Quarter of the Neukölln borough in Berlin, Germany From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the quarter of Berlin. For the administrative borough, see Neukölln. For the constituency, see Berlin-Neukölln (electoral district). For the railway and U-Bahn station, see Berlin-Neukölln station. For Neu-Cölln, the historical district of Berlin, see Cölln. For the David Bowie instrumental work, see Neuköln. For the neighborhood Neuköln in North Rhine-Westphalia, see Oberhausen. For the mine Neu-Cöln, see Borbeck-Mitte.
Neukölln (German:[nɔʏˈkœln]ⓘ; formerly Rixdorf), from 1899 to 1920 an independent city, is a large inner-city quarter of Berlin in the homonymous borough of Neukölln, which evolved around the historic village of Rixdorf. With 163,735 inhabitants (2024) the quarter is the second-most densely populated 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 night life.
The quarter of Neukölln is south-east of the Berlin city center, in the north of the Neukölln borough. The quarter is known in German as an Ortsteil or Stadtteil, and the Neukölln borough as a Verwaltungsbezirk (administrative district), in Berlin officially called Bezirk (district). Different from the borough, the quarter of Neukölln (as a non-administrative district) has no mayor or representatives 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 or Nord-Neukölln.[note 2]
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). Neukölln shares part of the Tempelhofer Feld with Tempelhof, the vast field of the former Tempelhof Airport, now a popular recreation area. 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 and the Britz Canal, form the administrative border with the Britz quarter. The Britz and Teltow Canals, on the other hand, form the geographical and demographic border within the borough Neukölln, which 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 quarters, which, with the exception of Gropiusstadt, are mainly characterized by a larger number of family homes and residents with middle-class income.
Subdivisions
Neighborhoods
Neighborhoods of NeuköllnHermannplatz, Donaukiez
Neukölln is divided into nine official neighborhoods (Kieze or Stadtquartiere, officially called Ortslagen),[2] among them the historical sites of Neukölln's foundation south-east of the quarters's geographical center, Richardplatz-Süd[note 3] to the south and south-east of the central plaza Richardplatz, and Böhmisch-Rixdorf[note 4] to the north and north-west, which together are commonly referred to as Rixdorf or Alt-Rixdorf ("Old Rixdorf"). The other official neighborhoods are (from north to south):
Several other inofficial, but commonly recognized neighborhoods and urban sites exist in Neukölln. The three most important ones are the Donaukiez along Donaustraße between Sonnenallee and Karl-Marx-Straße, including Hermannplatz at its western end,[note 12] the Weserkiez with its famous party mile around Weserstraße between Weigandufer and Sonnenallee,[note 13] and the historically important Dammwegsiedlung just south of the Weiße Siedlung, an early modern housing estate from the 1920s.[note 14] Many other neighborhoods 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 15] while an outlier is Kreuzkölln, which is a meta-neighborhood and loosely defined social sphere, described by a modern jocular toponym,[note 16] which since the mid-naughties has often been used for the northern parts of the quarter and the surrounding regions of Kreuzberg.[note 17]
Urban planning
Berlin's official urban planning framework, on the other hand, divides Berlin's boroughs and quarters into so-called Lebensweltlich orientierte Räume (LOR) ("lifeworld-oriented regions"). In this framework, the quarter of Neukölln, non-administrative district 10 in borough 08, as of 2024, is divided into five major regions, each of them further compartmentalized into a total of 21 LORs.[note 18]
Tempelhofer FeldHasenheideKörnerparkEmmauswald
As of 2024, Berlin ranks among the greenest cities in Germany with only 44.48% of sealed ground, an average of 4.24 m³ per square meter (4.64 cu yd per square yard) of vegetation, and a 48% share of surface area with green space or water bodies, which provides a cooler urban climate and many options for natural habitats and urban recreation.[3]
Parks and forests
The borough of Neukölln, like the homonymous quarter, is densely populated and urbanized, and only has 3.1% (2019) of natural land and forested areas, second to last before the borough Tempelhof-Schöneberg.[4] 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, not counting active cemeteries,[note 19] 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.[5]
Green space in the quarter Neukölln 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 Schulenburgpark, both part of the 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 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, a former cemetery and Neukölln's largest and only true 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 20]
Water bodies
Neukölln Ship CanalRixdorfer Teich, Hasenheide
In the borough Neukölln, water bodies make up 1.6% of the whole surface area, with the northern quarter trailing behind Rudow and especially Britz, two of Neukölln's other four quarters. Like its parks and forests, 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
Red fox, Tempelhofer FeldCommon kestrel, Tempelhofer Feld
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 large 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.[10][note 21]
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.[11]Predatory birds, though common to Berlin,[12] 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.[13] 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.[14]
At the time of its official foundation in 1360 as a Knights Hospitallerangerdorf, Rixdorf was called Richarsdorp (Richardsdorf, "Richard's Village"), while a proposed earlier toponym for the preceding Knights Templarhamlet is *Richardshof[note 22] ("Richard's Court"). Two alternate Low German spellings, Richarstorp and Richardstorff, are already present in the foundational charter. The village's name was usually pronounced "rickasdorp" with mostly elided or shifted consonants. Alternate spellings of the 14th century were Richardsdorp and Richardstorpp, while the 15th century introduced Reicherstorff, Richerstorp and Rigerstorp (1435).
From the 16th century onward, vernacularly contracted forms took hold.[note 23]Ricksdorf (1525) became a widely accepted spelling for two centuries, with many alternate forms appearing in historical records, for example Reichstorff (1541), Richstorff, Rigstorff (1542) and Richsdorf (1543), and in the 17th and 18th century Rechsdorff, Rechsdorp, Risdorf, Reichsdorp, Rieksdorf, Riecksdorff (1693) and Riechsdorf (1737). The earliest known source for Rixdorf is from the year 1709, and it became the official modern High German spelling in 1797.
The mainstream theory on the etymology of Richardsdorf, and therefore of Rixdorf, assumes an eponymous individual called Richard,[note 24] allegedly a Knight Templar, bailiff or commander of the Tempelhof commandery, or even the original administrator of *Richardshof in the early 13th century. However, no Richard is mentioned in historical sources in connection with the Templar villages of the Teltow, let alone an actual Knight Templarper Alemanniam et Slaviam, so over the centuries, exaggerating folk etymologies emerged and alternatively connected the toponym to many important historical Richards.[note 25] In modern times, alternate spellings like Reichsdorp spawned secondary folk etymologies different from Richard, namely from Reich ("empire") or the surname Reich, but without taking the documented earlier variants and vernacular contractions into account.[note 26]
The name Neukölln, however, is in many ways an exception to Berlin's toponymic rules. When Rixdorf was rechristened Neukölln in 1912, the city's new name was a catch-all term. It logically referenced several places in the vicinity, namely the Cölln Heath to the east, as well as Cölln itself, Alt-Berlin's historical twin city, which had been Rixdorf's feudal parent city for several generations (see below). The primary reference, however, was to the Neucöllner Siedlungen (Neucölln Estates), which had been constructed on the Berlinische Wiesen north of the old Rixdorf in the decades before the renaming. The estates' name recalled the meadows' old name Cöllnische Wiesen (Cölln Meadows), and thereby, whether intentionally or not, imitated Neu-Cölln, an old district south of the medieval part of Berlin and Cölln proper. This historical Neu-Cölln, sometimes written Neu-Cöln or neu Cölln, was at first also called Neu-Cölln am Wasser ("New Cölln by the water").[note 30] It was built in 1662 as the southern military extension of the city of Cölln, and remained a small district of Berlin until the Greater Berlin Act of 1920, when it was dissolved in the new Mitte quarter of the homonymous borough.[note 31]
The etymology of Cölln, and therefore of Neukölln ("New Cölln"), is from imperial Latin colonia ("colony", "settlement", "colonial town"),[note 32] and the colonial town in Brandenburg was at first called Colonia (1237)[note 33] and Colonia juxta Berlin (1247, "colony near Berlin"). In the same manner as the toponym of modern-day Köln (Cologne), the former RomanColonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (50 CE) and Colonia Agrippina (322), was gradually germanized from post-Roman Colonia (since 450) to its Mediaeval names Colne, Coellen, and Cölln, so was Brandenburg's Holy RomanColonia, first partially to Colne prope Berlin (1344, "Colne near Berlin"), then to Collen (1440), before settling on Cölln in later centuries.[note 34] Latin literature kept referring to Cölln as Colonia. To distinguish it from Cologne, toponym extensions were often applied, for example Marchiae ("of the March [Brandenburg]"), or ad Spream, ad Spreeam or ad Spreham ("on the [river] Spree"), or Brandenburgica ("Brandenburgian").[15] Even though neither Neukölln nor the historical Neu-Cölln were ever officially called Nova Colonia,[note 35] etymologically Neukölln still translates as "New Colony", which was a fitting new name for a city that since the first German colonists of the early 13th century until today has always been a prominent destination for settlers and immigrants.
Archeological finds on the Rixdorf lot point to a Germanicprehistory of Neukölln,[note 39] with evidence of a settlement since the late Neolithic age, like early flint tools, potsherds from the Bronze Age on Richardplatz, or Iron Age burial urns in the Hasenheide.[16] Finds from the era of the Roman Empire were ubiquitous in Berlin, which includes West-Germanic terps and ceramics on the Richardplatz, a Gordianic bronze coin on the Rollberge,[note 40] and nearby the important Reitergrab von Neukölln (equestrian tomb) south-west of Richardplatz at the Körnerpark, which stems from the onset of the Merowingian era in the first half of the 6th century.[note 41]
The original tribes that lived in the Berlin region belonged to the Elbe-GermanicSuevianSemnones. They eventually migrated southwestward during the era of the Barbarian Invasions[note 42] and were superseded by the West SlavicSprevane and Hevelli, historically called the Wends, but archeological traces pertaining to a successive Sprevane settlement were never found in the area of modern-day Neukölln.[note 43] From the early era of post-Germanic German colonization, only scanty potsherds were excavated, and the remnants of mediaevalchain mail were typical of the 13th or 14th century, the times when the Knights Templar and Hospitaller already ruled over nascent Neukölln.
Around the year 1200, a military hamlet, at some point possibly called Richarshove (*Richardshof,[note 47] "Richard's Court"), together with an unnamed folwark near Slavic Trebow, was established[note 48] at the foot of the Teltow on the edge of the grasslands later known as Cöllnische Wiesen (Cölln Meadows)[note 49] on the road to Copenic as an eastern Knights Templar stronghold,[note 50] administered by the neighboring Commandery Tempelhof (Tempelhove),[note 51] which had developed during the early days of the Holy Roman Empire along the old Via Imperii.[note 52] The Templar functioned as a neutral institution, and after the primary conflicts had ended in 1231,[note 53] the stronghold was at some point abandoned by the military and rededicated as a Templar access yard, probably after the end of the Teltow and Magdeburg Wars between the Houses of Ascania and Wettin (1239–45), which definitively ended the major regional conflicts of the Ostsiedlung era.[note 54]
On 21 November 1261, margrave Otto III, gifted the forest region Mirica, parts of which would later belong to Rixdorf and Neukölln, to the city of Cölln in what is also the first historical mention of Berlin's aula. Soon after, the heath would be known as Cöllnische Heide, and its western marshes and grasslands as Cöllnische Wiesen. The windmills of Cölln and Alt-Berlin along the river Spree were mentioned for the first time in a document dated 2 January 1285, which also refers to a royal domain office, the Amt Mühlenhof, which would administrate the Bohemian colony Böhmisch-Rixdorf for most of the 18th and 19th century.
When the Knights Templar became too powerful, the order was proscribed and effectively dissolved in 1312 by Pope Clement V under accusations of apostasy, but different from other Templar possessions, the Tempelhof commandery including *Richardshof did not immediately transfer into Hospitaller ownership, probably because the remaining Knights Templar offered resistance.[17] Instead, the estate was fiducially held by Waldemar the Great for six years, and legally transferred to the Knights Hospitaller only in 1318.[note 55]
Richardsdorf
Charter, 1360
Roger de Pins
Richardsdorf's foundation
When first mentioned in its foundational charter of 26 June 1360, the only known foundational charter for a Brandenburg village, the angerdorf 5.5km (3.4mi) south-east of Cölln and Alt-Berlin around the present-day Richardplatz,[note 56] and approximately 3km (1.86mi) from the river Spree, was already called Richarsdorp (Richardsdorf, "Richard's Village"), signifying decades of development from yard (hove) to village (dorp), now officially recognized under the sovereignty of Knights Hospitallergrand masterRoger de Pins and the joint Electors of Brandenburg Otto VII and Louis II, and under the regional authority of Hermann von Werberg, Statthalter (Governor) and first Herrenmeister (Lord of the Knights) of the Brandenburg bailiwick.[note 57] The historical document containing the Richardsdorf charter, itself a mid-15th century copy of the original deed, has been lost since World War II, but its contents have been preserved,[note 58] and 26 June 1360 has since been commemorated as the official date of Neukölln's foundation.[note 59]
The village with its twelve farmers was mentioned again in 1375 as Richardstorpp in the Landbuch der Mark Brandenburg.[note 60] Around the beginning of the 15th century, Richardsdorf erected its first official chapel.[note 61] After ongoing border disputes and an ill-fated armed conflict,[note 62] the Knights Hospitaller were forced to sell their possessions into permanent fiefdom to the cities of Alt-Berlin and Cölln on 23 September 1435, including Richardsdorf.[note 63]
Ricksdorf
The village was mentioned again in deeds of 1525 as Ricksdorf, for the first time officially in its modern contracted form. On 1–2 November 1539, margrave Joachim II converted to the teachings of Martin Luther, and the Reformation was introduced in Ricksdorf.[note 64] Disputes over Ricksdorf continued between Cölln and Berlin,[note 65] and with a compromise settlement Ricksdorf became the sole fief and a kämmereidorf (treasury village) of Cölln on 24 August 1543.[note 66] The documents of 1543 already mention a tavern at the crossing of the postal and trade road through Ricksdorf to Mittenwalde and the Ricksdorfscher Damm, modern-day Kottbusser Damm, which in 1737 became Rixdorf's famous tavern Rollkrug at Hermannplatz. On 2 February 1546, the right to inaugurate priests in Tempelhof and Ricksdorf was transferred to the parishes of Cölln and Berlin. On 14 April 1578, a fire destroyed most of the village's infrastructure. Ricksdorf then created Die alte Kufe ("the old trough"), a small pond on the central meadow on Richardplatz, which was not only used as a horse pond, but primarily as a Feuerkufe, a reservoir for the new fire hose.
In 1624 the population had grown to 150,[note 67] and the village had built a forge for traveling blacksmiths, which after several renovations and enlargements remains in operation to this day as Berlin's oldest forge, the Schmiede am Richardplatz. During the Thirty Years' War (1618–48)[note 68] Ricksdorf was mostly depopulated, with buildings and parts of the chapel destroyed by fire.[note 69] At the end of the war, the village was also plagued by the Black Death, and in 1652 only seven farmers and cotters (Kossäten) and their relatives remained. In 1650, the Great Elector Frederick William gifted Ricksdorf its first windmill. In 1678, he created a hares' garden in the forest Hasenheide. The first mention of a village tavern (Dorfkrug) at the central Richardplatz is found in the town's oldest preserved court report from 29 January 1685.[note 70] The first mention of a school in Ricksdorf is from the year 1688, when the local authorities deposed the schoolmaster.[note 71] On 26 June 1693, Ricksdorf's chapel left the Tempelhof parish and joined the Britz parish, and the village's first parish register was opened by incumbent priest Johann Guthke. On 29 November 1700, the first official brewery concession and distribution rights were granted to Johann Wolfgang Bewert, the proprietor of Ricksdorf's schultheiß court.
Rixdorf
On 17 January 1709, the old city of Cölln merged with Alt-Berlin, Friedrichswerder, Friedrichstadt and Dorotheenstadt, forming the Königliche Haupt- und Residenzstadt Berlin (Royal Capital and Seat Berlin). At the time, Ricksdorf was already spelled Rixdorf in several documents, and when Berlin's new municipal constitution came into effect on 1 January 1710, Rixdorf became a treasury village of the Berlin magistracy. In 1712, the new postal, trade and military road from Berlin to Dresden, the Dresdener Heerstraße, today's Hermannstraße, opened south of Hermannplatz as an extension of the Ricksdorfscher Damm. On 28 September 1717, the royal administration introduced general compulsory schooling in Berlin, Rixdorf and the rest of Prussia. Rixdorf financed the construction of its first windmill in 1729,[note 72] and five years later the population had grown to 224.
Deutsch-Rixdorf and Böhmisch-Rixdorf
Böhmisch-Rixdorf and Rollberge, 1755
In 1737, King Frederick William I of Prussia invited 18 families of HussiteMoravian Protestants, who had been driven out of Bohemia, to settle near the village,[note 73] where they built new houses, industrial infrastructure[note 74] and eventually their own chapels[note 75] off the village center along the road to Berlin, today called Richardstraße. 31 May 1737 is regarded as the official date of the Bohemian village's foundation, although the first settlers had already arrived in Rixdorf on 25 March of the same year. Twenty more colonists were granted their own land and construction rights in 1748. Already in 1751, the new settlement received its own cemetery, the Böhmischer Gottesacker. In 1753, the oldest school building of Neukölln was constructed on the Bohemian Kirchgasse,[note 76] which from 1797 onward also housed the village's assembly hall. Rixdorf suffered from destruction and pillaging by Austrian and Russian troops during the second year of the Seven Years' War (1756–63), but this did not prevent its subsequent development. In 1760, Berlin statesman Ewald Friedrich von Hertzberg became the proprietor of Rixdorf's Schulzengericht (schultheiß court). The original village of Rixdorf was further expanded in 1764 with new residential buildings and a brickyard, and since 1801 it was mostly called Deutsch-Rixdorf. In 1765, Frederick the Great gifted Böhmisch-Rixdorf its first windmill. Inspite of its expansion, Deutsch-Rixdorf at first remained the smaller of the two villages, with roughly 200 residents in 1771, while the new Bohemian village Böhmisch-Rixdorf[note 77] had counted 300 residents already in 1747.
View of Hasenheide toward Hallesches Tor, ca. 1800View of Hasenheide and Alt-Berlin from the Rollberge, ca. 1800
In 1797, Böhmisch-Rixdorf was granted its own administration, and the two villages settled on the official modern spelling Rixdorf, which had been in use since 1709. In the same year, Deutsch-Rixdorf acquired the forge on Richardplatz and sold it to a local resident, who was therefore allowed to operate the forge permanently, which until then had been prevented by the Berlin blacksmiths' guild to stifle competition. The French Army under Napoleon occupied Rixdorf in 1806. The overall population in 1809 was 695.[18] In 1811, Germany's first public outdoor gymnasium was established in the Hasenheide forest by Turnvater Jahn. The Hasenheide itself temporarily became a Regierungsbezirk of Berlin (governmental district) from 1816 to 1821, before coming under Rixdorf's jurisdiction. Rixdorf residents fought in the 1813 Wars of Liberation, for example at the Battle of Großbeeren, and the subsequent sovereign and political liberty, also gained from the Prussian abolition of serfdom on 11 November 1810, laid the foundation for Rixdorf's rapid development and industrialization, which began in the early second half of the 19th century. In 1827, the street to Berlin was paved, and by 1830 Rixdorf had already become the largest village of the Berlin periphery with more than 2,000 inhabitants. On 28 April 1849, more than a quarter of the buildings in both Rixdorf villages were destroyed in a firestorm, and reconstruction lasted until 1853.[note 78]
On 1 January 1853, the parish of Deutsch-Rixdorf was declared an independent parish by the Berlin Evangelical Consistory. In 1854, the first horsebus connection was established between Berlin and the two Rixdorf villages, followed by the first regular bus line from Hermannplatz to Berlin since 1 May 1860, the Ringbahn launch on 17 July 1871, and an additional bus line from Bergstraße, today's Karl-Marx-Straße, to Hallesches Tor in 1876. Meanwhile, the construction of new streets, plazas and residential estates in the Berlin periphery had been set in motion as part of the 1862 Hobrecht-Plan, which created what would come to be known architecturally as the Wilhelmine Ring. In 1866, the Rixdorf villages were hit by epidemics of cholera and smallpox with at least 170 fatalities. In 1867, Deutsch-Rixdorf had a population of approximately 5,000, and Böhmisch-Rixdorf of 1,500. In 1870 the villages received their first train station, the Bahnhof Rixdorf, which still exists today as Neukölln station.[note 79] On 10 August 1872, the original Jahndenkmal memorial for Turnvater Jahn was inaugurated in the Hasenheide forest. On 13 December 1872, Berlin's administration merged both Rixdorf villages and the commune Britz into the 24th Amtsbezirk (bailiwick).
Unification
Both villages were united as Rixdorf on 1 January 1874 by royal decree of 11 July 1873,[note 80] and the new town became a municipality of the KreisTeltow. On 4 February 1874, Hermann Boddin became the first principal municipal magistrate (Amts- und Gemeindevorsteher) of the unified Rixdorf.[note 81] For the next decades, Boddin would conduct Rixdorf's evolution into the fastest-growing and eventually largest village of the Prussian monarchy with 90,000 residents already in 1895, which also created a poverty gap and social problems. Boddin's responsibilities were immense, and he soon fought for an equalization of burdens, and for Rixdorf's admission into the Greater Berlin city alliance. He became known as an upright and resilient, but also dominant patriarch, and was eventually venerated by Rixdorf's officials and citizens alike.[19]
The inaugural meeting of Rixdorf's municipal committee commenced on 27 April 1874 at the old schultheiß court on Richardplatz. In 1874, Rixdorf had 12,300 inhabitants, growing to 15,328 the next year, mainly due to thousands of new residents, who since 1870 had been immigrating from Pomerania, Silesia and other primarily Eastern regions of the German Empire as far as East Prussia, looking for work in the town's growing industry, a migration wave that would not significantly weaken until the year 1910.[20] One of the more important early ordinances of 1874 was to revoke the herding warrant for the Berlinische Wiesen, formerly called Cöllnische Wiesen, which created a large area for residential developments, among them the Neucöllner Siedlungen (Neucölln Estates), whose name later inspired the city's renaming to Neukölln.
Rixdorf's first daily newspaper, the Gemeinnütziger Anzeiger (Public Gazette), was published since 1874, later reestablished as Rixdorfer Zeitung (Rixdorf Newspaper) by editor-in-chief Wilhelm Hecht in 1882.[21] The city's first telegraph station opened the same year. On 1 October 1874, the Vereinsbrauerei, which had been founded in 1872 and would later become Berlin's Kindl brewery, opened to the public in Rollberg after almost a year of inofficial pourage. Urbanization quickly took off with new residential estates, schools, churches, infrastructure, paved streets with sewers, and an increasing number of industrial settlements. The first Kremser horsebus line to Berlin started its operations on 2 July 1875 under private management. The city's first gasworks and the original Amtshaus (administrative building) were built in 1878, the first municipal court (Amtsgericht) in 1879, which was quickly replaced in 1901 by the new municipal court and prison, and the city's new telegraph office in 1882. Rixdorf's first public open-air bath opened in 1883 south of the Ringbahn, but had to close again in 1913, when Neukölln's harbor and docklands were built. On 14 August 1884, Richardplatz was hit by a large fire. On 6 November 1884, Rixdorf sold its old village chapel to the Bohemian-Lutheran parish for 6,300 silver mark, approximately $31,800 (2024).
Glass mosaic compositor hall, Puhl & Wagner, Rixdorf, 1897
In 1873, Rixdorf had already had 8 paved streets, and 24 in 1876, which grew exponentially in the following decade, enabling additional bus lines to Berlin, followed by the introduction of the first tram lines, beginning in 1884 with the so-called Pferde-Eisenbahn from Rollberg to Spittelmarkt in Berlin, and a communal line from the Rollkrug tavern at Hermannplatz to Knesebeckstraße near Kurfürstendamm a year later, which formed the basis for the Straßenbahnen der Stadt Berlin (SSB), the first communal public transportation company of Berlin, which was established with grants from the Rixdorf citizenry. On 20 March 1892, the first issue of the daily newspaper Rixdorfer Tageblatt (Daily Rixdorf) was published, renamed Neuköllner Tageblatt in 1912. The city's infrastructure continued to grow with the introduction of a telephone network in 1885, the first public telephone installation at Rixdorf's post office in 1886, a new water network connection to the Charlottenburg waterworks in 1887–88, a new sewage system and drainage facility between 1891 and 1895, the building of a new inner-city hospital, a community hall and a poorhouse in 1893, the 1895 reconstruction of Rixdorf station, and the 1899 opening of Hermannstraße station on the Ringbahn. On 9 February 1899, the first electric tram line began its operation.
Independence
Hermannstraße and Hermannplatz with Rollkrug, Rixdorf, 1900
Rixdorf's 1899 independence was executed in two legal steps. On 1 April, the town was chartered as an independent city and released from the Kreis Teltow,[note 82] and Hermann Boddin immediately transitioned into his new office as the city's mayor. Rixdorf then declared itself a free city (Kreisfreie Stadt) on 1 May, and Boddin received the official title Erster Bürgermeister auf Lebenszeit (First Mayor for Life) from district presidentRobert Earl Hue de Grais on 4 May. On 1 November, the city obtained its own police force and law enforcement agency, including a criminal investigation unit, with the first precinct established on Hermannstraße south of Hermannplatz. At year's end, Rixdorf's population stood at 90,422.
Rixdorf Station, 1901
On 17 December 1900, the last Pferde-Eisenbahn of Rixdorf was converted to electric operation, while the omnibus lines continued to be horse-drawn at first. The new city received its coat of arms in 1903, and its population quickly grew to 237,289 in 1910.[22] It was during this boomtown era that the architect Reinhold Kiehl was called on by Rixdorf's assembly to further upgrade the city's infrastructure, which led to some of the quarter's most iconic buildings and locations being constructed, such as the city hall (Rathaus Neukölln) between 1905 and 1908, which gradually replaced the older Amtshaus,[note 83] the 1912 Stadtbad Neukölln, a public bath house, and many more after 1912 like the Körnerpark and its orangerie.[23] The Rixdorf Harbor in the southern part of the city was built between 1900 and 1906 together with the Teltow Canal, the Britz Canal and the Britz Harbor. The first stage of the harbor's watergate was constructed in 1902, at first used as part of a drainage facility for the surrounding wetlands. In the north, the Landwehr Canal was extended eastward between 1902 and 1905 with the Rixdorfer Stichkanal (Rixdorf Branch Canal) to the city's new gasworks, replacing the old Wiesengraben (Meadow Trench), which had originally been called Schlangengraben (Snake Trench). The year 1909 saw the inauguration of Rixdorf's first municipal hospital (Rixdorfer Krankenhaus), situated outside of the city near modern-day Buckow.[note 84]
It was during the 1850s when construction of the first residential areas began in the western part of the Berlinische Wiesen in what is today the Reuterkiez. After the completion of the Landwehr Canal in 1850 near the location of the older Müllen-Graben (Mühlengraben, Mill Trench),[note 85] industry and workshops began to settle along its shores in the marshes and meadows south of the Berlin Customs Wall,[note 86] on and near today's Maybachufer. The Cottbuserdamm (Kottbusser Damm)[note 87] and several parallel streets like the Friedelstraße,[note 88] an important street in Berlin's first communal electric tram network,[note 89] were built shortly afterwards.[note 90] Between 1871 and 1905, the population increased, as several Gründerzeit apartment blocks were erected, often with industrial backyards that are still typical of Berlin today. Construction was temporarily set back due to a devastating fire in 1886 that destroyed nearly all of the city block between Kottbusser Damm, Maybachufer and Schinkestraße. Different from other neighborhoods of northern Rixdorf, most residential development in the Reuterkiez had from the beginning always been aimed at more affluent residents and a higher quality of living, but except for the Reuterplatz forgone any development of green urban plazas. Due to the marshy substrate, the new neighborhood was at first only developed between Kottbusser Damm and Weichselstraße,[24] and was instead extended southward into and beyond the modern Donaukiez of the Flughafenstraße neighborhood. In the decades that followed, Rixdorf, the new Reuterkiez and Donaukiez were expanded west- and southward respectively, forming Neukölln's younger neighborhoods of Schillerpromenade, Körnerpark and the historical Rollberg.
Mercedes-Palast, Rollberg, 1936
Starting in 1875 after the approval of a new development plan, construction of the Neucöllner Siedlungen (Neucölln Estates) began in the northern parts of the Rixdorf lot. Equally important, construction also began in the areas immediately west of Rixdorf. Present-day Rollberg and the remainder of Flughafenstraße, were developed first, with Rollberg mainly as working-class outskirts with backyard manufacturing and larger industries,[note 91] tightly packed tenements, small apartments and tiny residential backyards.[note 92] To this end, and to also furnish raw material for construction in the rest of Berlin, most of the rolling agricultural hills of the Rollberge range were excavated and leveled, and Rixdorf's sixteen windmills torn down,[note 93] with the last windmill dismantled in 1899. In the first wave, four new parallel streets as well as the Kopfstraße between Bergstraße, present-day Karl-Marx-Straße, and Hermannstraße were constructed together with the crossways Falk- and Morusstraße on the flattened Rollberge slopes. The working-class tenements, even in the front buildings, were small and overcrowded,[note 94] sunless and unaerated, and unsanitary without personal water closets or rooms for hygiene, which promoted diseases and epidemics, infant and child mortality, violence and crime, but also turned Neukölln into a Socialist heartland, fueling the class struggles of the 1920s and '30s, and later also the quarter's potent resistance movement against the Nazis (1933–45). However, the financial crises and wars in early 20th century Germany prevented any contemporary redevelopment in Rollberg until the 1960s and '70s.
Schillerpromenade and parts of Körnerpark, on the other hand, followed the Reuterkiez model with apartment buildings for wealthier residents, and the two quarters still have a large Gründerzeit architectural foundation with broad streets and sidewalks, and Berlin's usual grid plan street layout that originated mostly in this era.[note 95] For the Körnerpark quarter, this development was a natural evolution due to its proximity to Alt-Rixdorf, though the street blocks further south were for the most part developed in the 1920s and '30s, so the quarter has not evolved as uniformly. Schillerpromenade benefited from its location on even farmland adjacent to the Tempelhofer Feld, which was better suited than the area on the Rollberge slopes. Construction of the new residential park in present-day Schillerkiez began with Rixdorf's 1901 development plan. The ambitious Gründerzeit estates, the broad promenade parallel to Hermannstraße and the circular central plaza (Herrfurthplatz) with the Genezareth Church were markedly aimed at wealthier settlers, as a counterpoint to the older Rollberg quarter of ill repute. In 1905, residential construction was in full swing, schools and an academy were built, and main development ended around 1914 except for the westernmost city blocks at Oderstraße, which were developed only in 1927 by Bruno Taut according to modern reformist ideals. The large sports grounds in the quarter's south-western corner (Sportpark Tempelhofer Feld), today the Werner-Seelenbinder-Sportpark, opened in 1928.
Neukölln
Hermannstraße near Schierker Straße, Körnerpark, 1914
Rixdorf had become notorious for its taverns, amusement sites and red-light districts, which dampened investments, economic development and the immigration of wealthier citizens, so in 1912 the local authorities took up former mayor Boddin's original plan, which until then had been consistently rejected, to get rid of this reputation by assuming a new name. Voting against Boddin's original proposal, the city officials chose Neukölln,[note 96] which referenced both Rixdorf's historical parent city Cölln and the Cöllnische Heide (Cölln Heath) to the east, but was mainly derived from the Neucöllner Siedlungen ("Neucölln Estates") north of Rixdorf,[note 97] whose name, whether intentionally or not, imitated Neu-Cölln, a historical district south of the medieval part of Berlin and Cölln proper. The renaming was petitioned by mayor Curt Kaiser and eventually granted by Emperor William I on 27 January 1912. At the time, Neukölln's population stood at 253,000.
Abteibrücke at the Insel der Jugend
In 1913, the city of Neukölln bought the Spree island Abteiinsel, today's Insel der Jugend (Youth Island), which had originally been owned by one of Rixdorf's citizens in 1868, and constructed the Abteibrücke between the exclave and the mainland of Alt-Treptow, one of Germany's first reinforced concrete bridges.[note 98]Neukölln's bath house opened to the public on 10 May 1914. From 1912 to 1913, the Rixdorf Branch Canal became the Neukölln Ship Canal, further extended southward to the Neukölln Harbor and the Teltow Canal. Construction of the second stage at the Neukölln Watergate concluded in 1914, and the canal officially opened on 1 April of the same year. 6,600 of Neukölln's residents fell serving at the frontlines in World War I (1914–18). Despite the war years, urban development had continued unabated at first, and Rixdorf had become one of the most important suburban cities outside of Berlin. From 1 October 1917, waste management services were provided directly by the city. At the end of the war, the November Revolution led to the formation of the city's Workers' and Soldiers' Council, and in late 1918, the council seized executive power in Neukölln, dissolving the city's assembly and forcing mayor Curt Kaiser to resign, who was succeeded by Alfred Scholz (SPD). The workers, employees and officers of Neukölln threatened a general strike, but the conflict was resolved in 1919 by the Prussian government. The revolutionary council was barred from attending the city's assembly meetings, and the Prussian Army's 17th infantry division was deployed and laid siege to Neukölln, which eventually led to the dissolution of the Workers' and Soldiers' Council.
Berlin-Neukölln
The newly forming societies and infrastructures of Berlin and its periphery created problems and threatened to thwart further development, because the disparity between the different communities, which naturally aimed to expand beyond the old municipal boundaries, now created cross-border administrative conflicts and gridlock. Therefore, the Greater Berlin Act was passed by the Prussian parliament in the spring of 1920, and the city of Neukölln ceased to exist on 1 October 1920 after only two decades of independence, when it was incorporated as a part of Greater Berlin together with a large number of other suburban communes and cities. Together with the quarters Britz, Rudow and Buckow, Neukölln now formed the new homonymous borough of Neukölln, Berlin's 14th (and since the 2001 reform 8th) administrative district, which eventually added the new quarter of Gropiusstadt in 2002. At the time of the merger, the city of Neukölln had a population of 262,128.[note 99] The old Rixdorf continued to exist, and is today represented by two neighborhoods in the center of Neukölln, Böhmisch-Rixdorf and Richardplatz-Süd. In preparation for Neukölln's incorporation, the first election of the new assembly of borough representatives (Bezirksverordnetenversammlung, BVV) was held on 20 June 1920, but had to be repeated on 16 October 1921.[note 100]
In the Weimar Republic, Neukölln's population eventually grew to 278,208 in 1930.[note 101]Berlin Tempelhof Airport, whose airfield was part of Neukölln and Tempelhof, opened on 8 October 1923 and was expanded in several phases until 1941. To relieve the older tram networks, the Berlin S-Bahn was electrified starting in 1926, while Neukölln's Südring (south ring) lines were modernized in 1928. Additionally, two lines of the Berlin U-Bahn, the Nord-Süd-Bahn and the GN-Bahn, were extended through Neukölln between 1926 and 1930.[note 102]
Bloody May barricades at the Briesestraße, Rollberg, 1929
Neukölln remained a working-class quarter and communist stronghold, especially in the Rollberg neighborhood. This led to increasing tensions between left-wing radicals like the KPD and the Berlin police, culminating in the Bloody May riots of 1929 (Blutmai) with 14 fatalities and 17 injured. The Nazis viewed the quarter as "Red Neukölln", and tensions with the rivaling socialist and communist groups ensued as early as November 1926, when Joseph Goebbels sent over 300 men of the Sturmabteilung (SA) on a propaganda march through Neukölln, ending in clashes on the Hermannplatz. The emerging resistance against National Socialism also spilled over into regional church politics as the 1929 Neuköllner Kirchenstreit (Neukölln church conflict), when Protestant priest Arthur Rackwitz was only granted his inauguration at Neukölln's Philipp Melanchthon Church after an intervention by cultural minister Adolf Grimme, which had previously been denied due to his religious-socialist and anti-fascist positions, as well as his open criticism of the Protestant authorities' support for the Nazis. The beer hallNeue Welt on Hasenheide near Hermannplatz was the 1930 location of one of Adolf Hitler's early speeches in Berlin.[note 103] The conflicts eventually intensified until the end of the republic, leading to occasional armed engagements like the Rixdorf shootout of October 1931, when communists attacked the Richardsburg, a Sturmlokal of the SA.
Karstadt, Hermannplatz, 1936Memorial plaque for Ursula Goetze
Hall of Honor, Lilienthalstraße cemetery, HasenheideCommemorative light installation at the location of the Rixdorf concentration camp, SonnenalleeSonnenallee border crossing, 1964
As a prelude to the Shoah, Neukölln's only synagogue on Isarstraße (Flughafenkiez) as well as numerous Jewish businesses and property were attacked and demolished during the Kristallnacht of 1938. Today, only a commemorative plaque remains of the synagogue.[note 106] After the onset of World War II in 1939, the Rixdorf factories of the Krupp-Registrierkassen-Gesellschaft and American company National Cash Register, which had merged as the National Krupp Registrierkassen GmbH during the Weimar Republic, were transformed into military production facilities.[note 107] In 1941, the Friedhof Lilienthalstraße in Hasenheide, which had been built by Wilhelm Büning, opened as a cemetery for the fallen soldiers of the Wehrmacht. Today, it is a general cemetery for the victims of World War II. In 1942 a forced labor camp for up to 865 mainly Jewish and Romani women from the conquered Eastern territories was established on the National Krupp factory grounds. In 1944 it was absorbed as one of several Berlin outposts (Außenlager[26]) of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, primarily for female Jewish-Polish forced laborers, who had been transferred from the Łódź Ghetto and Auschwitz respectively.[27] The camp's last remaining barracks stood until the year 1957,[28] long after the Jewish survivors had emigrated.[note 108] At the end of the war, Neukölln's population had decreased by roughly 30,000, and 9% of the quarter's buildings had been destroyed, with 12% severely damaged by allied bombing raids, including the Mercedes-Palast in the Rollberg neighborhood, which since 1927 had housed Europe's largest movie theater.[note 109]
Following the withdrawal of the occupying Soviet forces in 1945, Neukölln became part of the American sector of Berlin from 1945 to 1949, encompassing the south and south-east of what would later become West Berlin, an enclave of West Germany within Communist East Germany from 1949 until German reunification in 1990. The Sonnenallee, connecting Neukölln with Baumschulenweg in former East Berlin, was the site of a border crossing of the Berlin Wall from 1961 to 1990.[note 110] After a long war hiatus since 31 August 1944, Neukölln's daily newspaper Neuköllner Tageblatt returned to the newsstands on 28 May 1953, before being discontinued for good on 18 August of the same year due to low profits.[29] On 2 October 1960, Neukölln's new borough library opened on Erlanger Straße.[note 111] In 1963, the U-Bahn line CI was extended from Grenzallee station further into the Britz quarter. In 1966, Neukölln's last remaining tram line was shut down.[note 112] In 1967, Europe's largest poultry farm, the so-called Hühnerhochhaus ("chicken high-riser") opened in Neukölln's industrial park Nobelstraße, but was closed down again in 1972 due to unprofitability, and after continuing animal rights protests, which evolved into the spearhead of sustainable and free-range farming in Germany. During the Cold War, Neukölln retained its status as a traditional working-class area and one of Berlin's red-light districts. Many gastarbeiters, especially from Turkey and Greece, settled in Kreuzberg and Neukölln since the 1950s, later followed by Palestinian and Arabic refugees from the Lebanese Civil War.[30] Neukölln's current U-Bahn network into the southern quarters via the U7 was constructed between 1970 and 1972, while the final U8 section between Leinestraße and the S-Bahn wasn't implemented until 1996. The Körnerpark, which after the war had fallen into disrepair due to its location beneath the nearby airport's eastern approach path, was restored in its historical form since 1977 and reopened to the public on 4 August 1983, with its orangerie following on 10 October of the same year. The Neukölln Opera, which had originally been founded in 1972, received its own venue in 1988 and became one of Berlin's four opera houses. Another important cultural venue, the Saalbau Neukölln, the location of the former Bürgersalon Niesigk ("citizens' parlor"), reopened in 1990 and is today known as Heimathafen Neukölln.
Rollheimer, Schillerkiez, 2024
Since the 1970s and '80s, Neukölln, like the neighboring Kreuzberg, has embraced independent forms of living like alternative trailer parks, for example the Rollheimer in the Schillerkiez, Germany's oldest Wagenburg,[note 113]squatting,[note 114] and an often anti-establishment and anti-fascistcounterculture that is still active to this day. In the 1990s, late repatriates from formerly Soviet states like Ukraine and Russia, including many Russian Jews, resettled in Germany, and especially in Berlin and Neukölln. An honorary statue of John Amos Comenius, who had been the last bishop of Rixdorf's Moravian colonists before their flight from Bohemia, was unveiled in Böhmisch-Rixdorf on 21 March 1992, followed on 15 November of the same year by the founding of the new German Comenius Society in Rixdorf's Moravian oratory. The decade after German reunification mainly transformed the eastern parts of the city, but western quarters like Neukölln were able to benefit as well. In 1994, the Estrel Hotel with convention center opened in Rixdorf's former industrial outskirts on the eastern shore of the Neukölln Ship Canal, and many new shopping malls and cultural locations sprung up all over Neukölln. In 1995, ethnologist Brigitte Walz and Anett Szabó developed the concept of a multiethnic carnival at Neukölln's transculturalWerkstatt der Kulturen, which became Berlin's famous Karneval der Kulturen one year later.[31]
Modern neighborhood formation
Neues Bauen at Ossastraße, Reuterkiez, 2014
Over the generations, all of Neukölln's southern neighborhoods of Rixdorf, Körnerpark and Schillerpromenade have gradually expanded south- and southeastward, while the Reuterkiez was finally expanded onto the marshy areas to the east. Major settlement constructions occurred as part of the new objective movement of the 1920s and '30s, in Germany often called Neues Bauen (New Building). In that era, many modern estates were constructed within Neukölln proper, for example the areas around Ossastraße, a 1927 Reuterkiez housing estate by Bruno Taut, or around the crossing of Innstraße and Weserstraße in Rixdorf (1924–26), but a notable example for a complete early modern settlement is the Dammwegsiedlung south-east of Rixdorf, which was constructed between 1920 and 1922, based on earlier designs by Reinhold Kiehl.
After World War II, almost a quarter of the buildings in Neukölln were destroyed or severely damaged. This affected all neighborhoods except the Schillerkiez, where the destruction remained minimal, though the quarter, like Körnerpark, was eventually expanded and compacted further south beyond the Ringbahn. Other neighborhoods quickly began to rebuild in the bombing gaps from the war, but naturally had to disregard the classical models of Neukölln's original architecture. Quick modern construction was the order of business, at best with a social reformist slant. In the 1960s, however, a public housing boom ensued in Berlin, which also changed the face of many parts of Neukölln's neighborhoods. Most older Gründerzeit areas were only expanded with compacting measures and discreet perimeter block development, but the bulk of Rollberg and the new quarters southeast of Rixdorf were built during this era.
Die Ringe, Rollberg, 2024Weiße Siedlung, 2019High-Deck-Siedlung, 2011
Flächensanierung (district redevelopment)[note 115] in the Rollberg neighborhood began in the 1960s,[note 116] which meant completely demolishing and reconstructing most of its old working-class estates. Of Rollberg's more than 5,000 apartments, only about 340 remained, 200 of them in Gründerzeit estates, and 140 in existing houses from pre-war developments and initial post-war reconstructions. Furthermore, Berlin's historical grid plan street layout was partially dismantled. The modernist meandering block structures (Mäanderbauten) in the eastern part were constructed first, while the rest of the newly designed quarter, including Die Ringe ("The Rings") in the western part, was finished in the mid to late 1970s.[32] Approximately 2,000 new apartments were constructed, but many of the original residents had left and never returned, opening up rental space for Neukölln's new immigrant population. These developments created new problems, which persist to this day, because the new neighborhood is neither urbanistically nor socially integrated with the rest of Neukölln.
During the same era, the Weiße Siedlung southeast of Rixdorf was built as a typical 1970s modernist suburban housing estate north of the older Dammwegsiedlung. Due to its distinctive high-rise design, the quarter is widely visible. Construction of the youngest neighborhood further south, the High-Deck-Siedlung, began in 1975 and ended in 1984 as a follow-up to the earlier large-scale housing developments Gropiusstadt and Märkisches Viertel. Both settlements suffer from a fate similar to that of Rollberg, being foreign architectural bodies with geographical and social separation from the rest of urban Neukölln.
After the end of Neukölln's public housing wave, the Schillerpromenade neighborhood at last became part of the borough's official urban renewal program, which was passed by the assembly of representatives on 23 January 1990. At first, the focus was on modernizing the deficits of the old infrastructure, but from 1996 onward, specific emphasis was placed on conservation and neighborhood management, to counter gentrification and the displacement of the old-established citizenry. This proved complicated, as many former tenements had already been converted into condominiums. In addition, more recent gentrification could not be blocked completely, since the neighborhood, beside the Reuterkiez, became one of the most popular destinations for 21st century western immigrants.
In contrast, conservation efforts had been placed on a more solid footing in the historical neighborhoods of Böhmisch-Rixdorf and Richardplatz-Süd. The new 1990 development procedures officially designated both the Bohemian and the contiguous German areas of Alt-Rixdorf as a Kulturdenkmal von europäischem Rang (cultural monument of European importance). This measure, which had been demanded since 1979 by Rixdorf's Bohemian descendants and supported by the local society Förderkreis Böhmisches Dorf since its foundation in 1984, has since preserved Rixdorf's old infrastructure and prevented any large-scale modern redevelopment.
Future residential development
Undeveloped property, Rollberg
In the 21st century, further residential development in Neukölln is still possible by repurposing many of the garden allotments, the largest of which have primarily formed on or near the historical border to former East Berlin. However, important recreational areas would be lost, and there are no plans by the administration to let the relevant leases expire. Alternative plans to clear green spaces like the forest Emmauswald, a former cemetery, regularly encounter strong resistance,[33] but the assembly of borough representatives generally favors a partial development of Neukölln's old cemeteries over nature conservation.[34] Similarly, the plans for a residential boundary development of the Tempelhofer Feld are a recurring topic of contention in Berlin politics.[35] Unconfrontational development mainly has to rely on compacting measures by covering the last remaining bombing gaps from World War II or undeveloped properties, on redeveloping former industrial neighborhoods like the Neukölln Docklands,[note 117] and on perimeter block development, where possible. A recent example can be found in the Harzer Kiez, where the mainly industrial block Harzer Straße/Elsenstraße will be undergoing residential redevelopment.[note 118]
Berlin-Neukölln in the 21st century
Tempelhofer Feld, Neukölln, 2019
As part of Berlin's administrative reform, the city's 14th borough Neukölln was reorganized as the 8th borough of Berlin on 1 January 2001, whereas Gropiusstadt joined the new borough a year later. In 2002, the final restoration stage concluded at the Körnerpark with the reopening of the park's cascade and adjacent water passages. The closedown of Tempelhof Airport on 30 October 2008 relieved many of Neukölln's central residential areas, which had been located beneath the airport's eastern approach path, of aircraft noise, especially Körnerpark and the Schillerkiez. In 2010, the city opened the Tempelhofer Feld to the public, the former airfield, which had been shared by the quarters Neukölln and Tempelhof.[note 119] Over night, this created a new and unique area for recreation, sporting activities, small and large cultural events like Lollapalooza, sustainability projects and natural habitats for many wild species. During the 2020–23 COVID-19 pandemic, Neukölln was one of the early hotspots of Germany,[36] resulting in more than 600 fatalities.[note 120]
Urban hotspot Neukölln before gentrification: the "Haunted House on Hermannplatz", 2014[note 121]Rooftop bar Klunkerkranich at the Neukölln Arcaden, Karl-Marx-Straße, 2017
Following the 1990s as a typical inner-city hot spot with high rates of immigration, poverty, crime, educational discrimination[note 122] and inadequate asylum laws,[37] early 21st century Neukölln had experienced an influx of students, creatives and other young professionals of mostly Western origin avoiding higher rents charged in other parts of Berlin.[note 123] It was during this time that the inofficial social toponym Kreuzkölln developed, as the northern neighborhood's culture and night life was slowly being resurrected. The trend increased with the 2008 financial and 2010 European debt crises, when many young EU citizens left their home countries for Germany in search of work, leading to rapid cultural shifts in certain neighborhoods within Neukölln, especially the neighborhoods to the north and west from Reuter- to Schillerkiez. Coupled with increasing domestic and foreign real estate investments, this had caused a knock-on effect of rents to rise in many parts of Neukölln. Gentrification eventually stalled in the early 2020s,[note 124] but since then, rent inflation has mainly shifted from residential to commercial real estate, which now threatens to favor corporatized lighthouse projects over Neukölln's smaller entrepreneurs and traditional businesses, who were initially saved by the federal stimulus during the COVID-19 lockdowns.[note 125]
The gentrifying migration, together with later migrational waves after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and primarily the ongoing European migrant crisis from mainly Islamic countries,[note 126] have significantly increased Neukölln's population since the 2010s, also leading to social and religious conflicts in some neighborhoods, and to a shift in the political climate with wider repercussions across Germany.[note 127] Nevertheless, the vibrant immigrant culture and recent cosmopolitan evolution, especially in the northern Reuterkiez neighborhood, have turned the centuries-old melting pot Neukölln into one of the trendiest districts of Berlin and the epitome of socioeconomic change in the city,[38] and the quarter has often ranked as one of the world's most desirable places to visit and live.[39]
Neukölln's coat of arms is a modern variant of Rixdorf's original coat. After Rixdorf's independence on 1 April 1899, the city's first coat of arms had been commissioned on 10 November of the same year. The final design, which swapped the placement of the cross and chalice, was ordered by emperor Wilhelm II and approved on 29 May 1903.
The most prominent heraldic element is at the bottom of the coat, the silver on red Maltese Cross, which signifies the official foundation of the historic village of Richardsdorf on 26 June 1360 under the sovereignty of the Catholic Johannite Knights Hospitaller, who had assumed the angerdorf from the Knights Templar in the year 1318.
In the upper right is the red and gold heraldic eagle on silver background, which is actually a double reference, mainly to Rixdorf's feudal parent city of Cölln (23 September 1435 – 17 January 1709[note 129]), but also to the later Province of Brandenburg, which likewise used Cölln's historical eagle on its coat of arms.[40]
In the upper left is the silver on black common chalice of the ProtestantHussite colonists, who began to settle on the Rixdorf lot in the year 1737 and eventually built their own village, which as Böhmisch-Rixdorf was granted its own administration in 1797, before both Rixdorf villages were united on 1 January 1874. An architectural representation of Rixdorf's historical Hussite chalice can be found in the pediment of the 1753 Bohemian school building on Kirchgasse.
The original red and black mural crown was similar to the modern variant, but contained a city gate as its central element, signifying Rixdorf's 1899 independence. Inofficially, the historical coat of arms remained in use at first, after Rixdorf, then already renamed Neukölln, had joined the new Neukölln borough of Greater Berlin on 1 October 1920. On 13 May 1954, Berlin passed legislation which allowed its boroughs to carry official heraldic emblems. To this end, Rixdorf's old coat of arms was slightly redesigned, and the only major change was applied to the crown, which was altered into the official mural crown now used by all of Berlin's boroughs, including the silver shield with black bear, as found in Berlin's own coat of arms. The changes were approved by Neukölln's district exchange and representative assembly by 12 March 1956. The new coat of arms was admitted by the city of Berlin in April 1956 and awarded to the borough Neukölln on 16 May 1956. Today, it is used by the quarter of Neukölln, together with the borough's other quarters of Britz, Buckow, Rudow and Gropiusstadt.[41]
As of 2024, Neukölln with its 163,735 inhabitants is the second-most densely populated quarter of Berlin after Prenzlauer Berg. The borough's current budget deficit stands at €10.2million ($11,39million), and in 2024 Neukölln's district exchange declared the third spending freeze in a year.[42] 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,[43] and the borough is currently the only German district with its own poverty commissioner.[44]
In 2019, 46% of Neukölln's residents had been first or second-generation immigrants,[45] with roots in 155 countries.[46] The percentage rose to 48% in 2021 due to the ongoing European migrant crisis,[47] and the number of Ukrainians in the borough Neukölln increased by 11.9% in 2023 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[48] Due to the quarter's dense urban character, only far less than five percent of Berlin's refugees can be accommodated in Neukölln.[note 130] As of 2024, the percentage of foreigners without German citizenship is 21.8% on the low end in Bouchéstraße (LOR 100313), and as high as 40.9% in both Donaustraße (LOR 100314) and Glasower Straße (LOR 100209).[49] The bulk of the most recent migration originated in Islamic countries,[note 131] and over the years this development, coupled with a strong local grassrootsradical left counterculture, has led to a significant increase in antisemitism[note 132] and pro-Palestinian propaganda,[note 133] also fueled by the politicians of Neukölln's chapter of Die Linke.[50]
Crime, police and fire safety
Revolutionary 1st of May demonstration, Neukölln, 2021
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.[51] Especially in these neighborhoods, Neukölln is also characterized by social and religious conflicts, manifesting in educational challenges,[52] violent felonies,[note 134] organized crime by Islamicclans with recurring gang and drug violence,[53] occasional rioting and arson, transphobia and homophobia.[note 135] 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.[54]
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). The police's special authorities, for example warrantless searches, extend from the kbOs into the S-Bahn and the trains and stations of the U-Bahn lines U7 and U8, the latter of which 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.[note 136]
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 137] 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".[55] 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 2024, only 20% of Neukölln's residents are Christian, of which 7.5% are Catholic, while 12.4% 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 138] 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%.[56] Increasing immigration from Islamic countries since 2015 therefore suggests that inofficial estimates of at least 20% and up to 25% (2024) are not false.[note 139] 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.
Historical population numbers
Around the time of Rixdorf's unification in 1874, the population was approximately 12,300. After Rixdorf's independence in 1899, the population stood at 90,422 (1900), while the final count for the rechristened city of Neukölln was 262,414 (1919), mainly due to early modern industrial immigration. The largest ever population of the quarter Neukölln was 278,208 in 1930. Modern immigration began in the mid-2000s and accounted for a population increase of approximately 20,000 at its peak in 2015, declining to now 14,000 compared to the beginning of the millennium.
More information Year, Population ...
Population of the early settlements *Richardshof, Richardsdorf and Rixdorf (1200–1736)
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 holidays, the U-Bahn lines operate continuously.
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 to the western city center including Kurfürstendamm, the M41 to Berlin Central Station, and the southbound M44 to Buckow-Süd, the destination 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 N47 connecting Hermannplatz and Berlin East railway station (Ostbahnhof).
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,[note 143]Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), the former (and greatly extended) Berlin Schönefeld Airport just outside of Berlin. As of 2024, BER passengers to or from Neukölln can only use buses or the S-Bahn for direct connections.[note 144]
When using the U-Bahn, an interchange between subway and the airport express bus lines X7 and X71 is necessary at the U7 terminus Rudow.[note 145] For S-Bahn access, an interchange is necessary between U-Bahn and the S45 at the stations Hermannstraße (U8) or Neukölln (U7). As of 2024, the S45 operates every 20 minutes from 5:00–24:00 and 7:00–24:00 on Sundays respectively. During the night, the U-Bahn service is replaced by the night bus line N7, which directly connects Neukölln and the airport.[note 146]
Ferry
The Rixdorf at Kottbusser Brücke landing
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.[note 147]
Future
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 at least three additional stations inbetween, Rudow-Süd (Neuhofer Straße), Lieselotte-Berger-Platz and Schönefeld for an S-Bahn interchange. As of 2024, a performance audit for the extension is under way.[61] As Greater Berlin has been steadily growing since German reunification to now almost 4.8million 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 Buckow-Süd just outside of Berlin.[62]
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.[63]
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 small 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.[64]
Tram
Neukölln currently has no connection to the Berlin MetroTram network, and 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"[65] line M10 by the year 2030,[note 148] from Kreuzberg (SO 36) through the Görlitzer Park and crossing the Landwehr Canal into Neukölln, with stations planned at Framstraße, Pannierstraße and Urbanstraße near Hermannplatz via Sonnenallee.[note 149] This would create a direct public transport connection from Neukölln (Reuterkiez) to Kreuzberg, Friedrichshain, Prenzlauer Berg, Mitte and Moabit via Berlin Central Station.[66]
Since Neukölln is densely populated and highly urbanized, most of its streets come with a speed limit of 30km/h for motorized vehicles, including more aggressive measures in recent years aimed at reducing traffic with one-way roads and concepts like the Spielstraße ("play street") or the Kiezblock (fixed or modular diverters). 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.[68]
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 eastern neighborhoods 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 A100autobahn just outside of Neukölln's border with Britz connects to the western parts of Berlin, with an eastern extension through parts of Neukölln to Alt-Treptow under construction, and a highly contended[69] final stage planned to extend 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.
Bicycle traffic
Bicycle lane, Hasenheide
Most of Neukölln's one-way streets are two-way for cyclists. In recent years, several side streets have been rededicated as bicycle boulevards, especially in the Reuterkiez. In 2017, the western parts of Weserstraße opened as Neukölln's first bicycle boulevard. 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. 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
Heidekamppark
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.[70]
Freight transport
Neukölln Harbor and WatergateNeukölln–Mittenwald industrial railroadIndustrial 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.
The Neukölln Harbor alongside Berlin's 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 exchange. All of Neukölln's other waterways, including rivers and canals outside of the quarter and borough, are managed by the Neukölln branch of the federal Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsamt Spree–Havel (Office for 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 Treptow freight yards,[note 151] 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 historical railroad, parts of which are still in use today, is the Neukölln–Mittenwald railroad (NME), which branches off in the Tempelhof quarter south of the Tempelhofer Feld between the stations Hermannstraße and Tempelhof and traverses the Teltow Canal to connect other industrial areas in the southern quarters of the Neukölln borough, eventually leading back east to the Teltow Canal on the Rudow industrial through track east of Gropiusstadt via Zwickauer Damm and Stubenrauchstraße.[note 152]
Furthermore, industrial through tracks, which are managed by the Industriebahn Berlin, connect Neukölln station via the Treptow freight yards north of Sonnenallee to several terminals within the Neukölln quarter. These include the industrial park Nobelstraße north of the Britz Canal near High-Deck-Siedlung, and the northern and eastern docks of the Neukölln Harbor, with an auxiliary track to the western dock.[note 153] 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 154]
Rixdorf village church, consecrated at the beginning of the 15th century, adopted by the Moravian Protestants in 1737, officially called Bethlehem Church since 1912.
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.[72]
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.
National Socialist grassroots organizer, Alter Kämpfer, Berlin organizational party leader; founded the Neukölln Model of independently operating cells, applied Berlin-wide in 1932
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)
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 155] Both the Boddinstraße and Hermannstraße were named after Rixdorf's first mayor, Hermann Boddin.[note 156] None of Rixdorf's and Neukölln's three city mayors were natives, while only Alfred Scholz had a political party affiliation. As part of the borough Neukölln, the quarter of Neukölln has been administered by the borough mayor since 1920. As of 2024, the incumbent is Martin Hikel (SPD).[note 157]
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)
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)
political scientist, Migazin co-editor-in-chief, chairman of Rixdorf's local SPD office, SPD Berlin board member, MdB, member of the Parliamentary Left
actor, borough representative (Pirate Party), Berlin state representative (Die Linke), chairwoman of the parliamentary group (since 2022)
Close
Local building officials
During the tenure of Reinhold Kiehl and his colleagues, for example fellow architect Heinrich Best, 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.
More information Name, Born ...
List of notable building officials and local architects of Rixdorf, Neukölln and Berlin-Neukölln
Neukölln, as part of the borough Neukölln, is a pilot city of the Intercultural Cities Program,[73] specifically also the International ICC Program,[74] organized by the Council of Europe together with the European Commission.
Neukölln, as part of Berlin, has several twin cities, among them London, Istanbul, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Tokyo and Windhoek.[76]
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. 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).
Theater
Ades Zabel 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.[77]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). In 2003, the Berlin dance company Dorky Park produced the dance theater play Scratch Neukölln for the inauguration of the new Hebbel am Ufer, commissioned by theater manager and Neukölln resident Matthias Lilienthal.
Film and television
Neukölln Unlimited (2010)
Neukölln has been a favored location for national and international film and television productions, including reality TV shows.[note 161] Some works, however, have focused primarily on Neukölln, for example the 2006 motion picture Tough Enough (Knallhart) by Detlev Buck, Zoran Drvenkar and Gregor Tessnow, the 2007 motion picture Straight by Nicolas Flessa, the 2014 television movie The Limits of Patience (Das Ende der Geduld) by Christian Wagner and Stefan Dähnert, the 2017 television series 4 Blocks by Marvin Kren, Oliver Hirschbiegel, Hanno Hackfort, Bob Konrad and Richard Kropf, the 2015 TV miniseries Ecke Weserstraße by Johannes Hertwig, Hayung von Oepen and Mireya Heider de Jahnsen, the TV documentary miniseries Kiez knallhart: Berlin-Neukölln (2021) by Story House Productions, and also a few documentary films, for example Neukölln Unlimited (2010) by Agostino Imondi and Dietmar Ratsch, Gangsterläufer (2011) by Christian Stahl, 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 produced several documentary films and series about Neukölln over the years, including history formats, for example Neukölln wie es einmal war (2024) by Svenja Weber.
Music
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, Du alte Hure by Kalle Kalkowski, the 2022 farewell elegyNeukölln 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, 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 albumCoffee in Neukölln in 2012.
Several instrumental works also reference Neukölln, most notably the 1977 David Bowie and Brian Eno track Neuköln [sic!], 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 jazzdiptychNeuköln (Day) and Neuköln (Night) by Dylan Howe (2007/14). Other instrumental works about Neukölln include 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.
The song that cemented Rixdorf's infamy as a city of vice across Germany, which eventually prompted the renaming to Neukölln, is the 1889[note 162] satirical polkamarchDer Rixdorfer by Eugen Philippi (music) and Oskar Klein (lyrics), also known as In Rixdorf ist Musike,[note 163] which was later immortalized in a recording by actor Willi Rose.[78] The lyrics, recited with a strong Berlin German dialect in the first person by a protagonist called Franz, 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 164]
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.
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 166]
If we continue to only observe, we in Neukölln-Nord won't be far from Whitechapel in 10 to 15 years.
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.
Lit. rollende Berge, "rolling hills"; one of Neukölln's neighborhoods was named after the Rollberge range (see below). See also the Kreuzberg, which is Berlin's most prominent glacial hill and (together with the Rollberge and the slopes near the former Mühlenberg in Schöneberg) forms the larger northern Teltow range called Tempelhofer Berge.
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.. Other alternative toponyms are Neukölln-Nord 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 current postal codes range from 12043 to 12059, using only the odd terminating numbers in-between. Aside from its use to distinguish the quarter from the borough, the old postal code 44 has i.a. become part of local youth and music culture, adopted e.g. by native hip hop musicians such as Nashi44, Doni44, 44Grad and Kalazh44.
Also known as Richardkiez; the original Richarsdorp, later Ricksdorf, Rixdorf and Deutsch-Rixdorf; possibly named after an unknown knight or administrator called Richard (see below).
Also known as Böhmisches Dorf (Bohemian Village); among the Bohemian settlers, it was called Český Rixdorf (Czech Rixdorf) until the early 20th century.
Often called Flughafenkiez, seldomly Flughafenstraßenkiez; the name derives from the homonymous street, which refers to the former Tempelhof airport nearby.
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.
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 SiteWeiße Stadt in Berlin Reinickendorf. The Weiße Siedlung is often lumped together with (and even called) the Dammwegsiedlung; however, the latter is a distinct 1920s settlement further south (see below).
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.
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.
Administratively part of Weiße Siedlung; also called Siedlung am Dammweg; named after a historical Dammweg (path on a dam) across the Cöllnische Heide to the former landing stages at the river Spree.
Ganghoferstraße around the border between Donaukiez and Böhmisch-Rixdorf: named after German author Ludwig Ganghofer;
Warthekiez around Wartheplatz, including the cemetery park Neuer St. Jacobi Friedhof: part of Schillerpromenade; named after the river Warthe, the German name for the Warta;
Harzer Kiez, a larger residential area north of the Neukölln Ship Canal, also called Harzer Straße, Bouchéstraße or Bouchékiez: nominally part of Reuterkiez, but socially dominated by the Kungerkiez in Alt-Treptow close-by; named after the local streets Harzer Straße and Bouchéstraße respectively, themselves named after the Harz region and German politician Johann Bouché (1759–1846);
recreational spaces at the eastern outskirts, e.g. a large area of privately leased garden allotments at the site of the former Cöllnische Heide (Cölln Heath);
Hasenheide, a western neighborhood with large recreational spaces: part of Schillerpromenade; evolved from the old Hasenheide forest of Rixdorf, now a park, literally "hares' heath";
industrial areas mostly to the south and east of the Berlin Ringbahn;
Schulenburgpark south of Weiße Siedlung: part of High-Deck-Siedlung; named after the Schulenburg dynasty.
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.
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 Harzer Kiez, and comprising the LORs 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. The toponym formed in the wake of Neukölln's early gentrifying wave, which slowly resurrected the neighborhood's culture and night life, attracted an ever increasing number of young new residents, and enticed Berliners to favorably compare the up-and-coming new north of Neukölln with the more established Kreuzberg (Christine Eichelmann, "Ein Berliner Kiez erwacht zu neuem Leben", Welt, 15 June 2007). The toponym was at first dismissed by many locals on both sides of the border (Johanna Lühr, " Stadtleben: Auf lässige Nachbarschaft", Tagesspiegel, 25 October 2008), mainly due to the different history and urban characteristics of the two quarters, which at the time were still very much unequal, with Kreuzberg either more middle-class (Kreuzberg 61) or strongly influenced by the traditional alternative counterculture of Cold WarWest Berlin (SO 36) vis-à-vis the Reuterquartier's emerging hipstersubculture. But as gentrification did not stop at Neukölln's borders, the toponym Kreuzkölln today, for better or for worse, 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).
Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg, "Adressverzeichnisfür die lebensweltlich orientierten Räume", Berlin, January 2024; official neighborhoods' LORs emphasized; official neighborhoods in emphasized italics; inofficial neighborhoods without a directly corresponding LOR in italics:
Schillerpromenade (01) in the west, comprising Hasenheide (01), central Schillerpromenade as Schillerpromenade Nord (02) and Schillerpromenade Süd (03), as well as Wartheplatz (04) and Silbersteinstraße (05);
Neuköllner Mitte/Zentrum (02) in the center, comprising most of Flughafenstraße (06), plus Rollberg (07) and Körnerpark (08), as well as Glasower Straße (09);
Reuterstraße (03) in the north, comprising the Reuterkiez as Maybachufer (10), Reuterplatz (11) and Weichselplatz (12) including the Friedelkiez and the western parts of the Weserkiez, as well as Bouchéstraße (13), plus a minor part of Flughafenstraße, namely the Donaukiez as Donaustraße (14);
Rixdorf (04) in the center to the north-east, comprising Ganghoferstraße (15), Böhmisch-Rixdorf and Richardplatz-Süd as Alt-Rixdorf (16), Braunschweiger Straße (17), the eastern parts of the Weserkiez as Hertzbergplatz (18), as well as Treptower Straße Nord (19); and
Köllnische Heide (05) in the east, comprising the Weiße Siedlung (20) and Schulenburgpark (21), and including the High-Deck-Siedlung and the Dammwegsiedlung.
The industrial parks Ederstraße and Köllnische Heide are no longer part of the city's LOR framework as independent regions.
Still, due to their old age, many of Neukölln's cemeteries 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 Garnisonsfriedhof (garrison cemetery) on 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.
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).
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.
Heike Schroll, Das Landesarchiv Berlin und seine Bestände: Übersicht der Bestände aus der Zeit bis 1945 (Tektonik-Gruppe A), Berliner Wissenschaftsverlag, Berlin, 2003, p. 134; in Low German the toponym would have been Richarshove; compare Tempelhof as Tempelhove. A potential date for the emergence of this hypothetical toponym is the rededication of the military stronghold as an access yard (ca. 1245); however, the Templar yard could as well have been called Richarsdorp from the beginning, as that was already its toponym at the time of the village's official foundation in 1360.
Main contemporary spellings were e.g. Richart and Rikard or latinized variants Ricardus and Richardus. Generally, the name Richard means "strong ruler" and stems from the Proto-Germanic roots *rīk- ("ruler", "leader") and *hardu- ("hardy", "strong"), originally from PIE*reg- ("to move in a straight line", "to lead", "to rule") and *kar- ("hard"). The syllable -dorp (Dorf, Old Englishthorp, "village") stems from the Proto-Germanic root *thurpa- ("pen", "compound", "fenced area"), and possily from PIE *treb- ("dwelling"). Taking into account the proposed older toponym *Richardshof, the word Hof (hove) is a cognate of Hufe ("oxgang") from Proto-Germanic *hōfaz and the root *hōfa- ("hoof"), possibly originating from PIE *kop- ("to beat", "to strike").
Among them were nobleman and Christian saint Richard the Pilgrim (died 720), famous crusader king Richard the Lionheart (died 1199), and primarily bishop Richard of Chichester (died 1253), who was canonized in 1262 and eventually became a popular saint in Europe, but too late to have influenced the toponym Richarsdorp. The only famous contemporary Richards with at least indirect connections to the Templar Order were on the one hand Richard of Cornwall (died 1272), who in 1241 during the Barons' Crusade negotiated a proper burial for the Templars killed at the Battle at Gaza, and who also transferred sovereignty over Ascalon castle to the German king Frederick II, who had already laid the groundwork for the German colonization of the Teltow region after the Northern Crusades (see below), and on the other hand a Richart (Richardus) named Richard de Bures, who, at the time when Rixdorf's original Templar stronghold was rededicated as an access yard (ca. 1245, see below), deputized as Templar grand master after the death or capture of his predecessor Armand de Périgord in 1244, and who himself died a Templar martyr on 9 May 1247 during the battle at Lake Tiberias, which was followed by the destruction of Tiberias; however, only the former has ever been proposed in Richarsdorp folk etymologies.
The latter hypothesis was propagated by Friedrich Nicolai in his work Beschreibung der königlichen Residenzstädte Berlin und Potsdam (1779), alleging an origin from the Ryke (Reiche) family, one of Cölln's and Berlin's old patrician dynasties; see alsoRykestraße. In 1344, Johannes Ryke, a patrician citizen of Cölln, had been given the schultheiß court of Marienfelde south of Tempelhof by Herrenmeister (Lord of the Knights) Hermann von Werberg, bailiff and Statthalter (Governor) of Brandenburg, who in turn would play an important role in the foundation of Richardsdorf (see below), which is why it was theorized that the family name Reiche (Ryke) is the origin of Reichsdorp and other variants of Rixdorf, similar to the etymology of Schleswig-Holstein's Rixdorf Manor (Gut Rixdorf), which probably originated from a documented local knight called Hinrich von Ryckestorp. However, for the theories on Neukölln's Rixdorf, no primary sources exist that would refute the Richard theory and corroborate a clear etymological distinction between the documented original toponym Richarsdorp and the later contracted form Rixdorf.
See alsoTheodiscus; Deutsche ("Germans") was never an ethnic term, and instead denoted the (common) people who spoke theodiscus (deutsch, "German"), the language "of the people"; to this day, the individual term for a German is therefore Deutscher ("common person", "person who speaks the [common] deutsche [i.e. German] language"), and never Deutschländer ("citizen of Deutschland [i.e. Germany]").
The Old-Polabian toponym Berlin or Birlin ("swamp area") was also used with a definite article as der Berlin ("the Berlin"), which strongly suggests a Slavic plot name, e.g. "the swamp", instead of a preceding Slavic settlement; cf. Arnt Cobbers, Kleine Berlin-Geschichte – Vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart, Berlin 2008, p.14.; see alsoetymology of Berlin.
The "water" referenced both Neu-Cölln's southern military moat, which was later filled, and the historical Cöllnischer Stadtgraben ("Cölln Moat") between Cölln and Neu-Cölln, which later became the Spree Canal west and south of Spree Island; see alsoFischerinsel, the southern neighborhood on Spree Island.
This means that from 1912 to 1920, the region had two localities that bore virtually the same name, Berlin's small district Neu-Kölln and vis-à-vis the city Neukölln. Today, the area of the historical Neu-Cölln is part of the Luisenstadt neighborhood (named after the historical Luisenstadt), and it is almost never called by its historical name, but places like the Köllnischer Park, originally a military bastion in Neu-Cölln (Bastion VII), still point to the origin of the toponym Neukölln.
From Latin colonus (i.a. "settler in a foreign land") and colere (i.a. "to cultivate", "to inhabit"), originally from the PIE root *kwel- (i.a. "to dwell").
Manfred Niemeyer (ed.), Deutsches Ortsnamenbuch, Berlin/Boston 2012, p. 60 s.v. "Berlin: II, III"; id., p. 323 s.v. "Köln: III, IV"; cf. Winfried Schich, "Das mittelalterliche Berlin (1237–1411)", in: Wolfgang Ribbe, Geschichte Berlins1, München 1988, p. 146–206. A direct adoption of Cologne's Latin name (Joachim Herrmann [1937] in: id. et al., Berlin. Ergebnisse der heimatkundlichen Bestandsaufnahme, Reihe "Werte unserer Heimat"49/50, Berlin 1987, p. 143 sq.) is therefore less likely than a new Holy Roman colony next to (the) Berlin receiving its toponym Colonia independently, which was then gradually germanized like its counterpart on the Rhine. An even older hypothesis, which mirrored Berlin's etymology and tried to postulate a Slavic origin of the new colony's name, surmised an obscure base form *Kol'no from *kol ("stake, spigot"); cf. Emil Stutzer, Die Deutschen Großstädte – Einst und Jetzt, Berlin/Braunschweig/Hamburg 1917; this is an unlikely etymology, especially given the fact that no remnants of a Slavic settlement preceding the new colonia were ever found, but still cannot be completely ruled out; cf. Manfred Niemeyer (ed.), Deutsches Ortsnamenbuch, Berlin/Boston 2012, p. 60 s.v. "Berlin: II, III". Older treatises had disregarded a potential Slavic in favor of a Latin origin as a sui generis name for a nova colonia (new colony), but left open the possibility that the colonists had been inspired by Cologne's Latin name; cf. i.a. Jan Hendrik Regenbogen, Commentatio de Bello Sacro, Leiden 1819, p. 245 sq.: "Coloniam ad Spream quoque ea aetate conditam fuisse, ita nominatum vel a Colonia nova, vel ab advenis, e Colonia Agrippina oriundis, admodum est verisimile […]."
Similar to Berolina, the name of Berlin's historical personification, the ahistorical toponym Nova Colonia is used occasionally by associations and companies in the Neukölln quarter and borough, for example the chamber choirCapella Nova Colonia, while the variant Colonia Nova is the name of an event venue and congress center in northern Rixdorf, situated very close to the area of the historical Neucölln Estates.
Proposed toponym; Heike Schroll, Das Landesarchiv Berlin und seine Bestände: Übersicht der Bestände aus der Zeit bis 1945 (Tektonik-Gruppe A), Berliner Wissenschaftsverlag, Berlin, 2003, p. 134.
Prehistorical overview and historical chronology, settlement history and monuments i.a. in Berlin-Neukölln, seine Geschichte und Denkmale: Rixdorf, Bezirksamt Neukölln, Berlin 1999 (online copy); for more detailed annals of Rixdorf and Neukölln from its inception to 1999, cf. Manfred Motel, Chronik von Rixdorf, Berlin 1999 (online copy).
I.a. Albert Kiekebusch, "Ein germanisches Reitergrab aus der späten Völkerwanderungszeit von Neukölln (Rixdorf) bei Berlin", Praehistorische ZeitschriftIV 3/4, 1912. Today, the Reitergrab is on display at the Märkisches Museum.
Starting in the third century CE, almost all of the Semnonic tribes migrated from Germania Magna across the limes to the Upper Rhine region and became part of the wider and partially RomanizedAlemannic culture; see alsoSwabia and Alamannia. In a twist of historical irony, a significant number of Swabians, the modern-day descendants of the ancient Suevi, have been return-migrating to Berlin since the late 1980s, leading to pronounced anti-Swabian sentiments, especially in the alternative culture of former central East Berlin, with the term Schwabe (Swabian) eventually having morphed into a pars pro toto koinonym for all modern Western immigrants perceived as the drivers of gentrification.
The same is true for the historical centers of Berlin and Cölln; the Slavic tribes had mostly settled on the plateaus surrounding Berlin's glacial valley, i.e. the Sprevane on the Teltow and Barnim, and on the rivers Spree and Dahme, e.g. in Trebow and Copnic, and the Hevelli in the Havelland and the Zauche, and on the rivers Havel and Nuthe, e.g. in Spandow and Poztupimi; cf. Horst Ulrich, Uwe Prell, Ernst Luuk, "Besiedlung des Berliner Raums", in: Berlin Handbuch, Berlin 1992, p. 127 sq.
In the wake of the Northern Crusades, Albert was appointed margrave of the Northern March, including the Teltow, in 1134 by Lothair III after a testamentary contract between Albert and Hevellian prince Pribislav-Henry (1129). When Pribislav-Henry died in 1150, Albert became his successor and proclaimed the new margraviate in 1157.
In a short war of succession against Albert, Jaxa laid claim to Brandenburg and occupied the region in 1157, but retreated without a fight in the same year after transfer negotiations. Pomerania became part of Brandenburg only decades later (see below).
Archeological finds pertaining to the construction of a trading place at the river Spree were dated to the 1170s, and the oldest discovered burials in Cölln to the 1160s (Gisela Graichen & Matthias Wemhoff, Gründerzeit 1200: Wie das Mittelalter unsere Städte erfand, Berlin 2024); however, both the parochial establishment and the foundation of Berlin's and Cölln's royal court fall into the reign of the so-called Stadtgründer (founders of cities) John I and Otto III.
Proposed toponym; cf. Heike Schroll, Das Landesarchiv Berlin und seine Bestände: Übersicht der Bestände aus der Zeit bis 1945 (Tektonik-Gruppe A), Berliner Wissenschaftsverlag, Berlin, 2003, p. 134.
Tempelhof and other previously Slavic villages were conquered or founded around 1190, and the surrounding Teltow region was incorporated in two planned-out phases between 1190 and 1230; cf. Winfried Schich, "Das mittelalterliche Berlin (1237–1411)", in: Wolfgang Ribbe (ed.), Veröffentlichung der Historischen Kommission zu Berlin: Geschichte Berlins. 1. Band, München, 1987, p. 157. *Richardshof was probably part of the second colonization wave, beginning with the year 1200. While Ascanian rule over the Teltow is well attested for that time, there is still debate over who had actually initiated the foundation of the Teltow villages, whether the House of Ascania, or their direct rivals, the bishops of Magdeburg, e.g. Ludolf von Kroppenstedt, or the dukes of Silesia, e.g. Bolesław I the Tall, or the House of Wettin, which would imply a later conquest by the Ascanians and Knights Templar; cf. Ulrich Waack, "Die frühen Herrschaftsverhältnisse im Berliner Raum. Eine neue Zwischenbilanz der Diskussion um die 'Magdeburg-Hypothese'", in: Jahrbuch für brandenburgische Landesgeschichte54, 2005, pp. 7–38.
In later centuries renamed Berlinische Wiesen (Berlin Meadows); these grasslands were the north-western part of the Mirica, a forest region later known as Cöllnische Heide (Cölln Heath).
After the era of Jaxa, one of the remaining adversaries of the Ascanian margraviate in the eastern Teltow periphery was the House of Wettin, which had ruled over Copenic since (depending on the source) 1178 or 1210, which required a military presence in *Richardshof. Therefore, the Templar stronghold was established somewhere between 1190 and 1210. During this time, the Order was under the sovereignty of four consecutive grand masters, Robert IV of Sablé (1191–93), Gilbert Horal (1193–1200), Philippe du Plessis (1201–08) and William of Chartres (1208–19).
A reference to a Templar commander called Hermann (magister Hermannus de Templo, "master [commander] Hermann of the [Knights] Templar") dated 29 April 1247 underlines the order's command over Tempelhof and the Teltow region; cf. i.a. Hans Eberhard Mayerm, "Zum Itinerarium peregrinorum – Eine Erwiderung", in: id. (ed.): Kreuzzüge und lateinischer Osten3, London 1983, p. 210 sq. However, no records exist of the Knights' direct involvement in the foundation of any of the Teltow settlements, including Merghenvelde and Mergendorp, but the 1247 record and later transfer of ownership implies at least their lasting sovereignty.
Following the victory over the Danes at the second battle of Bornhöved (1227), Brandenburg secured their claim on Pomerania, which Frederick II gave as a suzerainty to the (at this time still dependent) Ascanian margraves, followed by a 1231 treaty between Barnim I of Pomerania-Stettin, due to his young age represented by his regent Samboride mother Miroslava of Pomerelia, and the margraves John I and Otto III, which legally confirmed the Ascanian's dominion i.a. over the Barnim and Teltow, and therefore *Richardshof, with the region's transfer following in 1237 after the Treaty of Kremmen; at the time the Templar Order was under the sovereignty of grand master Armand de Périgord (1232–44). The subsequent Ascanian-Pomeranian conflicts had no recorded effect on the Tempelhof commandery and the village's political status.
At this time, the Templar Order was under the sovereignty of Richard de Bures, who deputized as grand master after the capture or death of Armand de Périgord from 1244/45 until his own death on 9 May 1247 during the battle at Lake Tiberias; Marie Luise Bulst-Thiele, Sacrae domus militiae Templi Hierosolymitani magistri – Untersuchung zur Geschichte des Templerordens 1118/19–1314, Göttingen 1974, pp. 211–16 s.v. "17. Richardus (Richart) de Bures. 1144/45 – 9. Mai 1247".
The Johannite Hospitaller history of the commandery was expressly documented for the first time in 1344; after the Reformation, the Catholic Brandenburg Hospitallers evolved into the ProtestantOrder of Saint John (Johanniterorden), which still exists today.
In the charter, the ultimate (earthly) authorities are only named indirectly as mit Vollmacht unserer Oberen ("authorized by our superiors"); beside Hermann von Werberg ("Werberge"), the charter also names other representatives of the regional Hospitaller authorities, namely co-founder Dietrich von Sasar, Komtur (Commander) of Tempelhof, Jacob von Detz, the incumbent priest at Tempelhof, as advisor and attestor, as well as other witnesses, e.g. Hans Schuler, the Küster (Sexton) at Tempelhof. The charter already mentions a schultheiß, a municipal magistrate, to be inaugurated. The size of the new village's allocated area was 25 Hufe, i.e. 425.5 hectares (4.255 square kilometers) or 1501.5 acres (1.64 square miles), and it offered a home to 14 families of mostly farmers with (depending on the source) 50 to 100 residents; e.g. "Chronik und Geschichte Neuköllns", Bezirksamt Neukölln.
Cf. e.g. this translation. One striking sentence in the charter foreshadows Rixdorf's and Neukölln's diverse, ephemeral and changeful history; 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; ger.: 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; eng.: "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".
Cf. e.g. the 650-years anniversary edition "Rixdorf – 650 – Neukölln" of Mitteilungen des Vereins für die Geschichte Berlins (Vol. 3, 2010). Other important (and officially recognized) historical festivals are the foundation of Rixdorf's Bohemian village on 31 May 1737, and Rixdorf's independence on 1 April 1899 (see below).
Richardsdorf's chapel is first mentioned in the 1435 contract between the Hospitallers and the cities of Cölln and Alt-Berlin (see below). The original 1360 charter and later documents attest that the Richardsdorf farmers still belonged to the Tempelhof parish, and the Landbuch does not mention a chapel for the year 1375 either; furthermore, before 1400 the village had to pay tributes to the priest at Tempelhof, which also rules out a church in Richardsdorf during these early times. This would refute unsourced claims that a chapel already stood long before and even received its church bell as early as 1322. However, the foundational charter explicitly orders Richardsdorf's farmers to adhere to the Tempelhof parish; this suggests that the farmers had already built a Flurkapelle ("field chapel"), which had never been officially consecrated by the Church authorities.
The new leadership over the Teltow by the Johannite Knights Hospitaller perpetuated the Templar rule of force, which i.a. led to continuous strife along the northern border at the Schafgraben, later known as Müllen-Graben, modern-day Landwehr Canal; in 1435 the Hospitaller were accused of having secretly moved boundary stones in the area around the Johannistisch, in modern-day Kreuzberg near the road Am Johannistisch, which prompted the so-called Tempelhofer Fehde (Feud of Tempelhof), as the Hospitaller under the command of Nickel von Colditz launched a military attack against Cölln and Berlin at the Köpenicker Tor near the Roßstraßenbrücke south of Cölln, but their battalion was quickly repelled at the city gates under heavy bombardment, so the Hospitaller decided to retreat toward Richardsdorf, pursued by Cölln's forces, but were ambushed from behind by Cölln's and Berlin's cavalry in the area of modern-day Lausitzer Platz, so they fled across the Schafgraben or the Schlangengraben into their own domain, possibly into the western part of the Richardsdorf lot, where they were defeated before dusk; cf. Frank Eberhardt, "Verziert mit Ross und Meerjungfrauen: Die Roßstraßenbrücke im Bezirk Mitte", Berlinische Monatsschrift4, p. 11 sq., Berlin 2001; Werner von Westhafen, "Die Tempelhofer Fehde", Kreuzberger Chronik174, November 2015.
With 2,440 schockPrague groschen (approx. $500,000 in 2024), the selling price was rather high, but it calmed regional relations and enabled the Hospitaller to purchase the lands around the village of Schwiebus.
Cölln and Berlin had formed an administrative unity in 1432, but the despotism of Margrave Frederick Irontooth in the 1440s with the ensuing Berliner Unwille (lit. "the reluctance of Berlin") had resulted i.a. in the annulment of the shared administration, which soured relations over many generations, and complicated their joint fiefdom over Richardsdorf (Ricksdorf).
The chapel's roof and spire were destroyed in 1639, but rebuilt the same year; in 1912 the chapel was renamed Bethlehem Church. Many parts of today's church building have preserved the original late Gothic architecture of 15th century Margraviate churches.
The tavern was located at Richardplatz 16, later known as Zum Goldenen Adler (1840) and Winkelmanns Salon (1872), and also functioned as a venue for the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Städtisches Theater, until the original building was torn down in 1889; a newer Gründerzeit building was constructed in its place, which now houses the bar Herr Lindemann (2024).
It joined the preexisting windmill, which had been gifted to the village by the Crown (see above), with another royal gift to the Bohemian village following in 1765 (see below). All in all, Rixdorf would have 16 windmills, two royal gifts, the 1729 windmill, and 13 additional windmills constructed between 1737 and 1865, all of them on the Rollberge.
Bohemia became primarily catholic again after the Battle of White Mountain, which led to persecutions of the Protestant minorities, many of whom subsequently left the country. Most of Rixdorf's Hussite settlers were part of a group of 700 refugees, 500 of whom had originally fled to Saxon Gerlachsheim near Marklissa, modern-day Gmina Leśna, from the regions around the villages of Landskron, Leitomischl, Rothwasser and Hermanitz in Roman northern Moravia and north-eastern Bohemia; when Joseph Wenzel I, the Regent of Liechtenstein, guardian of Prince Johann Nepomuk Karl and manorial lord of Rothwasser as part of the GundakarianMajorat, demanded the repatriation of his serfs, to which the Saxon government consented, 300 Bohemians fled again to Prussian Cottbus in the winter of 1736/37 under the guidance of their priest Augustin Schulz; when the landlord of Gerlachsheim confiscated the possessions of the 200 Bohemians, who had stayed behind, as compensation for the loss of much of his workforce, the remaining Bohemians migrated to Cottbus in February 1737, where they eventually met up with 200 more Bohemian refugees; their settlement in the Berlin region including Rixdorf was granted shortly afterwards at the behest of Bohemian priest Johann Liberda, who in the same year had managed to flee to Berlin from Waldheim Prison, where he had been incarcerated for sedition since late 1732. Liberda had already been a central figure of the first Bohemian immigration wave; as leader of a Bohemian delegation in the fall of 1732, he had managed to persuade the (initially reluctant) King to grant asylum to the first 500 refugees, who had originally fled to Großhennersdorf near Herrnhut in Upper Lusatia, ruled by lady of the manor Baroness Catharina von Gersdroff, who was an early patroness of the Moravian Church of Herrnhut, but were suffering from harsh serfdom and diminishing income due to subsequent immigration; after experiencing the Bohemians' proficiency, the King's mistrust changed into consistent support, which paved the way for Rixdorf's Bohemian settlement. Cf. Otmar Liegl, "250 Jahre Böhmen in Berlin", Mitteilungen des Vereins für die Geschichte Berlins79 (1), Berlin 1983, pp. 2–15 (5 sq.).
The Königliche Domänenverwaltung (Royal Domain Administration) bought five Hufe of farmland including Rixdorf's fiefdom court of the schultheiß and the yard belonging to Adolph Manitius, the court's proprietor (1704–37); the plots were then assigned as emphyteutic leases and transferred to the new settlers for later services to Berlin's industrialists; the Crown also provided construction materials and the necessary industrial and agricultural equipment free of charge, and helped in the construction of nine duplex houses with barns for the families, whereas each two families received between 12 and 14 morgen of land for gardening and agriculture; many of the barns received chambers for later subtenant worker families. The Bohemian settlers were exempt from military service, received immunity from taxes for five years, and the Crown carried their rents for two years; they were granted free citizenship and the right to master craftsmanship. The court of the schultheiß remained under Bohemian administration until 1874.
Overall, the Bohemian immigrants formed three distinct parishes, a traditional Moravian, a Bohemian-Lutheran, and a Reformed Bohemian Protestant, whose relations were at times strained by religious controversies, especially in the early 19th century. Construction of a Moravian oratory on the Kirchgasse began in 1750 and was finished in 1761 (Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine), but the building was destroyed in World War II and reopened as a late-modernist oratory and parish hall, inaugurated by bishop Otto Dibelius on 13 May 1962; church services in the oratory were held in the Czech language until shortly before World War I. The Reformed Protestant parish settled on Richardstraße with the inauguration of their first priest Johann Theophil Elsner on 23 October 1747. The original chapel in Deutsch-Rixdorf east of Richardplatz remained the main church of both Rixdorf villages; it was at first used by both the original German Catholics and newly immigrated Bohemian Protestants, and only later became an exclusively Protestant church.
The Kirchgasse was originally called Mala ulicka, Czech for "narrow alley", a name in use until 1909. The old school is one of the few buildings that survived the fire of 1849. A representation of the Hussite Protestants' common chalice can be found in the building's pediment. Today, the building houses a museum of local history.
The Czech-speaking Moravian refugees and their descendants called it Český Rixdorf; the Czech lingual culture in Böhmisch-Rixdorf remained prominent until the beginning of the 19th century.
Two other large fires had already occurred in 1803 (on Richardplatz) and 1827, which accelerated the Gründerzeit development phase; conversely, many older places were forever lost to history, especially most of the older Bohemian settlement; see below for the Reuterkiez firestorm of 1886.
It was constructed together with a pedestrian overpass, which the people called Der Galgen ("the gallows"); the overpass was eventually torn down in November 1895 as part of the station's reconstruction.
The decree was first published on 31 July 1873; cf. Amtsblatt der Königlichen Regierung zu Potsdam und der Stadt Berlin, Potsdam 1873, p. 230, s.v. No. 130. For many decades Böhmisch-Rixdorf had resisted plans for unification; the Gesetz über die Landgemeinde-Verfassungen (Law on the Constitution of rural Communes) of 14 April 1856 created the legal basis for the 1871 establishment of the two Rixdorf municipal councils, which paved the way for more cooperation and eventually unification. The principal municipal magistrate in charge of Böhmisch-Rixdorf, who had conducted the unification affairs on the Bohemian side, was Carl Friedrich Barta, who had been in office since the formation of the councils in 1871, and he remained a municipal magistrate under Boddin from 1874 to 1882; the Bartas had been one of Neukölln's most prominent families, among the very first Bohemian settlers of 1737.
Voted on by the Brandenburg Provincial Assembly on 30 January 1899; the sum of acquittance to the Kreis Teltow was 1 million gold mark (approx. $27.8million in 2024). Today, Rixdorf's independence day is still regarded as an important date in Neukölln's history.
Before the first windmills were constructed, it was known as Schafgraben (Sheep's Trench) at least since the early 15th century; the new Landwehr Canal roughly also followed the western stretch of Rixdorf's old Wiesengraben (Meadow Trench), formerly known as Schlangengraben (Snake Trench), before turning north toward the river Spree.
Named after the city of Cottbus; it was built sometime between 1850 (terminus post quem) and 1874 (terminus ante quem) as a replacement for the old elevated road through the Cöllnische Wiesen into Cölln and Alt-Berlin via present-day Kottbusser Tor, originally called Ricksdorfscher Damm and Ricksdorfsche Straße, which had existed there since the 16th century. It was part of the old road from Cölln via present-day Hermannplatz and through Rixdorf along present-day Karl-Marx-Straße to Mittenwalde (Brandenburg), later extended to Cottbus; in 1712, a second southern extension of the Ricksdorfscher Damm to Dresden along present-day Hermannstraße had been built as a postal, trade and military road, the Dresdener Heerstraße, which was often used as a pars pro toto name for the Ricksdorfscher Damm before its renaming in the 19th century.
Named after Ernst Friedel (1837–1918), a Berlin politician, jurist and historian; for the first decades only designated Straße 12 c ("12th Street c"), parts of the southern section were named Friedelstraße already in 1895, while the northern section, which had replaced a preexisting meadow trail, was originally called Wiebestraße before 1900, named after Hermann Wiebe, engineer, millwright and president of the Berlin Bauakademie (building academy).
SeeTramway of the city of Berlin (Straßenbahnen der Stadt Berlin, SSB); until then, Rixdorf's own tram lines had been horse-drawn (Pferde-Eisenbahn), and the electric tram network development had been managed by the Südliche Berliner Vorortbahn (SBV).
Today, the Friedelkiez, the area around the Friedelstraße, which is mainly part of the LORs Maybachufer and Reuterplatz, is of central significance with regard to gentrification in the north of Neukölln's Reuterquartier, and forms an urban cultural hub between the Weserkiez and Kreuzberg's SO 36 neighborhood, which is accessible via the Hobrechtbrücke across the Landwehr Canal.
Due to Berlin's unusually high ground water level, much of the older industry had to settle to the north and south of the glacial valley on the Barnim and Teltow plateaus to be able to construct deep basements for manufacturing and storage, especially attracting breweries like Rixdorf's Vereinsbrauerei (association brewery) of the Berliner Gastwirte Aktiengesellschaft (Berlin Innkeepers joint-stock company), the predecessor of the Kindl-Brauerei, which needed large underground fermentation vaults.
Rixdorf's first windmill from 1650 had already been torn down on 12 April 1848, while the Bohemian windmill was dismantled in 1886 and reconstructed in Jüterbog.
Cf. Mark Twain, "The Chicago of Europe", Chicago Daily Tribune, 3 April 1892, with relevant parts emphasized: "Berlin […] is newer to the eye than is any other city, and also blonder of complexion and tidier; no other city has such an air of roominess, freedom from crowding; no other city has so many straight streets; and with Chicago it contests the chromo for flatness of surface and for phenomenal swiftness of growth. Berlin is the European Chicago. The two cities have about the same population—say a million and a half. […] But now the parallels fail. Only parts of Chicago are stately and beautiful, whereas all of Berlin is stately and substantial, and it is not merely in parts but uniformly beautiful."
Apart from the infamy, some representatives had different and more ordinary reservations regarding the city's name, arguing that the last syllable -dorf ("village") had become unbefitting of Prussia's largest town, while some had even taken offense at the unaesthetic sound of the first syllable Rix-. The alternative name, originally proposed by first mayor Boddin in an act of self-approval, had been Hermannstadt (Herbert Schwenk, "Alle ding… vorgan mit der tydt – Die Verwandlungen von Rixdorf und Neukölln", Berlinische Monatsschrift8, p. 43, Berlin 2001; Fabian Friedmann, "Der Patriarch", Neukoellner, 19 September 2012).
Construction of these estates had begun in 1875 in the Berlinische Wiesen (Berlin Meadows), formerly known as Cöllnische Wiesen (Cölln Meadows), after Hermann Boddin's 1874 ordinance to revoke the herding warrant (see above).
The price for Neukölln's new island was 500,000 mark, approximately $2.5million (2024); after the formation of Greater Berlin in 1920, the island became part of Alt-Treptow.
The 1920 local election followed the 6 June 1920 German federal election; in Berlin it was a dual election, both in the Greater Berlin boroughs and of the state deputies who would serve in the Berlin Abgeordnetenhaus (State House of Representatives). However, the constituents of the new boroughs were not yet allowed to vote in the Berlin state election, but that election was eventually declared void due to partial electoral fraud and repeated on 16 October 1921. Neukölln's BVV election was also repeated, and the SPD (27.9%) became the winner before the socialist USPD (23.8%) and the communist KPD (13.8%); "Wahlen zu den Bezirksverordnetenversammlungen in Berlin am 16. Oktober 1921 nach Bezirken und Parteien – Stimmen in Prozent", Der Landeswahlleiter für Berlin, Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg. The first Berlin state election, in which Neukölln's constituents were finally allowed to vote, was held on 25 October 1925.
Alternate proposals from the 1910s for connecting Rixdorf and Berlin were a north-to-south suspension railway line from southern Reinickendorf through the inner city, or a subway line by AEG following a very similar route, or the diagonal northwest-to-southeast Moabit–Rixdorf line from Huttenstraße at the western end of Turmstraße, all of them eventually via Kottbusser Damm, Hermannplatz and Karl-Marx-Straße to Rixdorf Station at the Ringbahn; these plans were scrapped in favor of the GN-Bahn and an eastern branch for the Nord-Süd-Bahn. The first line opened to the public on 11 April 1926; the Nord-Süd-Bahn, since 1928 Line C, today the U6, originally had a junction to a secondary eastbound branch into Neukölln at the historical Belle-Alliance-Straße station, and this Neukölln branch later became part of today's U7; in the second stage, the Neukölln branch, since 1928 called Line CI, was extended from the old terminus Bergstraße to Grenzallee, and after its opening on 21 December 1930 it remained the terminus until the third stage opened in 1963 with an extension into the rest of the Neukölln borough. The GN-Bahn (Gesundbrunnen–Neukölln line), since 1928 Line D, which eventually became the U8, opened on 17 July 1927, in Neukölln at first as a stump line between Boddinstraße and Schönleinstraße via Hermannplatz, before being joined with the northern stump in two stages (12 February and 6 April 1928); a southern extension to Leinestraße opened in August 1929; the final extension to the S-Bahn interchange Hermanstraße had already been planned in 1910, but wasn't implemented until the year 1996.
4 December 1930; in his speech to mainly students, Hitler also touched on his aesthetic visions for the future, and further pursuaded the assistant professor Albert Speer, who was also in attendance, on his national socialist path; Albert Speer, Erinnerungen, Frankfurt am Main 1969, 32 sq.; cf. also Constantin Goschler (ed.), Hitler: Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen4 (1), Munich 1994, s.v. "Dok. 37", p. 145 with n. 2. One other speech by Hitler from the Nazis' so-called Berliner Kampfzeit ("Berlin time of struggle") was allegedly given in 1931 across the street on the Kreuzberg side of Hasenheide in Kliems Festsäle, but no sources exist; his speech on 10 September 1930 in the Orpheum, also on Hasenheide, was canceled at the last minute; cf. id. 3 (3), s.v. "Dok. 110", p. 408, n. 2.
Scholz was succeeded as borough mayor by Nazi politician Kurt Samson, who remained in office until the end of the war and died in the SovietPOW camp Buchenwald in 1947.
Some activists also moved to socialist East Germany after the war and became prominent state officials and politicians, for example Klaus Gysi and Friedel Hoffmann.
In addition, the first stolpersteinin Neukölln to honor the victims of Nazism was laid in 2006 in front of Hermannstraße 46; as of 2024, Neukölln has 242 of these commemorative pavement stones.
Neukölln's and Berlin's Jewish survivors at first sheltered i.a. in Berlin's UNRRA camps for Jewish displaced persons, e.g. in nearby Mariendorf, before emigrating to Israel or the United States; these camps were mainly constructed between 1945 and 1946 for Jewish refugees from Poland, who were fleeing post-war anti-semitic pogroms; cf. Sigrid Kneist, "Eine eigene Stadt mitten in Berlin", Tagesspiegel, 25 July 2021 (archived).
Today, the library is part of the Neukölln Arcaden mall; it was renamed Helene-Nathan-Bibliothek in 1989 in honor of Helene Nathan, the old borough library's Jewish director, who had been driven into suicide under Nazi oppression.
It was founded in 1981 and first occupied an area on Potsdamer Platz, before relocating to its lease on the Oderstraße in 1995; however, its lease was terminated at the end of 2023; Madlen Harbach, "Kündigung für Berlins ältestes Wagendorf: Wie geht es weiter mit den Neuköllner Rollheimern?", Tagesspiegel, 25 November 2023 (archived). One additional Wagenburg is the radical alternative queer trailer park Kanal, which has occupied a compound on the Neukölln side of Kiefholzstraße at the border to Plänterwald since 2010, though their domain had to be downsized by half for the new modular refugee center; the Wagenburg was formerly known as Schwarzer Kanal, and has existed in various inner-city locations since 1989.
Compared to Kreuzberg and the Eastern inner-city quarters of Berlin after German reunification, Neukölln has had far fewer squats. As of 2024, of the 21 squatted apartment houses and occupied undeveloped areas, only two houses remain, both of which have been occupied since 1981, a rear building on Karl-Marx-Straße and a building on Richardplatz, whose residents supported the Comenius Garden and cooperate in the historical forge on Richardplatz. Neukölln is furthermore home to several partially squatted houses, used e.g. for radical left stores, organizational offices or cultural venues, with notable examples from recent times being the Friedel54 on Friedelstraße (Reuterkiez), which was evicted under heavy protests in 2017, while the alternative pub Syndikat, which had been forcibly evicted in 2020 by a shell company of British William Pears Group from their home on Weisestraße (Schillerkiez), reopened in 2023 on Emser Straße (Rixdorf); cf. i.a. Ingo Salmen, Hasan Gökkaya & André Görke, "Friedel 54 in Berlin-Neukölln: Kiezladen nach Protesten an Gerichtsvollzieher übergeben", Tagesspiegel, 29 June 2017; Erik Peter, "Denen, die drin saufen", taz, 19 January 2023. For the history and an overview of Berlin's and Neukölln's squatting scene, see e.g. Toni Grabowsky (ed.), "berlin besetzt", Assoziation A, Berlin 2024.
It was at first called Tempelhofer Freiheit (Tempelhof Liberty), and officially designated Tempelhofer Feld on 14 June 2014; many Berliners simply call it das Feld ("the field").
Karl Grünberg, "Das Geisterhaus vom Hermannplatz", Tip, January 2014; "Das Geisterhaus vom Hermannplatz", Berliner Kurier, 14 March 2016. The so-called Geisterhaus ("haunted house") at Hasenheide 119, which had been abandoned since 2012, was originally owned by Rixdorf's Bohemian Barta family (see above), but was eventually sold and completely renovated in 2020.
Due to the recent cultural changes induced by migration, the Sonnenallee is also called شارع العرب (Schara al Arab, Arabische Straße, Arabic Street), similar to the Bohemian migrants calling Böhmisch-Rixdorf Český Rixdorf (Czech Rixdorf) three centuries earlier.
For some modern authors, mirroring the criticism from almost two decades prior, Neukölln today still serves as a prime example of a society burdened by immigration and dwindling fiscal resources; cf. Falko Liecke, Brennpunkt Deutschland: Armut, Gewalt, Verwahrlosung – Neukölln ist erst der Anfang, Berlin/Cologne 2022.
This specific coat of arms belonged to Friedrichswerder, Cölln's oldest district outside of the colony's historical boundary; Brandenburg and many other historical localities of Berlin also used Cölln's variant of the single-headed Holy Roman eagle in their coat of arms.
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.
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.
Carolina Schwarz, "Wie bunt ist Neukölln wirklich?", die tageszeitung, 12 February 2024; see alsoLGBT 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.
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.
Proposed toponym; Heike Schroll, Das Landesarchiv Berlin und seine Bestände: Übersicht der Bestände aus der Zeit bis 1945 (Tektonik-Gruppe A), Berliner Wissenschaftsverlag, Berlin, 2003, p. 134.
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.
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.
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 meters (98.65 ft) long and 5.24 meters (17.19 ft) wide, with a gauge of 1.23 meters (4.04 ft) and a machine capacity of 180 PS (132 kW). It is authorized for 250 passengers and crew.
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.
Different from the 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.
Of the NME's four industrial train stations and terminals, only two are still in operation, Berlin Teltowkanal in the Britz quarter, and Berlin Rudow-Nord just before the through track junction. The remaining tracks, which historically led south through Rudow proper into Brandenburg, were dismantled along with the terminals and stations.
The industrial track east of the Neukölln Ship Canal to Dieselstraße, which had also serviced the Estrel Hotel north of Sonnenallee, was closed down due to extensive development in the Neukölln Docklands; the remaining tracks now end at the site of the Estrel Tower, and are still reserved as a potential supply route.
For connections from the eastern dock of the Neukölln Harbor 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 Neukölln Harbor; however, due to the now shortened length of the northern Neukölln Harbor track, trains first need to be split into smaller groups at the Treptow freight yards.
According to modern 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 official documents from the time of the street's rechristening in 1875 attest that its 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 (Fabian Friedmann, "Der Patriarch", Neukoellner, 19 September 2012). The same provenance could therefore apply to the name Hermannplatz (since 1885), and such was certainly the people's belief, but official sources are missing in this specific regard; however, modern sources occasionally list Hermann Boddin as the plaza's eponym; cf. "Hermannplatz", in: Roman Kaupert (ed.), Kauperts Straßenführer durch Berlin, Zepter und Krone: Edition Luisenstadt, Berlin 2019.
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 presidentRobert Earl Hue de Grais on 4 May 1899, and became Oberbürgermeister (Lord Mayor) in 1904, after Rixdorf's population had crossed the 100,000 threshold.
His nickname among the people was Kaiser von Rixdorf ("emperor of Rixdorf") as a pun on his surname; Kaiser was awarded the title Oberbürgermeister (Lord Mayor) by Wilhelm II in 1908; he was in office, when the city was renamed Neukölln (1912) and resigned during the November Revolution.
Scholz became mayor following a brief stint as president of the council of city representatives in 1919, when long-serving president Hermann Sander (1899–1919) stepped down after a reform of Neukölln's electoral law. Scholz remained in office until 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 alsoLaw for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service. In 2014, the plaza Platz der Stadt Hof at Rixdorf's Karl-Marx-Straße was renamed Alfred-Scholz-Platz in his honor.
Signified by the 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 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.
"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).
"[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).
"Je nachdem, wie man draufschaut, kann man sagen: Hier schaffen es Menschen, auf engen 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).
Johann Georg Theodor Graesse, Friedrich Benedict, Helmut Piechl (ed.), Sophie-Charlotte Piechl (ed.), Orbis Latinus – Lexikon lateinischer geographischer Namen des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit1, Braunschweig 1972, p. 550 s.v. "Colonia Brandenburgica".
Heinz-Dieter Heimann, Klaus Neitmann, Winfried Schich (eds.), Brandenburgisches Klosterbuch. Handbuch der Klöster, Stifte und Kommenden bis zur Mitte des 16. Jahrhunderts, 2.1276 sq., Berlin 2007.
Megargee, Geoffrey P. (2009). The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume I. Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. p.1279. ISBN978-0-253-35328-3.
Shahd Wari: Palestinian Berlin: Perception and Use of Public Space. In: Habitat–International. Schriften zur Internationalen Stadtentwicklung, Band 22. Lit-Verlag 2017: p. 72-74.
Werner Schiffauer (transcript) in: "Es geht nicht um einen Dialog. Integrationsgipfel, Islamkonferenz und Anti-Islamismus. Werner Schiffauer und Manuela Bojadzijev im Gespräch", in: Sabine Hess, Jana Binder & Johannes Moser (eds.), No integration?! Kulturwissenschaftliche Beiträge zur Integrationsdebatte in Europa, Bielefeld 2009, pp. 171–86 (182).
In 1863 a Turkish cemetery was laid out north of Rixdorf, the successor of a smaller burial ground in Kreuzberg established in 1798 for the Turkish members of the Prussian Army; it contains the mortal remains of the Ottoman ambassador Giritli Ali Aziz Efendi, the exiled Grand Vizier Mehmed Talat and Bahattin Şakir.
Germanic peoples, 50 CE
Slavic settlements, ca. 1150
Rixdorf with its new Bohemian settlement, ca. 1740
Hasenheide and the Berlinische Wiesen, 1842
Deutsch- and Böhmisch-Rixdorf, 1857[note 38]
Rixdorf, 1908
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County court
City hall
Public bath house
Buddy Bear at Neukölln's City hall
Volkspark Hasenheide in winter (2013)
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