Kreuzberged: Berlin Companion: Berlin Calendar: On This Day in Berlin

STEEL JACKET BEAR BLEEDING

Berlin Companion — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 12:37:12 GMT

On this day in 1945, the Red Army units arriving from the south reached Hallesches Tor and what used to Belle-Alliance-Platz in Berlin-Kreuzberg. Steadily nearing Berlin’s “Heart of Darkness” - the government district around Wilhelmstraße and the New Chancellery - they almost immediately began moving north towards the legendary railway station, Anhalter Bahnhof. Berlin clocks were about to strike Zero Hour...

Aerial photo of Belle-Alliance-Platz (the round plaza replaced by today’s Mehringplatz), Belle-Alliance-Brücke (replaced by Hallesche Brücke) and Hallesches Tor area just north of the bridge where the historic city gate once was, with the elevated U-Bahn station between them. Photo by Walter Mittelholzer via ETH Library Zurich, Image Archive / LBS_MH02-15-0013

BAA BAA EAST BERLIN: FLOCKING TO THE WEST

Berlin Companion — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 09:12:06 GMT

On this day in 1961 one man and 600 sheep illicitly yet in broad daylight crossed the border between East Berlin / East Germany and the Western-Allies controlled West Berlin. At the same time, the shepard’s pregnant wife and his apprentice undertook a separate flight attempt, which - to save you the suspense - was successful, too…

GOOD BYE MEISTER: HEINRICH VON STEPHAN IS DEAD

Berlin Companion — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 15:53:52 GMT

On this day in 1897 Germany lost one of its most prominent reformers: Imperial Postmaster General, Heinrich von Stephan.

Portrait of Heinrich von Stephan by Georg Barlösius. Via Museumsstiftung Post und Telekommunikation.

Von Stephan’s name might not ring many bells today, but the man was a household brand in the second half of the nineteenth century. And not without a reason…

He was actively involved in the development of pneumatic post, almost singlehandedly pioneered the introduction of the postcard (he is often called its inventor but one should always remember that no invention has just one father/morher); he was the main power behind the establishing of Berlin’s first telephone network as well as the standardisation of postage prices, also worldwide.

GRENOUILLE A LA BERLINOISE or BERLIN HUNGER GAMES

Berlin Companion — Sun, 05 Apr 2026 15:14:43 GMT

On this day in 1945 the Berlin NSDAP Office for Public Nutrition launched new emergency guidelines - necessary in the view of the catastrophic supply situation of the Berlin population.

On top of everything else (meaning the city in ruins, the Red Army practically ante portas and the Nazi-in-Chief, Adolf Hitler, hiding in his bunker since January that year together with many of his closest helpers and supporters), Berlin was witnessing recurring bouts of both foot and mouth disease among its remaining cattle, hog cholera among its pigs and various unpleasant viral infections of its remaining horses.

The frightening prospect of famine could no longer be ignored…

ROUND AND UP AND ROUND AND DOWN: SCHÖNEBERG'S PATERNOSTER CIRCLE

Berlin Companion — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 16:30:51 GMT

On March 25, 1914 the city of Schöneberg (it would become incorporated into Berlin only six years later) celebrated the first meeting of its city council. A very special occasion, indeed: the meeting was held in the new city hall - the now famous (thanks to History and film-making) Rathaus Schöneberg…

FIRE AND FURY: THE BURNING OF 'DEGENERATE ART' IN BERLIN-KREUZBERG

Berlin Companion — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 14:50:29 GMT

On March 20, 1939 in Berlin some 5,000 artworks stamped off by the Nazis as Entartete Kunst - "degenerate art" - are said to have been set on fire and burnt1 in the courtyard of Berlin’s Main Fire Station in Lindenstraße 40/41 in Berlin-Kreuzberg.

The caution is necessary as - unlike with the book burning of May 1933 - hardly any physical evidence exists today proving the fate of the artworks. Could some of them have been appropriated by high-rank Nazi officials? Quite possibly. Could all of them have been thrown into flames? This, too, is a strong option so both are uncertain.

What is certain, however, is the will of the Third Reich to annihilate everything that did not fall into the party line. Including the artists themselves…

SEEING A FOREST THROUGH A TREE: TIERGARTEN RELOADED

Berlin Companion — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 18:31:02 GMT

Aerial photo of the park and its surroundings (Hansaviertel to the left) taken in autumn of 1945 by Hein Gorny and Adolph C. Byers.

On March 17, 1949 the first Governing Mayor of West Berlin, Ernst Reuter (the one of the eponymous "Ihr Völker der Welt, schaut auf diese Stadt!" speech) planted the very first gifted tree sapling in the nearly completely de-forested Berlin’s Tiergarten.

SIEGFRIED MAYER GETS ON BOARD: THE 1908 KAISERFAHRT

Berlin Companion — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 05:45:37 GMT

On this day, March 16, 1908, German monarch, Kaiser Wilhelm II (sometimes also jokingly referred to “Siegfried Mayer” or SM, for Seine Majestät), boarded a train of Berlin’s partly-elevated-partly-underground city railway. Event though the railway opened in 1902, it took Wilhelm Zwo six years to warm up to the idea of actually going on board…

MAYORS (ON) LEAVE - TERROR BEGINS

Berlin Companion — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 11:16:37 GMT

The Vossiche Zeitung - or Tante Voss (Auntie Voss) as it was lovingly referred to - was one of Berlin’s oldest and leading newspapers. Directed first and foremost at safely middle-class liberals, it was nevertheless read by all - the paper’s reliability and thoroughness exemplified high professional standards and made it trustworthy as a source.

So when on 13 March, 1933 a small and seemingly rather inconsequential little note appeared in its afternoon edition, informing the readers that several of Berlin’s borough mayors and city councillors had just “gone on a 14-day-long leave from work”, the news could have sunk in without leaving much ripple. Some of them would not be returning to their posts, the note said. The text named:

Mayor of Lichtenberg, (Alfred) Siggel
Mayor of Weißensee, (Emil) Pfannkuch
Deputy Mayor of Weißensee, Councillor Reimann
Mayor of Kreuzberg, (Carl) Herz
Mayor of Wedding, (Carl) Leid
Mayor of Prenzlauer Berg, (Otto) Ostrowski.

But there was more to that note than it appeared to the eye. This was no coincidence. All these men had one thing in common: they no longer fitted into the new political landscape. Or, to put it crudely: the Nazis hated them…

ROADS TO KING'S HEART: FRIEDRICH-WILHELM-STADT

Berlin Companion — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 21:41:02 GMT

Friedrich-Wilhelm-Stadt with the streets named after four royals and one wealthy Berliner - map of the city in 1875. Image in public domain via Wikipedia.

On this day in 1827 several streets in a new Berlin district - Friedrich-Wilhelm-Stadt - were given their proper names: Karlstraße, Albrechtstraße, Luisenstraße, Marienstraße and Schumannstraße. But for the first one they still bear those names. In 1947, two years after the war ended, Karlstraße became Reinhardtstraße to honour Max Reinhardt, widely known and respected theatre director who owned and/or ran several great Berlin theatres in the area.

What Karl, Albrecht, Luise and Marie have in common is their genes: the first three were royal princes and princess - three of out ten (!) younger children of Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III and his remarkably popular (for a Prussian monarch at least) wife Luise.

As for Marie, or Maria Luise Alexandrina Princess of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach, the well-read and even better educated young woman from one of the most liberal and cultivated German courts (that of Weimar - which Goethe approved), she joined the band by marrying Karl of Prussia. Unusually for the time and the sphere, the two actually married for love - but you might want to have a quick look at the story of their pre-marital tribulations. It leaves the likes of Barbara Cartland wondering whether their own plots do have enough oomph.

But back to Friedrich-Wilhelm-Stadt and the streets named on 16 April, 1827: now we know of the royal sprogs but who, bitte schön, was Herr Schumann immortalised in the fifth road’s name?…