Schöneberg

Schöneberg
Town Hall
Coat of arms of Schöneberg
Location of Schöneberg in Tempelhof-Schöneberg and Berlin
Schöneberg is located in Germany
Schöneberg
Schöneberg
Schöneberg is located in Berlin
Schöneberg
Schöneberg
Coordinates: 52°29′10″N 13°21′20″E / 52.48611°N 13.35556°E / 52.48611; 13.35556
CountryGermany
StateBerlin
CityBerlin
BoroughTempelhof-Schöneberg
Founded1264
Area
 • Total10.6 km2 (4.1 sq mi)
Elevation
50 m (160 ft)
Population
 (2023-12-31)[1]
 • Total124,788
 • Density12,000/km2 (30,000/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes
10777, 10779, 10781, 10783, 10787, 10789, 10823, 10825, 10827, 10829, 12157, 12159, 12161, 12169
Vehicle registrationB

Schöneberg (German: [ˈʃøːnəˌbɛʁk] ) is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg.

History

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Gründerzeit building on the Rote Insel

The village was first documented in a 1264 deed issued by Margrave Otto III of Brandenburg. In 1751, Bohemian weavers founded Neu-Schöneberg also known as Böhmisch-Schöneberg along northern Hauptstraße. During the Seven Years' War on 7 October 1760 Schöneberg and its village church were completely destroyed by a fire due to the joint attack on Berlin by Habsburg and Russian troops.

Both Alt-Schöneberg and Neu-Schöneberg were in an area developed in the course of industrialization and incorporated in a street network laid out in the Hobrecht-Plan in an area that came to be known architecturally as the Wilhelmine Ring. The two villages were not combined as one entity until 1874 and received town privileges in 1898. In the following year it was disentangled from the Kreis of Teltow, and became a Prussian Stadtkreis (independent city). Many of the former peasants gained wealth by selling their acres to the settlement companies of growing Berlin and built luxurious mansions on Hauptstraße. The large town hall, Rathaus Schöneberg, was completed in 1914. In 1920, Schöneberg became a part of Greater Berlin. Subsequent to World War II the Rathaus served as the city hall of West Berlin until 1991 when the administration of the reunited City of Berlin moved back to the Rotes Rathaus in Mitte.

Gay life

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The area around Nollendorfplatz has been the heart of gay life in Berlin, since the 1920s and early–1930s during the Weimar Republic.[2][3]

The Eldorado nightclub on Motzstraße was closed down by the Nazis on coming to power in December 1932.[2][4] Holocaust survivor Elsa Conrad co-ran the lesbian bar Mali und Igel. Inside the bar, was a club called Monbijou des Westens.[5] The club was exclusive and catered for Berlin's lesbian, intellectual elite; one famous guest was the actress Marlene Dietrich.[5] Each year the club hosted balls with up to 600 women in attendance.[5]

The painter and printmaker Otto Dix used patrons of this establishment as subjects for some of his works.[6] Christopher Isherwood lived just around the corner on Nollendorfstraße. This apartment was the basis for his book Goodbye to Berlin (1939) and later the musical Cabaret (1966) and the film Cabaret (1972) and is commemorated by a historic plaque on the building.

Neighborhoods

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The locality of Schöneberg includes the neighborhoods (Stadtquartiere) of Bayerisches Viertel (English: “Bavarian quarter [de]”; an affluent residential area with streets named after Bavarian towns) and the Rote Insel (English: “red island”) as well as Lindenhof and the large natural park area Südgelände (English: “south grounds”) on the outside of the Ringbahn railway circle line.

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Notable people

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Born in Schöneberg

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Lived in Schöneberg

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References

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  1. ^ "Einwohnerinnen und Einwohner im Land Berlin am 31. Dezember 2023". Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg. February 2024.
  2. ^ a b Warnecke, Tilmann (28 April 2015). "Die erste Weltmetropole für Lesben und Schwule". Der Tagesspiegel Online (in German). Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  3. ^ "Schöneberger Vergnügen (1880 bis 1930)". Nachbarschaftsheim Schöneberg e V. Berlin (in German). Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  4. ^ Kuhrt, Aro (1 July 2015). "Das Eldorado". Berlin Street (in German). Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  5. ^ a b c Kraß, Andreas; Sluhovsky, Moshe; Yonay, Yuval (31 December 2021). Queer Jewish Lives Between Central Europe and Mandatory Palestine: Biographies and Geographies. transcript Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8394-5332-2.
  6. ^ Tamagne, Florence (2006). A History of Homosexuality in Europe, Vol. I & II: Berlin, London, Paris; 1919-1939. Algora Publishing. pp. cover, vi. ISBN 978-0-87586-356-6.
  7. ^ Andreas Daum, Kennedy in Berlin. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-521-85824-3, pp. 125‒56, 223‒26.
  8. ^ Ilse Kokula: "Ganz normal anders und engagiert". In: Baerbel Becker (Hrsg.): Bad Women. Luder, Schlampen und Xanthippen. Elefanten Press, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-88520-315-4, pp. 130–131 (131). Cited in : Sigrid Wiegand: "Kitty Kuse – Mit dem Strom und doch gegen den Strich", Stadtteilzeitung Schöneberg, 1 March 2016.
  9. ^ Jazzar, Bernard N.; Nelson, Harold B. (2006). Painting with Fire: Masters of Enameling in America, 1930-1980. Long Beach Museum of Art. p. 273. ISBN 978-0-9712772-8-1.
  10. ^ Pettis, Ruth M. (16 August 2005). "Roellig, Ruth Margarete (1878-1969)". GLBTQ: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture. Archived from the original on 7 April 2015. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
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