Neukölln (locality)
Quarter of the Neukölln borough in Berlin, Germany From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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, including the historic village of Rixdorf and numerous Gründerzeit estates. 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 until present-day Neukölln have always been a popular destination for colonists and immigrants. In modern times, it was originally characterized by mostly working-class inhabitants, but western immigration since the turn of the millennium has led to gentrification and a rejuvenation of the quarter's culture and night life.
Neukölln | |
|---|---|
 Hasenheide on the western outskirts of Neukölln with St. John's Basilica | |
 Flag  Coat of arms | |
Location of Neukölln in Neukölln borough and Berlin  | |
  Neukölln  Neukölln | |
| Coordinates: 52°28′39.3″N 13°26′31.5″E | |
| Country | Germany |
| State | Berlin |
| City | Berlin |
| Borough | Neukölln |
| Founded | 26 June 1360 (official), ca. 1200 (inofficial) |
| Subdivisions | 9 neighborhoods or 21 regions |
| Government | |
| • Borough Mayor | Martin Hikel (SPD) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 11.7 km2 (4.5 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 52 m (171 ft) |
| Population (2023-12-31)[1] | |
| • Total | 163,735 |
| • Density | 14,000/km2 (36,000/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| Postal codes | 12043, 12045, 12047, 12049, 12051, 12053, 12055, 12057, 12059 |
| Vehicle registration | B |
| Website | https://www.berlin.de/ba-neukoelln/ |
Neukölln is situated in the North European Plain, which is typically characterized by low-lying marshy woodlands with a mainly flat topography.[2] The quarter lies on the geological border between the shallow Weichselian Warsaw-Berlin Urstromtal glacial valley and the northernmost edge of the Teltow young drift ground moraine plateau, specifically the Rollberge,[3] a small range of glacial hills rising to the south of Hermannplatz, Rixdorf, and the streets Karl-Marx-Straße and Hasenheide. Neukölln's natural elevation is 52 m (172 ft) above NHN, with the highest elevation at 67.9 m (223 ft) achieved by the Rixdorfer Höhe, a trümmerberg in the Volkspark Hasenheide. Neukölln's geographical center, based on a minimum bounding box, is located east of Richardstraße 101 near Kirchgasse at a linear distance of approximately 2.3 km (1.43 mi) to the river Spree.
Location
The quarter of Neukölln is situated 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, Nord-Neukölln, Neukölln-Nord or Neukölln 44.[4] 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.[5]
The quarter Neukölln lies adjacent to the quarter Britz in the south, which is also part of greater Neukölln, to the SO 36 and Kreuzberg 61 neighborhoods of the quarter Kreuzberg in the north and north-west (in the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough), and to the quarter Tempelhof in the west (in Tempelhof-Schöneberg). In the east and north-east, Neukölln borders on the quarters Alt-Treptow, Plänterwald and Baumschulenweg, which are all part of the Treptow-Köpenick borough.
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 Stadtring motorway with the Carl-Weder-Park as well as the Neukölln Ship and Britz canals form the border with the Britz quarter, while the green corridor Heidekamppark with the trench Heidekampgraben, the Kiefholzstraße and several urban streets in the Bouché neighborhood separate Neukölln from the eastern quarters of Treptow-Köpenick.
Subdivisions
Neighborhoods
Neukölln is divided into nine official neighborhoods (Kieze or Stadtquartiere, officially called Ortslagen),[6] among them the historical sites of Neukölln's foundation south-east of the quarters's geographical center, Richardplatz-Süd[7] to the south and south-east of the central plaza Richardplatz, and Böhmisch-Rixdorf[8] 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):
Other sites
Other urban sites not officially named or recognized as neighborhoods, but often distinguished as LORs (see below) or the focus of current or former neighborhood management, are the Donaukiez along Donaustraße between Sonnenallee and Karl-Marx-Straße,[16] Ganghoferstraße around the border between Donaukiez and Böhmisch-Rixdorf,[17] the Weserkiez around Weserstraße between Weigandufer and Sonnenallee,[18] the Warthekiez around Wartheplatz,[19] the Bouchékiez, a larger residential area north of the Neukölln Ship Canal,[20] and neighborhoods south of the Berlin Hermannstraße and Berlin Neukölln stations like Silbersteinstraße.[21] At the western and eastern outskirts there are recreational spaces, namely a large area of privately leased garden allotments in the east at the site of the former Cöllnische Heide (Cölln Heath), and the neighborhood Hasenheide in the west,[22] while industrial areas have formed mostly to the south and east of the Berlin Ringbahn. At the south-eastern end of Neukölln in the area of the former Cölln Heath are two additional neighborhoods from the 1920s, situated between the official Weiße Siedlung and High-Deck-Siedlung around Köllnische Heide station, namely Schulenburgpark to the south,[23] and the Dammwegsiedlung to the north.[24]
Urban planning
In urban planning, the divisions of Berlin's boroughs and quarters are more precise. Here Neukölln, non-administrative district 10 in borough 08, as of 2024, is divided into five regions, each of them further compartmentalized into a total of 21 so-called Lebensweltlich orientierte Räume (LOR) ("lifeworld-oriented regions"):[25]
- Schillerpromenade (01) in the west, comprising Hasenheide (01), 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 Flughafenstraße (06), Rollberg (07) and Körnerpark (08), as well as Glasower Straße (09);
- Reuterstraße (03) in the north, comprising Reuterkiez as Maybachufer (10), Reuterplatz (11) and Weichselplatz (12) including the western parts of the Weserkiez, as well as Bouchéstraße (13), plus a minor part of Flughafenstraße, 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 Weiße Siedlung (20), and Schulenburgpark (21) including the High-Deck-Siedlung.
The industrial parks Ederstraße and Köllnische Heide are no longer part of the city's LOR framework as independent regions.
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.[26]
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.[27] 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,[28] 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.[29]
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,[30] 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. Several inner-city squares and building complexes have been designed with green stretches, for example 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).
Water bodies
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
Like all of inner-city Berlin, Neukölln, despite its high level of urbanization, has a diverse and thriving population of urban wildlife.[31] 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.[32]
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.[33] An average of 50–100 kills of wild boar are usually registered every year in the borough of Neukölln. However, boars only seldomly migrate into inner-city quarters, which need to be directly interconnected with the large forests in Berlin's periphery, for example the western parts of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf.[34] To date, no cases have been recorded for the quarter Neukölln.[35]
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.[36] Predatory birds, though common to Berlin,[37] 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. 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.[38]
Rixdorf
At the time of its official foundation in 1360 as a Knights Hospitaller angerdorf, Rixdorf was called Richarsdorp (Richardsdorf, "Richard's Village"), while a proposed earlier toponym for the preceding Knights Templar military hamlet is *Richardshof[39] ("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.[40] Ricksdorf (1525) became the 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 and Riechsdorf (1737). The earliest known source for Rixdorf, which eventually became the official modern High German spelling, is from the year 1709.
The mainstream theory of the toponym's etymological origin assumes an eponymous individual called Richard, allegedly a Knight Templar, bailiff or commander of the Tempelhof commandery, or even the original administrator of *Richardshof in the early 13th century. However, the identity of Rixdorf's Richard is unknown, so over the centuries, exaggerating folk etymologies emerged and alternatively connected the toponym to many famous historical Richards.[41] 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 vernacular contractions into account.[42]
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 English thorp, "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").
Neukölln
In the 12th and early 13th centuries, during the time of Albert the Bear's and his successors' foundational advances in the region of modern-day Berlin, Latin had been the administrative lingua franca of the Mediaeval Holy Roman Empire. The immigrating colonists mostly spoke dialects of the German common language,[43] while the Hevelli and Sprevane, the Slavic tribes who had replaced the original Germanic natives of the region, spoke West Slavic languages, for example Old-Polabian. For this reason, many of Berlin's toponyms have a Slavic origin, including Berlin itself, whose name, inspite of the early latinization as Berolinum,[44] possibly stems from Proto-Slavic *berl-/*brl-, an obscure root which is usually interpreted as "bog", "moor" or "swamp".[45]
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, the Cöllnische Wiesen (Cölln Meadows) to the north and northeast,[46] 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 in the meadows north of the old Rixdorf in the decades before the renaming. In turn, the estates' name 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").[47] 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.[48]
The etymology of Cölln, and therefore of Neukölln ("New Cölln"), is from imperial Latin colonia ("colony", "settlement", "colonial town"),[49] and the colonial town in Brandenburg was at first called Colonia (1237) and Colonia juxta Berlin (1247, "colony near Berlin"). In the same manner as the gradual germanization of the toponym of modern-day Köln (Cologne), the former Roman Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (50 CE) and Colonia Agrippina (322), from post-Roman Colonia (since 450) to its Mediaeval names Colne, Coellen, and Cölln, Brandenburg's Holy Roman Colonia was eventually germanized as Colne prope Berlin (1344, "Colne near Berlin") and Collen (1440), before settling on Cölln in later centuries.[50] 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").[51] Even though neither Neukölln nor the historical Neu-Cölln were ever officially called Nova Colonia, 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.
Prehistory
Archeological finds on the Rixdorf lot point to a Germanic prehistory of Neukölln,[52] 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.[53] Finds from the era of the Roman Empire were ubiquitous in Berlin, which includes West-Germanic wharves and ceramics on the Richardplatz, a Gordianic bronze coin on the Rollberge,[54] 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.[55]
The Germanic tribes that originally settled in the Berlin region belonged to the Semnones. They eventually migrated southwestward during the era of the Barbarian Invasions[56] and were superseded by the West Slavic Sprevane 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. From the early era of post-Germanic German colonization, only scanty potsherds were excavated, and the remnants of mediaeval chain mail were typical of the 13th or 14th century, the times when the Knights Templar and Hospitaller already ruled over nascent Neukölln.
Early history
After four centuries of German colonization, the region around modern-day Berlin came under lasting German rule in the 12th century as part of the Ascanian Margraviate of Brandenburg, founded by Albert the Bear in 1157. The region was situated near the borders to the Principality of Copnic, ruled by Sprevan prince Jaxa of Köpenick, and the Duchy of Pomerania-Demmin, ruled by Casimir I, which had all fought for dominance during the colonization of the Teltow and the formation of Brandenburg.[57]
Around the year 1200, a military hamlet, possibly called Richarshove (*Richardshof,[58] "Richard's Court"), together with an unnamed folwark near Slavic Trebow, was established[59] at the foot of the Teltow on the edge of the grasslands later known as Cöllnische Wiesen (Cölln Meadows)[60] on the road to Copenic as an eastern stronghold of the Commandery Tempelhof,[61] administered by the Knights Templar from neighboring Tempelhove, Merghenvelde and Mergendorp,[62] which had developed during the early days of the Holy Roman Empire along the old Via Imperii.[63] The Templar functioned as a neutral institution, and after the conflicts had ended in 1231,[64] the stronghold was abandoned by the military and converted into a Templar access yard, probably after the end of the Teltow and Magdeburg Wars between the Houses of Ascania and Wettin (1239–45).
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 Old 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.[65] Instead, the estate was fiducially held by Waldemar the Great for six years, and legally transferred to the Knights Hospitaller only in 1318.[66]
Rixdorf
When first mentioned in its foundational charter of 26 June 1360, the only known foundational charter for a Brandenburg village, the angerdorf south-east of Alt-Berlin around the present-day Richardplatz,[67] approximately 3 km (1.86 mi) 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.[68] The historical document containing the Rixdorf charter, itself a mid-15th century copy of the original charter, has been lost since World War II, but its contents have been preserved,[69] and the year 1360 is regarded as the official year of Neukölln's foundation.[70] The village with its twelve farmers was mentioned again in 1375 as Richardstorpp in the Landbuch der Mark Brandenburg.[71] Around the beginning of the 15th century, Richardsdorf erected its first official chapel.[72]
After ongoing border disputes and an ill-fated armed conflict,[73] 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,[74] which 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.[75]
Disputes over Ricksdorf continued between Cölln and Berlin,[76] and with a compromise settlement Ricksdorf became the sole fief and a kämmereidorf (treasury village) of Cölln on 24 August 1543.[77] 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 Richardsdorf was transferred to the parishes of Cölln and Berlin. On 14 April 1578, a fire destroyed most of the village's infrastructure.
In 1624 the population had grown to 150,[78] and the village had built a forge for traveling blacksmiths, which remains in operation to this day as Berlin's oldest forge, the Schmiede am Richardplatz. During the Thirty Years' War (1618–48)[79] Ricksdorf was mostly depopulated, with buildings and parts of the chapel destroyed by fire.[80] 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 1678, the Great Elector Frederick William 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.[81] The first mention of a school in Ricksdorf is from the year 1688, when the local authorities deposed the schoolmaster. 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.
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 constructed its first windmill in 1729,[82] and five years later the population had grown to 224.
Deutsch-Rixdorf and Böhmisch-Rixdorf
In 1737, King Frederick William I of Prussia invited 18 families of Hussite Moravian Protestants, who had been driven out of Bohemia, to settle near the village,[83] where they built new houses, industrial infrastructure[84] and eventually their own chapels[85] off the village center along the road to Berlin, today called Richardstraße. 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,[86] 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. 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[87] had counted 300 residents already in 1747. Böhmisch-Rixdorf was granted its own administration in 1797, and with consecutive waves of immigration, the village evolved into a distinguished colony of Bohemian settlers.
In 1797, Deutsch-Rixdorf acquired the forge on Richardplatz and sold it to a blacksmith, who for the first time was now allowed to settle in the village, which until then had been prevented by the Berlin blacksmiths' guild in order to stifle competition. The French Army under Napoleon occupied Rixdorf in 1806. The overall population in 1809 was 695.[88] In 1811, Germany's first public outdoor gymnasium was established in the Hasenheide forest by Turnvater Jahn. 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. 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.[89] In 1854, the first bus line opened between Berlin and the two Rixdorf villages, followed in 1876 by a line from Bergstraße, today's Karl-Marx-Straße, to Hallesches Tor. 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.[90] On 13 December 1872, Berlin's administration merged both Rixdorf villages and the commune Britz into the 24th Amtsbezirk (bailiwick).
Unification and chartering
Both villages were united as Rixdorf on 1 January 1874 by royal decree of 11 July 1873,[91] and the new town became a municipality of the Kreis Teltow. In 1874 Rixdorf had 8,000 inhabitants, growing to 15,000 the next year. On 4 February 1874 Hermann Boddin became the first principal municipal magistrate (Amts- und Gemeindevorsteher) of the unified Rixdorf[92] and oversaw its evolution into the largest village of the Prussian monarchy with 90,000 residents in 1895.
Urbanization quickly took off with new residential estates, churches, infrastructure and industrial settlements. The original Amtshaus (administrative building) was 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 first telegraph office in 1882. In 1876, Rixdorf had already had 24 paved roads, 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 (horse train) from Rollberg to Spittelmarkt in Berlin, and a 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. Infrastructure continued to grow with the introduction of a telephone network in 1885, a new water network connection to the Charlottenburg waterworks in 1887, a new sewage system and drainage facility between 1891 and 1895, the building of a new community hall and poorhouse in 1893, the 1895 reconstruction of Rixdorf station, and the 1899 opening of Hermannstraße station on the Ringbahn.
On 1 April 1899, Rixdorf was chartered as an independent city,[93] and Boddin transitioned into his new role as the city's first mayor. The new city received its coat of arms in 1903, and its population quickly grew to 237,289 in 1910.[94] 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,[95] the 1912 Stadtbad Neukölln, a public bath house, and many more after 1912 like the Körnerpark's orangerie.[96] 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 (Snakes' Trench). The year 1909 saw the inauguration of Rixdorf's first municipal hospital (Rixdorfer Krankenhaus), situated outside of the city near modern-day Buckow.[97]
Early neighborhood formation
It was during the 1850s when construction began in what is today the Reuterkiez. After the completion of the Landwehr Canal in 1850 at the location of the older Müllen-Graben (Mühlengraben, Mill Trench),[98] industry and workshops began to settle along its shores in the marshes and meadows south of the Berlin Customs Wall,[99] on and near today's Maybachufer. The Cottbuserdamm (Kottbusser Damm)[100] and several parallel streets like the Friedelstraße,[101] an important street in Berlin's first communal electric tram network,[102] were built shortly afterwards.[103] 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,[104] 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.
Starting in 1875 after the approval of a new development plan, the areas immediately to the south, namely present-day Rollberg and the remainder of Flughafenstraße, were developed first, mainly as working-class outskirts with backyard manufacturing and larger industries,[105] tightly packed tenements, small apartments and tiny residential backyards.[106] 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. 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,[107] 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.[108] 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
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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 the name Neukölln,[109] 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,[110] which themselves referenced 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.
From 1912 to 1913, the Rixdorf Branch Canal became the Neukölln Ship Canal and was further extended southward to the Neukölln Harbor and the Teltow Canal. Construction of the second stage at the Neukölln Watergate concluded in 1914. 6,600 of Neukölln's residents fell serving at the frontlines in World War I (1914–18). 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 it never came to that, because the conflict was resolved in 1919 by the Prussian government. The revolutionary council was barred from attending the city's assembly meetings, the Prussian Army's 17th infantry division was sent in and laid siege to Neukölln, which eventually led to the dissolution of the Workers' and Soldiers' Council.
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. But the newly forming societies and infrastructures 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.[111] The old Rixdorf continued to exist, and is today represented by two neighborhoods in the center of Neukölln, Böhmisch-Rixdorf and Richardplatz-Süd. Many of the traditional landmarks are still intact, and several areas and streets like the Bohemian Kirchgasse have retained their idyllic and rural character.
Berlin-Neukölln
In the Weimar Republic, Neukölln's population eventually grew to 278,208 in 1930.[112] In order 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 1925 and 1930.[113]
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 beer hall Neue Welt on Hasenheide near Hermannplatz was the 1930 location of one of Adolf Hitler's early speeches in Berlin.[114] 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.
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After Hitler's Machtübernahme in 1933, the SA extended their campaigns and also targeted rallies and events by moderate parties like the SPD.[115] Neukölln's borough mayor Alfred Scholz (SPD) and all officials of Neukölln's district office had to resign under pressure from the new ruling Nazi Party and the enactment of the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service.[116] Many of Germany's resistance fighters and activists against Nazi rule operated from "red Neukölln", for example Heinz Kapelle and Ursula Goetze.[117] In time for the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Turnvater Jahn was honored with a commemorative grove and statue in the park Hasenheide, which stands to this day.
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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.[118] 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.[119] In 1942 a forced labor camp for up to 865 mainly Jewish and Romani women from the conquered Eastern territories was established on the factory grounds. In 1944 it was absorbed as one of several Berlin outposts (Außenlager[120]) of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, primarily for female Jewish-Polish forced laborers, who had been transferred from the Łódź Ghetto and Auschwitz respectively.[121] The camp's last remaining barracks stood until the year 1957.[122] 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.[123]
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.[124] In 1966, Neukölln's last remaining tram line was shut down. During the Cold War Neukölln retained its status as a traditional working-class area and one of Berlin's red-light districts. Many gastarbeiter, 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.[125] 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 Neukölln Opera was founded in 1972 and received its own venue in 1988, 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.
Since the 1970s and 80s, Neukölln, like the neighboring Kreuzberg, has embraced alternative forms of living and an often anti-establishment and anti-fascist culture that is still active to this day. In the 1990s late repatriates from formerly Soviet states like Ukraine and Russia resettled in Germany, many of them in Berlin, and in Neukölln specifically. 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 cultural locations and shopping malls sprung up all over Neukölln.
Modern neighborhood formation
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.
Flächensanierung (district redevelopment)[126] in the Rollberg neighborhood began in the 1960s,[127] 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.[128] 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 programs in 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, in order 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.
Future development
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.[129] Similarly, the plans for a residential boundary development of the Tempelhofer Feld are a recurring topic of contention in Berlin politics.[130] Unconfrontational development mainly has to rely on compacting measures by covering the last remaining bombing gaps from World War II, on redeveloping former industrial neighborhoods like the Neukölln Docklands,[131] and on perimeter block development, where possible. A recent example can be found in the Bouché neighborhood, where the mainly industrial block Harzer Straße/Elsenstraße will be undergoing residential redevelopment.[132]
Berlin-Neukölln in the 21st century
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Following a decade as a typical inner-city hot spot with high rates of immigration, poverty, crime, educational discrimination[134] and inadequate asylum laws,[135] 21st century Neukölln has experienced an influx of students, creatives and other young professionals of mostly Western origin avoiding higher rents charged in other parts of Berlin. The trend increased after 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. The gentrification wave eventually stalled in the early 2020s,[136] but since then has shifted from residential to commercial real estate, which now threatens to push out smaller entrepreneurs in favor of a few lighthouse projects.[137]
As of 2023, the unemployment rate in Neukölln was at 14.1%. The poverty rate was at 29%, and the borough is currently the only German district with its own poverty commissioner.[138] In 2019, 46% of Neukölln's residents had been first or second-generation immigrants,[139] with roots in 155 countries.[140] The percentage rose to 48% in 2021 due to the ongoing European migrant crisis,[141] and the number of Ukrainians in the borough Neukölln increased by 11.9% in 2023 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[142] Due to the quarter's dense urban character, only far less than five percent of Berlin's refugees can be accommodated in Neukölln.[143] 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).[144] The bulk of the most recent migration originated in Muslim countries,[145] and over the years this development, coupled with a strong local left-wing bedrock, has led to a significant increase in antisemitism[146] and pro-Palestinian propaganda.[147] Two out of Berlin's seven so-called "crime-burdened locations" are in Neukölln, Hermannplatz with Donaukiez including Sonnenallee,[148] and Hermannstraße around Hermannstraße Station,[149] and especially in these neighborhoods, Neukölln is also characterized by social and religious conflicts,[150] manifesting in educational challenges,[151] violent felonies,[152] organized crime by Islamic clans with recurring gang and drug violence,[153] occasional rioting,[154] transphobia and homophobia.[155]
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 gentrification and socioeconomic change in the city,[156] steadily ranking as one of the world's most desirable places to visit and live.[157]
Rixdorf
Neukölln
Maltese cross
Cölln eagle[158]
Hussite flag with chalice
Mural crown of Berlin's boroughs
Berlin
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[159]), but also to the later Province of Brandenburg, which likewise used Cölln's historical eagle on its coat of arms.[160]
In the upper left is the silver on black common chalice of the Protestant Hussite 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. A 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.[161]
As of 2024, Neukölln with its 163,735 inhabitants is the second-most densely populated quarter of Berlin after Prenzlauer Berg. 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). The highest ever population of the quarter Neukölln was 278,208 in 1930.
Historical population numbers
| Year | Population[162] | Toponym | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1200 | 20 | *Richardshof[163] | Knights Templar military hamlet |
| 1245 | 30 | *Richardshof | Templar access yard |
| 1360 | 50 | Richardsdorf | Knights Hospitaller angerdorf; 14 farmers and families |
| 1375 | 40 | Richardsdorf | 12 farmers and families |
| 1624 | 150 | Ricksdorf | fief of Cölln |
| 1652 | 20 | Ricksdorf | Thirty Years' War and Second plague pandemic; 7 farmers and families |
| 1734 | 224 | Rixdorf | treasury village of Berlin |
| Year | Deutsch-Rixdorf | Böhmisch-Rixdorf | Total[164] | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1747 | 210 | 300 | 510 | approximate; first Bohemian settlement in 1737 |
| 1771 | 200 | 350 | 550 | approximate |
| 1805 | 376 | 319 | 695 | Böhmisch-Rixdorf (1797 administration) |
| 1840 | 2,146 | 520 | 2,666 | |
| 1858 | 3,077 | 1,014 | 4,091 | |
| 1867 | 5,007 | 1,506 | 6,513 | |
| 1871 | 5,996 | 2,129 | 8,125 |
| Year | Population[165] | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1874 | 8,000 | approximate; Rixdorf unification |
| 1875 | 15,000 | approximate |
| 1880 | 18,729 | |
| 1890 | 35,702 | |
| 1895 | 59,945 | |
| 1900 | 90,422 | independent city (1899) |
| 1905 | 153,572 | |
| 1910 | 237,289 | |
| 1912 | 253,000 | approximate; renamed Neukölln |
| 1919 | 262,128 | final census (8 October 1919) |
| 1919 | 262,414 | population at year's end |
| Year | Population[166] | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1925 | 271,658 | borough formation (1 October 1920) |
| 1930 | 278,208 | quarter's highest ever population count |
| 1935 | 248,658 | |
| 1938 | 242,704 | |
| 1946 | 213,486 | World War II (1939–45) |
| 1950 | 222,533 | |
| 1960 | 199,097 | |
| 1970 | 159,362 | |
| 1987 | 139,930 | |
| 1995 | 158,436 | German reunification (1990) |
| 2000 | 146,522 |
| Year | Population[167] | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 149,466 | |
| 2010 | 154,066 | start of modern immigration |
| 2015 | 168,035 | |
| 2020 | 164,636 | |
| 2021 | 163,852 | |
| 2022 | 164,809 | |
| 2023 | 163,735 |
Public transport
In Berlin, urban railway services are managed by the S-Bahn Berlin GmbH, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, while all other public transport systems are managed by the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG), which together with the Brandenburg providers form the Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg (VBB).
U-Bahn
Neukölln is served by two U-Bahn (subway) rail lines, the northwest-to-southeast U7 (Rathaus Spandau ↔ Rudow) and the north-to-south U8 (Wittenau ↔ Hermannstraße), with an interchange between the two at Hermannplatz.[168] Within Neukölln, the U7 has three additional eastbound stations along the Karl-Marx-Straße: Rathaus Neukölln, Karl-Marx-Straße and Neukölln, the latter being an interchange between U- and S-Bahn. The U8 has three additional southbound stations along the Hermannstraße: Boddinstraße, Leinestraße and Hermannstraße, the latter being the quarter's second interchange between U- and S-Bahn.
Three U-Bahn stations just outside of the quarter offer quicker access to certain neighborhoods of Neukölln: Südstern (U7) to the western parts of Hasenheide, Schönleinstraße (U8) to the Reuterkiez, and Grenzallee (U7) to the southern and south-eastern industrial parks including the Neukölln Harbor.
During workday nights, approximately between 1:00 and 4:00, Berlin's subways are not operational, but are replaced by buses. In Neukölln, the U7 and U8 are replaced by the bus lines N7 and N8 respectively. During nights before Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, the U-Bahn lines operate continuously.
S-Bahn
Neukölln is served by five S-Bahn (urban railway) lines, with U-Bahn interchanges at Berlin-Hermannstraße (U8) and Berlin-Neukölln (U7), each for all of the five lines. The S45 connects Neukölln and the airport (see below). Two additional important services are the Ringbahn circle lines S41 (clockwise) and S42 (counter-clockwise), connecting i.a. to Südkreuz, Westkreuz, Gesundbrunnen (Nordkreuz) and Ostkreuz. The other two lines are the S47 via Niederschöneweide to Spindlersfeld in the south-east, and the S46, which connects Neukölln to Westend in the far west and the town Königs Wusterhausen south-east of Berlin via Adlershof, Grünau and the town Zeuthen. Overall, Neukölln has four S-Bahn stations, the aforementioned Hermannstraße and Neukölln as well as Sonnenallee on the Ringbahn at the outskirts of Rixdorf, and Köllnische Heide on the southeastbound railway, providing S-Bahn access to the inhabitants of Weiße Siedlung, High-Deck-Siedlung and Schulenburgpark.
Bus
Due to sufficient access to U- and S-Bahn for most areas of Neukölln, the quarter is currently not served by any of Berlin's ExpressBus lines. Still, Neukölln has several regular bus lines, connecting for example Marzahn (194) and Marienfelde (277). There are also four MetroBus lines, the most important ones being the M29 connecting 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, 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.[169]
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.[170] 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.[171]
Future
There are concrete medium-term plans to extend the U7 south beyond Rudow in order 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.[172] As Greater Berlin has been steadily growing since German reunification to now almost 4.8 million inhabitants, with extensive residential construction happening in Berlin's immediate surrounding regions, public transport extensions to the city's periphery are propagated frequently. With regard to Neukölln, an internal 2023 BVG feasibility study on long-term U-Bahn network expansion included a southbound extension of the U8 beyond Hermannstraße, terminating in Buckow-Süd just outside of Berlin.[173]
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.[174]
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.[175]
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"[176] line M10 by the year 2030,[177] 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.[178] This would create a direct public transport connection from Neukölln (Reuterkiez) to Kreuzberg, Friedrichshain, Prenzlauer Berg, Mitte and Moabit via Berlin Central Station.[179]
Individual transport
Motorized individual transport
Since Neukölln is densely populated and highly urbanized, most of its streets come with a speed limit of 30 km/h 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 in order to steer away some of the excess traffic.[180]
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 A100 autobahn 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[181] 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
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
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. 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.
Freight transport
Almost all of Neukölln's industrial parks are situated in the southern and eastern parts of the quarter, and 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,[182] 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 in order 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.[183]
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.[184] Since railway freight transport in Berlin has lost its former importance, many direct connections to the main industrial lines do not exist anymore, and freight trains need to be switched and shift directions several times.[185]
- Rixdorf village church, consecrated at the beginning of the 15th century, adopted by the Moravian Protestants in 1737, officially called Bethlehem Church since 1912.
- Şehitlik Mosque, on the Turkish cemetery,[186] finished in 2005 by the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DİTİB).
- 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.[187]
- 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.
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| Name | Profession | Status | Born | Died | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Werberg, Hermann von | other | associated | 1341 (taq) | 1371 | Knights Hospitaller commander, governor of Brandenburg, co-founder of Richardsdorf |
| Sasar, Dietrich von | other | associated | 1360 (taq) | 1360 (tpq) | commander of Tempelhof's Knights Hospitaller, co-founder of Richardsdorf |
| Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg | other | associated | 1620-02-16 | 1688-04-29 | nobility, general; built a public garden in the forest Hasenheide |
| Liberda, Johann | other | associated | 1700-09-05 | 1742-08-09 | theologian, immigrant leader, Bohemian-Lutheran priest |
| Frederick William I of Prussia | other | associated | 1688-08-14 | 1740-05-31 | nobility, king of Prussia; patron of the Moravian refugees in Böhmisch-Rixdorf |
| Bewert, Johann Wolfgang | industrialist | native | 1700 (taq) | 1721 | brewer, distributor, proprietor of Rixdorf's schultheiß court |
| Hertzberg, Ewald Friedrich von | politician | associated | 1725-09-02 | 1795-05-22 | statesman, proprietor of Rixdorf's schultheiß court (since 1760) |
| Charles, Prince of Prussia | other | associated | 1801-06-29 | 1883-01-21 | nobility, general; built a public garden in the forest Hasenheide |
| Bauer, Bruno | scientist | resident | 1809-09-06 | 1882-04-13 | theologian, historian, philosopher, Bible critic |
| Müller, Eduard | politician | associated | 1818-11-15 | 1895-01-05 | priest, state representative; initiated the foundation of Rixdorf's St. Edward parish |
| Pannier, Rudolf | jurist | associated | 1821-08-31 | 1897-12-12 | president of the Landgericht Berlin (state court); initiated the establishment of Rixdorf's municipal court |
| Wrede, Wilhelm August Julius | industrialist | resident | 1822-01-23 | 1895-12-28 | liquor factory owner, banker; built Neukölln's Juliusburg estate |
| Kranold, Viktor Ferdinand von | other | associated | 1838-09-19 | 1922-09-22 | railroad executive, KED Berlin president; built Hermannstraße station |
| Jonas, Ernst Wilhelm Karl Ehrenfried | other | native | 1842-09-01 | 1914-07-24 | theologian, Protestant priest at Rixdorf's Church of Mary Magdalene, founder of Rixdorf's first Froebelian kindergarten |
| Ziegra, Hugo | industrialist | resident | 1852-03-25 | 1926-12-28 | director of the Kindl brewery (Rollberg), city councilor (until 1919), city elder (1924) |
| Weigand, Hermann | architect | resident | 1854-02-02 | 1926-10-16 | Rixdorf/Neukölln building officer (1904–21), Neukölln city elder (1924) |
| Moras, Walter | artist | native | 1856-01-20 | 1925-03-06 | painter |
| Arons, Leo | scientist | resident | 1860-02-15 | 1919-10-10 | physicist, inventor, politician |
| Geyger, Ernst Moritz | artist | native | 1861-11-08 | 1941-12-29 | sculptor, medalist, painter, etcher |
| Poppe, Oskar | industrialist | resident | 1866-07-09 | 1918-08-08 | chemist, chemical factory manager |
| Rungius, Carl | artist | native | 1869-08-18 | 1959-10-21 | painter |
| Silberstein, Raphael | politician | associated | 1873-03-19 | 1926-08-23 | Berlin city councilor (1899–1918); motivated the construction of the Stadtbad Neukölln |
| Kiehl, Reinhold | architect | resident | 1874-04-22 | 1913-03-10 | director of Rixdorf's Hochbauamt (public works service, 1905–12) |
| Martens, John | architect | resident | 1875-05-04 | 1936-06-04 | director of the Hochbauamt's design office (until 1908) |
| Franke, Otto | politician | native | 1877-09-15 | 1953-12-12 | unionist, politician, peace activist |
| Wittbrodt, Wilhelm | other | resident | 1879-11-08 | 1961-05-12 | reform pedagogue, politician |
| Taut, Bruno | architect | associated | 1880-05-04 | 1938-12-24 | Rixdorf building official (1908–09) |
| Taut, Max | architect | associated | 1884-05-15 | 1967-02-26 | Rixdorf building official (until 1912) |
| Hoffmann, Franz | architect | associated | 1884-06-13 | 1951-07-15 | Rixdorf building official (1908–09) |
| Nathan, Helene | other | resident | 1885-08-23 | 1940-10-23 | librarian, director of Neukölln's borough library |
| Karsen, Fritz | other | resident | 1885-11-11 | 1951-08-25 | reform pedagogue |
| Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig | architect | associated | 1886-03-27 | 1969-08-17 | Rixdorf building official (1904–05); born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies |
| Glaeser-Wilken, Lisbeth | artist | resident | 1887-04-01 | 1977-04-11 | actor, teacher; born Lisbeth Wirtson |
| Künstler, Franz | politician | resident | 1888-05-13 | 1942-09-10 | mechanic, unionist, politician, resistance fighter |
| Sahlberg, Clara | other | native | 1890-07-03 | 1977-04-13 | tailor, unionist, resistance fighter |
| Zobelitz, Gerda von | other | native | 1891-06-09 | 1963-03-29 | tailor; one of the first recognized German transgender persons |
| Seiler, Robert | artist | native | 1891-12-06 | 1971 | painter, illustrator, professor |
| Sorge, Reinhard | artist | native | 1892-01-29 | 1916-07-20 | dramatist, poet |
| Zaschka, Engelbert | scientist | resident | 1895-09-01 | 1955-06-26 | engineer, technical designer, inventor, helicopter pioneer |
| Meisel, Will | artist | native | 1897-09-17 | 1967-04-29 | composer, film composer, dancer, publisher |
| Ley, Gritta | artist | native | 1898-08-23 | 1986-12-17 | actor |
| Baberske, Robert | artist | native | 1900-05-01 | 1958-03-27 | cinematographer |
| Bischoff, Fritz | other | native | 1900-07-01 | 1945-05-03 | communist activist, resistance fighter |
| Kühn, Bruno | other | native | 1901-12-17 | 1944 (approx.) | communist activist, resistance fighter; brother of Lotte Ulbricht |
| Riefenstahl, Leni | artist | resident | 1902-08-22 | 2003-09-08 | film director, photographer, actor; born Helene Bertha Amalie Riefenstahl |
| Ulbricht, Lotte | other | native | 1903-04-19 | 2002-03-27 | socialist party official; wife of Walter; born Charlotte Kühn |
| Scholz, Arno | journalist | native | 1904-02-22 | 1971-07-30 | journalist, publicist, publisher |
| Seelenbinder, Werner | other | associated | 1904-08-02 | 1944-10-24 | wrestler, resistance fighter; trained and is buried in Neukölln |
| Schröder, Georg | other | native | 1904-10-10 | 1944-09-11 | blacksmith, welder, resistance fighter |
| Riefenstahl, Heinz | scientist | native | 1906-03-05 | 1944-07-20 | engineer; brother of Leni |
| Schmidt, Charles | politician | native | 1906-06-03 | 1971-12-02 | tobacco merchant, Berlin state representative |
| Hübner, Walter | other | native | 1906-08-24 | 1969 | precision engineer, major of the Neukölln SA |
| Winkler, Gerhard | artist | native | 1906-09-12 | 1977-09-25 | composer, film composer, songwriter |
| Borchert, Wilhelm | artist | native | 1907-03-13 | 1990-06-01 | actor, voice actor |
| Haegert, Wilhelm | jurist | native | 1907-03-14 | 1994-04-24 | lawyer, NS ministry official |
| Bluhm, Walter | artist | native | 1907-08-05 | 1976-12-02 | actor, voice actor |
| Loll, Ferdinand | other | native | 1910-03-08 | 1986-08-05 | shipping agent, Communist activist, resistance fighter, GDR police officer; convicted for the Richardsburg attack (1931) |
| Lehnert, Martin | scientist | native | 1910-05-20 | 1992-03-04 | anglicist, professor |
| Meysel, Inge | artist | native | 1910-05-30 | 2004-07-10 | actor, voice actor |
| Ludwig, Hermann | artist | native | 1911-07-27 | 1982-02-22 | film editor, film production manager |
| Gysi, Klaus | other | native | 1912-03-03 | 1999-03-06 | journalist, publisher, resistance fighter, politician; father of Gregor |
| Meudtner, Ilse | other | resident | 1912-11-01 | 1990-07-18 | dancer, diver |
| Hoffmann, Friedel | other | native | 1912-12-14 | 1997-12-26 | resistance fighter, East German political official |
| Walter, Grete | other | native | 1913-02-22 | 1935-10-21 | Communist youth worker, resistance activist |
| Voelker, Alexander | politician | native | 1913-08-01 | 2001-02-24 | industrial business manager, Berlin state representative, city elder of Berlin (1980) |
| Kapelle, Heinz | other | resident | 1913-09-17 | 1941-07-01 | pressman, resistance fighter, Communist politician |
| Bergmann, Erika | other | native | 1915-01-03 | 1996 | concentration camp guard, murderer |
| Rahl, Mady | artist | native | 1915-01-03 | 2009-08-29 | actor, voice actor, singer |
| Goetze, Ursula | other | resident | 1916-03-29 | 1943-08-05 | stenographer, resistance fighter |
| Szelinksi-Singer, Katharina | artist | resident | 1918-05-24 | 2010-12-20 | sculptor; born Katharina Singer |
| Walter, Irene | other | native | 1919-01-23 | 1942-08-18 | secretary, resistance fighter |
| Ihle, Hans Joachim | artist | native | 1919-12-21 | 1997-12-15 | sculptor |
| Wolff, Friedrich | jurist | native | 1922-07-30 | 2024-06-10 | lawyer, East German official |
| Kieling, Wolfgang | artist | native | 1924-03-16 | 1985-10-07 | actor, voice actor |
| Möller, Gunnar | artist | native | 1928-07-01 | 2017-05-16 | actor |
| Buchholz, Horst | artist | native | 1933-12-04 | 2003-03-03 | actor, voice actor |
| Limbach, Jutta | jurist | native | 1934-03-27 | 2016-09-10 | jurist, professor, Berlin Senator of Justice, president of the Federal Constitutional Court and Goethe-Institut |
| Jercha, Heinz | other | resident | 1934-07-01 | 1962-03-27 | butcher, Berlin Wall escape agent |
| Bosetzky, Horst | artist | resident | 1938-02-01 | 2018-09-16 | author, novelist, sociologist |
| Giesen, Traugott | other | resident | 1940-05-06 | theologian, priest, Christian author | |
| Radeke, Winfried | artist | resident | 1940-11-30 | composer, cantor, conductor, director; founder and art director of the Neukölln Opera | |
| Zander, Frank | artist | native | 1942-02-04 | singer, presenter, actor | |
| Schmitt, Walfriede | artist | native | 1943-03-26 | actor, voice actor, author | |
| Roski, Ulrich | artist | resident | 1944-03-04 | 2003-02-20 | musician, singer-songwriter |
| Vogel, Peter | scientist | native | 1947 | pedagogue, professor | |
| Buchholz, Werner | scientist | native | 1948-01-25 | historian, professor | |
| Weckman, Joachim | industrialist | resident | 1953 | entrepreneur, organic food pioneer | |
| Wendt, Michael | politician | resident | 1955-12-01 | 2011-12-22 | mechanical engineer, foundational member of the Berlin Alternative Liste |
| Krawczyk, Stephan | artist | resident | 1955-12-31 | author, songwriter, East-German dissident | |
| Knie, Andreas | scientist | resident | 1960-12-12 | sociologist, professor, traffic researcher | |
| Braun, Lena | artist | resident | 1961-04-04 | performance and visual artist, curator, author | |
| Heisig, Kirsten | jurist | associated | 1961-08-24 | 2010-06-28 | Neukölln judge, author; propagated the procedural Neukölln Model |
| Tuckermann, Anja | artist | resident | 1961-11-24 | author, novelist, journalist | |
| Soraya, Juwelia | artist | resident | 1963-01-14 | drag queen, singer, painter, gallery owner; born Stefan Stricker | |
| Benedict, Peter | artist | resident | 1963-07-13 | actor, director; born Christian Riss | |
| Liescheid, Uwe | other | resident | 1963-09-21 | 2006-03-21 | murdered chief superintendent, Neukölln police |
| Betz, Martin | artist | resident | 1964-06-17 | political satirist, musician, author | |
| Hannemann, Uli | artist | resident | 1965-08-25 | author, columnist | |
| Meißner, Tobias Oliver | artist | resident | 1967-08-04 | novelist, cartoonist | |
| Cukrowski, Gesine | artist | native | 1968-10-23 | actor | |
| Wagner, Jan | artist | resident | 1971-10-18 | poet, essayist, translator | |
| Blomberg, Sebastian | artist | resident | 1972-05-24 | actor | |
| Dege, Timo | artist | resident | 1973 | street poet, author | |
| Burns, Barry | artist | resident | 1974-11-14 | musician | |
| Krömer, Kurt | artist | native | 1974-11-20 | comedian, actor, presenter, author; born Alexander Bojcan | |
| Balcı, Güner Yasemin | journalist | native | 1975-02-09 | journalist, author, documentary film director; Neukölln's integration commissioner (since 2020) | |
| Alexander, Robin | journalist | resident | 1975-05-13 | reporter, journalist, author | |
| Khani, Behzad Karim | artist | resident | 1977 | author, journalist | |
| Zillmann, Daniel | artist | native | 1981-01-18 | actor, voice actor, singer | |
| Jagla, Jan | other | resident | 1981-05-25 | basketball player | |
| Schazad, Graziella | artist | resident | 1983-07-02 | musician, singer-songwriter | |
| Bumaye, Ali | artist | resident | 1985-01-11 | musician, rapper; born Ali Alulu Abdul-razzak | |
| Stokowski, Margarete | artist | resident | 1986-04-14 | author, essayist | |
| Gringo | artist | native | 1988 | musician, rapper; born Ilfan Kalender | |
| Kobosil | artist | native | 1991 | DJ, music producer, musician; born Max Kobosil | |
| Juju | artist | resident | 1992-11-20 | musician, rapper; born Judith Wessendorf | |
| Rüdiger, Antonio | other | native | 1993-03-03 | footballer | |
| Lou, Alice Phoebe | artist | resident | 1993-07-19 | musician, singer-songwriter; born Alice Matthew | |
| Juno, Madeline | artist | resident | 1995-08-11 | musician, singer-songwriter; born Madeline Obrigewitsch | |
Mayors and other local politicians
Rixdorf became an independent city in 1899 and was incorporated as a borough of Berlin in the 1920 Greater Berlin Act, so the city of Rixdorf (later Neukölln) has only had three mayors and lord mayors respectively.[188] The Boddinstraße is named after Rixdorf's first mayor, Hermann Boddin. None of Rixdorf's and Neukölln's three city mayors were natives. 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).[189]
| Name | Title | City | Term | Party | Born | Died | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boddin, Hermann | Mayor, First Mayor, Lord Mayor | Rixdorf | 1899–1907 | - | 1844-05-16 | 1907-07-23 | in office until his death[190] | |
| Kaiser, Curt | Mayor, Lord Mayor | Rixdorf, Neukölln | 1907–1919 | - | 1865-01-26 | 1940-04-25 | often spelled Kurt Kaiser[191] | |
| Scholz, Alfred | Lord Mayor | Neukölln | 1919–1920 | SPD | 1876-05-15 | 1944-11-02 | transitioned to Neukölln's first borough mayor[192] | |
| Name | Status | Born | Died | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manitius, Adolph Gebhard | resident | 1682 | 1754-12-27 | Rixdorf hofmeister, proprietor of the schultheiß fief court (1704–37) |
| Pflüger, Karl Friedrich Wilhelm | native | 1784-12-12 | 1833-06-27 | schultheiß of Deutsch-Rixdorf (1814–30) |
| Wanzlick, Daniel Friedrich | native | 1819-02-15 | 1877-06-19 | last Bohemian schultheiß of Böhmisch-Rixdorf (until 11 June 1873) |
| Schinke, Johann Friedrich | native | 1826-11-20 | 1875-08-03 | schultheiß of Deutsch-Rixdorf (1863–74) |
| Maresch, Daniel | resident | 1833-09-11 | 1923-12-23 | Rixdorf municipal and city administrator |
| Barta, Carl Friedrich | resident | 1833-12-10 | 1914-09-25 | innkeeper, Böhmisch-Rixdorf's principal municipal magistrate (1871–73), municipal magistrate under Hermann Boddin (1874–88) |
| Jansa, Wilhelm | native | 1834-12-20 | 1909-04-20 | farmer, municipal magistrate (1878–99) |
| Mier, Friedrich Wilhelm | resident | 1836-02-18 | 1912-12-19 | Rixdorf/Neukölln city councilor |
| Schudoma, Johann | native | 1840-02-19 | 1903-10-04 | only Bohemian municipal magistrate of the unified Rixdorf authorities (1874–99), city councilor (1899–1903) |
| Sander, Hermann | resident | 1845-07-14 | 1939-03-12 | industrialist, Rixdorf municipal councilor (1887–96), municipal administrator (1896–98), Rixdorf/Neukölln city administrator and honorary council president (1899–1919) |
| Bürkner, August | native | 1847-01-06 | 1914-12-27 | Rixdorf municipal representative (1889–99), Rixdorf/Neukölln city councilor (1899–1914) |
| Thiemann, August | native | 1849-09-10 | 1923-05-17 | Rixdorf/Neukölln city magistrate and councilor (1899–1919) |
| Leyke, Gustav Adolf | resident | 1851-09-10 | 1910-07-28 | merchant, Rixdorf municipal administrator (1892–98), city councilor (1899–1910) |
| Niemetz, Daniel Benjamin | resident | 1853-06-25 | 1910-05-09 | gardener, Rixdorf municipal magistrate (1886–99), city councilor (1899–1909), city elder (1909) |
| Wutzky, Emil | resident | 1871-10-04 | 1963-12-30 | unionist, cooperativist, Rixdorf/Neukölln city councilor (1899-1917) |
| Löwenstein, Kurt | resident | 1885-05-18 | 1939-05-08 | socialist reform pedagogue, borough councilor (1921–33) |
| Raddatz, Erich | resident | 1886-11-28 | 1964-02-16 | locksmith, borough representative (1926–30) |
| Fechner, Max | native | 1892-07-27 | 1973-09-13 | toolmaker, borough representative (1921–25) |
| Samson, Kurt | resident | 1900-05-08 | 1947-03-09 | jurist, National Socialist borough mayor (1933–45) |
| Exner, Kurt | native | 1901-05-15 | 1996-11-12 | unionist, borough mayor (1949–59), Berlin senator for Labor and Social Welfare under Willy Brandt (1959–67) |
| Weise, Martin | resident | 1903-05-12 | 1943-11-15 | journalist, resistance fighter, borough representative (1929–33) |
| Bielka, Frank | native | 1947-10-22 | business economist, borough mayor (1989–91), Degewo board chairman (until 2002) | |
| Buschkowsky, Heinz | native | 1948-07-31 | public manager, author, borough mayor (2001–15) | |
| Giffey, Franziska | resident | 1978-05-03 | public manager, borough mayor (2015–18), governing mayor of Berlin (2021–23) | |
| Hikel, Martin | resident | 1986-04-30 | teacher, borough mayor (since 2018), Berlin SPD chairman (since 2024) |
- Neukölln, as part of the borough Neukölln, is a pilot city of the Council of Europe and the European Commission Intercultural Cities program.[193]
- Neukölln, as part of the borough Neukölln, has several twin communes and cities, among them Boulogne-Billancourt, Hammersmith and Fulham, Çiğli, Bat Yam, Marino and Prague 5.[194]
- Neukölln, as part of Berlin, has several twin cities, among them London, Istanbul, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Tokyo and Windhoek.[195]
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. A notable example is 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 (2013) by former borough mayor Heinz Buschkowsky. In fiction, several authors have written about or set their stories in Neukölln, for example Hund, Wolf, Schakal (2022) by Behzad Karim Khani, Allegro Pastell (2020) by Leif Randt, or Jesus von Neukölln (2022) by Wolfgang Priewe. Over the decades, urban lyricists have written many poems about Neukölln and Rixdorf, 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.[196] Kurt Krömer, himself a Neukölln native, has regularly emphasized the quarter in his stand-up comedy and other works.
Film and television
Neukölln has been a favored location for national and international film and television productions. 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, and also a few documentary films, for example Neukölln Unlimited (2010) by Agostino Imondi and Dietmar Ratsch, or Survival in Neukölln (2017, Überleben in Neukölln) by Rosa von Praunheim. In addition, Neukölln was the sixth leg's final pit stop in the 32nd season (2020) of the reality competition TV show The Amazing Race by Elise Doganieri and Bertram van Munster.[197]
Music
Songs referencing Neukölln are mostly from German artists, for example the 2017 hip hop song Sonnenallee by AOB and Said, the 2022 farewell hymn Neukölln by Madeline Juno or the satirical 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. Several instrumental works also reference Neukölln, the 1977 David Bowie and Brian Eno track Neuköln [sic!], the 1983 electronic composition Hasenheide by Dieter Moebius, the 2004 track Neukölln 2 by Miss Kittin, and the 2011 Mogwai release Hasenheide.
The song that cemented Rixdorf's infamy as a city of vice across Germany, which eventually prompted the renaming to Neukölln, is the 1889 satirical polka march Der Rixdorfer by Eugen Philippi (music) and Oskar Klein (lyrics), also known as In Rixdorf ist Musike,[198] which was later immortalized in a recording by actor Willi Rose.[199] 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.[200]
Hermannplatz, Karstadt department store
County Court
City hall
Buddy Bear Neukölln in front of the City hall
Landwehr Canal (2005)
Border crossing at Sonnenallee, 1964
Stadtbad Neukölln
Volkspark Hasenheide in winter (2013)
_Buddy_Bär.jpg)
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