Stadtring autobahn west of the Britzer Damm. Immediately adjacent to the north is the Emmauswald, often called Emmi by Berliners, a former cemetery and Neukölln's only true natural forest, with the Emmauskirchhof, a still active graveyard, connecting to the east. Furthermore, several inner-city squares and building complexes have been designed with green stretches.^{[note 27]}

Water bodies

In the borough Neukölln, water bodies are up to 8% of the whole surface area, with the northern quarter at approximately 7.5% trailing behind Rudow and especially Britz, two of Neukölln's four other quarters. Like its parks and forests, with the exception of the Emmauswald, all of Neukölln's water bodies are man-made. Several of the quarter's parks contain artificial lakes and ponds, for example the Volkspark Hasenheide (Rixdorfer Teich), the Comenius Garden (Weltenmeer), the Karma Culture Garden in Rixdorf, and the Von-Der-Schulenburg-Park (High-Deck-Siedlung). Neukölln's prominent waterway is the Neukölln Ship Canal, which connects the Teltow and Britz Canals with the Landwehr Canal and (through Kreuzberg) the river Spree. The Neukölln Harbor, consisting of an upper and lower basin and connected via the Neukölln Watergate, was built in tandem with the Britz Harbor north of the Teltow Canal. Smaller landing stages are located along the Neukölln Ship Canal until Kiehlufer, and these Neukölln Docklands are currently subject to extensive redevelopment.

Wildlife

Like all of inner-city Berlin, Neukölln, despite its high level of urbanization, has a diverse and thriving population of urban wildlife.^[7] The quarter's sufficient share of vegetation, parks and other green areas (see above) not only provides a cooler urban climate, but also promotes the settlement of wildlife. Wild species in Neukölln have usually found their safe retreats along the waterways and in the bigger parks and cemeteries, while using migration routes into the central neighborhoods along train tracks and through the interconnected park and cemetery areas, for example from Tempelhofer Feld to Lessinghöhe. Greener quarters adjacent to Neukölln in the south and east also promote migration into the quarter.

Neukölln's nature and wildlife are primarily managed by rangers from Berlin's Stiftung Naturschutz (Charity for Nature Conservation). Political measures over the past years have improved natural habitats and the ecological component of Berlin's path toward a more sustainable development. Among them are a strict urban tree planting and replacement policy, an emphasis on discreetly controlled rank growth, both in parks and on median strips, protected nature areas in larger parks, and more neighborhood-oriented action like roof gardens, for example the Kranichgarten at the Neukölln Arcaden, vegetated and partially fenced Baumscheiben around road trees instead of tree grates, as well as vegetated parklets. The Tempelhofer Feld is home to several protected and endangered plant and animal species like the Italian locust and the wood white butterfly. Almost half of the vast park's bird species are on the list of highly endangered species, among them the whinchat and the wheatear.^[8]

Generally, Neukölln's wildlife is no different from that of other inner-city quarters of Berlin, so red foxes, rabbits and smaller rodent species like the red squirrel and several muroidea as well as urban birds like doves, crows and (on the quarter's canals) swans, geese and ducks are almost ubiquitous. Less noticeable species include the badger, the beech marten, the hedgehog, bats, the true toad and other species of frog. In recent years, otters and beavers have also made a comeback in Neukölln, for example at the Landwehr Canal.^[9] To date, no sightings of wild boar have been recorded for the quarter Neukölln.^{[note 28]}

While the plain and unadorned surfaces of modern architecture have all but pushed out traditional urban bird species like the common swift and the house martin, Berlin, unlike other German cities, is still a safe haven for many others. A prominent example is the sparrow, and Berlin is now regarded as the "sparrow capital" of Germany.^[10] Predatory birds, though common to Berlin,^[11] are not native to the quarter of Neukölln, but sometimes intrude from other peripheral areas, for example the common kestrel from the borough's southern quarters. Rank growth and gardening policies have been the basis for a slight revival of the urban insect population, including endangered or almost extinct species like the vine weevil, which also reattracts bird species to the urbanized areas. Furthermore, Neukölln is now home to 300 species of wild bees.

Like all cities in today's globalized world, Berlin and Neukölln are also home to several invasive species like the raccoon or the Himalayan balsam.^[12] Neukölln in particular has a fairly large population of nutria and muskrat. Several foreign species of fish and crustaceans have settled in Berlin's waterways, and have markedly shifted the balance of indigenous species. Especially the population of red swamp crayfish has risen sharply in the past decade, including in the Landwehr Canal, and the reintroduction of eels into Berlin's waterways is planned as a countermeasure.^[13]

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History

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Perspective

The quarter's history begins with its foundation as a Knights Templar stronghold during the Ostsiedlung era in the late 12th to early 13th century. Following its demilitarization and rededication as an agricultural Templar estate around 1245, its ownership was transferred to the Knights Hospitaller in 1318. The estate was legally elevated to the status of village in its foundational charter of 1360, which is the earliest source for its original toponym, Richardsdorf, which was later contracted to Ricksdorf.

In the 15th century, Ricksdorf became a shared treasury village of the Cölln and Alt-Berlin magistracies, a status that lasted for three centuries through the breakup and reunification of Cölln and Berlin. In the 18th century, its official modern name Rixdorf emerged, and the village was expanded with a large colony of Bohemian refugees. In the 19th century, the colony Böhmisch-Rixdorf eventually united with the historical Deutsch-Rixdorf, and the new village grew into the largest town of Prussia, becoming an important industrial center of the region. In 1899, Rixdorf was granted the status of an independent and free city. In 1912, the city was renamed to Neukölln.

With the 1920 Greater Berlin Act, Neukölln merged with the city of Berlin and, together with the former villages and towns of Britz, Buckow and Rudow, formed Neukölln, a large borough of Germany's capital, which stretches all the way from the city center's lower east side to the southern border with Brandenburg. Since the Weimar Republic, Neukölln's fate has been closely intertwined with the history of Berlin. Over its long history, the quarter Neukölln has always been a popular destination for colonists, migrant workers, refugees and immigrants.

Demographics and social statistics

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Perspective

As of 2025,^[14] Neukölln with its 162,548 inhabitants has the second-highest population of Berlin's quarters after Prenzlauer Berg. The borough's current budget deficit stands at €10.2 million ($11,39 million), and in 2024 Neukölln's district office declared the third spending freeze in a year.^[15] In 2023, the unemployment rate in Neukölln was at 14.1%. The poverty rate was at 29%, more than a third of Neukölln's children and adolescents were poor or at risk of poverty,^[16] and the borough is currently the only German district with its own poverty commissioner.^[17]

As of 2025, 58.3% of residents in the quarter Neukölln are German or foreign first or later-generation immigrants, up from 46% in 2019^[18] and 48% in 2021, with roots in more than 155 countries.^[19] The overall share of foreigners in the quarter currently stands at 36%, and has continued to rise in the past years due to western immigration and the ongoing European migrant crisis,^[20] while the number of Ukrainians in the borough Neukölln increased by 11.9% in 2023 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[21] Due to the quarter's dense urban character, only far less than five percent of Berlin's refugees can be accommodated in Neukölln.^{[note 29]} As of 2025, the percentage of foreigners without German citizenship is 21.6% on the low end in Bouchéstraße (LOR 100313), and as high as 42.9% in Treptower Straße Nord (LOR 100419), while the highest share in the quarter's historical center stands at 40.3% in the Donaustraße neighborhood (LOR 100314).^[22] The bulk of the most recent migration originated in Islamic countries,^{[note 30]} and over the years this development, coupled with a strong local grassroots radical left counterculture, has led to a significant increase in antisemitism^{[note 31]} and pro-Palestinian propaganda,^{[note 32]} also fueled by the politicians of Neukölln's chapter of Die Linke.^[23]

Crime, police and fire safety

Two out of Berlin's seven so-called "crime-burdened locations" (kriminalitätsbelastete Orte, kbOs) are in Neukölln, Hermannplatz with Donaukiez including Sonnenallee, and Hermannstraße around Hermannstraße Station,^[24] with the local U-Bahn lines connecting to four of Berlin's five other kbOs.^{[note 33]} Especially in these two kbOs and their surrounding city blocks, Neukölln is also characterized by social and religious conflicts, manifesting in educational challenges,^[25] violent felonies^{[note 34]} including occasional gun violence,^[26] organized crime by Islamic clans, ranging from recurring gang and drug violence^[27] to protection racketeering,^[28] and occasional rioting and arson, transphobia and homophobia.^{[note 35]} Among the critical annual events for the Berlin Police are the so-called Revolutionary 1st of May Demonstration, which usually takes place in Kreuzberg and Neukölln as part of the local May Day, and the New Year's Eve festivities, which in recent past have often resulted in rioting and arson.^[29] Since 2022, Neukölln has had the highest garbage pollution of all Berlin boroughs.^[30]

Neukölln, together with the borough Neukölln, is part of the Directorate 5 of the Berlin Police. The quarter Neukölln is patrolled by Precinct 54 (Sonnenallee) and Precinct 55 (Rollbergstraße), while the S-Bahn and intercity trains and stations are patrolled by the German Federal Police. For Berlin's and Neukölln's kbOs, the police have been granted special authorities, specifically identity verification and searches of persons or their belongings without a warrant, probable cause or reasonable suspicion, which is embedded in a general weapons ban including the right to warrantless searches for Berlin's public transport system, enacted by the Berlin Senate in July 2025 after amendments to Berlin's ASOG law and constitution.^{[note 36]} Additional continuous AI-assisted video surveillance of all kbOs is to commence in 2026.^[31]

As with the police, Neukölln is part of the Directorate 5 of the Berlin Fire Brigade. It is served by the Fire Stations 5000 and 5001, whereas the latter is part of Berlin's volunteer fire department. Both stations are in the center of Neukölln on Kirchhofstraße in Rixdorf, so the neighborhoods of Neukölln are often served by stations in adjacent quarters, for example the Reuterkiez by Fire Stations 1600 and 1601 on Wiener Straße in Kreuzberg nearby.

Religion

The old village of Rixdorf had been part of the Holy Roman Empire as a Knights Templar and Hospitaller settlement, so it was historically a Roman Catholic village. However, the Reformation in the 16th century changed the religious makeup of many German regions, especially in the northern and eastern parts of the empire. Furthermore, in the early 18th century, Rixdorf came under Prussian political and cultural hegemony, which included Protestantism as the effective church of the state, so the Christian affiliative distribution gradually shifted away from the Roman faith. Rixdorf in particular was a prominent example of this development, because it eventually obtained a strong Protestant community, descended both from the early 18th century Moravian colonists and the industrial immigrants from the Eastern parts of the German Empire (1870–1910).^{[note 37]} In the course of the 20th and 21st centuries, the Christian parishes of Berlin, and in particular of Neukölln, hemorrhaged a significant share of their members. Following the secularization in the age of Enlightenment after the Reformation, many of the 20th century's global secular, atheist and sometimes downright antireligious political ideologies like communism, socialism and national socialism flourished (and clashed) in Berlin (see above), and a Marxist-Leninist regime eventually ruled over the Eastern parts of Germany and East Berlin for many decades. For this reason, a large part of Germany's population today is not affiliated with any religion, and Berlin in particular is often called the "atheist capital of the world".^[32] Beyond that, Neukölln had always been a left-leaning working class district, and a home to progressive voices from social reformists to Biblical critics like Bruno Bauer, so the effects with regard to irreligion are visible to this day.

German statistics offices are not required to gather information on the religious affiliations of the citizenry. The German church tax system, however, offers insight into the membership strength of at least the two primary Christian denominations in the borough of Neukölln. As of 2025, only 19.02% of Neukölln's residents are Christian, of which 7.18% are Catholic, while 11.84% belong to one of Germany's associated mainstream Protestant denominations (EKD). At roughly 72%, the vast majority of Berlin's residents, however, is irreligious, while 1.5% are of other faiths, not counting Islam, with similar numbers to be expected for Neukölln.^{[note 38]} Due to the quarter's ethnic makeup and history of Ottoman, Turkish and modern Muslim immigration, a significant minority adheres to the Islamic faiths, of which the Sunni branch forms the majority. Statistics for the quarter itself do not exist, but based on reliable, but partially outdated numbers for the whole of Berlin (4%) and the borough Neukölln (7–9%), the share of the Muslim population in the quarter Neukölln would be at least twice as high as the borough's overall share. In 2012, residents of Turkish descent made up 45% of the immigrant and 12% of the overall population, accounting for two thirds of the quarter's Muslim population, which at the time stood at a share of 18%.^[33] Increasing immigration from Islamic countries since 2015 therefore suggests that unofficial estimates of at least 20% and up to 25% (2024) are not false.^{[note 39]} Either way, Islam and (more precisely) Sunni Islam forms the largest religious cohort in the quarter Neukölln, dwarfed only by the number of irreligious residents at approximately 50–60%.

Within Neukölln's cosmopolitan citizenry, many other religions and denominations are present and thriving. The borough of Neukölln is home to several thousand Hindus, mainly from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and especially the number of Indian expats has been rising steadily since the 2022 enactment of the Deutsch-indisches Migrationsabkommen (German-Indian Treaty on Migration). Still, the religious and cultural diversity of German society, not least in Berlin, has suffered greatly in the past 90 years, namely from the loss of Jewish culture due to the Shoa and Jewish exodus from Germany. Jewish life cautiously resurged in the 1990s with the immigrating late repatriates from Eastern Europe, and the trend continued with the 21st century influx of young people from all around the world, many of whom come from Israel. However, in 2022 only 1% of Berlin's residents had been Jewish.

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Transport

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Perspective

The latest modal share data, based on a 2023–24 survey,^[34] shows that Neukölln's residents have changed their behavior significantly since the previous 2018 study. Pedestrian traffic rose to 33.3% of all routes, while automobile use fell to 21.3%, which roughly corresponds to citywide figures and is mainly due to altered work and mobility patterns since the COVID-19 pandemic. While bicycle use in Berlin is stagnating at 18%, it rose significantly to 21.8% in Neukölln, and is now slightly more prevalent than motorized individual transport, especially in the highly developed northern quarter. Public transport use has fallen from 24.9% to below 24%, and remains lower than the citywide share of 26%, which is also due to Neukölln's dense urban character with a high variety of retail and service options in close proximity, not least in the north, which reduces the need for longer trips. The main factor is the size of the Neukölln borough: many southern areas like the Buckow quarter and parts of Britz are not connected to the S- or U-Bahn network, so in many of Berlin's suburbs beyond the Ringbahn, using a private car is therefore still more attractive than riding a bus.

Public transport

In Berlin, urban railway services are managed by the S-Bahn Berlin GmbH, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, while all other public transport systems are managed by the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG).^{[note 40]} Together with the Brandenburg public transport providers, they form the network group Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg (VBB).

U-Bahn

Neukölln is served by two U-Bahn (subway) rail lines, the northwest-to-southeast U7 (Rathaus Spandau ↔ Rudow) via Jungfernheide and Wilmersdorfer Straße/Charlottenburg, and the north-to-south U8 (Wittenau ↔ Hermannstraße) via Alexanderplatz, with an interchange between the two at Hermannplatz.^{[note 41]} Within Neukölln, the U7 has three additional eastbound stations along the Karl-Marx-Straße: Rathaus Neukölln, Karl-Marx-Straße and Neukölln, the latter being an interchange between U- and S-Bahn. The U8 has three additional southbound stations along the Hermannstraße: Boddinstraße, Leinestraße and Hermannstraße, the latter being the quarter's second interchange between U- and S-Bahn.

Three U-Bahn stations just outside of the quarter offer quicker access to certain neighborhoods of Neukölln: Südstern (U7) to the western parts of Hasenheide, Schönleinstraße (U8) to the Reuterkiez, and Grenzallee (U7) to the southern and south-eastern industrial parks including the Neukölln Harbor.

During workday nights, approximately between 1:00 and 4:00, Berlin's subways are not operational, but are replaced by buses. In Neukölln, the U7 and U8 are replaced by the bus lines N7 and N8 respectively. During nights before Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, the U-Bahn lines operate continuously.

S-Bahn

Neukölln is served by four S-Bahn (urban railway) lines, with U-Bahn interchanges at Berlin-Hermannstraße (U8) and Berlin-Neukölln (U7), each for all of the four lines. The shorter S47 connects the quarter to Südkreuz in the west, and via Baumschulenweg station, Niederschöneweide and the Schöneweide–Spindlersfeld branch line to Spindlersfeld in the south-eastern Dahme suburbs of Berlin's city center. The long-haul S46 connects Neukölln to Westend in the far west via Südkreuz, Westkreuz and Messe Nord/ZOB close to the Messe Berlin exhibition grounds, the ICC and Berlin's central bus station. In the opposite direction, the S46 connects to the town Königs Wusterhausen south-east of Berlin via Baumschulenweg station, Adlershof, Grünau and the town Zeuthen. Two additional important services are the Ringbahn circle lines S41 (clockwise) and S42 (counter-clockwise), providing access to numerous U-Bahn and S-Bahn interchanges, and connecting through all of Berlin's crosses, Südkreuz, Westkreuz, Gesundbrunnen (Nordkreuz) and Ostkreuz with many intercity travel options.^{[note 42]} Overall, Neukölln has four S-Bahn stations, the aforementioned Hermannstraße and Neukölln as well as Sonnenallee on the Ringbahn at the outskirts of Rixdorf, and Köllnische Heide on the southeastbound railway, providing S-Bahn access to the inhabitants of Weiße Siedlung, High-Deck-Siedlung and Schulenburgpark.

Bus

Due to sufficient access to U- and S-Bahn for most areas of Neukölln, the quarter is currently not served by any of Berlin's ExpressBus lines. Still, Neukölln has several regular bus lines, connecting for example Marzahn (194) and Marienfelde (277). There are also four MetroBus lines, the most important ones being the M29 connecting via Checkpoint Charlie and the southern Potsdamer Platz area to the western city center including Kurfürstendamm, the M41 to Berlin Central Station via Potsdamer Platz, and the southbound M44 via Britzer Garten to Buckow-Süd, the terminus of a potential extension of the U-Bahn line U8 (see below). In addition to the U-Bahn replacement bus lines during night hours, Neukölln is served by several regular night bus lines, for example the N8 and N7 (see above), and the N94 connecting Hermannplatz and Lichtenberg railway station via Ostkreuz.

Airport connections

Since the closing of the airports Tegel and Tempelhof, whose airfield was partially situated in Neukölln, Berlin only has one remaining international airport, Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), the former (and greatly extended) Berlin Schönefeld Airport just outside of Berlin.^{[note 43]} Since the 2025 timetable change, which included the cancellation of the S-Bahn line S45, the quarter Neukölln has no direct daytime connection to the BER anymore.

When exclusively using the U-Bahn, an interchange between subway and the airport express bus lines X7 and X71 is necessary at the current U7 terminus Rudow.^{[note 44]} If the S-Bahn is the primary mode of transport, BER passengers to and from Neukölln can use interchanges at Südkreuz station between S-Bahn and the FEX airport express train or the regional express train RE20, which both connect to the BER, and are usually the fastest routes between Neukölln and the airport.^{[note 45]} A slightly longer alternate route is possible with an interchange at Schöneweide station between the S-Bahn lines S46 or S47 and the regional express trains RE24 or RE32.^{[note 46]} When exclusively using the S-Bahn, BER passengers to and from Neukölln need to use interchanges at Baumschulenweg station between the S46 or S47 (to and from Hermannstraße, Neukölln and Köllnische Heide) and the southern lines S85 and S9.^{[note 47]} During the night, the service on the U-Bahn line U7 is replaced by the night bus line N7, which directly connects Neukölln and the airport.^{[note 48]}

Ferry

Neukölln does not offer any regular ferry transport, but several landing stages for a variety of charter tours exist in Neukölln. Berlin shipping company Stern und Kreisschiffahrt, which is based at the Treptow Harbor, operates a landing at the Estrel Hotel on the Neukölln Ship Canal, with one route through Neukölln along the Landwehr Canal. Former Kreuzberg shipping company Reederei Riedel, which is now based at the Rummelsburg Harbor in Oberschöneweide, operates two landings, the Kottbusser Brücke at the Landwehr Canal, and the Wildenbruchbrücke at the Neukölln Ship Canal. One of their ships is the 1962 Rixdorf, which has been in their service since 1987 and is authorized for 250 passengers and crew.^{[note 49]}

Future

U-Bahn

There are concrete medium-term plans to extend the U7 south beyond Rudow to directly connect the airport BER to Neukölln and the rest of Berlin via U-Bahn, adding a minimum of two and up to seven additional stations inbetween, with Schönefeld also functioning as an S-Bahn interchange.^{[note 50]} In 2024, two performance audits for the extension began, with the Berlin audit still under way,^[35] while the audit by the Schönefeld municipality ended with a positive result in April 2025.^[36] The U7 would then be the first of Berlin's U-Bahn lines to reach beyond the city's borders. The planned extension will not open before 2035.^[37]

As Greater Berlin has been steadily growing since German reunification to now almost 4.8 million inhabitants, with extensive residential construction happening in Berlin's immediate surrounding regions, public transport extensions to the city's periphery are propagated frequently. With regard to Neukölln, an internal 2023 BVG feasibility study on long-term U-Bahn network expansion included a southbound extension of the U8 beyond Hermannstraße, terminating in the south of Buckow on the border to Brandenburg's Gartenstadt Großziethen,^[38] which would tilt southern Neukölln's modal share toward public transport, and away from private car use (see above).

S-Bahn

The borough administrations of Treptow-Köpenick and Neukölln have often pushed for an additional station on Berlin's Ringbahn, primarily at the Kiefholzstraße on the border of the two boroughs. However, the Berlin transport providers aim at one Ringbahn revolution every 60 minutes. Under this guideline, only one station can be added to the lines S41/42 for the whole of Berlin. The Kiefholzstraße therefore competes against four other proposed stations, one of them in Neukölln as well, namely Oderstraße at the south-eastern corner of the Tempelhofer Feld.^{[note 51]}

Bus and DRT

Two new MetroBus and ExpressBus lines are planned, the M94 to Friedrichsfelde-Ost via Treptow and Ostkreuz station, and the X77 from Hermannstraße to Marienfelde via Alt-Mariendorf.^[39]

Mainly two neighborhoods of Neukölln are insufficiently connected to the Berlin public transportation system, either because they were never developed (Schillerpromenade), or because the old and narrow streets prevent the establishment of bus lines (Alt-Rixdorf). Therefore the Berlin Senate and the BVG plan to create a network of DRT bus lines (Rufbus) for large parts of Neukölln, from the western neighborhoods at the Tempelhofer Feld to the Sonnenallee in the east, covering Schillerpromenade, Flughafenstraße, Rollberg, Körnerpark and both Rixdorf neighborhoods.^[40]

Tram

Despite Rixdorf's and Neukölln's important role in the historical development of Berlin's tramway, the quarter currently has no connection to the city's modern MetroTram system. Due to the Teltow slopes and narrower streets in places like Flughafenstraße, only Neukölln's northern neighborhoods in the glacial valley are immediately suitable for tram expansion. A long-gestating plan proposes to extend Berlin's so-called "party tram"^[41] line M10 by the year 2031^{[note 52]} from Kreuzberg (SO 36) through the Görlitzer Park and crossing the Landwehr Canal into Neukölln, with stations in the Reuterkiez planned at Framstraße, Pannierstraße and U Hermannplatz on Urbanstraße via Sonnenallee.^{[note 53]} This would create a direct public transport connection from Neukölln (Reuterkiez) to Kreuzberg, Friedrichshain, Prenzlauer Berg, Mitte, Moabit via Berlin Central Station, and Jungfernheide station in Charlottenburg-Nord.^[42]

To replace Neukölln's overstrained "ghetto bus"^[43] line M41, the Berlin Senate also has concrete plans to create a new tram line from Schöneweide S-Bahn station (or further east from Oberspree station) through Johannisthal along the Königsheide, part of the former Cölln Heath, through Baumschulenweg, Neukölln and Kreuzberg 61 along Sonnenallee and Urbanstraße via Hallesches Tor to Potsdamer Platz.^{[note 54]}

Maglev

The Berlin Senate's forthcoming mobility program for the year 2035 is expected to contain plans for urban transit maglev trains, with one line to connect Berlin's ICC and exhibition grounds with the BER airport. One already proposed potential route would lead along the A100 autobahn and through the southern parts of the Neukölln quarter.^[44] The proposal has been met with harsh rejection and criticism by public transport experts, who stated that the chances of this technology being used as part of Berlin's public transport network were slim.^[45] They emphasized that maglev trains would merely strengthen something that is already covered by the city's traditional public transport infrastructure, without increasing efficiency, and that the technology would neither provide the necessary last-mile and suburban extensions nor give more residents access to the city's existing network.^[46]

Individual transport

Motorized individual transport

Since Neukölln is densely populated and highly urbanized, most of its streets come with a speed limit of 30 km/h (19 mph) for motorized vehicles, including more aggressive urban planning measures in recent years aimed at reducing traffic with one-way roads and concepts like the Spielstraße ("play street"), modal filters or larger-scale neighborhood blocks (Kiezblock, LTN).^{[note 55]} Furthermore, in 2024 the Senate of Berlin and the borough's administration have begun to monetize public parking space in the northern neighborhoods to steer away some of the excess traffic.^[47]

Nevertheless, several main roads function as important arterial connections to other parts of Berlin: Columbiadamm, Urbanstraße and Hasenheide connect to the western parts of Berlin south of the city center via Tempelhof and the western neighborhood of Kreuzberg 61 respectively, while Sonnenallee, Karl-Marx-Straße and Hermannstraße connect to southern and south-eastern parts of Berlin via Britz and Baumschulenweg respectively. The Kottbusser Damm is the main road to the SO 36 neighborhood of Kreuzberg in the north, but traffic calming measures have reduced its importance in recent years. Except for the Columbiadamm, all of the above arterial roads converge at Hermannplatz.

The A100 autobahn at Neukölln's border with Britz connects to the western parts of Berlin, and via its most recent extension through parts of eastern Neukölln to Alt-Treptow. The A100 offers three exits and on-ramps in the Britz and Neukölln quarters, Britzer Damm with Hermannstraße, Buschkrugallee with Karl-Marx-Straße, and Sonnenallee. A highly contended final extension^[48] is planned to extend the A100 further into Friedrichshain and Lichtenberg via Ostkreuz. At the interchange Autobahndreieck Neukölln, the A100 connects to the A113 autobahn, which leads south to BER airport and the A10, Berlin's orbital autobahn. At the interchange, the A113 also has a direct on-ramp from Grenzallee, and an indirect exit to Grenzallee via Bergiusstraße.

Neukölln is part of Berlin's tight inner-city network of taxi and ridehailing services. Furthermore, free-floating carsharing is relatively widespread in urban Berlin. Still, the quarter Neukölln alone has more than ten dedicated carsharing stations, several of them also for transport vans.

Bicycle traffic

Most of Neukölln's one-way streets are two-way for cyclists. In 2017, the western parts of Weserstraße opened as Neukölln's first bicycle boulevard, and in the following years, several side streets have been rededicated as such, at first especially in the trendier districts of Reuter- and Schillerkiez, but now slowly expanding into other neighborhoods.^{[note 56]} Larger main roads have been reconstructed to include properly separated bike lanes, for example Kottbusser Damm and Hasenheide, with plans for more reconstruction in the coming years. Neukölln's most ambitious project is the 20.2 km (12.55 mi) "Y route" (Y-Trasse), a forked dual bicycle highway (Radschnellverbindung) from south-eastern Berlin through Neukölln to Kreuzberg.^{[note 57]} Berlin and Neukölln have several bicycle-sharing systems with a large fleet of standard and electric bicycles, as well as cargo bikes and e-scooters.

Pedestrian traffic

Due to Berlin's usually broad sidewalks, extensive speed limits, especially on side streets, and other measures like play streets and an increasing number of one-way streets, Neukölln has become a rather safe environment for pedestrians. However, compared to other German cities, very few pedestrian zones exist in Neukölln, currently only the "youth street" Rütlistraße (Reuterkiez) and the Tempelhofer Feld. There are proposals and concrete plans to rededicate certain locations as either pedestrian zones or mixed zones for pedestrians and cyclists, for example the Elbestraße and Weichselstraße in the Reuterkiez.

Several hiking trails exist along the waterways within or bordering Neukölln, primarily the Landwehr Canal, parts of the Neukölln Ship Canal, the Britz Canal, and the Heidekampgraben in the east, which is part of Berlin's Mauerweg. Other green trails are limited to Neukölln's parks, especially the Hasenheide, the Tempelhofer Feld, the Carl-Weder-Park, and the eastern garden plots. However, due to Neukölln's highly urbanized and partially industrialized character, few of the trails are sufficiently interconnected, as it is often found in the suburban quarters of Berlin. Still, Trail 18 of Berlin's officially designated Grüne Hauptwege (main green trails) leads from the Tempelhofer Feld through Neukölln's western cemeteries and parks, Alt-Rixdorf and along the Neukölln Ship Canal via Trusepark into Kreuzberg and beyond.^[49]

Freight transport

Neukölln Harbor and Watergate
Freight yards, Neukölln station
Neukölln–Mittenwald industrial railroad
Treptow freight yards, Neukölln, 1986
Industrial through track, Lahnstraße, Neukölln Harbor

Almost all of Neukölln's industrial parks are situated in the southern and eastern parts of the quarter. Both the A100 and A113 highways function as vital access ways, not least for connecting to the BER airport's freight terminals. Especially the A113 exit and on-ramp to and from Grenzallee and Bergiusstraße respectively connect the autobahn directly to both the Neukölln Harbor area and the industrial park Nobelstraße.

The Neukölln Harbor itself, alongside Berlin's other waterways, also plays a prominent role in the transportation of goods, because all major canals of Berlin are part of the network of German Federal Waterways, which connects many German industrial regions, all important international maritime and inland ports, the North and Baltic Sea, and all of Germany's neighboring countries. The infrastructure of Neukölln's harbor sans railways (see below) is managed by the state-owned Berliner Hafen- und Lagerhausgesellschaft (BEHALA). The Neukölln Ship Canal, together with Neukölln Harbor and the Neukölln Watergate, is owned by the state of Berlin and managed by Neukölln's district office. All of Neukölln's other waterways, including many rivers and canals outside of the quarter and borough, are managed by the Neukölln branch of the federal Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsamt Spree–Havel (Office of Spree–Havel Waterways and Shipping), which is situated in the eastern Britz docklands south of Neukölln Harbor.

Besides S-Bahn services, the stations Hermannstraße, Sonnenallee with its northern terminals along the western shore of the Neukölln Ship Canal into the freight terminus Güterbahnhof Treptow,^{[note 58]} and especially Neukölln offer additional capacities for freight traffic via railways. The main lines connect eastbound via Köllnische Heide and westbound alongside Berlin's orbital S-Bahn infrastructure, continuing either westbound via Südkreuz or southbound and southwestbound via Tempelhof.

A smaller and mainly single-track historical railroad, whose northern parts within Berlin are still in operation for industrial transport, is the Neukölln–Mittenwald railroad (NME). It originates at Berlin Hermannstraße freight station^{[note 59]} and branches off in the Tempelhof quarter south of the Tempelhofer Feld and traverses the Teltow Canal to connect other industrial areas in the south of Berlin, with the first (and primary) freight station Berlin Teltowkanal located in Tempelhof near Saalburgstraße south of the canal, which also services Neukölln's Britz quarter via auxiliary through tracks along Gradestraße. The railroad leads further south back into the Neukölln borough via the decommissioned station Berlin-Britz at Mohriner Allee^{[note 60]} and the non-operational terminal Berlin-Buckow at Kölner Damm, ending at the small dual-track freight yards Berlin-Rudow Nord^{[note 61]} west of Wutzkyallee.^{[note 62]} An adjacent secondary freight line is still in operation, the Rudow industrial through track (Industriestammgleis Rudow) east of Gropiusstadt, which branches off at the NME's Berlin-Rudow Nord yards and leads north-east via Zwickauer Damm and Stubenrauchstraße to a diesel fuel facility at the Teltow Canal near Massantebrücke.

Furthermore, industrial through tracks, which are managed by the Industriebahn Berlin, connect Neukölln station via the Treptow freight yards north of Sonnenallee to several industrial plants in the Neukölln quarter, which are mainly located within the industrial park Nobelstraße north of the Britz Canal near High-Deck-Siedlung. They connect through the eastern parts of the Neukölln Harbor, with several auxiliary tracks currently or permanently decommissioned.^{[note 63]} Due to Neukölln's dense urban development and its inner-city industrial areas, the quarter's freight trains always needed to be switched and shift directions several times.^{[note 64]}

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Culture and notable sights

Summarize

Perspective

Main sights

Neuköllner Oper: opera house that hosts a wide range of performances including musicals, baroque opera, operetta, or experimental music theatre. Famous for its aim to bring elitist culture to a wider audience.^[50]
Stadtbad Neukölln, the local swim hall which consists of antique thermal baths inspired by Greek temples and basilicas.
Körnerpark: park in neobarock style with fountains, orangerie, exhibition rooms and a cafe, founded 1910.

Places of worship

Even though the quarter's number of Christians has been steadily decreasing in the past decades (see above), Neukölln has a diverse Christian heritage, on the one hand as a historically Roman Catholic Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller village, and as the seat of the Holy See's Apostolic Nunciature, and on the other hand as a prominent Protestant center of Germany, not least due to Moravian immigration in the 18th century. Furthermore, Neukölln is also an important place for the Islamic faiths due to the decades-long Muslim immigration. Most of the major religions are well represented in Neukölln today. Generally, most of Neukölln's places of worship have converged around the quarter's historical neighborhoods of Reuterkiez, Flughafenstraße, Schillerpromenade and especially Rixdorf.^{[note 65]}

Christianities

Roman Christianities

St. John's Basilica
St. John's Basilica
St. Clara
St. Christopher
St. Richard
St. Edward
St. Boris the Baptist Cathedral
Catholic-Apostolic Church

The most prominent Roman Catholic church is the Basilica of Saint John the Baptist at the western edge of the Volkspark Hasenheide next to the Holy See's Apostolic Nunciature near Südstern. A Basilica minor since 1906, it was constructed by August Menken between 1894 and 1897 in the Rhenish-Romanesque style, and to this day remains the largest Roman church of Berlin. It is also home to the expatriate Polish Catholic community. Originally constructed as a garrison church for Berlin's Roman Catholic soldiers, it today still serves as the cathedral for the Military Ordinariate of Germany. It is the oldest Roman church in Neukölln, with construction having begun shortly before Rollberg's St. Clara.

The youngest original Roman church is St. Christopher at the Reuterplatz, built between 1929 and 1930 in the new objective style, while postmodernist St. Richard in Rixdorf was technically constructed in 1975, but replaced an older chapel at the same location. Overall, together with St. Edward in the Silbersteinkiez, Neukölln has five Roman Catholic churches.

The only church in Neukölln belonging to one of Berlin's Roman Orthodox denominations is Saint Boris the Baptist Cathedral of the Bulgarian Orthodox parish, which is located near Hermannstraße on the grounds of the cemetery Jerusalem und Neue Kirche.^{[note 66]} Finally, the church on Rollberg's Roland-Krüger-Straße near the park Lessinghöhe is home to the free Catholic Apostolic community.

Mainstream Protestantism

Bethlehem Church
Church of Mary Magdalene
Genezareth Church
Martin Luther Church
Phillipp Melanchthon Church
Tabitha Church
Nicodemus Church

The most famous Protestant church, while also the oldest church in Neukölln, is the historical village chapel of Rixdorf, which had originally been built in late Gothic Margraviate style around the year 1400, but might actually be at least a century older, preceded by a smaller field chapel (see above). It was partially destroyed in the 1639 Rixdorf firestorm and reconstructed the same year, but only the nave's plinth and three choir walls could be saved. It was renamed Bethlehem Church in 1912 and discretely renovated and expanded in the 1930s. Originally a Catholic chapel, it was later also used by both the Catholic and one of the three Protestant Bohemian parishes of Rixdorf, before eventually becoming a purely Protestant place of worship of the Bohemian-Lutheran denomination.

In addition to Bethlehem Church, Neukölln has six other mainstream Protestant churches. The most prominent is the Church of Mary Magdalene, which was constructed between 1877 and 1879 in Rixdorf on Karl-Marx-Straße. Two other notable ones are the 1903 Genezareth Church in the Schillerkiez on Herrfurthplatz, and the 1909 Martin Luther Church in the Reuterkiez on Fuldastraße, both of them Gothic revivalist buildings. Philipp Melanchthon Church on Kranoldstraße, constructed between 1914 and 1916 in a mixed style of early modernism, classicism and Jugendstil, has been using two of the three old church bells of the original Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, which were transferred and installed there on 24 December 1960.^[51] The only Christian church in the problematic neighborhoods of south-eastern Neukölln is the modernist Protestant Tabitha Church (Tabeakirche) between High-Deck-Siedlung and Weiße Siedlung, whose main building was inaugurated in 1957. The seventh Protestant church of Neukölln is Nicodemus Church in the central Reuterkiez, which was constructed in 1912/13 in a mixed style of Renaissance revivalism and Jugendstil with special emphasis on acoustics, and is today recognized as a Kulturkirche ("culture church") for exhibitions, concerts and professional music recordings.

Other Protestant denominations

Reformed Bethlehem parish hall
Hussite parish hall
St. Paul
Salem Church
Baptist church

As a denominational counterpoint to the original Rixdorf chapel, the second Bohemian community had founded the Reformed Bethlehem Church on Richardstraße, which is the parish of Germany's President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. In turn, the traditional Moravians (Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine) had settled in their own oratory on the Kirchgasse. The historical Moravian oratory had already been built there in 1771, but was destroyed during World War II and rebuilt in 1962 as a late-modernist oratory and parish hall.

Some of Neukölln's churches house additional denominations, faiths and associations. The Martin Luther Church not only serves as the home to the Romanian Orthodox parish of Neukölln, but also to five other minority Protestant faiths, for example the Evangelical Blood of Jesus Foundation Ministry, the Indonesian Reformed Evangelical Church, the House of Prayer of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana, and the free Evangelical Missionaria da Paz Mundial association. The Genezareth Church is also home to the Pentecostal Precious Blood of Jesus Christ Ministries. The Church of Mary Magdalene is shared with the Evangelical United Brethren in Christ, and the Reformed Bethlehem Church on Richardstraße with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Iran and the Free Evangelical Bible association, one of Neukölln's two Baptist communities.

The Haus Gotteshilfe on Rollberg's Werbellinstraße belongs to the Evangelical Landeskirchliche Gemeinschaft (state church association), an independent member of Germany's Protestant churches. St. Paul at the Kranoldplatz in the Silbersteinkiez is home to the independent Evangelical-Lutheran community. Right beside it is the Salem Church of the Evangelical Methodist community. Neukölln's nameless Baptist church is on Herzbergstraße, informally called Kiezkirche Rixdorf (neighborhood church), and it belongs to the Evangelical free church parish of Neukölln. The quarter has two Seventh-day Adventists parishes, one in the Schillerkiez on Lucy-Lameck-Straße, the Adventgemeinde an der Hasenheide, the other in the Flughafenkiez on Isarstraße. Finally, Jehovah's Witnesses maintain a Kingdom Hall on the Naumburger Straße in southern Rixdorf.

Other major religions

Synagogue Isarstraße, 1910
Synagogue Isarstraße commemorative plaque
Fraenkelufer Synagogue, ca. 1917
Şehitlik cemetery
Şehitlik Mosque
Şehitlik Mosque
Al-Nur Mosque
Sri Ganesha Temple

Judaism

All Jewish places of worship in Berlin were destroyed or severely damaged during the National Socialist reign over Germany. In Neukölln, the synagogue on Isarstraße (Flughafenkiez) was demolished during the Kristallnacht of 1938, and only a commemorative plaque remains. There are no plans to reintroduce a new Jewish house of prayer in Neukölln, even though the number of Jewish citizens is rising. However, the Fraenkelufer Synagogue, an important center for Berlin's former Orthodox and now conservative Judaism, still exists. It is situated at the Landwehr Canal near the Reuterkiez just beyond the border to Kreuzberg. Construction to augment the remaining historical building is planned to begin in 2027,^[52] which will again elevate it to one of the most important synagogues and Jewish cultural centers of Berlin beside the New Synagoge in Mitte and the Rykestraße Synagogue in Prenzlauer Berg.

Islam

Neukölln has a large number of Sunni mosques, most of them founded originally for Neukölln's Turkish Muslims. Almost all of them exist as nondescript Vereinsheime (club houses) in smaller associations and with different ideologies, from moderate like the mosque of the Zentrum für Religion, Mensch und Gesellschaft (ZRMG, Center for Religion, Man and Society) on Rixdorf's Finowstraße, to mainstream conservative like the Hamidiye mosque on Sonnenallee or the Dar Assalam mosque on Flughafenstraße,^{[note 67]} to fundamentalist like the Al-Nur mosque near High-Deck-Siedlung, which together with the Furkan association in southern Körnerpark is one of Berlin's main Salafi centers under surveillance by the German domestic intelligence agency.^[53] Three mosques are home to specific national or ethnic branches of Sunni Islam, Isa Beu on Karl-Marx-Straße (Rixdorf) for the Albanian Muslim community, Baitul Mukarram Masjidis for the Bengali Muslims on Fontanestraße in the Schillerkiez, and Mizgefta Navenda Mezopotamya for the Kurdish Muslims on Karl-Marx-Allee in the Körnerkiez.

The largest mosque, and one of the most important in Germany, is the Şehitlik Mosque^{[note 68]} on Columbiadamm at the edge of the Tempelhofer Feld. The mosque derives its name from the surrounding Islamic graveyard next to the historical Tempelhof military parade ground and exercise area. The cemetery was especially meant for the Ottoman military şehitler ("martyrs", "fallen") of the Prussian Army. It was laid out between 1863 and 1866,^{[note 69]} and was also a successor to a smaller diplomatic burial ground on the Tempelhof lot (modern-day Kreuzberg near Urbanstraße), which had been acquired from Frederick William III and established in 1798 for Ottoman politicians and luminaries.^{[note 70]} After the foundation of a small makeshift mosque in 1985, the new building was constructed between 1999 and 2005 in grand Ottoman style by Hilmi Şenalp and can house up to 1,500 people.

The Shia branch of Islam is less represented in Germany than Sunni Islam, but Neukölln nevertheless has several Shiite places of worship, for example the mosques Markaz Al-Qaim on Flughafenstraße in the Schillerkiez, or Imam Riza on Reuterstraße in the Flughafenkiez. The Lebanese Shiites have a home at the mosque Al-Mustafa on Kienitzerstraße in the Schillerkiez.

Furthermore, many of Berlin's and Neukölln's residents with Turkish roots are Alevi, who in Neukölln are organized through associations like Sivasli Canlar in the Donaukiez. The prominent German Sufi Rabbaniyya association left Neukölln for Eigeltingen in 2014. Still, the Sufi community in Neukölln remains organized, for example in the Turkish Sufi order Tekke-i Kadiriyye Mescidi in Rixdorf.

Hinduism

The borough of Neukölln is home to several thousand Hindus, mainly from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and especially the number of Indian expats has been rising steadily since the 2022 enactment of the Deutsch-indisches Migrationsabkommen (German-Indian Treaty on Migration). 2025 estimates for the borough of Neukölln range from 6,000 to 30,000 Hindu residents.

In order to relieve the mainly Sri Lankan Sri Mayurapathy Murugan Temple in Britz, and to also provide a home for Neukölln's Indian Hindus, the new Sri Ganesha Temple at the edge of the Volkspark Hasenheide opened in 2024, with further construction still underway, which will eventually make it the largest Hindu temple in continental Europe. Construction of the temple's first stage is planned to finish in October 2025.^[54]

Minority religions

Other religions, denominations and belief systems are represented marginally at best, but have found ways to organize, for example at the Buddhist centers on Neckarstraße (Flughafenkiez) or the Yun Hwa Dharma Sah on Nannsenstraße (Reuterkiez), the Turkish Mormon chapel and the Rosicrucian Lectorium Rosicrucianum, both on Rixdorf's Richardstraße, and the Baháʼí prayer rooms on the Sonnenallee.

Interfaith dialog

Many of Neukölln's interfaith associations have achieved citywide to sometimes national prominence, for example the Islamic ZMRG (see above) or the Neuköllner Begegnungsstätte (NBS, Neukölln Meeting Place) at the Dar Assalam mosque, the Protestant Interkulturelles Zentrum Genezareth (IZG, Intercultural Center Genezareth) on Herrfurthplatz, formerly known as the Treffpunkt Religion und Gesellschaft, the Jewish–Islamic Salaam-Schalom Initiative, the Protestant–Muslim ecumenical working group, run by the Rixdorf parishes and the Gazi Osman Paşa mosque, the Jewish outreach project Schalom Rollberg! on Morusstraße (Rollberg), the Protestant city mission Refugio on Lenaustraße in the Reuterkiez, and a branch of the Mennonite Friedenszentrum (Center for Peace) with their Café Abraham–Ibrahim at the Roman Catholic International Pastoral Center on Kranoldstraße in the Silbersteinkiez.

Secular outreach projects exist as well, like the private German–Arabic language school Ibn Khaldun with four facilities across Neukölln, which also runs a Jewish exchange project together with Hillel Berlin. The prominent Werkstatt Religionen und Weltanschauungen (Working Group for Religions and Worldviews), which was originally part of the transcultural Werkstatt der Kulturen, continues to operate after the latter's closure.

Agriculture and livestock farming

The borough of Neukölln has 40 ha (0.400 km²) or 99 acres (0.15 mi²) under cultivation, but only very few areas of the highly urbanized northern quarter of Neukölln are officially designated as agricultural land. Agriculture and livestock farming are usually found on small lots for school and preschool projects or in larger parks. Examples are the urban garden at St. Jacobi cemetery, the academically maintained community garden Allmende-Kontor for urban gardening and cultivation on the Tempelhofer Feld, and the Tierpark Neukölln (animal park) in the Volkspark Hasenheide, which together with the Naturhaus Hasenheide (nature house) also emphasizes farm animals for educational purposes. Urban beekeeping is relatively widespread, for example on the Tempelhofer Feld or in the Lern- und Nachbarschaftsgarten (Educational Neighborhood Garden) between Kottbusser Damm and Hobrechtstraße (Reuterkiez). Furthermore, a permanent grazing herd of one hundred Skudde sheep as well as a couple of Coburg Fox sheep are kept on the Tempelhofer Feld. In most cases, however, the cultural aspect of Neukölln's nature and agriculture is for the purpose of environmental education, managed by the city-wide project Naturstadt Berlin ("environmental city") and the borough's own Koordinierungsstelle Umweltbildung (Office for the Coordination of Environmental Education).

Cannabis cultivation

Since the 2024 partial legalization of cannabis in Germany, citizens are allowed to grow and cultivate their own cannabis plants, either privately or in special associations called Cannabis Social Clubs (CSCs), which started operating in July of the same year. In Berlin, the city's administration at first failed to create the necessary state authority and framework in time, and passed responsibility to the blindsided boroughs instead, so many CSCs established their farming areas in Brandenburg to avoid Berlin's bureaucratic gridlock.^[55] As of 2025, Neukölln has no registered clubs yet. However, Germany's governing body Dachverband deutscher Cannabis Social Clubs (CSCD) is located on Siegfriedstraße in the Rollbergkiez.

Garden allotments

An often overlooked part of domestic agriculture in Germany, and especially Berlin, is the Schrebergarten or, in its organized form, the Kleingartenanlage (KGA, lit. "small garden site"), which is an agglomeration of privately leased garden allotments. Especially large cities contain wide areas of these KGAs, and Berlin takes the top spot with more than 65,000 allotments—two for every hundred residents. Since these allotments usually contain shacks or small summer houses, the KGAs have occasionally been called the "German shanty towns".^[56] The Kleingarten was originally meant as a small private nursery to counter malnutrition in the urban citizenry, but in modern times evolved into a place for local recreation. In recent years, increased ecological awareness has reintroduced the agricultural aspect, and a new generation of young people have been rediscovering the Kleingarten, especially with cultivation in mind. Neukölln has large swaths of KGAs, most noteworthy the areas on both sides of the former border to East Berlin. Smaller ones have also formed in the west near the Tempelhofer Feld, and even in the central urban locations of Neukölln, for example near Reuterplatz, north of Sonnenallee and south of the Ringbahn.

Wineries, distilleries and breweries

Since 13 April 1973, winegrowing had been part of Neukölln's culture in the Schulgarten Dammweg south of the Weiße Siedlung, supported by the Weinbruderschaft der Pfalz (Wine Fraternity of the Palatinate), but the business was forced to move to the Britz quarter in 2019. The wine itself (Rixdorfer Weinmeister) is still auctioned off at the annual Rixdorf Christmas market (see below). Neukölln has only a few small distilleries, for example the Ratzeputz on Weserstraße (Reuterkiez), which sells its own schnaps.

Like many other places around the world, Neukölln has also witnessed the rise of small breweries and entrepreneurial craft brewing in recent years. The Sudhaus of the former Kindle brewery now also houses the Privatbrauerei am Rollberg, offering guided tours, and includes a taproom. Other breweries have formed all over Neukölln, for example the Lager Lager brewery and taproom on Pflügerstraße (Reuterkiez), and the Berliner Berg Brauerei in Neukölln's north-east corner on Treptower Straße (Rixdorf), whose brewery comes with a beer garden, with their official taproom Bergschloss located on Kopfstraße (Rollberg). Far more than taprooms are offered by the breweries Brauhaus Südstern on the street Hasenheide, which is combined with a pub, a restaurant and a beer garden, and the Brauhaus Neulich on Selchower Straße (Schillerkiez), a rustic tavern with occasional live music performances.

Street markets

Unlike Berlin, the former city of Neukölln never had a traditional market hall, and the closest one still in operation is the Markthalle IX in Kreuzberg nearby. However, Neukölln has many popular street markets instead. The Maybachufer (Reuterkiez) along the Landwehr Canal has four market days, hosting the famous weekly general market on Tuesdays and Fridays, colloquially called Türkenmarkt ("Turks' market"), and a smaller handicraft market on Saturdays (Neuköllner Stoff), both of them situated just east of the Kottbusser Brücke, as well as the flea market Nowkoelln Flowmarkt east of the Hobrechtbrücke, usually hosted from March to October every second Sunday.

Rixdorf has two weekly market days, with a general market hosted on Wednesdays and Saturdays on the Karl-Marx-Platz near the historical center around Richardplatz. A general weekly market for local and regional produce is the Dicke Linda ("Fat Linda"), which is hosted every Saturday on the Kranoldplatz in the Silbersteinkiez. The Kranoldplatz is also the location of a small flea market, hosted on the second Sunday of every month from March to November. A smaller, but popular mixed market is the Schillermarkt, which is hosted every Saturday on the Herrfurthplatz in the Schillerkiez. The Hermannplatz hosts general markets on the plaza's central island Monday through Friday in varying sizes.

The association Berliner Fahrradmarkt (BFM) conducts regular bicycle markets across four locations in Berlin, two of them in Neukölln. Twice every month, the market is hosted in the Rütlistraße (Reuterkiez) and on the Herrfurthplatz (Schillerpromenade) respectively.

Christmas markets

The annual Christmas market in Rixdorf takes place at the Richardplatz on the weekend of the second advent Sunday. The quarter's Christmas market was resurrected in December 1974 after a long hiatus following the historical Rixdorf Christmas market, which had been conducted since at least the 19th century. A modern Christmas market is hosted at the venue Klunkerkranich, the popular rooftop bar of the Neukölln Arcaden. In addition, some of the regular markets and flea markets will usually expand into Christmas markets in December, for example the Nowkoelln Xmas Flowmarkt on the Maybachufer and the Dicke Linda on Kranoldplatz. Since 2024, the German Christmas shopping event Holy Shit Shopping has been organized at the CANK, a pop-up event venue in a former mall in Rixdorf.

Cinemas

Neukölln has one modern multiplex movie theater, the Cineplex Neukölln in the Neukölln Arcaden. The shopping mall was constructed in the late 1990s as the Forum Neukölln, and the multiplex with nine auditoriums opened its doors in the year 2000. It is operated by UCI Cinemas and the German Cineplex group.

The Yorck Cinema Group, an association of formerly independent and often historical movie theaters, operates several cinemas in Berlin, three of them in Neukölln, the single-auditorium Neues Off, originally a 1919 vaudeville theater, which became a movie theater in 1926, renovated in the 1950s and fully restored in the 1990s, the Passage with four auditoriums, a movie theater since its 1910 inception, but extensively renovated at the end of the 1980s, and the Rollberg Kinos with five auditoriums, which opened in 1996 next to the site of the Mercedes-Palast, which since 1927 had housed Europe's largest movie theater, later destroyed at the end of World War II.^{[note 71]}

Neukölln still has two truly independent movie theaters, which mainly rely on arthouse films. Both locations offer a blend of cinema, café and bar. The single-auditorium Il Kino in the Reuterkiez opened its doors in 2014 as a branch of the Roman movie theater of the same name. The newest addition to Neukölln's family of cinemas is the Wolf in the Weserkiez, which opened its two auditoriums in 2017, together with the Wolf Studio, a modular location for screenings, exhibitions and workshops.

On the Kreuzberg side of the Kottbusser Damm, just outside of the Reuterkiez, lies the Moviemento, which has three auditoriums. It opened as a small bioscope in 1907 and has been a movie theater ever since, which makes it the oldest continuously operating cinema of Germany, now mainly showing arthouse and documentary films, while also being a major player in Berlin's independent film festival scene.^[57]

Film screenings in other locations are commonplace, either officially like the outdoor movie theater in the Volkspark Hasenheide, which opens its gates in the summer months, or at more informal gatherings, such as silent film screenings with live music accompaniment in the bar Froschkoenig.

In recent years, theater owners have adapted to the ever more diverse international citizenry, so all of Neukölln's movie theaters are also screening many of their movies without the usual German dub in their original languages, sometimes with German subtitles. In particular, the Cineplex Neukölln has cornered the market for original Turkish movies.

Film festivals

Beside the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), more than a hundred independent film festivals are hosted in Berlin annually, many of them with venues in Neukölln or at the Moviemento theater on the border to Kreuzberg. The interfilm short film festival including the KUKI festival for young filmmakers is also screening at the Rollberg Kino. Most of Berlin's other independent festivals usually have their Neukölln screenings only at the quarter's independent movie theaters, namely the Moviemento, Il Kino and Wolf. Among the more important festivals are Achtung Berlin, one of the more prominent independent festivals highlighting film works by young and aspiring filmmakers, the XPOSED queer film festival, the Pornfilmfestival Berlin, the KinoKabaret short film festival, the Female Filmmakers Festival, as well as Berlin's Jewish and Arabic film festivals. Furthermore, important films from the previous Berlinale usually receive second showings in the Hasenheide open air movie theater during the summer season.

Architecture

Aside from Neukölln's numerous places of worship, many of them more than a hundred years old (see above),^{[note 72]} the quarter offers many architectural highlights from various epochs. These range from the oldest structures of the early 15th century via stately Wilhelmine Gründerzeit era buildings and estates to 20th century modernist and 21st century postmodernist development, which began to take hold in the 1920s.

Modern residential architects still have to adhere to the city's regulations regarding a uniform eaves height, but have broken with almost all of the other classical concepts of style, structure and dimension, at first based on social reformist ideals, then out of necessity to quickly rebuild after the bombing of Berlin in World War II, but in later and more recent decades also due to new academic architectural ideologies, fast digital design phases, and less erudite urban planners in the city's administration. While this has broken Berlin's and Neukölln's original homogenous urban design, it has also visually boosted the character as an ever-changing and wildly diverse, albeit sometimes unaesthetic urban sphere. Still, classical styles and traditional construction, including reconstructions, have made a cautious comeback in recent years.^[58] A grand example is the planned expressionist reconstruction of the Karstadt department store on Hermannplatz,^{[note 73]} which was built in the late 1920s, but destroyed by the SS at the end of World War II except for a small piece of the original facade on the street Hasenheide.

Gründerzeit

Richardplatz 20, Rixdorf
Jonasstraße 1, Körnerpark
Bürknerstraße 22–23, Reuterkiez
Emser Straße 102, Körnerpark
Fuldastraße 45–46, Flughafenkiez
Herrnhuter Weg 17, Rixdorf
Isarstraße 3, Flughafenkiez
Turmblock, Sonnenallee 125–33, Rixdorf
Idealpassage, Fuldastraße 55–56, Flughafenkiez
Schillerpromenade

As a general makeup, like most of Berlin's inner-city quarters, many parts of Neukölln belong to the Wilhelmine Ring with its historicist Gründerzeit residental houses, which are most prominent in the older neighborhoods of Reuterkiez, Flughafenstraße, Rixdorf, Körnerpark and Schillerpromenade. Part of the homogenous nature of Berlin's so-called Altbauten (old structures) stems from the city's regulations regarding a uniform eaves height. Furthermore, Berlin's classically trained architects had never strayed far from the dimensional design of the adjacent buildings, especially the height of their floors. These measures all contribute to the harmonious nature of Berlin's old residental blocks from the Gründerzeit era.

Alt-Rixdorf

Blacksmith's shop, Richardplatz
Blacksmith's shop, Richardplatz
Villa Rixdorf, Richardplatz
Backyard, Richardplatz 17
Backyard, Richardplatz 3
Bethlehem Church
Bohemian duplex house, Richardstraße 36–37
Bohemian house, Richardstraße 80
Reformed Bethlehem parish, Richardstraße 97
Belfry, Reformed Bethlehem Church
Comenius Garden
Hussite school building, Kirchgasse 5
Bohemain house, Kirchgasse 6
Cemetery Böhmischer Gottesacker

The oldest areas of Neukölln are to be found in the historical center of Rixdorf around Richardplatz and along both Richardstraße and Kirchgasse. Among them are the 15th century Bethlehem Church, partially reconstructed after a fire, the historical blacksmith's shop, Berlin's oldest forge still in operation, a few old eclecticist residential houses like the Villa Rixdorf, the Bohemian cemetery Böhmischer Gottesacker, and two original estates (Richardstraße 36–37), which represent the Moravian colony's traditional style of duplex houses and have retained backyard structures from as far back as the year 1670, even before the first settlers arrived. Other Bohemian remnants can also be found, like traditional backyards, stables, old narrow streets, the former Hussite school on Kirchgasse, the oldest school building of Neukölln and now a museum, and the Reformed Bohemian parish house with its separated wooden belfry on Richardstraße.

Modern architecture

Bürknerstraße 12–14, Reuterkiez
Oderstraße 45, Schillerkiez
Ossastraße 6, Reuterkiez
Die Ringe, Rollberg
Weiße Siedlung
High-Deck-Siedlung
Apostolic Nunciature, Hasenheide
School entrance wing, Drorystraße, Rixdorf
Estrel Berlin, Rixdorf

On the other end of the spectrum are the early modernist estates like the projects by Bruno Taut, among them the 1910 estate on Bürknerstraße 12–14, the 1927 Ossastraße settlement, both in the Reuterkiez, and the 1927 buildings on Oderstraße (Schillerkiez). Later modernist developments originated from the public housing projects of the 1960s to '80s like Weiße Siedlung, High-Deck-Siedlung and most of Rollberg. While the Weiße Siedlung was still built using the high-rise concept of urbanity through concentration, the High-Deck-Siedlung as well as the Rollberg redevelopment, with its meandering estates in the east and Die Ringe (The Rings) in the west, used a more open and locally interconnected approach instead, especially the High-Deck-Siedlung with its eponymous pedestrian skyways. Due to the quarter's older compact urban characteristics, 21st century postmodernist stand-alone buildings or estates are more scarce in Neukölln than in other quarters of Berlin. Examples are the perimeter block estate at Böhmische Straße 38 in Rixdorf, the Apostolic Nunciature near Südstern, or the primary school in Rixdorf's Drorystraße. One of the most prominent redevelopment undertakings in the whole of Berlin, comparable to the 1990s construction on Potsdamer Platz, is happening in the Neukölln Docklands, an industrial neighborhood along the Neukölln Ship Canal north and south of the Sonnenbrücke at the outskirts of Rixdorf, which will include the Estrel Tower, Berlin's tallest skyscraper and Germany's tallest hotel at 176 m (577 ft), providing an upgrade to the nearby Estrel, Germany's largest hotel, and its convention center.

Reinhold Kiehl

Rathaus Neukölln (City Hall), Rixdorf
Stadtbad Neukölln (public bath house), Rixdorf
Stadtbad Neukölln (public bath house), Rixdorf
Orangerie, Körnerpark
Pump room kiosk, Richardplatz, Rixdorf
Sonnenallee station, Rixdorf
Chapel, Alter Friedhof St. Jacobi
Dammwegsiedlung

The most popular architectural locations, however, originated from Rixdorf's boomtown phase, which spanned the mid-19th to early 20th century.^{[note 74]} Aside from the ubiquitous Gründerzeit apartment blocks, many important stand-alone buildings and representative locations were constructed in this era, in which Reinhold Kiehl played a central role, both as an architect and as director of Rixdorf's Hochbauamt (office of public works service) in charge of urban planning and development. Together with development official Hermann Weigand, architect Heinrich Best and design director John Martens, Rixdorf's building authority received a stellar reputation across the German Empire, which attracted young architects like Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Bruno and Max Taut, Franz Hoffmann and others, who all earned their stripes in Rixdorf before becoming renowned independent architects. After Kiehl stepped down in 1912, most of his remaining projects were finished by his colleague Heinrich Best or under Neukölln's new building official Friedrich Zollinger (1912–18).

Kiehl's two most important projects, both of them in Rixdorf, are the 1905 Rathaus Neukölln (city hall) on Karl-Marx-Straße, inspired by the German Renaissance and expanded in the 1950s, and the 1912 neoclassicist Stadtbad Neukölln (public city bath) on Ganghoferstraße, with a green neoclassical atrium and interior stylistic callbacks to the thermae and temples of Roman and Greek antiquity. Among his lesser known, but nonetheless important works, are the Baroque orangerie in the Körnerpark, the central pump room kiosk on Richardplatz,^{[note 75]} and the 1911 entrance building at the Sonnenallee S-Bahn station. Kiehl is buried on the cemetery Alter Friedhof St. Jacobi, whose chapel (near Hermannplatz) he had designed in the style of ancient Roman temples. After his death in 1913, more of his original plans were implemented, for example the modern-day Carl Legien School on Leinestraße (Schillerkiez), which was originally constructed in 1924 as a building academy (Baugewerbeschule Neukölln), and the proto-modernist settlement in the south-eastern outskirts of Rixdorf, the Dammwegsiedlung, which was finished in 1922 south of modern-day Weiße Siedlung.

Other representative buildings

Alte Post (old post office), Rixdorf
Kindle Ballrooms, Flughafenkiez
Amtsgericht Neukölln (municipal court), Rixdorf
Neue Welt, Hasenheide, Schillerkiez
Neuer Rollkrug, Flughafenkiez
Hermannplatz U-Bahn station (U7)

Many other architects have added to Neukölln's important historical building structure. Examples are the 1905 imperial Alte Post (Old Post Office) on Karl-Marx-Straße, primarily styled after Renaissance buildings, the 1893 Kindl Ballrooms on Hermannstraße, and the 1899–1901 Renaissance revivalist Amtsgericht Neukölln, the borough's municipal court and former prison on Karl-Marx-Straße, which replaced the original 1879 Amtsgericht. The beer hall Neue Welt (New World) on the street Hasenheide close to Hermannplatz, originally founded in 1865 as a beer garden, was constructed in 1902, and is today a concert venue called Huxleys Neue Welt (see above). Directly on Hermannplatz is the 1907 Neuer Rollkrug, an old office building which was built at the location of the demolished Rollkrug, Rixdorf's most famous historical tavern. Next to it is the plaza's U-Bahn station, of which the lower U7 platform is especially noteworthy due to its spacious Art Deco design and direct access to the Karstadt department store. Both were constructed together in 1923, and the subway station's main hall opened in 1926.

Commercial and industrial buildings

Passage, Rixdorf
Banking house, Alfred-Scholz-Platz, Rixdorf
Reichsbank building, Ganghoferstraße, Rixdorf
Eisenwerk Franz Weeren, Körnerpark
Industrial villa, Eisenwerk Franz Weeren, Körnerpark
Hermannshof, Hermannstraße, Schillerkiez
Niemann factory, Sonnenallee, Rixdorf
Transformer station, Richardstraße, Rixdorf
Neukölln water tower, Rollberg
Geyer film factory, Reuterkiez
Sudhaus, Kindl brewery, Rollberg
Bergschloss-Brauerei, Schillerkiez
Institute for Disinfection, Rixdorf
Jacobs factory, High-Deck-Siedlung

Neukölln's central industrial and commercial areas evolved in the same boomtown period. Important buildings from Rixdorf are Reinhold Kiehl's 1909 arcade building (Passage) between Richardstraße and Karl-Marx-Straße, which now houses a cinema and Neukölln's opera (see above), the 1912 banking house at the Alfred-Scholz-Platz, and the former Reichsbank branch office on Ganghoferstraße, built between 1912 and 1914. Industrial buildings of note are the 1887 Franz Weeren Eisenwerk (ironworks) with industrial villa on Glasower Straße (Körnerpark), the 1904 Hermannshof on Hermannstraße (Schillerkiez), the 1916 Niemann factory on Sonnenallee, the 1928 Umspannwerk (transformer station) on Richardstraße, the heating power plant on Weigandufer with many of the old factory buildings still intact, the Neukölln Water Tower in the Rollberg neighborhood, the 1914 Geyer film factory on Harzer Straße, and the 1926 expressionist Gothic revivalist Sudhaus der Berliner Kindl-Brauerei, an old brewery and today a center for arts and culture, including a museum of modern art (see above). Another notable brewery is the Bergschloss-Brauerei near Hermannplatz, which has been housing cultural centers for many years. In Rixdorf's periphery south of Neukölln's industrial railroad around Mittelbuschweg, some old factories and workshops have survived, for example a former liquor factory, or the 1914 former Institute for Disinfection, another building supervised by Reinhold Kiehl. After World War II, many newer factories and industrial plants were built further south, for example the Jacobs factory at the Britz Canal south of the High-Deck-Siedlung, and many of them are already under industrial monument preservation as well.

Nightlife

Clubs

Berlin's club scene, while famous around the world, was mostly dominated by the establishments that formed in vacant residential and industrial lots in the inner-city neighborhoods of former East Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall during the nonregulated, often ephemeral and highly diverse subcultural boom of the 1990s and early 2000s. Since the 2010s, the successors in Berlin's nightlife scene became more professional, but have mainly used the same urban areas for their venues. Similar open spaces were at first unavailable in Berlin's western boroughs, whose nightlife remained in limbo for almost two decades, because it was still relying on long-established clubs and discotheques of the Cold War era.

The status quo slowly changed in the 21st century, as more and more young creatives moved to Berlin. Since then, western industrial lots have been repurposed in higher numbers, and even Neukölln has seen its share of prominent clubs that have already come and gone, for example the Loftus Hall, its successor Christa Kupfer, the Griessmühle, the 1990s-style underground club Loophole, and the SchwuZ, Germany's oldest queer club from 1977 until its closure in 2025. Nevertheless, the quarter's club life is still not dominated by large venues or local centers of attraction.

However, Berlin has always had smaller clubs and bars with (sometimes tiny) dancefloors, which were initially created out of necessity due to the finite space in the urbanized enclave of former West Berlin, but have since become a staple of Berlin's nightlife. In this respect, Neukölln is no exception and still offers many clubs, especially in the northern neighborhoods closer to the gravitational centers of Berlin's nightlife in Friedrichshain, Mitte and Kreuzberg, for example Sameheads and the Arkaoda in Rixdorf. Gentrification further south has also spawned clubs in the Schillerkiez like the Promenaden-Eck on Schillerpromenade with two dancefloors.

Bars

In Berlin, the city once called the Bar des Planeten ("bar of the planet"),^[59] bars and pubs are a dime a dozen, and Neukölln, as the spiritual heir to the historical vice of Rixdorf, never dared to be an exception. While for some locals, the spätis can work as the be all and end all, most visitors only frequent them for pre-gaming and eventually prefer a club, a corner pub, whether modern or traditional, or one of Neukölln's many bars, whether with live music, a dancefloor, dining options, or as a traditional cocktail lounge or wine bar. The range in Neukölln spans from extravagantly creative to charmingly regular, like the Ankerklause, one of Neukölln's long-lasting pubs in the style of a harbor tavern on the border to Kreuzberg at the Landwehr Canal, or in the quarter's center like the Klunkerkranich, a popular rooftop bar atop the Neukölln Arcaden on Karl-Marx-Straße (Flughafenkiez). The main areas for the widest variety of bars with the most Rixdorfian torchbearers are found in the northern neighborhoods like the Donau-, Weser-, Reuter- and Friedelkiez. Especially the area around the western part of Weserstraße has become one of Berlin's most prominent locations in this respect and a downright invitation to bar-hoppers. The Weserkiez offers many standouts like the Thelonius Bar, Jaja Naked Wine, the Beuster Bar and Wax On, but in the end there are effectively too many to count. Other central neighborhoods seldomly fall behind, like Alt-Rixdorf with Velvet, Drei Flaschen and Herr Lindemann, which operates at the location of Rixdorf's very first village tavern. Since the gentrifying wave in Neukölln has slowly been moving south, other neighborhoods like the Donaukiez, Flughafenstraße and Schillerpromenade are now experiencing the same explosion of nightlife, with many new bars now revalueing their surroundings, for example Donau 115, Klunkerkranich, Paolo Pinkel, Zweiners, the Muted Horn or Villa Neukölln.

Beer gardens

Densely packed Neukölln has little open spaces left, and many historical places like the Neue Welt garden were closed and redeveloped, so beer gardens are far and few between. However, most cafés, restaurants, bars and pubs extend their patron space outside as early in the year as possible, and Berlin's usually broad sidewalks provide enough room for this specific part of the city's street life. Some bars even utilize the backyards for this purpose, like the TiER on Weserstraße. Still, some beer gardens do exist, for example the Klunkerkranich terrace, the Tempelgarten on the Tempelhofer Feld, the Zosse in Rixdorf, and the outdoor areas of two breweries, Berliner Berg Brauerei in the Harzer Kiez, and the Brauhaus am Südstern near Hasenheide.

Corner pubs

The Altberliner Eckkneipe (old Berlin corner pub) used to be one of the mainstays of Berlin nightlife, and the historical tavern Rollkrug near Hermannplatz, originally founded in the early 16th century, was doubtlessly the big bang for Neukölln's corner pub scene. To save these traditional establishments from extinction, the Berlin administration even went so far as to effectively exempt most of them from the city's non-smoking rules.^{[note 76]} Overall, Neukölln still has a lot of these traditional pubs to offer, but in the course of gentrification, many of them were replaced by restaurants, cafés or stores. Especially in the Reuterkiez, traditional corner pubs suddenly became hard to find,^[60] though some managed to survive, either still run in their traditional guise like the Lenau-Stuben on Hobrechtstraße, or continued under new management, for example Zum Böhmischen Dorf on Sanderstraße, the Mondhügel Bar on Bürknerstraße, Goldberg on Pflügerstraße, Ä on Wesertraße, or Kauz & Kiebitz on Reuterstraße with its semi-secret back room bar Truffle Pig. However, in other less gentrified neighborhoods of Neukölln, corner pubs are still prevalent, like the traditional Bäreneck on Hermannstraße, but modern iterations like the Trude Ruth und Goldammer on Flughafenstraße can also be found.

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Notable people

Summarize

Perspective

Many of Rixdorf's and Neukölln's natives became world-renowned in their respective professions, for example architectural sculptor Lee Lawrie, actor Horst Buchholz, president of Germany's Supreme Court Jutta Limbach, or Real Madrid's centre-back Antonio Rüdiger. Other important people have lived or settled in Rixdorf and Neukölln, for example Bible critic Bruno Bauer, philosopher Susan Neiman, artist Lena Braun, or Wilhelm Voigt, the infamous Captain of Köpenick.

More information Name, Profession ...

List of notable natives and current or former residents or associates of Rixdorf, Neukölln and Berlin-Neukölln
Name	Profession	Status	Born	Died	Notes
Werberg, Hermann von	other	associated	1324^[taq]	1371	Knights Hospitaller commander, governor of Brandenburg, co-founder of Richardsdorf; a.k.a. Hermann von Werberge
Sasar, Dietrich von	other	associated	1360^[taq]	1360^[tpq]	commander of Tempelhof's Knights Hospitaller, co-founder of Richardsdorf
Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg	other	associated	1620-02-16	1688-04-29	nobility, general; built a public garden in the forest Hasenheide
Frederick William I of Prussia	other	associated	1688-08-14	1740-05-31	nobility, king of Prussia; patron of the Moravian refugees in Böhmisch-Rixdorf
Liberda, Johann	other	associated	1700-09-05	1742-08-09	theologian, immigrant leader, Bohemian-Lutheran priest
Bewert, Johann Wolfgang	industrialist	native	1700^[taq]	1721	brewer, distributor, proprietor of Rixdorf's schultheiß court
Hertzberg, Ewald Friedrich von	politician	associated	1725-09-02	1795-05-22	statesman, proprietor of Rixdorf's schultheiß court (since 1760)
Jahn, Johann Friedrich Ludwig Christoph	other	associated	1778-08-11	1852-10-15	gymnastics educator, publicist, politician, nationalist Anti-Napoleonic liberationist, founder of the German gymnastics movement; built Germany's first public outdoor gymnasium in Neukölln's Hasenheide; a.k.a. Turnvater Jahn
Charles, Prince of Prussia	other	associated	1801-06-29	1883-01-21	nobility, general; built a public garden in the forest Hasenheide
Bauer, Bruno	scientist	resident	1809-09-06	1882-04-13	theologian, historian, philosopher, Bible critic
Müller, Eduard	politician	associated	1818-11-15	1895-01-05	priest, state representative; initiated the foundation of Rixdorf's St. Edward parish
Pannier, Rudolf	jurist	associated	1821-08-31	1897-12-12	president of the Landgericht Berlin (state court); initiated the establishment of Rixdorf's municipal court
Wrede, Wilhelm August Julius	industrialist	resident	1822-01-23	1895-12-28	liquor factory owner, banker; built Neukölln's Juliusburg estate
Prince Handjery, Nicolaus	politician	associated	1836-12-18	1900-12-07	nobility, jurist, county administrator of the Kreis Teltow including Rixdorf (1870–85)
Körner, Franz Wilhelm Theodor	industrialist	native	1838-03-01	1911-06-02	mining industrialist; eponymous owner of the gravel quarry, which became the Körnerpark
Kranold, Viktor Ferdinand von	other	associated	1838-09-19	1922-09-22	railroad executive, KED Berlin president; built Hermannstraße station
Jonas, Ernst Wilhelm Karl Ehrenfried	other	native	1842-09-01	1914-07-24	theologian, Protestant priest at Rixdorf's Church of Mary Magdalene, founder of Rixdorf's first Froebelian kindergarten
Voigt, Friedrich Wilhelm	other	resident	1849-02-13	1922-01-03	con man, impostor, shoemaker; a.k.a. Der Hauptmann von Köpenick (The Captain of Köpenick)
Lisco, Hermann	jurist	resident	1850-01-30	1923-11-07	Rixdorf district judge (1879–83), government official
Ziegra, Hugo	industrialist	resident	1852-03-25	1926-12-28	director of the Kindl brewery (Rollberg), city councilor (until 1919), city elder (1924)
Moras, Walter	artist	native	1856-01-20	1925-03-06	painter
Menken, August Aloysius Johannes	architect	associated	1858-06-23	1903-09-18	built Neukölln's St. John's Basilica
Arons, Leo	scientist	resident	1860-02-15	1919-10-10	physicist, inventor, politician
Geyger, Ernst Moritz	artist	native	1861-11-08	1941-12-29	sculptor, medalist, painter, etcher
Möhring, Bruno	architect	associated	1863-12-11	1929-03-25	urban planner; designed several buildings in Berlin and Neukölln
Fischer, Emil	other	resident	1865	1932	teacher, founder of the Neukölln Museum (1897)
Poppe, Oskar	industrialist	resident	1866-07-09	1918-08-08	chemist, chemical factory manager
Agahd, Konrad Rudolf Friedrich	other	resident	1867-03-01	1926-11-18	pedagogue, author, journalist
Jogiches, Leo	politician	resident	1867-07-17	1919-03-10	Marxist revolutionary, key member of the Spartacus League, KPD co-founder; born Leon Jogiches; a.k.a. Jan Tyszka
Rungius, Carl	artist	native	1869-08-18	1959-10-21	painter
Roß, Heinrich	industrialist	resident	1870-08-13	1957-08-03	postcard manufacturer, publisher, first chairman of the Israelitischer Brüder-Verein Neukölln (1922–34); a.k.a. Heinrich Ross
Luxemburg, Rosa	other	resident	1871-03-05	1919-01-15	Marxist revolutionary and theorist; found refuge in Neukölln with Karl Liebknecht before their execution, probably in the Weisestraße; born Rozalia Luksenburg
Liebknecht, Karl Paul August Friedrich	politician	resident	1871-08-13	1919-01-15	Socialist revolutionary; found refuge in Neukölln with Rosa Luxemburg before their execution, probably in the Weisestraße
Silberstein, Raphael	politician	associated	1873-03-19	1926-08-23	Berlin city councilor (1899–1918); motivated the construction of the Stadtbad Neukölln
Franke, Otto	politician	native	1877-09-15	1953-12-12	unionist, politician, peace activist
Lawrie, Lee Oscar	artist	native	1877-10-16	1963-01-23	architectural sculptor; creator of Atlas; born Max Leo Hugo Belling
Barth, Emil	politician	resident	1879-04-23	1941-07-17	plumber, author, leading November revolutionary, member of the Council of the People's Deputies
Wittbrodt, Wilhelm	other	resident	1879-11-08	1961-05-12	reform pedagogue, politician
Bielicke, Oskar Willy Friedrich	industrialist	resident	1881-09-25	1945-09-23	optics entrepreneur; a.k.a. William Friedrich Bielicke
Schultzenstein, Karl Julius Siegfried	jurist	native	1881-12-15	1951-11-07	district and regional judge, public official, author
Richter, Karl Franz	scientist	resident	1882-08-02	1971-08-01	teacher, classical philologian, Pauly–Wissowa co-author
Treffer, Joseph	politician	resident	1883-05-20	1963-02-08	editor, unionist, communal politician
Schröder, Karl Bernhard Fritz	politician	resident	1884-11-13	1950-04-06	Communist functionary, author, editor, co-founder of the Rote Kämpfer, director of Neukölln's folk high school (1945–49)
Görner, Karl Theodor	industrialist	resident	1884-12-10	1971-08-07	printing company owner, humanitarian, Righteous Among the Nations; aided over 100 German Jews, of which 22 survived, i.a. Inge Deutschkron, during the Shoah with his daughter Hanni Nörper
Grylewicz, Anton	politician	native	1885-01-08	1971-08-02	metalworker, carpenter, Trotskyist, leading November revolutionary, Spartacist insurgent, member of the Reichstag (1924, KPD) and the Landtag of Prussia (1924–28), post-war Social Democrat
Nathan, Helene	other	resident	1885-08-23	1940-10-23	librarian, director of Neukölln's borough library
Karsen, Fritz	other	resident	1885-11-11	1951-08-25	pedagogue, school reformer (comprehensive schooling, second-chance college)
Werkmeister, Lotte	artist	native	1885-12-26	1970-07-15	chanson singer, Kabarett performer, actor
Frederik, Lothar Knud	artist	native	1886-11-09	1957-02-12	screenwriter, film critic; born Friedrich Paul Lothar Fredrik
Glaeser-Wilken, Lisbeth	artist	resident	1887-04-01	1977-04-11	actor, teacher; born Lisbeth Wirtson
Rosebery d'Arguto, Martin	artist	resident	1890-12-24	1942-10 (approx.)	composer, industrial folk musician, conductor, choir director, vocal pedagogue, voice trainer; born Martin Rozenberg; a.k.a. Mosche Rosenberg
Zobeltitz, Gerda von	other	native	1891-06-09	1963-03-29	tailor; one of Germany's first recognized transvestites; born Georg Ernst Hans von Zobeltitz
Seiler, Karl Robert	artist	native	1891-12-06	1971	painter, illustrator, professor
Sorge, Reinhard	artist	native	1892-01-29	1916-07-20	dramatist, poet
Sander, Erwin	other	native	1892-03-05	1962-12-07	Berlin police major, military officer, Wehrmacht general
Piechowski, Paul	other	resident	1892-06-30	1966-06-09	theologian, physician, Protestant priest, religious socialist, chairman of the Union of Socialist Theologians
Rackwitz, Arthur	other	resident	1895-08-04	1980-08-16	Protestant priest, religious socialist, anti-fascist, publicist
Zaschka, Engelbert	scientist	resident	1895-09-01	1955-06-26	engineer, technical designer, inventor, helicopter pioneer
Vetter, Karl Otto Paul	journalist	native	1897-03-18	1957-09-15	author, editor, politician, peace activist, RNZ editor-in-chief
Meisel, Will	artist	native	1897-09-17	1967-04-29	composer, film composer, dancer, publisher
Schuhmann, Walter	politician	resident	1898-04-03	1956-12-02	Nazi Party official, Alter Kämpfer, Neukölln borough section leader, member of the Reichstag (1930–45)
Ley, Gritta	artist	native	1898-08-23	1986-12-17	actor
Baberske, Robert	artist	native	1900-05-01	1958-03-27	cinematographer
Braun, Otto	politician	resident	1900-09-28	1974-08-14	journalist, Communist functionary, Comintern agent, political and military advisor to the CCP; a.k.a. Li De
Bennewitz, Erwin	politician	native	1902-06-05	1980-10-22	mechanic, Treptow borough representative (SPD/GDR), Treptow borough mayor (1946–48)
Riefenstahl, Leni	artist	resident	1902-08-22	2003-09-08	film director, photographer, actor; sister of Heinz; born Helene Bertha Amalie Riefenstahl
Beese, Hertha	politician	resident	1902-09-10	1987-10-15	teacher, Young Socialists (Jusos) co-founder, legislator, Reinickendorf borough councilor (1949–65), Arbeiterwohlfahrt district chairwoman, Berlin city elder (1972); daughter of Gertrud Scholz and Neukölln's third mayor and first borough mayor Arno Scholz; sister of Arno Scholz; born Hertha Scholz
Roßkopf, Ernst Walter Fritz	artist	native	1903-02-13	1986-07-02	cinematographer
Arendt, Erich	artist	resident	1903-04-15	1984-09-24	teacher, poet, translator
Ulbricht, Lotte	other	native	1903-04-19	2002-03-27	socialist party official; wife of Walter; born Charlotte Kühn
Krause, Klaus Willi	artist	resident	1903-05-02	1976-03-25	actor, voice actor; born Willy Hermann Krause
Larsen, Maximilian	artist	native	1904-02-13	1975-01-13	actor, voice actor; born Max Fritz Bruno Schwenkner
Scholz, Arno	journalist	native	1904-02-22	1971-07-30	journalist, publicist, publisher; son of Gertrud Scholz and Neukölln's third mayor and first borough mayor Arno Scholz; brother of Hertha Beese
Wolke, Bruno	athlete	native	1904-05-04	1973-12-23	road bicycle racer
Wichmann, Hans	athlete	native	1905-01-28	1981-09-23	middle-distance runner
Wöhrn, Fritz Oskar Karl	other	native	1905-03-12	1979-12-18	police officer, SS Hauptsturmführer, Eichmannreferat administrator
Rall, Adolf Anselm	other	native	1905-06-07	1933-11-02	trucker, SA member, murdered Reichstag fire whistleblower
Stasiewski, Bernhard	scientist	native	1905-11-14	1995-07-01	historian, Catholic priest
Muchow, Reinhold	politician	resident	1905-12-21	1933-09-12	National Socialist grassroots organizer, Alter Kämpfer, Berlin organizational party leader; founded the Neukölln Model of independently operating cells, applied Berlin-wide in 1932
Riefenstahl, Heinz	scientist	native	1906-03-05	1944-07-20	engineer; brother of Leni
Schmidt, Charles	politician	native	1906-06-03	1971-12-02	tobacco merchant, Berlin state representative
Wolke, Rudolf Paul	athlete	native	1906-06-09	1979-03-12	racing cyclist
Schmidt, Paul Otto Bruno	other	native	1906-08-16	1942-10-19	criminal, central figure of the Blomberg–Fritsch affair
Hübner, Walter	other	native	1906-08-24	1969	precision engineer, major of the Neukölln SA
Winkler, Gerhard	artist	native	1906-09-12	1977-09-25	composer, film composer, songwriter
Bardtke, Hans Walter Kurt	scientist	native	1906-09-22	1975-03-08	Protestant theologian, classical historian
Taylor, John Wilkinson	other	resident	1906-09-26	2001-12-11	educator, director general of UNESCO (1952–53)
Heltzel, Rudolf	artist	resident	1907-01-14	2005-06-10	painter, sculptor
Ardenne, Manfred Baron von	scientist	resident	1907-01-20	1997-05-26	researcher, applied physicist, nuclear physicist, inventor, politician
Borchert, Ernst Wilhelm	artist	native	1907-03-13	1990-06-01	actor, voice actor
Haegert, Wilhelm	jurist	native	1907-03-14	1994-04-24	lawyer, NS ministry official
Schmidt, Karl Oswald Willi	other	resident	1907-05-02	1972-03-08	SA leader, member of the Neukölln chapter; a.k.a. as Schweinebacke
Bluhm, Walter	artist	native	1907-08-05	1976-12-02	actor, voice actor
Lehmann, Hans Heinz	scientist	native	1907-08-13	1985-06-06	historian, anglicist
Mießner, Rudolf	journalist	native	1907-11-07	1973-01-16	Communist functionary, politician, editor-in-chief of i.a. Junge Welt (1947–49), East German radio and TV line producer
Benário Prestes, Olga	other	resident	1908-02-12	1942-04-07	stenographer, YCI and KJVD activist, Communist militant; born Olga Gutmann Benário
Seibt, Kurt	politician	native	1908-02-13	2002-06-21	Communist functionary, East German Minister for Direction and Control of Regional and District Councils (1964–65), chairman of the SED Central Revision Commission (1967–89)
Persson, Rosl	other	native	1908-02-29	2010-01-03	women's sports pioneer, alpinist, gymnastics coach, clerk, traveling acrobat, singer and musician; born Rosl Pauli
Pannek, Bruno Willy	artist	resident	1908-12-08	1984-04-23	precision engineer, amateur actor, member of the Loriot ensemble
Hilliger, Otto	artist	native	1909	1987	pianist, composer, choir director
Rossow, Walter	architect	native	1910-01-28	1992-01-02	landscape architect, university professor, author; central figure in Berlin's post-war reconstruction
Thiemann, Elsa	artist	resident	1910-02-07	1981-11-15	photographer, designer; born Elsa Franke
Lehnert, Martin	scientist	native	1910-05-20	1992-03-04	anglicist, professor
Meysel, Inge	artist	native	1910-05-30	2004-07-10	actor, voice actor
Leuschner, Bruno Max	politician	native	1910-08-12	1965-02-10	industrial clerk, East German Communist politician and functionary
Weckerling, Rudolf	other	resident	1911-05-03	2014-01-31	Protestant priest, peace activist
Ludwig, Hermann	artist	native	1911-07-27	1982-02-22	film editor, film production manager
Lewin, Fridl	politician	native	1911-09-15	2004-07-02	bookbinder, socialist activist (SAJ, SPD, later SED), FDJ co-founder and central committee delegate (1946–49), East German functionary; later Fridl Hensel-Lewin
Nicklitz, Walter	politician	native	1911-11-28	1989-10-04	mason, architect, magistrate, building official, state representative, deputy mayor of Berlin (SPD, 1959–65)
Meudtner, Ilse	athlete	resident	1912-11-01	1990-07-18	diver, dancer, choreographer, journalist
Ziegler, Walter	jurist	native	1912-11-05	1977-02-20	East German Supreme Court chief justice (First Senate, 1950–62)
Voelker, Alexander	politician	native	1913-08-01	2001-02-24	industrial business manager, Berlin state representative, city elder of Berlin (1980)
Bergmann, Erika	other	native	1915-01-03	1996	concentration camp guard, murderer; born Erika Belling
Rahl, Mady	artist	native	1915-01-03	2009-08-29	actor, voice actor, singer
Szelinski-Singer, Katharina	artist	resident	1918-05-24	2010-12-20	sculptor; born Katharina Singer
Ihle, Hans Joachim	artist	native	1919-12-21	1997-12-15	sculptor
Ebener, Dietrich	scientist	native	1920-02-14	2011-07-13	classical philologian, author, translator
Lipinski, Rudi	scientist	native	1920-03-26	2002-07-13	historian, annalist
Weizsäcker, Richard Karl Freiherr von	politician	associated	1920-04-15	2015-01-31	Neukölln representative (CDU, 1979–84), Governing Mayor of West Berlin (1981–84), President of Germany (1984–94)
Edel, Peter	artist	native	1921-07-12	1983-05-07	graphic artist, author; born Hans Peter Hirschweh
Wolff, Friedrich	jurist	native	1922-07-30	2024-06-10	lawyer, East German official
Fischer-Fabian, S.	journalist	resident	1922-09-22	2011-11-16	novelist, non-fiction author, journalist; born Siegfried Fischer
Schäfer, Gerd E.	artist	native	1923-07-14	2001-09-20	actor, Kabarett satirist; born Gerhard Kurt Egilhard Schäfer
Kieling, Wolfgang	artist	native	1924-03-16	1985-10-07	actor, voice actor
Schulz, Paul	other	resident	1925-07-08	2013-02-25	Posadist political theorist, Socialist activist, ufologist, metallurgist
Bröker, Fredi	other	associated	1925-11-12	1955-07-05	chimney sweep, Anti-Communist, possible German intelligence agent; died in Neukölln as a casualty of the Berlin Wall border regime; a.k.a. Wolfgang Pankow
Möller, Gunnar	artist	native	1928-07-01	2017-05-16	actor
Rüster, Lothar	jurist	native	1930-01-22	2010-01-08	jurist, author, professor, East German official
Nieswandt, Erich	journalist	native	1930-12-30	2008-11-18	radio host, reporter, voice actor
Fiebach, Helmut	athlete	native	1933-08-08	2016-07-28	footballer, baker, chauffeur, storeowner
Gruner, Joachim	artist	native	1933-08-18	2011-09-23	composer, musician
Buchholz, Horst	artist	native	1933-12-04	2003-03-03	actor, voice actor
Peters, Gerd	artist	native	1934-01-09	2023-02-23	actor, author, journalist, naval officer
Limbach, Jutta	jurist	native	1934-03-27	2016-09-10	jurist, professor, Berlin Senator of Justice, president of the Federal Constitutional Court and Goethe-Institut
Jercha, Heinz	other	resident	1934-07-01	1962-03-27	butcher, Berlin Wall escape agent
Oefelein, Rainer	architect	associated	1935-08-23	2011-01-19	built Neukölln's High-Deck-Siedlung with Bernhard Freund
Abraham, Peter	artist	native	1936-01-19	2015-02-06	author, screenwriter, line producer, theater critic; a.k.a. Karl Georg von Löffelholz
Müller, Klaus	athlete	native	1938-01-26		team handball player and coach
Bosetzky, Horst	artist	resident	1938-02-01	2018-09-16	author, novelist, sociologist
Brehmer, KP	artist	native	1938-09-12	1997-12-16	painter, graphic artist, filmmaker; born Klaus Peter Brehmer
Fuchs, Wolfgang	other	resident	1939-01-08	2001-06-07	drugstore owner, Berlin Wall escape agent
Giesen, Traugott	other	resident	1940-05-06		theologian, priest, Christian author
Radeke, Winfried	artist	resident	1940-11-30		composer, cantor, conductor, director; founder and art director of the Neukölln Opera
Zander, Frank	artist	native	1942-02-04		singer, presenter, actor
Landowsky, Klaus-Rüdiger	politician	native	1942-07-21		Berlin state representative (CDU, 1975–2001), Berlin Hyp chairman (1993–2001, resigned amidst the Berlin Banking Scandal)
Sgonina, Alexander	artist	native	1943		sculptor, physicist, radio engineer; born Willi Alexander Godenrath
Rennert, Jürgen	artist	native	1943-03-12		author, poet, essayist, translator
Schmitt, Walfriede	artist	native	1943-03-26		actor, voice actor, author
Roski, Ulrich	artist	resident	1944-03-04	2003-02-20	musician, singer-songwriter
Ettlich, Wolfgang	artist	native	1947-05-26		film director
Vogel, Peter	scientist	native	1947-08-31		pedagogue, professor
Kolland, Dorothea	scientist	associated	1947-10-31		musicologist, director of Neukölln's Kulturamt (Culture Office, 1983–2012); born Dorothea Keupp
Buchholz, Werner	scientist	native	1948-01-25		historian, professor
Moessinger, Irene	other	resident	1949-10-14		nurse, cultural manager, equine-assisted therapist; founder and former director of the Tempodrom
Kalkowski, Kalle	artist	native	1950-01-20		singer, musician, painter; born Gottfried Kalkowski
Funke, Arno Martin Franz	artist	resident	1950-03-14		graphic artist, author, former extortionist; a.k.a. Dagobert
Strätz, Harald	artist	native	1951-07-17	2013-06-19	author, broadcast writer
Kapielski, Thomas Alfred Franz	artist	resident	1951-09-16		author, visual artist, musician
Weckman, Joachim	industrialist	resident	1953-10-04		entrepreneur, organic food pioneer
Sazak, Selçuk	artist	resident	1954-03-16		actor, Turkish film festival director
Haule, Eva Sybille	other	resident	1954-07-16		photographer, former Red Army Faction terrorist; a.k.a. Eva Sybille Haule-Frimpong
Hasucha, Christian	artist	native	1955		street and installation artist
Walz, Brigitte Annemarie	scientist	associated	1955-02-16		ethnologist; co-founded the Karneval der Kulturen with Anett Szabó at Neukölln's Werkstatt der Kulturen
Neiman, Susan	scientist	resident	1955-03-27		author, moral philosopher, essayist, cultural commentator
Wendt, Michael	politician	resident	1955-12-01	2011-12-22	mechanical engineer, foundational member of the Berlin Alternative Liste
Krawczyk, Stephan	artist	resident	1955-12-31		author, songwriter, East-German dissident
Steinmeier, Frank-Walter	politician	associated	1956-01-05		jurist, Minister of Foreign Affairs (SPD, 2013–17), President of Germany (since 2017), active member of the Reformed Evangelical Bethlehem parish in Böhmisch-Rixdorf
Kinsky, Esther	artist	resident	1956-09-12		author, translator
Barkow, Frank	architect	associated	1957		built the Estrel Tower with Regine Leibinger
Şenalp, Hilmi	architect	associated	1957		built Neukölln's Şehitlik Mosque
Feddersen, Jan	journalist	resident	1957-07-14		social economist, reporter, editor of Die Tageszeitung
Eryilmaz, Abdullah	artist	resident	1958		author, songwriter, bookseller
Farin, Klaus	artist	resident	1958-04-20		author, publisher, anti-discrimination activist, co-founder of PEN Berlin
Lilienthal, Matthias	artist	native	1959-12-21		director, theater manager, dramaturge, journalist
Bolien, Michael	other	native	1960-09-18		radio host, programmer, engineer, teacher
Knie, Andreas	scientist	resident	1960-12-12		sociologist, professor, traffic researcher
Braun, Lena	artist	resident	1961-04-04		performance and visual artist, curator, author
Verschuer, Leopold von	artist	resident	1961-04-09		actor, voice actor, author, theater and radio drama director, translator
Heisig, Kirsten	jurist	associated	1961-08-24	2010-06-28	Neukölln judge, author; propagated the procedural Neukölln Model
Garweg, Burkhard Maria Heimfried	other	resident	1961-09-01		fugitive, criminal suspect, radical left-wing activist, former member of the Red Army Faction terrorist group
Demirbüken-Wegner, Emine	politician	resident	1961-09-07		journalist, integration commissioner (Tempelhof-Schöneberg), borough mayor of Reinickendorf (since 2023, CDU); born Emine Demirbüken
Tuckermann, Anja	artist	resident	1961-11-24		author, novelist, journalist
Weisse, Simon	artist	associated	1962		filmmaker, model maker, property master, set designer
Traub, Franziska	artist	resident	1962-08-03		actor, Kabarett satirist
Juwelia	artist	resident	1963-01-14		drag queen, singer, painter, gallery owner; a.k.a. Juwelia Soraya; born Stefan Stricker
Benedict, Peter	artist	resident	1963-07-13		actor, film director; born Christian Riss
Lieschied, Uwe	other	associated	1963-09-21	2006-03-21	murdered police chief superintendent
Sahihi, Ashkan	artist	resident	1963-11-27		photographer
Darabi Kazeruni, Kazem	other	resident	1964		Iranian intelligence agent, Hezbollah representative; convicted for the Mykonos restaurant assassinations (1992)
Kay, Manuela	journalist	native	1964-04-02		author, publisher, journalist, filmmaker, radio host, Siegessäule editor-in-chief (1996–2005)
Betz, Martin	artist	resident	1964-06-17		political satirist, musician, author
Herrndorf, Wolfgang	artist	resident	1965-06-12	2013-08-26	author, painter, illustrator, caricaturist
Hannemann, Uli	artist	resident	1965-08-25		author, columnist
Hacke, Alexander	artist	native	1965-10-11		musician, singer, music producer, filmmaker
Krüger, Roland	other	associated	1966-04-06	2006-04-27	murdered police superintendent; a.k.a. Boulette
Sallmann, Bernhard	artist	resident	1967		documentary film director
Meißner, Tobias Oliver	artist	resident	1967-08-04		novelist, cartoonist
Reding, Benjamin	artist	resident	1969-01-03		film director, screenwriter, author
Schreifels, Walter Arthur	artist	resident	1969-03-10		musician, singer
Hermann, Judith	artist	resident	1970-05-15		author
Sterblich, Ulrike	artist	native	1970-09-01		author, columnist, radio host
Röggla, Kathrin	artist	resident	1971-06-14		author, radio drama and theater writer
Wagner, Jan	artist	resident	1971-10-18		poet, essayist, translator
Wedhorn, Tanja	artist	resident	1971-12-14		actor
Ziege, Christian	athlete	native	1972-02-01		footballer, football manager
Blomberg, Sebastian	artist	resident	1972-05-24		actor
Dege, Timo	artist	resident	1973		street poet, author
Metschurat, Barnaby	artist	native	1974-09-22		actor
Lucic, Nenad	artist	resident	1974-09-24		actor
Burns, Barry	artist	resident	1974-11-14		musician
Krömer, Kurt	artist	native	1974-11-20		comedian, actor, presenter, author; born Alexander Bojcan
Topal, Murat	artist	native	1975		comedian, Kabarett satirist, former police officer
Balcı, Güner Yasemin	journalist	native	1975-02-09		journalist, author, documentary film director; Neukölln's integration commissioner (since 2020)
Winson	artist	resident	1975-03-04		musician, radio host, podcaster; born Marcus Winson
Alexander, Robin	journalist	resident	1975-05-13		reporter, journalist, author
Buß, Martin	athlete	resident	1976-04-07		high jumper
MOK	artist	native	1976-09-21		rapper, musician; born Tarkan Karaalioğlu
Khani, Behzad Karim	artist	resident	1977		author, journalist
Nathan, Sascha	artist	resident	1977-05-04		actor
Chérif, Karim	artist	resident	1977-05-31		actor
Pabst, Pamela	jurist	resident	1978		Germany's first blind attorney-at-law
Tarééc	artist	native	1978-07-03		R&B singer, musician; f.k.a. T-Soul; born Tarek Hussein
Redler, Lucy	politician	resident	1979-08-17		Trotskyist activist (ISA, Anti-capitalist Left), national party executive (Die Linke, 2016–21); a.k.a. rote Lucy ("red Lucy")
Parka, Jurassica	artist	native	1979-10-17		drag queen, show host, entertainer, author; born Mario Olszinski
Soze, Keyza	artist	resident	1980		composer, music producer, DJ; a.k.a. Verbal Kint; born Konrad Karkos
Zillmann, Daniel	artist	resident	1981-01-18		actor, voice actor, singer
Jagla, Jan	athlete	resident	1981-05-25		basketball player
Herzberg, Martin	artist	native	1981-05-28		musician, composer, musicologist
Uddenberg, Anna	artist	resident	1982		sculpturist
Melendiz	artist	native	1982-06-14		musician, composer; born Volkan Melendiz
Berrached, Anne Zohra	artist	resident	1982-07-31		film director, screenwriter
Akboga, Kazim	artist	resident	1982-08-20	2017-02-09	musician, rapper, singer, DJ, commercial video writer & producer; born Kazım Akboğa
Hızarcı, Derviş	other	native	1983		teacher, author, Berlin integration commissioner (2019–20)
Schazad, Graziella	artist	resident	1983-07-02		musician, singer-songwriter
Sukini	artist	resident	1983-12-29		musician, columnist, rapper; f.k.a. Sookee and Quing of Berlin; born Nora Hantzsch
Otremba, Hendrik	artist	resident	1984		musician, author, visual artist
Stoehrfaktor, Lena	artist	resident	1984		musician, rapper, social worker, educator; born Lena Stoehr
Bumaye, Ali	artist	resident	1985-01-11		musician, rapper; born Ali Alulu Abdul-razzak
Senesie, Sahr	athlete	resident	1985-06-20		footballer; half-brother of Antonio Rüdiger
Schuch, Albrecht	artist	resident	1985-08-21		actor
Stokowski, Margarete	artist	resident	1986-04-14		author, essayist
Özdemir, Oktay	artist	resident	1986-10-06		actor, theater author; born İnanç Oktay Özdemir
Then, Felicitas	journalist	resident	1986-11-29		journalist, editor, TV cook
Mondtag, Ersan	artist	resident	1987		theater and opera director; born Ersan Aygün
Amjahid, Mohamed	journalist	resident	1988		non-fiction author, journalist, reporter
Gringo	artist	native	1988		musician, rapper; born Ilfan Kalender
Aikins, Jonathan Kwesi	artist	resident	1989-01-22		actor, voice actor
Herman, Rony	artist	resident	1990		actor
Janta, Oumi	other	resident	1991		jam skater, model, influencer
Kobosil	artist	native	1991-04-05		DJ, music producer, musician; born Max Kobosil
Zeuge, Tyron	athlete	native	1992-05-12		professional boxer
Hmeidan, Kenda	artist	resident	1992-09-13		actor, voice actor
Juju	artist	resident	1992-11-20		musician, rapper; born Judith Wessendorf
Rüdiger, Antonio	athlete	native	1993-03-03		footballer; half-brother of Sahr Senesie; a.k.a. El Loco, Don Antonio and Toni Rüdiger
Lou, Alice Phoebe	artist	resident	1993-07-19		musician, singer-songwriter; born Alice Matthew
Lang, Ricarda	politician	resident	1994-01-17		MdB (Alliance 90/The Greens, since 2021), co-deputy party leader (2022–24)
Juno, Madeline	artist	resident	1995-08-11		musician, singer-songwriter; born Madeline Obrigewitsch
Ngee	artist	native	1996		musician, rapper; born Nikolas Schüssler

Resistance against National Socialism

Many of Germany's resistance fighters and activists against National Socialist rule operated from Neukölln, for example Heinz Kapelle and Ursula Goetze, who coordinated with the Red Orchestra in the quarter. Some activists also moved to socialist East Germany after World War II and became prominent state officials and politicians, for example Klaus Gysi and Frieda Unger.

More information Name, Status ...

List of notable resistance activists and fighters against National Socialism in Berlin-Neukölln
Name	Status	Born	Died	Profession and notes
Hermann, Albert Reinhold Richard	resident	1885-11-10	1945-04-29	pressman, unionist
Künstler, Franz	resident	1888-05-13	1942-09-10	mechanic, unionist, politician
Unger, Frieda	resident	1888-07-09	1975-04-12	politician, East German functionary; born Frieda Eckert
Sahlberg, Clara	native	1890-07-03	1977-04-13	tailor, unionist
Boock, Georg	resident	1891-09-06	1961-06-23	Neukölln administrator, mayor of i.a. Erfurt (1946–61)
Lange, Emil Alfred Fritz	resident	1898-11-23	1981-09-16	teacher, Communist borough and city representative
Bischoff, Fritz	native	1900-07-01	1945-05-03	salesman, Communist functionary; husband of Charlotte
Kühn, Bruno	native	1901-12-17	1944 (approx.)	Communist functionary; brother of Lotte Ulbricht
Glatzer, Helene	native	1902-02-08	1935-01-31	clerk
Sieg, John	resident	1903-02-03	1942-10-15	Communist railroad worker, journalist; leading member of the Red Orchestra; pseudonymously a.k.a. Siegfried Nebel
Weise, Martin	resident	1903-05-12	1943-11-15	journalist, borough representative (1929–33)
Kapteina, Hugo	resident	1903-06-23	1945-04-20	journalist
Seelenbinder, Werner	associated	1904-08-02	1944-10-24	wrestler; trained and is buried in Neukölln
Schröder, Georg	native	1904-10-10	1944-09-11	blacksmith, welder
Jahnke, Willi	native	1906-08-29	1992-01-01	merchant, unionist, Communist functionary, borough mayor of Lichtenberg (1955–59, SED) and Prenzlauer Berg (1964–69)
Loll, Ferdinand	native	1910-03-08	1986-08-05	shipping agent, Communist activist, GDR police officer; convicted for the Richardsburg attack (1931)
Crüger, Tommy	native	1911-05-17	2003-01-17	Communist functionary, politician; born Herbert Crüger
Hesse, Eberhard	native	1911-06-28	1986-03-28	printer, chairman of Neukölln's SAJ, unionist, Berlin state representative (1956–75, SPD)
Gysi, Klaus	native	1912-03-03	1999-03-06	journalist, publisher, politician; father of Gregor
Hoffmann, Friedel	native	1912-12-14	1997-12-26	Socialist functionary, East German political official; born Friedel Schmiedel; later a.k.a. Friedel Lange
Tschäpe, Herbert	native	1913-01-15	1944-11-27	construction worker, carpenter, Communist functionary
Walter, Grete	native	1913-02-22	1935-10-21	Communist youth worker
Kapelle, Heinz	resident	1913-09-17	1941-07-01	pressman, Communist politician
Jadamowitz, Hildegard	native	1916-02-12	1942-08-18	factory worker, salesclerk, medical assistant, Communist functionary
Goetze, Ursula	resident	1916-03-29	1943-08-05	stenographer
Walter, Irene	native	1919-01-23	1942-08-18	secretary
Rehmer, Friedrich	native	1921-06-02	1943-05-13	locksmith, adjuster, teacher

Mayors and other local politicians

Rixdorf became an independent city in 1899 and was incorporated as a borough of Berlin in the 1920 Greater Berlin Act, so the city of Rixdorf (later Neukölln) has only had three mayors and lord mayors respectively.^{[note 77]} Both the Hermannstraße and the Boddinstraße, together with the corresponding plazas, were named after Rixdorf's first mayor, Hermann Boddin.^{[note 78]} None of Rixdorf's and Neukölln's three city mayors were natives, while only Alfred Scholz' political party affiliation is known from historical sources.^{[note 79]} As part of the borough Neukölln, the quarter of Neukölln has been administered by the borough mayor since 1920. As of 2025, the incumbent is Martin Hikel (SPD).^{[note 80]}

More information Name, Title ...

Name	Title	City	Term	Born	Died	Notes
Boddin, Karl Wilhelm Hermann	Mayor, First Mayor, Lord Mayor	Rixdorf	1899–1907	–	1844-05-16	1907-07-23	in office until his death^{[note 81]}
Kaiser, Curt	Mayor, Lord Mayor	Rixdorf, Neukölln	1907–1919	–	1865-01-26	1940-04-25	often spelled Kurt Kaiser^{[note 82]}
Scholz, Alfred Heinrich Paul	Mayor	Neukölln	1919–1920	SPD	1876-05-15	1944-11-02	transitioned to Neukölln's first borough mayor^{[note 83]}

More information Name, Status ...

List of other notable local politicians of Rixdorf, Neukölln and Berlin-Neukölln
Name	Status	Born	Died	Notes
Manitius, Adolph Gebhard	resident	1682	1754-12-27	Rixdorf hofmeister, proprietor of the schultheiß fief court (1704–37)
Pflüger, Karl Friedrich Wilhelm	native	1784-12-12	1833-06-27	schultheiß of Deutsch-Rixdorf (1814–30)
Wanzlick, Daniel Friedrich	native	1819-02-15	1877-06-19	last Bohemian schultheiß of Böhmisch-Rixdorf (5 May 1869 – 11 June 1873)
Schinke, Johann Friedrich	native	1826-11-20	1875-08-03	last schultheiß of Deutsch-Rixdorf (27 January 1863 – 1 January 1874)
Maresch, Daniel	resident	1833-09-11	1923-12-23	alderman, municipal magistrate, city administrator
Barta, Carl Friedrich	resident	1833-12-10	1914-09-25	innkeeper, Böhmisch-Rixdorf's principal municipal magistrate (1871–73), municipal magistrate under Hermann Boddin (1874–88)
Jansa, Wilhelm	native	1834-12-20	1909-04-20	farmer, alderman, municipal magistrate (1878–99)
Mier, Friedrich Wilhelm	resident	1836-02-18	1912-12-19	Rixdorf/Neukölln city councilor
Schudoma, Johann	native	1840-02-19	1903-10-04	only Bohemian municipal magistrate of the unified Rixdorf authorities (1874–99), city councilor (1899–1903)
Sander, Hermann	resident	1845-07-14	1939-03-12	industrialist, Rixdorf municipal councilor (1887–96), municipal administrator (1896–98), Rixdorf/Neukölln city administrator and honorary council president (1899–1919)
Bürkner, August	native	1847-01-06	1914-12-27	Rixdorf municipal representative (1889–99), Rixdorf/Neukölln city councilor (1899–1914)
Thiemann, August	native	1849-09-10	1923-05-17	Rixdorf/Neukölln city magistrate and councilor (1899–1919)
Leyke, Gustav Adolf	resident	1851-09-10	1910-07-28	merchant, Rixdorf municipal administrator (1892–98), city councilor (1899–1910)
Niemetz, Daniel Benjamin	resident	1853-06-25	1910-05-09	gardener, Rixdorf municipal magistrate (1886–99), city councilor (1899–1909), city elder (1909)
Voigt, Georg Philipp Wilhelm	resident	1866-09-16	1927-04-13	Second Mayor of Rixdorf under Boddin (1899–1906), city councilor of Gdańsk, Lord Mayor of i.a. Frankfurt
Wutzky, Emil	resident	1871-10-04	1963-12-30	unionist, cooperativist, Rixdorf/Neukölln city councilor (1899–1917)
Schönborn, Richard	resident	1878-02-13	1957-03-03	merchant, borough representative (1924–25, Centre Party), member of the Reichstag (1925–30)
Juchacz, Marie	resident	1879-03-15	1956-01-26	housemaid, industry worker, social reformer, women's rights activist, executive and women's representative (1908–13, Rixdorf SPD), secretary for women's affairs in Cologne (1913–17), official at the Center for Home Working and the Food Commission, Berlin secretary for women's affairs (1917–19), Member of the Reichstag (1920–33), first female representative to address a German parliament, founder of the Arbeiterwohlfahrt; born Marie Gohlke
Scholz, Hedwig Emma Gertrud	resident	1881-04-26	1950-04-18	patternmaker, executive and women's representative (Rixdorf SPD), only female member of Neukölln's Workers' and Soldiers' Council (1918/19), Neukölln city and borough representative (1919–21), Berlin city representative (1921–33), Reinickendorf borough representative (1946–50); wife of Neukölln's third mayor and first borough mayor Alfred Scholz; later Hedwig Emma Gertrud Hass; born Hedwig Emma Gertrud Uster
Schlecht, Paul	native	1882-09-28	1947-04-29	toolmaker, member of the Revolutionary Stewards, Communist functionary (KPD), district administrator, member of the Reichstag (1924–28), party leader
Löwenstein, Kurt	resident	1885-05-18	1939-05-08	socialist reform pedagogue, borough councilor (1921–33)
Raddatz, Erich	resident	1886-11-28	1964-02-16	locksmith, borough representative (1926–30)
Fechner, Max	native	1892-07-27	1973-09-13	toolmaker, borough representative (1921–25)
Ohm, Martin	native	1895	1955	borough officer, administrative auditor, first post-war borough mayor of Neukölln (April–October 1945), appointed by the Soviet Army; instrumental in Neukölln's immediate post-war recovery
Fink, Hans	associated	1898-12-18	1945-08-01	bank clerk, NSDAP Kreisleiter (district chairman) for Neukölln, member of the Reichstag (1936–38)
Fischer, Hermann Richard Gustav	native	1900-02-24	1983-02-28	manager, administrator, Neukölln borough representative (1929–33, DVP), Berlin city and state representative (1948–58, FDP), Tempelhof borough mayor (1951–53), Berlin Senator of the Interior (1953–54), Mayor of Berlin (1954)
Samson, Kurt	resident	1900-05-08	1947-03-09	jurist, Neukölln borough mayor (NSDAP, 1933–45)
Exner, Kurt	native	1901-05-15	1996-11-12	unionist, borough mayor (1949–59, Berlin SPD), Berlin senator for Labor and Social Welfare under Willy Brandt (1959–67)
Wollenberg, Karl	associated	1903-04-30	1958-04-25	fireman, storekeeper, German Labour Front executive, NSDAP Kreisleiter (district chairman) for Neukölln, member of the Reichstag (1938–45), judge for economic law
Buwitt, Dankward	native	1939-07-06		merchant, Neukölln district chairman (CDU), Berlin state representative (1975–91), member of the German Bundestag (MdB, 1990–2002)
Hackel, Wolfgang	resident	1942-11-27		political scientist, CDU Neukölln executive member, borough councilor, MdB (1980–85), member of the European Parliament (1985–89)
Bielka, Frank	native	1947-10-22		business economist, borough mayor (1989–91), Degewo board chairman (until 2002)
Buschkowsky, Heinz	native	1948-07-31		public manager, author, borough mayor (1991/92, 2001–15)
Giffey, Franziska	resident	1978-05-03		public manager, borough mayor (2015–18, SPD), governing mayor of Berlin (2021–23)
Koçak, Ferat Ali	resident	1979-05-26		economist, manager, marketing director, Berlin state representative (Die Linke), MdB (since 2025); first politician of Die Linke to win a direct mandate in a formerly West German electoral district
Audretsch, Andreas	resident	1984-06-25		journalist, author, Neukölln Alliance 90/The Greens board member and speaker, MdB (since 2021), vice chairman of the parliamentary group
Demir, Hakan	resident	1984-11-16		political scientist, Migazin co-editor-in-chief, chairman of Rixdorf's local SPD office, SPD Berlin board member, MdB (since 2021), member of the Parliamentary Left
Hikel, Martin	resident	1986-04-30		teacher, borough mayor (2018–26), Berlin SPD chairman (2024–25)
Helm, Anne	resident	1986-06-07		actor, borough representative (Pirate Party), Berlin state representative (Die Linke), chairwoman of the parliamentary group (since 2022)

Local building officials

During the tenure of Reinhold Kiehl and his colleagues, for example fellow architect Heinrich Best (1876–1916), Rixdorf's Hochbauamt (office of public works service) and building authority received a stellar reputation across the German Empire, which attracted many young architects, who all earned their stripes in Rixdorf and Neukölln before becoming often renowned independent architects, for example Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Franz Hoffmann and Bruno Taut.

More information Name, Born ...

List of notable building officials and local architects of Rixdorf, Neukölln and Berlin-Neukölln
Name	Born	Died	Notes
Weigand, Hermann	1854-02-02	1926-10-16	Rixdorf/Neukölln building officer (1904–21), Neukölln city elder (1924)
Kiehl, Reinhold	1874-04-22	1913-03-10	director of Rixdorf's Hochbauamt (1905–12)
Martens, John	1875-05-04	1936-06-04	director of the Hochbauamt's design office (until 1908)
Müller, Hans Heinrich	1879-04-20	1951-12-07	building official (1920–24)
Zollinger, Friedrich Reinhard Balthasar	1880-03-31	1945-04-19	building official (1912–18)
Taut, Bruno	1880-05-04	1938-12-24	building official (1908–09)
Goetze, Robert Friedrich	1881	1940^[tpq]	assistant director of the design office (1906–24)
Zizler, Josef	1881-03-19	1955-10-24	building official (1917–21)
Bonatz, Karl Nikolaus	1882-07-06	1951-09-24	construction administrator (1927–40)
Taut, Max	1884-05-15	1967-02-26	building official (until 1912)
Hoffmann, Franz	1884-06-13	1951-07-15	building official (1908–09)
Borgwardt, Johannes Karl Stephan	1885-09-28	1943-10-04	design official (1907–24), design office assistant director (1924–42)
Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig	1886-03-27	1969-08-17	building official (1904–05); born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies

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Awards and international relations

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Perspective

Neukölln as part of the borough Neukölln

has been a Municipality of Europe since joining the Council of European Municipalities and Regions as a cooperative member on 1 April 1967;
was awarded the Council of Europe's Europe Prize in 1987 for outstanding commitment to European integration before the fall of the Berlin Wall;^[61]
was awarded as an Ort der Vielfalt ("place of diversity") by the federal government on 23 September 2008;^[62]
is a Pilot City of the Intercultural Cities Programme,^[63] also known as the International ICC Programme,^[64] organized by the Council of Europe together with the European Commission;^{[note 84]}

Neukölln as part of the borough Neukölln maintains relationships with several German and international twin or partner cities, municipalities or communes:^[65]

Anderlecht, Belgium (1955)
Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv, Israel (1978)
Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris, France (1955)
Çiğli, İzmir, Turkey (2005)
Cologne, Germany (1967)
Hammersmith and Fulham, London, United Kingdom (1955)
Leonberg, Germany (1970)
Marino, near Rome, Lazio, Italy (1980)
Pavlovsk-Pushkin, Saint Petersburg, Russia (1991)
Prague 5 (Smíchov), Prague, Czech Republic (2005)
Ústí nad Orlicí, Czech Republic (1989)
Wetzlar, Germany (1959)
Zaanstad, near Amsterdam, Netherlands (1955)

Neukölln as part of Berlin

Neukölln as part of Berlin maintains relationships with several international twin or partner cities:^{[note 85]}

Beijing, China
Brussels, Belgium
Budapest, Hungary
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Istanbul, Turkey
Jakarta, Indonesia
Kyiv, Ukraine
London, United Kingdom
Los Angeles, United States
Madrid, Spain
Mexico City, Mexico
Moscow, Russia
Paris, France
Prague, Czech Republic
Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Tokyo, Japan
Warsaw, Poland
Windhoek, Namibia

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Rixdorf and Neukölln in media and popular culture

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Perspective

Literature

As an urban hotspot and important quarter of Berlin, Neukölln has always been the focus of many nonfiction books and academic works in the fields of history, education, social and political sciences. A few prominent natives and residents of Neukölln received biographies, such as architect Reinhold Kiehl and actor Horst Buchholz, or have written memoirs, for example actor Inge Meysel or Neukölln's integration commissioner Güner Balcı with Heimatland (2025). Many consumer nonfiction books about Neukölln exist as well. Notable examples are In den Gangs von Neukölln – Das Leben des Yehya E. (2014) by Christian Stahl, and the satirical Gebrauchsanweisung für Neukölln (1988) by Johannes Groschupf, which he wrote as a student under the pseudonym Olga O'Groschen, while the most popular book to this date has been the critical Neukölln ist überall (2012) by former borough mayor Heinz Buschkowsky.

In fiction, several authors have written about or set their stories in Neukölln, for example Käsebier takes Berlin (Käsebier erobert den Kurfürstendamm, 1932) by Gabriele Tergit, Katharina oder Die Existenzverpflichtung (1992) by Iris Hanika, Hinterhofhelden (2009) by Johannes Groschupf, Hund, Wolf, Schakal (2022) by Behzad Karim Khani, Allegro Pastel (Allegro Pastell, 2020) by Leif Randt, the semi-autobiographical Die halbe Stadt, die es nicht mehr gibt (2012) by Ulrike Sterblich, Jesus von Neukölln (2022) by Wolfgang Priewe, or the children's book Nelly und die Berlinchen – Die Schatzsuche (2019) by Neukölln author Karin Beese. Over the decades, urban lyricists have written many poems about Rixdorf or Neukölln, for example Ede Petermann aus Rixdorf singt in der Verbannung by Otto Julius Bierbaum, published in Ausgewählte Gedichte (1921). The alternative literary artist collective around Uwe Bremer chose the name Werkstatt Rixdorfer Drucke, but in fact operated from a squat on Oranienstraße in Kreuzberg.

Theater and stage

Horst Pillau wrote the comedy play Der Kaiser von Neukölln, which premiered in 1987 at the Hansa Theater. Since 1980, Ades Zabel has created several musicals, plays and stage performances around the long-term unemployed Neukölln character Edith Schröder, for example Tatort Neukölln and Einfach Edith! 25 Jahre Edith Schröder.^[66] Kurt Krömer, himself a Neukölln native, has regularly emphasized the quarter in his stand-up comedy and other works, for example Pimp my Ghetto (2010) in support of the Körnerkiez. Neukölln author Abdullah Eryilmaz has written monodramatic works like Der Pfarrer von Neukölln (The Priest of Neukölln). Commissioned by theater manager and Neukölln resident Matthias Lilienthal for the inauguration of the new Hebbel am Ufer theater company, choreographer Constanza Macras and her dance ensemble Dorky Park produced the dance theater play Scratch Neukölln, which premiered in 2003 at the Hebbel-Theater.

Film and television

Quick facts External videos ...

External videos
Bilderbuch 30 – Berlin-Neukölln (documentary, Eva Demmler & Axel Friedrich, RBB, 2024, 44m)
Neukölln wie es einmal war (documentary, Svenja Weber, RBB, 2024, 89m)

Neukölln has been a favored location for national and international film and television productions, from German blockbusters like Fack ju Göhte (2013) by Bora Dağtekin to American reality TV shows,^{[note 86]} as well as special effects work for many Babelsberg productions, most notably by Simon Weisse's Prop & Model Maker Berlin, which have worked on films by the Wachowskis or Wes Anderson, and on TV series like Homeland. Some film works, however, have focused primarily on Neukölln, either as a cultural setting or as an integral part of the narrative, often treating the quarter or borough as a perceived hotspot for the precariat, criminal gangs and alternative concepts of living.^{[note 87]}

Neukölln feature films include the 1983 children's fantasy drama Conrad: The Factory-Made Boy (Konrad oder Das Kind aus der Konservenbüchse) by Claudia Schröder and Christine Nöstlinger,^{[note 88]} the 2006 crime drama Tough Enough (Knallhart) by Detlev Buck, Zoran Drvenkar and Gregor Tessnow, the 2007 romance and crime drama Straight by Nicolas Flessa, the 2009 young adult crime melodrama Gangs by Rainer Matsutani, Peer Klehmet and Sebastian Wehlings, the 2011 science-fiction melodrama Dr. Ketel (Dr. Ketel – Der Schatten von Neukölln) by Linus and Anna de Paoli, the 2013 comedy drama Ummah – Among Friends (Ummah – Unter Freunden) by Cüneyt Kaya, the 2014 television legal drama The Limits of Patience (Das Ende der Geduld) by Christian Wagner and Stefan Dähnert, and the 2025 Shakespearean criminal tragedy No Beast. So Fierce. (Kein Tier. So Wild.) by Burhan Qurbani and Enis Maci.

Several television or streaming series have focused on Neukölln as well, for example the 2015 miniseries Ecke Weserstraße by Johannes Hertwig and Hayung von Oepen, the 2017 gang melodrama 4 Blocks by Richard Kropf, Hanno Hackfort and Bob Konrad, and the 2025 medical melodrama Berlin ER (KRANK Berlin) by Samuel Jefferson and Viktor Jakovleski. The 2018 legal melodrama Die Heiland – Wir sind Anwalt by Viola Jäger and Nina Philipp is heavily inspired by the life of Neukölln's former resident and Germany's first blind attorney Pamela Pabst.

Many documentary works have been produced on Neukölln, for example the TV documentary miniseries Kiez knallhart: Berlin-Neukölln (2021) by Story House Productions, and otherwise mainly feature-length films, for example Berlin-Neukölln (2002) by resident director Bernhard Sallmann, Neukölln Unlimited (2010) by Agostino Imondi and Dietmar Ratsch, Berlin: Hasenheide (2010) by Nana Rebhahn, Gangsterläufer (2011) by Christian Stahl, a precursor to his 2014 book (see above), or Survival in Neukölln (2017, Überleben in Neukölln) by Rosa von Praunheim. As part of its local and regional mandate, Berlin's public broadcaster RBB has co-produced several documentary films and series about Neukölln over the years, including history formats, for example Mein Neukölln – Wo gehste hin? Wo kommste her? (2015) by Neukölln native Wolfgang Ettlich or Neukölln wie es einmal war (2024) by Svenja Weber.

Music

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External audio
David Bowie & Brian Eno, "Neuköln" (from Heroes, Parlophone, 1977/2017, 4:34)
Madeline Juno, "Neukölln" (from Besser kann ich es nicht erklären, Universal, 2021, 3:52)
Lena Stoehrfaktor with KVSTR, "Sonnenallee" (from Essenz, EP, 2022, 3:33)

Songs referencing Neukölln or its residents are mostly from German artists, for example the 2017 hip hop song Sonnenallee by AOB (Army of Brothers) and Said, the 2004 indie rock song Wovon lebt eigentlich Peter? by Winson, the 2008 rock song Neukölln (also known as Neukölln, Du alte Hure) by Kalle Kalkowski from the album Liebesgrüße aus Neukölln ("From Neukölln with Love"), the 2021 pop song Sonnenallee by Tina Naderer, the 2022 farewell elegy Neukölln by Madeline Juno, the 2013 hip hop song Das ist Neukölln by Exxar and Kiddkey, the 2008 hip hop song Neukölln 44 feat. Kreuzberg 361 by DJ AK in cooperation with several local German and Turkish rappers, the 2011 satirical folk song Neukölln ist auf Scheiße gebaut by Otto Kuhnle, the 2022 alternative hip hop song Sonnenallee by Lena Stoehrfaktor, or the proletarian love letter Dit is Neukölln ("This is Neukölln") by Kurt Krömer and Gabi Decker, originally from a television skit and sung to the tune of I Got You Babe, while tangential references are usually found in Deutschrap songs, for example the 2019 U7 Freestyle by Luvre47. Italian progressive rock band Barock Project published their concept album Coffee in Neukölln in 2012.

Several instrumental works also reference Neukölln, most notably the 1977 David Bowie and Brian Eno track Neuköln [sic!],^{[note 89]} which was later reworked for orchestra by Philip Glass as the fifth movement of his Symphony No. 4 – Heroes (1996), and also inspired the fusion jazz diptych Neuköln (Day) and Neuköln (Night) by Dylan Howe (2007/14). Other instrumental works include the 1953 march Die Rixdorfer Blasmusik ("The Rixdorfian Brass Music") by Otto "der zackige Otto" Kermbach, the 1983 electronic composition Hasenheide by Dieter Moebius, the 2004 track Neukölln 2 by Kittin, the 2012 deep house track Neukölln Burning by resident producer Deepchild, the 2011 Mogwai release Hasenheide, or the 2012 tech house track Neukoelln Mon Amour [sic!] by Swayzak.

Der Rixdorfer

Benjamin Bilse, 1870
Bilse'sche Kapelle, 1871
Heinrich Littke-Carlsen, caricature, ca. 1890
Gruß vom Rixdorfer, postcard, ca. 1899^{[note 90]}
Berlin nightlife and the schieber, caricature, 1912
Gustav Schönwald, ca. 1905

"Rixdorfer Bauern-Polka"

Gustav Schönwald (1905; Homokord, 1914)

"Rixdorfer Bauernhochzeit"

Gustav Schönwald (1905; Favorite, 1914)

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Quick facts Der Rixdorfer ...

Der Rixdorfer
Tanzorchester Otto Kermbach, instrumental (Polydor, 1937, 2:50)
Orchester Georg Grohrock-Ferrari (Gloria, 1938, 2:38)
Erwin Hartung, Orchester Otto Kermbach, alternate lyrics by Josef Freundenthal (Amiga, 1949, 2:56)
Musikkorps der Schutzpolizei Berlin, Heinz Winkel (cond.), instrumental (Telefunken, 1954, 3:20)
Willi Rose, Orchester und Blasorchester Otto Kermbach (from Wir versaufen unser' Oma ihr klein' Häuschen, Ariola, 1959, 2:26)
Manfred Korth, Spreeathener Blasmusik (from Hochzeit bei Zickenschulze, Amiga, 1981, 2:13)
Hermann Prey, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Heinz Geese (cond.) (from Ich sing mein schönstes Lied, Capriccio, 2009, 3:00)

The song that cemented Rixdorf's infamy as a city of vice across Germany, which eventually prompted the renaming to Neukölln, is the 1889 satirical couplet Der Rixdorfer ("The Rixdorfian"), also known under the title In Rixdorf ist Musike,^{[note 91]} with music in the style of a polka march by Eugen Philippi (1856–1920)^{[note 92]} and lyrics by Oskar Klein (ca. 1852–1923).^{[note 93]} The couplet ranks among the first widely popular songs (gassenhauer) of the early schlager genre, which came under fire from conservative music commentators for its artistic inferiority and socially corrosive potential after the turn of the century.^[67]

The polka's original instrumental version was already performed in 1871 as a carnival song by Benjamin Bilse and his ensemble Bilse'sche Kapelle ("Bilse's Band"), the precursor to the Berlin Philharmonic, at Berlin's Concerthaus on Leipziger Straße, where the ensemble had a regular engagement from 1867 to 1885. It had been adapted from a traditional polka melody, which had been imported from the Bohemian Forest by two of the ensemble's woodwind musicians, who had served in Bohemia as part of the Kaiser Franz regiment during the 1866 Austro-Prussian War.^{[note 94]}

After the polka had fallen into oblivion for many years, it suddenly exploded in popularity when the music was appropriated by Philippi and adapted to Klein's pre-existing lyrics in 1889.^{[note 95]} The new song was at first performed live by satirist Heinrich Littke-Carlsen in the late 19th century at Rixdorf's concert hall Neue Welt and Berlin's variety theater Wintergarten. It soon became "probably the most widespread local dance",^{[note 96]} fostered the adoption of new dancing styles like the indecent schieber,^{[note 97]} spawned several imitations around Berlin like the Minna-Polka by Paul Lincke (1902),^{[note 98]} and eventually spread throughout the empire's dance halls.

Several recordings of the song were published over the decades, the first being the Rixdorfer Bauern-Polka ("Rixdorfian peasants' polka"), a semi-instrumental version arranged by Max Büchner (1862–1906) with an accompanying comedic skit written by Martin Bendix, recorded 1905 in Berlin onto an Edison cylinder, performed by the Büchner-Kapelle with actor and media pioneer Gustav Schönwald, and widely released for the first time in 1914 by Homokord.^{[note 99]} A recording in the style of the popular all-male close harmony groups followed in 1938, performed by Georg Grohrock-Ferrari and his ensemble. An early East German recording of the song in an arrangement by Reiny Roland used alternate toned-down lyrics, originally written by Josef Freudenthal, and was recorded in 1949 by actor Erwin Hartung, while the most prominent version with the original lyrics was recorded in 1959 by actor Willi Rose, both versions with Otto Kermbach's orchestra.^{[note 100]} The Rixdorfer remained popular through modern times, recorded in 1976 by James Last or in 1981 by Manfred Korth and the brass ensemble Spreeathener Blasmusik. A symphonic version, recorded by baritone Hermann Prey with the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, was published in 2009.

Instrumental versions of the Rixdorfer have been released since the first recordings by Schönwald in 1905, for example a 1928 foxtrot couplet by Georges Boulanger and arranged by Hermann "Ben Berlin" Biek for Vox Records,^{[note 101]} a 1937 recording by Otto Kermbach's orchestra, or a 1981 version for barrel organ by Georg Kuwest. The most well-known instrumental version of Neukölln's unofficial anthem is the 1954 recording by conductor Heinz Winkel with the music corps of Berlin's Schutzpolizei.

The song's original adulterous lyrics are usually recited with a strong Berlin dialect in the first person by a protagonist called Franz. They describe his free and easy Sunday partying and dancing spree in Rixdorf, and his meeting his long-time companion, an older woman called Rieke, who insinuates to also be a prostitute.^{[note 102]}

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Quotes

Summarize

Perspective

All things which occur through time, vanish with time. Therefore, it is necessary to make them steady, and to cement them, in deeds and tangible form.

— Richardsdorf foundational charter, 1360^{[note 103]}

In Rixdorf and Neukölln, aspirations, fears and hopes temporarily concentrated, to escape the "old" homelands and their provincial constrictions, their mental and social hardships. Neukölln as utopia, thus as a non-place, where suffering and happiness fatefully coalesced, and where the desire for escape seems to have a timeless presence.

— Udo Gösswald, "Immer wieder Heimat", 1997^{[note 104]}

If we continue to only observe, we in Neukölln-Nord won't be far from Whitechapel in 10 to 15 years.

— Borough mayor Heinz Buschkowsky, interview, 2008^{[note 105]}

Depending on how you look at it, you can say: here [in Neukölln] people manage to get along with each other pretty well in a confined space; or: it is more of a side by side, at times also a head-to-head.

— Berlin integration commissioner Derviş Hızarcı, interview, 2024^{[note 106]}

It is always a boon and bane at the same time, when a district [like Neukölln] is far ahead of its time.

— Neukölln integration commissioner Güner Balcı, interview, 2025^{[note 107]}

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Gallery

Hermannplatz, Donaukiez
County Court
County Court and City Hall
Public bath house
Buddy Bear Rixi at City Hall
Volkspark Hasenheide in winter, 2013
Hall of Honor, Lilienthalstraße cemetery, Hasenheide

Notes

[1]
Lit. rollende Berge, i.e. sanft geschwungene Berge ("rolling hills") in the figurative meaning of rollen as fließen ("to flow") or wogen ("to wave"); one of Neukölln's neighborhoods was named after the Rollberge range (see below). See also the Kreuzberg, Berlin's most prominent glacial (and highest natural inner-city) hill which, together with the Rollberge and the slopes near the former Mühlenberg in Schöneberg, forms the larger northern Teltow range called Tempelhofer Berge.
[2]
Neukölln's highest point is on the Teltow in the central Schillerkiez approximately at Schillerpromenade 27/28; the quarter's lowest point is in the glacial valley near the eastern border to Plänterwald along the Heidekampgraben near Kiefholzstraße (Köllnische Heide); cf. i.a. "Geoportal Berlin" s.v. "Karten → Fachkarten → INSPIRE-transformiert → II 01 Höhe → Höhenlage im INSPIRE-Datenmodell (Digitales Geländemodell)", Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung, Bauen und Wohnen, Berlin.
[3]
The Rixdorfer Höhe has the highest elevation in the southern part of Berlin's inner city within the Ringbahn, surpassed only by a few schuttberg deposits in the north near the Barnim like the 86.5 m (284 ft) Humboldthöhe in the Volkspark Humboldthain (Gesundbrunnen); see also Liste von Erhebungen in Berlin. Neukölln's tallest building structure, on the other hand, is the Estrel Tower at 176 m (577 ft), which is Berlin's tallest skyscraper and Germany's tallest hotel tower; see also List of tallest buildings in Berlin.
[4]
The use of the shortened term Bezirk has legal reasons, because Berlin's boroughs are only partially administrative districts: Berlin is a single municipality (Einheitsgemeinde), so its boroughs have limited power, acting only as agencies of Berlin's state and city governments, as laid out in the 1920 Greater Berlin Act; the boroughs are financially dependent on state donations, as they neither possess any taxation power nor own any property. (This is in contrast to municipalities and counties in other German states, which are territorial corporations, so-called Gebietskörperschaften, with autonomous functions and property.) Furthermore, a borough's district office, while in charge of most administrative matters affecting its borough's residents, can be overruled by the Berlin Senate, which is the agent of Berlin's Hauptverwaltung (central administration); see also Boroughs and quarters of Berlin § Administration and politics.
[5]
Over the years there have been several petitions to reestablish the historical name Rixdorf; Kai Ritzmann, "Aus (Nord-)Neukölln soll wieder Rixdorf werden", 1 July 2019, B.Z..
[6]
Other alternative toponyms for the quarter are Neukölln-Nord, Nordneukölln and Neukölln 44. The number 44 had been part of the quarter's old postal code (1000 Berlin 44, Neukölln 1) and is still in informal cultural use after the introduction of the new postal codes in Germany on 1 July 1993. (Neukölln's modern postal codes, which range from 12043 to 12059, therefore still include the local number 44; however, only the codes with odd terminating numbers are currently in use.) Aside from its use to distinguish the quarter from the borough, the old postal code 44 has i.a. become part of local music and youth culture, adopted e.g. by clubs like the venue Hole⁴⁴, and by native hip hop musicians such as Nashi44, Doni44, 44Grad or Kalazh44.
[7]
The continuing growth of Neukölln's urbanized and gentrified sphere, however, is slowly expanding the northern demographics southward, for example into Britz' neighborhood Hufeisensiedlung, or into the Buschkrugkiez, e.g. some city blocks north of Blaschkoallee like the Ideal-Siedlung.
[8]
Also known as Richardkiez; the original Richarsdorp, later Ricksdorf, Rixdorf and Deutsch-Rixdorf; named after an unknown historical Richard, probably in the 13th century, and possibly after a local knight or administrator, or after a prominent historical person like Richard of Chichester, Richard of Cornwall or Richard de Bures (see History of Neukölln); in Berlin's LOR framework (see below), Richardplatz-Süd is part of both the planning areas Alt-Rixdorf and Braunschweiger Straße.
[9]
Also known as Böhmisches Dorf (Bohemian Village); among the Bohemian settlers, it was called Český Rixdorf (Czech Rixdorf) until the early 20th century; in Berlin's LOR framework, Böhmisch-Rixdorf is part of the planning area Alt-Rixdorf.
[10]
In Berlin's LOR framework, the Rixdorf region is much larger and comprises many additional planning areas to the north, east and south of the historical village center Alt-Rixdorf.
[11]
Also known as Reuterquartier; named after the central localities Reuterstraße and Reuterplatz, themselves named after novelist Fritz Reuter; in Berlin's LOR framework, the Reuterkiez is part of a larger region called Reuterstraße, which also includes the secondary neighborhoods Donaukiez and Harzer Straße.
[12]
Often called Flughafenstraße, seldomly Flughafenstraßenkiez; the name derives from the central street Flughafenstraße, which refers to the former Tempelhof airport nearby.
[13]
Also called Schillerpromenade; named after the neighborhood's main street, the Schillerpromenade, itself named after Friedrich Schiller; in Berlin's LOR framework, Schillerpromenade is the name of a much larger region that also includes three additional secondary neighborhoods to the north and south of the actual Schillerkiez.
[14]
Also called Rollbergkiez, Rollbergviertel or Rollbergsiedlung; named after the Rollberge, a range of glacial hills (see above); not to be confused with the Rollberge estates, which is the alternative name for the Schwarzwaldsiedlung in Berlin Reinickendorf.
[15]
Lit. "white estates"; named after the white faces of most of the neighborhood's high-rise buildings; not to be confused with the World Heritage Site Weiße Stadt in Berlin Reinickendorf; the Weiße Siedlung is often lumped together with (and even called) the Dammwegsiedlung, even though the latter is a distinct 1920s settlement further south (see below); in Berlin's LOR framework, the two neighborhoods are combined as the planning area Weiße Siedlung, which additionally comprises the eastern Neukölln docklands, the Treptow freight yards, which, despite their name, are part of Neukölln (see below), and major recreational spaces at the eastern outskirts, mostly a large area of privately leased garden allotments at the site of the former Cölln Heath.
[16]
Sometimes referred to as Körnerkiez; named after the Körnerpark, itself named after Franz Körner, the former owner of the gravel quarry, in which the park was created; Körner gifted the quarry to the city of Rixdorf under the condition that the planned park would bear his name.
[17]
Named after the architectural concept of using a close network of pedestrian skyways between the estate buildings; also called Sängerviertel ("Singers' Quarter") due to several street names, e.g. the Michael Bohnen beltway.
[18]
South of the Reuterkiez and part of the LOR region Reuterstraße; named after the river Donau, the German name for the Danube.
[19]
Also called Siedlung am Dammweg; named after an old Dammweg (path on a dam) across the historical Cöllnische Heide (Cölln Heath) to the former landing stages at the river Spree; administratively part of the planning area Weiße Siedlung, itself part of the LOR region Köllnische Heide.
[20]
Part of both Reuterkiez and Rixdorf, with the Wildenbruchstraße forming the official border; named after the river Weser.
[21]
Examples are:
Ganghoferstraße around the border between Donaukiez and Böhmisch-Rixdorf south of Sonnenallee; named after German author Ludwig Ganghofer; in Berlin's LOR framework, the Ganghoferstraße neighborhood belongs solely to the Rixdorf region and is a fairly large area stretching all the way to Thiemannstraße;

Warthekiez around Wartheplatz; part of Schillerpromenade, and including the cemetery park Neuer St. Jacobi Friedhof; named after the river Warthe, the German name for the Warta;

Harzer Straße, a residential area north of the Neukölln Ship Canal, also called Harzer Kiez, Bouchéstraße or Bouchékiez; nominally part of both Reuterkiez and Rixdorf, with the Wildenbruchstraße forming the official border, but also closely connected with the Kungerkiez in Alt-Treptow nearby; named after the local streets Harzer Straße and Bouchéstraße respectively, themselves named after the Harz region and German politician Johann Bouché (1759–1846); in Berlin's LOR framework, the Harzer Kiez is split into two areas, the small residential area Bouchéstraße in the west and Treptower Straße Nord, a larger partially industrial area in the east;

areas south of the Berlin Hermannstraße and Berlin Neukölln stations like Glasower Straße, also called Glasower Kiez (south of Körnerpark and named after the Glasow neighborhood in the town of Mahlow), and Silbersteinstraße, also called Silbersteinkiez (part of Schillerpromenade, and named after German politician Raphael Silberstein); the Glasower Kiez also includes the westernmost parts of Neukölln's industrial park Lahnstraße;

Hasenheide, a western secondary neighborhood north of the Schillerkiez with fewer residential infrastructure, but large recreational spaces and parks; it evolved from the old Hasenheide forest of Rixdorf, now a park, literally "hares' heath"; in Berlin's LOR framework, Hasenheide is part of the larger region Schillerpromenade;

Schulenburgpark south of Dammwegsiedlung, a small neighborship close to High-Deck-Siedlung; named after the Schulenburg dynasty; in Berlin's LOR framework, Schulenburgpark is the name of a large planning area, which is part of Köllnische Heide, Neukölln's largest region, and comprises the actual Schulenburgpark neighborship, the High-Deck-Siedlung, and many of the industrial sites southeast of the Berlin Ringbahn.
[22]
Portmanteau of "Kreuzberg" and "Neukölln"; the short hands X-Kölln and especially Xkölln are also in use; compare Xhain, short for Kreuzhain, a similar local portmanteau for the borough Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg.
[23]
Approximate extent of Kreuzkölln (red: minimum, red dotted: maximum, purple: Reuterkiez wedge)
The toponym originally stood for the western part of the Reuterkiez, excluding the neighborhoods Donaukiez and Harzer Straße, and comprising the LOR areas Maybachufer, Reuterplatz and Weichselplatz, which are geographically wedged between the adjacent city blocks of the quarter Kreuzberg, whose neighborhoods SO 36 and Kreuzberg 61 border to the north and west respectively. After many years of gentrification, the toponym Kreuzkölln today describes the western part of the Reuterkiez together with the adjacent city blocks of Kreuzberg, more precisely the Graefekiez and the Reichenberger Kiez, also known as Wiener Kiez, which together have now formed an almost fully integrated, albeit gentrified, social and urban sphere (Johannes Schneider, "Sagt endlich Kreuzkölln!", Tagesspiegel, 12 April 2016); see also History of Neukölln § Berlin-Neukölln in the 21st century.
[24]
"Zu viel Grau, zu wenig Grün: Viele deutsche Städte fallen durch im ersten Hitze-Check der Deutschen Umwelthilfe", Deutsche Umwelthilfe, 30 July 2024 (with download); the remaining 4.9% are (partially vegetated) mixed-use areas or uncategorized land types.
[25]
Still, due to their old age, many of Neukölln's cemeteries, which are counted as mixed-use areas, now double as recreational parks or tourist locations during opening hours; the most famous and oldest ones are the 1751 Moravian cemetery, the small Böhmischer Gottesacker in Rixdorf, and the 1813 Friedhof hinter der Hasenheide, later renamed Garnisonfriedhof (garrison cemetery), today called Friedhof Columbiadamm, while the largest one, situated between the neighborhoods Rollberg and Körnerpark, is a cemeterial ensemble consisting of St. Thomas, Neue Luisenstadt and St. Michael, of which the former is one of Neukölln's historical garden monuments, originally built in 1872. Four additional active or former cemeteries are now historical monuments, namely the 1888 Emmauskirchhof in the far south, St. Jacobi on Karl-Marx-Straße (1852), the 1866 Turkish cemetery on Columbiadamm (see below), and the western part of St. Thomas (1872), present-day Anita-Berber-Park.
[26]
"So grün sind die Berliner Bezirke", B.Z., 9 June 2016. Neukölln also has one of Berlin's 76 remaining natural boglands spanning 740 ha (7.400 km²) or 1,828.6 acres (2.86 mi²), primarily the Erlenbruch, which, together with two smaller bogs, has persisted at the brook Rudower Fließ in the borough's far south; Hildburg Bruns, "Moor-Krimi in Köpenick! Versunkener See freigelegt", B.Z., 29 May 2025. Recultivated boglands and a herd of water buffalo are found further east in Neukölln's landscape park Rudow-Altglienicke.
[27]
Examples are monuments like the Reuterpark on Reuterplatz or the Richardpark on Richardplatz, smaller parks like Trusepark, green plazas like Hertzbergplatz, dedicated plaza parks like Weichselpark on Weichselplatz and Wildenbruchpark on Wildenbruchplatz, as well as special places like the atrium of Neukölln's Stadtbad (public bath house), or the neighborhood garden Silent Rixdorf in Böhmisch-Rixdorf.
[28]
"Schriftliche Anfrage der Abgeordneten Danny Freymark (CDU) und Stephan Schmidt (CDU) vom 01. März 2018 zum Thema 'Wildschweinplage in Berliner Bezirken' und Antwort vom 14. März 2018", Abgeordnetenhaus Berlin, 14 March 2018. However, an average of 50–100 kills of wild boar are usually registered every year in the borough of Neukölln. Generally, boars only seldomly migrate into Berlin's inner-city quarters, which would need to be directly interconnected with the large forests in Berlin's periphery, for example like the western parts of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf; for sightnings of wild boar on the Kurfürstendamm, see e.g. Cay Dobberke, "Wildschweinplage: Schweine am Ku'damm", Tagesspiegel, 25 March 2011.
[29]
As of July 2024, the whole borough of Neukölln houses only 1,703 of Berlin's refugees (4.68%); "Überblick über die Flüchtlingsunterkünfte in Berlin", Landesamt für Flüchtlingsangelegenheiten, 7 July 2024. As of January 2024, of the borough's seven refugee centers, only two were in the quarter Neukölln, a larger one on Karl-Marx-Straße in Neukölln's southern dockland area just north of Grenzallee, and a smaller one at the Kiefholzstraße near the eastern border to Plänterwald. However, the Berlin Senate plans to open a large new refugee center on the street Hasenheide right on the border between Kreuzberg and Neukölln, including a center for unaccompanied minors, and its close proximity to Hermannplatz and other neighborhoods with an already existing high share of migrant crime like the Donaukiez has been harshly criticized by politicians of both affected boroughs; Susanne Rost, "Flüchtlingsunterkunft an der Hasenheide ab 2026: Pläne sorgen für Unruhe in Kreuzberg und Neukölln", Berliner Zeitung, 7 January 2025 (archived).
[30]
As of June 2024, approximately 800–900 refugees have been reaching Berlin every month, with the majority arriving from Turkey, Syria, Afghanistan, Vietnam and Moldova; "Hauptherkunftsländer im Juni 2024 – Berlin", Landesamt für Flüchtlingsangelegenheiten, 7 July 2024.
[31]
According to Güner Balcı, Neukölln's Integrationsbeauftragte (integration commissioner), this is a historically intrinsic part of the Islamic religion and an "almost self-evident part of [immigrant and especially Muslim] cultural identity"; cf. Güner Balcı, "'Zu viele meist muslimische Einwandererkinder wachsen mit den Geboten der Unfreiheit auf'", Sueddeutsche Zeitung, 8 February 2024 (archived); see also Güner Balcı in: Katrin Elger, "Muslim Anti-Semitism in Berlin: 'Wide Swaths of Arab-Speaking Population Harbor Sympathies for Terrorists'", Der Spiegel, 11 October 2023; for an example, cf. e.g. Madlen Haarbach, "'Wir sehen das als Mordversuch': Mutmaßlich pro-palästinensischer Brandanschlag auf Neuköllner Kneipe 'Bajszel', Tagesspiegel, 29 September 2024. For Berlin's former integration commissioner Derviş Hızarcı, this modern antisemitism is also rooted in experiences with islamophobia and religious prejudice, and in the internalization of the negative stereotypes associated with Neukölln's Muslims and the quarter's generally false stigma as a failed district; Derviş Hızarcı in: Madlen Harbach, "Warum immer Neukölln?", Tagesspiegel, 28 October 2024 (archived).
[32]
Culminating during the Gaza war; Katrin Elger, "I Actually Don't Like Hamas, But…" , Der Spiegel, 23 October 2023; see also Migrantifa.
[33]
The U8 directly connects Neukölln's and two other important kbOs, Kottbusser Tor in Kreuzberg and Alexanderplatz in Mitte, with two other kbOs close-by, the Görlitzer Park with Wrangelkiez in Kreuzberg and (via the U-Bahn line U1) Warschauer Brücke in Friedrichshain; Jörn Hasselmann, "Dreck, Drogen, Obdachlosigkeit: Wie die BVG Berliner U-Bahnhöfe sauberer machen will", Der Tagesspiegel, 14 February 2024. Before Berlin's 2025 general weapons ban in the city's public transport system (see below), Neukölln's stations of the U8, especially Hermannplatz, were among Berlin's U-Bahn stations with the highest crime rate due to their role as locations for drug trafficking and drug-related (violent) crime; Dominik Mai, "Besonders viele Gewalttaten: Das ist Berlins gefährlichste U-Bahnlinie", Tagesspiegel, 4 November 2024 (archived).
[34]
Crime statistics only exist for the borough of Neukölln, and in 2023, crime overall rose slightly to 13,794 registered cases, but still remains below the previous decade's maximum of 14,406 in 2015. Generally, Neukölln, in relation to its population size, has fewer registered criminal cases than, for example, the boroughs Mitte and Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain. However, as in all of Berlin, violent felonies in Neukölln have been steadily rising for the last decade to a new high of 1,393 in 2023, especially aggravated assaults, which, compared to the pre-pandemic high, rose by more than 10% from 383 in 2020 to 423 cases; for the full statistics, see e.g. "Kriminalitätsatlas Berlin", Polizei Berlin.
[35]
Carolina Schwarz, "Wie bunt ist Neukölln wirklich?", die tageszeitung, 12 February 2024; see also LGBT people and Islam; according to official 2024 numbers for the whole of Berlin, queerphobic felonies have risen eightfold since 2014, with more than 71% committed against male victims, while 80% were committed for indeterminate reasons, 12% due to right-wing and 6% due to foreign or religious ideologies, with the latter having increased significantly over the past decade, especially with regard to insults, harassment and property damage; within the quarter Neukölln, only a few streets and neighborhoods are potentially queerphobic hotspots, but those have still raised the whole borough to the fifth rank compared to other boroughs of Berlin; Alexander Fröhlich, "Mehr queerfeindliche Taten: Berliner Polizei meldet Höchststand", Der Tagesspiegel, 27 July 2024.
[36]
"Waffen- und Messerverbotszonen (WMVZ) in Verkehrsmitteln des öffentlichen Personennahverkehrs (ÖPNV) und Einrichtungen des öffentlichen Personenverkehrs (ÖPV)", Polizei Berlin. The weapons ban under Berlin state law does not cover the S-Bahn trains and stations, because these are under federal jurisdiction and patrolled by the German federal police; however, the federal police have independently and regularly issued an on-demand general weapons ban for many of Berlin's and Potsdam's S-Bahn and intercity train stations to augment Berlin state law; "Wochenlanges Waffenverbot an 16 Bahnhöfen tritt in Kraft", RBB24, 1 October 2025.
[37]
Rixdorf and Neukölln are therefore in accordance with the overall German religious distribution of a primarily Roman Catholic citizenry on the historically Roman side of the limes, and a primarily Protestant citizenry in the former regions of the unconquered Germanic barbarian tribes.
[38]
See also Religion in Berlin.
[39]
This would conform to the number of (mainly Muslim) Arabs in the borough (7.9%) and the quarter (ca. 10%); see also Arabs in Berlin.
[40]
Exceptions are privately operated tramways like the Wuhlheide park railway or the Britzer Garten tramway; the VBB integration of the aerial tramway in the Gärten der Welt has often been proposed, but was declined until 2026; Stefan Ziller in: "Marzahn: Seilbahn in den Gärten der Welt bleibt von BVG getrennt – das ist der Grund", Berliner Zeitung, 24 September 2024.
[41]
For an overview including their history of construction, cf. e.g. Alexander Seefeldt, Robert Schwandl, Berliner U-Bahn-Linien: U7 – Quer durch den Westen, Berlin, 2013; Axel Mauruszat, Alexander Seefeldt, Berliner U-Bahn-Linien: U8 – Von Gesundbrunnen nach Neukölln, Berlin, 2015.
[42]
All except Westkreuz provide access to many Regionalbahn, Regional-Express, intercity and EuroCity trains, with Gesundbrunnen and Südkreuz also connected to Germany's Intercity Express network; in addition, the provider FlixTrain is operating from Südkreuz station.
[43]
Another smaller airport northeast of Berlin, which is mainly used by charter planes, is Eberswalde–Finow Airport; it has always been a candidate for an expansion into a second international airport in the Berlin periphery; "Flugplatz Eberswalde-Finow: Ex-Militärlandeplatz mischt Tegel-Diskussion auf", Berliner Morgenpost, 11 August 2017.
[44]
The minimum frequency in off-hours is every 10 minutes (X7 and X71 combined), while the X7 itself runs every 5 minutes in peak time.
[45]
The FEX operates every 15 minutes between 4:00 and 0:30, and once every hour between 0:30 and 4:00, reaching the BER within 13–15 minutes. The RE20 operates once every hour between 4:00 and 21:00, reaching the BER within 15 minutes. Sonnenallee station connects to Südkreuz with the circle lines S41 and S42, Köllnische Heide with the lines S46 and S47, and the U-Bahn interchanges Hermannstraße and Neukölln with all four available S-Bahn lines.
[46]
Combined, the two regional express lines operate every 30 minutes, reaching the BER within 11–12 minutes. Sonnenallee station on the Ringbahn, however, has no direct connection to Schöneweide (see below).
[47]
Sonnenallee station has no direct public transport connection to the Baumschulenweg and Schöneweide stations, so the only options are using the circle lines, preferably with the FEX and RE20 western interchanges at Südkreuz, with the similarly fast eastern alternates RE24 or RE30 via Ostkreuz station, or with longer S-Bahn-only options using the eastern interchange at Treptower Park station between the circle lines and the S85 or S9.
[48]
Since the closing of the old Terminal 5 near Schönefeld, the daytime bus line 171 between Hermannplatz and BER has not been extended to reach the operational terminals 1–4: using this line, passengers need to interchange either at Rudow (X7/71) or at the terminus Schönefeld (S-Bahn). Furthermore, line 171 is eventually set to terminate at Rudow; cf. "Nahverkehrsplan Berlin 2019–2023", Senatsverwaltung für Umwelt, Verkehr und Klimaschutz, p. 282.
[49]
Depending on the source, the Rixdorf was built in 1962 or 1963. After its launch at the Ruhrort shipyard, it was first used on Lake Baldeney under the name Gruga. It was sold to Berlin in 1984 and rechristened Spreekieker. In 1987, it was resold to the Riedel shipping company and rechristened Rixdorf. It is 30.07 m (98.65 ft) long and 5.24 m (17.19 ft) wide, with a gauge of 1.23 m (4.04 ft) and a machine capacity of 180 PS (130 kW).
[50]
On the Berlin side, a maximum of two additional stations are planned: Lieselotte-Berger-Platz (Rudow-Süd) and potentially also Neuhofer Straße; on the Schönefeld side of the border, a maximum of six additional stations are planned: Schönefeld-Nord, Schönefeld (S-Bahn interchange), Schönefelder Seen (east of the autobahn A113 near the Segra Airport Park), followed by three stations on airport grounds, namely Air Town (alternatively named Airgate), Midfield Gardens and the final station at BER main terminals; cf. i.a. Thorsten Metzner, "Pläne für Verlängerung nehmen nächste Hürde: Jetzt wird die Wirtschaftlichkeit der U7 zum BER untersucht", Tagesspiegel, 25 June 2023. Further stations in Selchow and at the Berlin ExpoCenter Airport, including preparatory work beneath the BER terminal expansion area, are not part of the current extension plans.
[51]
There have also been demands for a new Ringbahn station at Kniprodestraße in eastern Prenzlauer Berg; cf. Julia Schmitz, "'Geringes Fahrgastpotential': Vorerst kein neuer Ringbahnhalt in Alt-Treptow", Tagesspiegel, 18 September 2023. However, the political majority favors a dedicated S-Bahn station between Hermannstraße and Tempelhof to offer the public direct access to the Tempelhofer Feld, e.g. Tempelhofer Freiheit station just west of the NME junction (Teresa Roelke, "Zukunft des Tempelhofer Feldes in Berlin: Jury kürt sechs internationale Entwürfe – mit und ohne Randbebauung", Tagesspiegel, 23 June 2025, s.v. "Entwurf 3"), so the proposed Oderstraße station would compete for the spot at the Tempelhofer Feld against either this or a second alternate station directly at the field's border north of the A100 autobahn.
[52]
"Straßenbahnneubaustrecke Warschauer Straße – Hermannplatz (M10-Verlängerung)", Senatsverwaltung für Mobilität, Verkehr, Klimaschutz und Umwelt, Berlin 2025; construction is not set to begin before 2028; Oliver Noffke, "Bau der M10-Verlängerung zum Hermannplatz soll nicht vor 2028 beginnen", RBB24, 13 June 2024.
[53]
Due to the part-time function of the Hermannplatz as a marketplace (see below), its relatively small space and the large motorized traffic volume, the M10 will terminate just north of the plaza on Kreuzberg's Urbanstraße; "Weiterbau der Tramlinie M10: Neue Endhaltestelle an der Urbanstraße", Entwicklungsstadt Berlin, 17 November 2022.
[54]
"Straßenbahnneubaustrecke Schöneweide – Potsdamer Platz", mein Berlin, Berlin 2024; different from the current bus M41, the new tram line would not terminate at Berlin Hauptbahnhof, and the routing via Urbanstraße could interfere with operations at the planned M10 terminus; therefore, an alternate route south of Hermannplatz via Hasenheide was also part of the proposal; the new tram line will not open before 2035; Peter Neumann, "Von Schöneweide zum Potsdamer Platz: Berlins unbeliebteste Buslinie soll Straßenbahn werden", Berliner Zeitung, 7 November 2024.
[55]
For example, these measures were introduced in the northern Reuterkiez in 2024 and have significantly reduced through traffic and the number of accidents; Madlen Haarbach, "Poller und Einbahnstraßen in Berlin-Neukölln: So haben sich die Unfallzahlen im Reuterkiez entwickelt", Tagesspiegel, 11 April 2025 (archived).
[56]
In 2025, the first bicycle boulevard opened in the Körnerkiez ("Umbau der Ilsestraße zur Fahrradstraße ist abgeschlossen", Bezirksamt Neukölln, 10 April 2025); for an overview of Neukölln's current and planned bicycle boulevards, including the Weserkiez extension into Rixdorf, cf. Michael Fugel (ed.), "infraVelo: Karte" s.v. "Neukölln § Fahrradstraße, GB infraVelo GmbH.
[57]
The initial joint section of the route will pass from Adlershof along the Teltow Canal through Johannisthal and Baumschulenweg, and will then split near the Britz quarter, with branches leading through (a) Britz and western Neukölln to the Tempelhofer Feld and Südstern (Kreuzberg 61), and (b) through eastern Neukölln and Alt-Treptow to Görlitzer Park and Wiener Straße (Kreuzberg SO 36) respectively; Michael Fugel (ed.), "Y-Trasse: Von Adlershof nach Neukölln und Kreuzberg", infraVelo, August 2024.
[58]
Despite its name, the Treptow freight yards are part of the Neukölln quarter; the terminal depot is owned by Klösters Baustoffwerke (Potsdam) and operated by VEPAS bahnservice, and two of the five tracks were recommissioned and modernized in 2010.
[59]
The freight yards at Berlin-Neukölln station function as the transfer facilities for trains to the NME.
[60]
Berlin-Britz station was originally also the NME's primary maintenance depot, which has since moved to Berlin Teltowkanal station. Today, the remaining infrastructure is only used for turnarounds of trains to and from the BSR refuse facility, which is connected with auxiliary tracks north of the NME.
[61]
Once a full-fledged station, it was originally called Berlin-Rudow West after its construction in 1937.
[62]
The railroad's remaining tracks, which historically led south through Rudow proper into Brandenburg, were dismantled along with two additional stations, Berlin-Rudow at Rhodeländerweg and Berlin-Rudow Süd just north of the border to Brandenburg.
[63]
Of the service tracks to the docks at the western upper and eastern lower basins, all but one for each basin were permanently closed, as were the tracks to the industrial park Lahnstraße north of the harbor. The tracks east of the Neukölln Ship Canal to Dieselstraße, which for a time had also serviced the Estrel Hotel north of Sonnenallee, were closed down and dismantled due to extensive development in the Neukölln Docklands; the remaining tracks now terminate south of the Estrel Tower and are currently used only for turnarounds, but still reserved as a potential future supply route.
[64]
For connections from the service track on the easternmost harbor dock to the industrial main line through Baumschulenweg, six directional changes are necessary. For the daily transports from the ports of Bremen to Neukölln's Jacobs Douwe Egberts production facilities on Nobelstraße, trains only need to change directions twice, first at the Treptow freight yards, then at the northern Neukölln Harbor main track; however, due to the track's now shortened length, trains first need to be split into smaller groups at the Treptow freight yards.
[65]
For a complete overview of Neukölln's places of worship, see Arnold Mengelkoch (ed.), "Religionen in Neukölln – Gemeinden, Adressen, Informationen", Bezirksamt Neukölln (Verwaltung des Bezirksbürgermeisters: Migrationsbeauftragter), Berlin, December 2024.
[66]
The Romanian Orthodox parish, on the other hand, has found a home in the Protestant Martin Luther Church (see below).
[67]
Dar Assalam is a member of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany and the Islamic Federation of Berlin, which currently represents 17 of Berlin's approximately 80 mosques.
[68]
Generally translated "mosque of martyrdom", in a historical context "mosque of the war cemetery", and euphemized in German as Friedhofsmoschee ("mosque of the graveyard"). It is operated by the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DİTİB), the religious-political Islamist arm of the Turkish state; see also Erdoğanism.
[69]
Emperor William I had permanently ceded the area to the Ottoman-Turkish community in 1866; cf. Tessa Hofmann, "A Hundred Years Ago: The Assassination of Mehmet Talaat (15 March 1921) and the Berlin Criminal Proceedings against Soghomon Tehlirian (2/3 June 1921): Background, Context, Effect", International Journal of Armenian Genocide Studies 5 (1), p. 88 sq., n. 95. Today, the grounds are administered by a ministry of the Turkish state, because Muslims in Germany are not organized in accordance with public law, so it is impossible for the Turkish Islamic community of Berlin to form a public corporation.
[70]
The earliest prominent Ottoman burials on the old graveyard were i.a. of ambassador Giritli Ali Aziz Efendi and historian Mehmet Esad Efendi, whose graves were later transferred to the modern cemetery, which now also contains the mortal remains i.a. of ambassador Giritli Ali Aziz Efendi and the exiled Grand Vizier Mehmed Talat, but also honorary graves for Cemal Azmi and Bahattin Şakir, who are shuhada of the jihad against the Armenian Christians between 1915 and 1917; see also Armenian genocide and Operation Nemesis.
[71]
The Metro and (since 1953) Europa-Palast with the Roxy studio auditorium had been smaller successors of the Mercedes-Palast from 1945 until their final closing in 1969; see also Liste der Kinos im Berliner Bezirk Neukölln for an overview of Neukölln's current and former film theaters.
[72]
The most prominent tourist destinations have always been the restored late Gothic Margraviate Bethlehem Church at Richardplatz, St. John's Basilica near Südstern, and the Şehitlik Mosque.
[73]
Technically, the building is mostly on Kreuzberg grounds, while the Hermannplatz belongs to Neukölln; Saskia Patermann, "Wirtschaftssenatorin Pop bekennt sich zu Karstadt-Neubau", Berliner Morgenpost, 26 September 2019.
[74]
For a list of Neukölln's old and newer cultural monuments, see also Liste der Kulturdenkmale in Berlin-Neukölln; for the current official list, see "Denkmalliste" with download, Landesdenkmalamt Berlin, Berlin 2023.
[75]
The kiosk was originally called the Pilz ("mushroom") by Rixdorf's citizens, because it was painted in red and white like an Amanita muscaria.
[76]
This was achieved in 2009 i.a. by exempting pubs and bars with patron space of less than 75 square meters, and by allowing separated enclosed lounges; "Nichtraucherschutz in der Berliner Gastronomie", Landessuchtbeauftragte Berlin.
[77]
The term Lord Mayor is only a rough translation of the German Oberbürgermeister, literally "Chief Mayor", but still applies, because the title was awarded by the German Emperor.
[78]
According to many modern secondary sources, the Hermannstraße is supposedly named after Arminius, who was later mythologized in Germany as Hermann der Cherusker and became a prominent ideological figurehead in Prussian politics of the 19th century, but contemporary documentation by Rixdorf's administration from the time of the street's rechristening in 1875, now archived by Neukölln's district office, attests that the street's name is derived from Hermann Boddin, who had been instrumental in the street's development and expansion; even though this provenance was widely known among the populace, Boddin's family always denied it (Jürgen Meyer-Kronthaler, Wolfgang Kramer, Berlins S-Bahnhöfe – Ein dreiviertel Jahrhundert, Berlin 1998, p. 120; cf. Fabian Friedmann, "Der Patriarch", Neukoellner, 19 September 2012). According to 1885 local civil engineering records, the same eponymous provenance applies to the name Hermannplatz; cf. "Hermannplatz", in: Roman Kaupert (ed.), Kauperts Straßenführer durch Berlin, Zepter und Krone: Edition Luisenstadt, Berlin 2019. Furthermore, for Rixdorf's proposed rechristening, Boddin had insisted the city be renamed Hermannstadt after himself (see above), which underscores his egomaniacal side that his family tried to remedy after his death.
[79]
Boddin and Kaiser were likely conservatives and royalists, and therefore aligned with political parties like the Zentrum or the DkP.
[80]
For a list of all historical mayors and borough mayors, see: "Ehemalige Bürgermeister des Bezirkes", Bezirksamt Neukölln.
[81]
Before Rixdorf was chartered, Boddin had already been the town's principal municipal magistrate (Amts- und Gemeindevorsteher) since 4 February 1874, following the unification of Deutsch- and Böhmisch-Rixdorf (see above); Boddin transitioned to the role of mayor on 1 April 1899, received the official title Erster Bürgermeister auf Lebenszeit (First Mayor for Life) from district president Robert Earl Hue de Grais on 4 May 1899, and was awarded the title Oberbürgermeister (Lord Mayor) by Wilhelm II on his 30-year office anniversary on 4 February 1904.
[82]
His nickname among the people was Kaiser von Rixdorf ("emperor of Rixdorf") as a pun on his surname; Kaiser became mayor under Lord Mayor (Oberbürgermeister) Boddin on 26 March 1907; a few months after Boddin's death (23 July 1907), he was awarded the title Lord Mayor by Wilhelm II on 3 December 1908 at the opening of Rixdorf's new City Hall; he remained in office through the city's renaming to Neukölln (1912) until the end of his term on 1 November 1919 during the November Revolution.
[83]
Scholz was elected to the Rixdorf council of city representatives in 1906 and became its president (Stadtverordnetenvorsteher) in 1911, the first Social Democratic politician of Germany to serve in this capacity. He was elected Neukölln's mayor in April 1919, when mayoral contender and long-serving city councillor Hermann Sander (1899–1919) stepped away from his political duties after a reform of Neukölln's electoral law. Scholz first served as mayor under Lord Mayor Curt Kaiser until the end of Kaiser's term on 1 November 1919, then as Neukölln's sole mayor until 27 April 1920, when he transitioned to borough mayor after the Greater Berlin Act came into force. He remained Neukölln's borough mayor until 1 March 1933, including another three years as council president (1931–33), when he was forced to resign from his offices under pressure from the new ruling NSDAP (see also Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service); his unlawfully appointed successor during the Nazi era (1933–45) was Kurt Samson. In 2014, the plaza Platz der Stadt Hof at Rixdorf's Karl-Marx-Straße was renamed Alfred-Scholz-Platz in his honor. Scholz' wife was Neukölln's only female revolutionary council member Gertrud Scholz.
[84]
"Berlin-Neukölln represents one of the few cases within the Intercultural cities programme, in which membership is not associated with a city as such, but with a part of it, i.e. with a neighbourhood, or rather in administrative terms, with a district. This has to do with the complex and eventful history of Berlin, as well as with the important political and administrative changes it has gone through as from the end of World War II, in 1945." in: "Berlin-Neukölln: Intercultural Profile", Council of Europe, 27 October 2011.
[85]
"Städtepartnerschaften". Der Regierende Bürgermeister / Staatskanzlei. 2024. The latest partner city of Berlin is Kyiv, Ukraine ("Neue Städtepartnerschaft mit Kyiv: Vitali Klitschko in Berlin", berlin.de – Das offizielle Hauptstadtportal, Berlin, 11 September 2023); Kyiv and Paris are not twin cities of Berlin.
[86]
Neukölln was the sixth leg's final pit stop in the 32nd season (2020) of the reality competition TV show The Amazing Race by Elise Doganieri and Bertram van Munster; Sammi Turano, "The Amazing Race Recap for 11/18/2020: Double Legs", TV Grapevine, 18 November 2020 (archived).
[87]
An early and now world-famous motion picture dealing with Neukölln in such a way, is the 1981 biographical drama Christiane F. (Christiane F. – Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo) by Uli Edel, Herman Weigel and Vera Christiane Felscherinow; here, however, the focus is not on the northern quarter of Neukölln, but i.a. on Gropiusstadt in the south of the Neukölln borough.
[88]
In the same year, the film was remade for US television by Nell Cox and Malcolm Marmorstein under the title Konrad.
[89]
Some distributors of Bowie's album Heroes have occasionally changed the original spelling Neuköln to Neukölln on some international releases.
[90]
The postcard contains an excerpt of Oskar Klein's lyrics for the Rixdorfer; the fictional Franz and Rieke, mentioned in the lyrics, are shown dancing in the foreground at a fair on the grounds of the Neue Welt on the street Hasenheide in Rixdorf; in the background the Rollkrug tavern and the Pferde-Eisenbahn to Moabit.
[91]
The German figure of speech da ist Musik [drin] (lit. "it contains music") has a more general meaning of something having verve and energy. At least one release also uses the alternate subtitle uff den Sonntag freu ick mir ("I'm looking forward to Sunday"), lifted directly from the song's original lyrics.
[92]
Philippi was a pianist, kapellmeister and composer of popular music; Theo Stengel, Herbert Gerigk (eds.), Lexikon der Juden in der Musik, Berlin 1940, col. 213, s.v. "Philipp, Eugen". He was born Eugen Peile Philipp on 14 October 1856 in Lübeck to Julius Salomon Philipp and Rosalia (néé Silberstein). Philippi and his wife Gertrud (néé Arnfeld) had three children, and he died on 21 May 1920 in Berlin-Charlottenburg; Die Stimme 14 (8), p. 249. In his youth, he moved to Munich's Isarvorstadt, where he became a musical director already in his early twenties; Adreßbuch von München für das Jahr 1880, München 1880, p. 220; Münchener Anzeiger 31 (345), 11 December 1878, p. 2, col. 1, no. 5, s.v. "Bamberger Hof". He later mainly lived and worked in Berlin, i.a. in the Königsstadt district, where around 1892 he also ran a sample storage facility for cotillion items; W. & S. Loewenthal (eds.), Berliner Adreß Buch für das Jahr 1892, Berlin 1892. From 1910 to 1917, he also owned a manor in Saunstorf (Bobitz), which he registered as a farmer with an oath of fealty (Homagialeid), and which he expanded and redeveloped between 1914 and 1916; Juliane Kruse, "Gutshaus Saunstorf in Mecklenburg-Vorpormmern", Historische Häuser, 17 March 2024; Regierungs-Blatt für das Großherzogtum Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Amtliche Beilage Nr. 40, §13.4, Schwerin 1910 (11 August 1910). Like many composers of the time, Philippi was a supporter of the performance royalties movement, which led to the AFMA, founded in 1903 by Richard Strauss et al., argued for by Philippi with an article in a professional journal (Eugen Philippi, "Die Gründung einer Tantiemen-Anstalt in Deutschland", Deutsche Musikdirektoren-Zeitung 4 [36], Leipzig 1902), for which he was a regular contributor, i.a. with an article on John Philip Sousa.
[93]
Oskar (also Oscar) Klein was a lyricist, dramatist, librettist for mostly operettas and burlesque music theater, and patron of Willy Prager. Until the 1910s, he also worked as president of the Berlin amusement society Tyll Eulenspiegel, which was part of the rather tame satirical kabarett nightlife scene of late imperial Berlin that eventually faded during the war years and was supplanted by a more refined and modernized culture during Berlin's Roaring Twenties (Hans Ostwald, Das galante Berlin, Berlin 1928, ch. 26, pp. 165–76). Klein's last work for theater mentioned in the German National Library archives is Am Nordseestrand (May 1910) with music by Hans Schlothen. From 1914 to 1922, Klein worked as editor of the satirical weekly magazine Der Brummer, originally created as a humorous war magazine, and published i.a. by the Verlag Lustige Gesellschaft. His biographical data is vague, but he was born on 7 June 1852 in Ratibor, where he became a merchant before choosing an artistic career; after moving to Berlin, he started out as director of the Literarisches Institut in 1881; Wilhelm Kosch (ed.), Deutsches Theater-Lexikon 3, Klagenfurt/Vienna 1960, p. 1013, s.v. "Klein, Oskar". Klein and his wife Wally (néé Ebstein) had one daughter; his date or year of death is unknown, but his final work as editor of Der Brummer was published in late 1922.
[94]
This instrumental version of the music had also been used for a brief period as an accompaniment to a dance by the clown Herr Boganowsky (pseud.), who later also worked for the Circus Busch.
[95]
The received lyrics were written by Klein in 1889, and the music was adapted soon after; the song was first published in 1895 (Philippi, op. 18); cf. Lukas Richter, Der Berliner Gassenhauer: Darstellung – Dokumente – Sammlung (Volksliedstudien 4), Münster 2004, p. 96 sq., 253 sq. The first piano sheet version was published by Harmonie in 1904, arranged by Victor Hollaender. It is unknown, whether Philippi or Klein initiated the creation of the Rixdorfer, but since Klein's Tyll Eulenspiegel was also a carnival society, the score of Bilse's original version was probably well-known in Berlin's small carnival circles.
[96]
Anonymous commentary (ca. 1900): "wohl der verbreitetste Lokaltanz", in: ibid., p. 266.
[97]
Littke-Carlsen himself had already coupled his performances of the song with the schieber, which formed the term Rixdorfer into a synonym for the new dance; in 1912, correlating with Rixdorf's renaming to Neukölln, the schieber was banned by law enforcement executive order; Gunda Bartels, "Wie aus Rixdorf Neukölln wurde: Der Ruf war ruiniert", Tagesspiegel, 26 January 2012.
[98]
Furthermore, the term "Rixdorf" itself became a welcome artistic ingredient, either as part of song titles, e.g. Die Rixdorfer Blasmusik by Otto Kermbach (see above) or Neue Rixdorfer Polka by Philippi himself (1899, op. 29; Friedrich Hofmeister [ed.], Verzeichniss der im Jahre 1899 erschienenen Musikalien, Leipzig 1899/1900, p. 131, col. 1, s.v. "Philippi, Eugen"), or as a lyrical replacement for other localities to potentially boost a song's popularity, substituting e.g. "Pankow" (or "Seckbach") in the polka Komm, Karlineken, Komm, which was also composed by Eugen Philippi; Sabine Giesebrecht-Schutte, "Zum Stand der Unterhaltungsmusik um 1900", in: Kaspar Maase, Wolfgang Kaschuba (eds.), Schund und Schönheit – Populäre Kultur um 1900, Cologne/Weimar/Vienna 2001, p. 114–60, n. 58 (135).
[99]
The original 1905 recording title was simply Der Rixdorfer – Polka (Edison Gold Walze 15 250); Schönwald, Büchner and Bendix also recorded an alternate version, which was widely released as Rixdorfer Bauernhochzeit ("Rixdorfian country wedding") by Favorite Record in 1914 as well.
[100]
A later reissue of Hartung's version by Deutsche Heimat mislabeled the song as recorded by Walter Künzel and his orchestra.
[101]
Vox 8570 E (master: 2137-1BB); Georges Boulanger Konzert-Jazz-Orchester, recorded November or December 1927, released January 1928; rereleased on Kristall 3008 ("Georges Boulanger und sein Orchester – Spezial-Arrangement: H. Bik").
[102]
Signified by the common euphemistic use of dancing for intercourse and her words: Kost'n Groschen nur für die ganze Tour. Rieke lacht und sagt: "Na ja, dazu sind wir auch noch da!" ("It'll cost only a Groschen for the whole shebang. Rieke laughs and says: 'Well, that's what we're there for, too!'"). For the complete German lyrics, see e.g. "In Rixdorf ist Musike – Der Rixdorfer – Willi Rose", rixdorf.info. The character's name Rieke is also a pun on the Rix in Rixdorf, chosen to personify the city and its vice; see above for the toponym's alternate spelling as Rieksdorf.
[103]
"Alle Dinge, die in der Zeit geschehen, vergehen mit der Zeit. Darum ist es notwendig, sie stetig zu machen und zu festigen mit Urkunden und Handfestigen" (nds.: "Alle ding, dy geschyen jn der tydt, dy vorgan mit der tydt. Hirumme ist id not, dat man sy stetige vnd veste met briuen vnd hantuestigen"). Richardsdorf foundational charter, 1360 (digital copy).
[104]
"[In Rixdorf und Neukölln verdichteten] sich temporär Sehnsüchte, Ängste und Hoffnungen […], um der provinziellen Enge, dem mentalen und sozialen Elend in der 'alten' Heimat zu entfliehen. Neukölln als Utopia, also Nicht-Ort, an dem sich Leid und Freude schicksalhaft verbanden und der Wunsch nach Flucht eine überzeitliche Präsenz zu haben scheint." Udo Gösswald, "Immer wieder Heimat", in: id. (ed.), Immer wieder Heimat – 100 Jahre Heimatmuseum Neukölln, Wiesbaden 1997, p. 8–15 (8).
[105]
"Wenn wir weiter nur zuschauen, werden wir in 10 bis 15 Jahren in Neukölln-Nord von Whitechapel nicht mehr weit entfernt sein." Heinz Buschkowsky in: "Interview: 'Wir müssen Erwerbstätigkeit auch mit Druck einfordern'", Tagesspiegel, 30 June 2008 (archived).
[106]
"Je nachdem, wie man draufschaut, kann man sagen: Hier schaffen es Menschen, auf engen [sic!] Raum recht gut miteinander auszukommen. Oder: Es ist mehr ein Nebeneinander, hin und wieder auch ein Gegeneinander." Derviş Hızarcı in: Madlen Haarbach, "Warum immer Neukölln?", Tagesspiegel, 28 October 2024 (archived).
[107]
"Es ist immer Fluch und Segen zugleich, wenn ein Bezirk seiner Zeit weit voraus ist." Güner Balcı in: Erik Heier, "Neukölln-Buch 'Heimatland' von Güner Balci: 'Wallah, die spinnt!'", tip, 1 August 2025 (archived).

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