Wedding (Berlin)
Encyclopedia
Wedding is a locality in the borough of Mitte, Berlin
, Germany
and was a separate borough in the north-western inner city
until it was fused with Tiergarten
and Mitte in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform. At the same time the eastern half of the former borough of Wedding—on the other side of Reinickendorfer Straße—was separated as the new locality of Gesundbrunnen
.
of the nobleman Rudolf de Weddinge was located on the small Panke
River in the immediate vicinity of today's Nettelbeckplatz. The farmstead, which burned down more than once, remained abandoned in the forest until the 18th century. In the mid-18th century, while Gesundbrunnen was being built up as a health resort and spa town, gambling and prostitution moved into Wedding, transforming it into a pleasure district. In 1864 Ernst Christian Friedrich Schering
established the Schering
pharmaceutical company on Müllerstraße; the company has been a part of Bayer
since 2006. A large hospital at the western rim of the locality was built between 1898 and 1906 on the initiative of Rudolf Virchow
.
The constant migration of country-dwellers into the city at the end of the 19th century converted Wedding into a working-class district. The labourers lived in cramped tenement
blocks. After World War I
, Wedding was known as "Red Wedding" as it was renowned for its militant, largely communist working class; it was the scene of violent protests on May 1, 1929. Because of the politics of the workers in Wedding, it was a target of attacks by the Nazi government
in the 1930s.
After World War II
, Wedding and Reinickendorf
together made up the French
sector of Berlin. The buildings on the north side of Wedding's Bernauer Straße
and the street, including sidewalks, were in the French sector, while the buildings along the southern side were in Soviet territory. When the Berlin Wall
was being built in August 1961, many who lived in these buildings frantically jumped from their windows before the buildings could be evacuated and their windows bricked up.
Wedding was also the western terminus of one of the first refugee tunnels dug underneath the Berlin wall
. It extended from the basement of an abandoned factory on Schönholzer Straße in the Soviet sector
underneath Bernauer Straße to another building in the west. Though marvellously well constructed and kept secret, the tunnel was plagued by water from leaking pipes, and had to be shut down after only a few days of operation.
A section of the wall has been reconstructed near the spot on Bernauer Straße (since 2001 part of the locality of Gesundbrunnen
) where the tunnel ended. Two sections of wall run parallel to one another down the street with a “death strip” in the middle. A nearby museum documents the history of the wall.
Today, Wedding is one of the poorest
areas of Berlin, with a high unemployment
rate (almost 26%). Almost 17% of the population live on social welfare; 27% live below the poverty line.http://www.bmgev.de/mieterecho/305/08-sozialstruktur.html Foreigners make up almost 30% of the population.http://www.statistik-berlin.de/pms/2a1/1998/98-02-10.html Low rents accompany the poverty in Wedding so, like many inexpensive areas in large cities, it is home to a vibrant artist
s' community. Many galleries
have been founded by artists to provide a space for themselves and their peers to show their work.
Wedding has so far not experienced the boom and gentrification of the 1990s in Berlin. Unlike many other 19th-century working class districts like Prenzlauer Berg
, the original character of Wedding has been preserved. It is said to be a place to find the Schnauze mit Herz (big mouth and big heart) of the Berlin working class.
, Wedding is one of the most ethnically diverse localities of Berlin. The multicultural
atmosphere is visible in the bilingual shop signs (predominantly German and Turkish
or German and Arabic
).
In recent years Wedding has seen a significant influx of African people
. Wedding is also home to a large East Asian community, mostly from China and Korea, which is reflected in many Asian stores and restaurants, especially on Müllerstraße. As of 2009, the ethnic make-up of Wedding was 46% of Europe
an origin, 21% Asia
n, 18% Turks, 7% Arabs, 6% Yugoslavs
and 2% Russians
. Africans were not included. However, according to the local newspaper, of those residing in Wedding, 4–6% people are of African origin.
. The Schillerpark estate in northern Wedding is part of the Modernist Housing Estates
World Heritage Site. Beside monolithic housing blocks, several old buildings survived the war and urban renewal and still have coal
-fired heating.
A green oasis marks the west borders of the "old red" district, the idyllic Plötzensee lake in the southwest. It is a popular summer hang-out offering sandy beaches and long lawns. A section of the beach is reserved for nudists.
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and was a separate borough in the north-western inner city
Inner city
The inner city is the central area of a major city or metropolis. In the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland, the term is often applied to the lower-income residential districts in the city centre and nearby areas...
until it was fused with Tiergarten
Tiergarten
Tiergarten is a locality within the borough of Mitte, in central Berlin . Notable for the great and homonymous urban park, before German reunification, it was a part of West Berlin...
and Mitte in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform. At the same time the eastern half of the former borough of Wedding—on the other side of Reinickendorfer Straße—was separated as the new locality of Gesundbrunnen
Gesundbrunnen
Gesundbrunnen is a locality of Berlin in the borough of Mitte. It was created as a separate entity by the 2001 administrative reform, formerly the eastern half of the former Wedding district and locality...
.
History
In the 12th century, the manorManorialism
Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...
of the nobleman Rudolf de Weddinge was located on the small Panke
Panke
The Panke is a small river in Brandenburg and Berlin.It is 29 km in length with its source at Bernau bei Berlin, and in Berlin is a relatively well known tributary of the Spree, into which it enters close to the Weidendammer Bridge....
River in the immediate vicinity of today's Nettelbeckplatz. The farmstead, which burned down more than once, remained abandoned in the forest until the 18th century. In the mid-18th century, while Gesundbrunnen was being built up as a health resort and spa town, gambling and prostitution moved into Wedding, transforming it into a pleasure district. In 1864 Ernst Christian Friedrich Schering
Ernst Christian Friedrich Schering
Ernst Christian Friedrich Schering was a German apothecary and industrialist who created the Schering Corporation. The company split into Schering AG and Schering-Plough after US assets were seized during World War II....
established the Schering
Schering
Schering AG was a research-centered German pharmaceutical company. It was founded in 1851 by Ernst Christian Friedrich Schering and merged with Bayer's pharma sector in December 2006. The company's headquarters was in Berlin-Wedding, Germany...
pharmaceutical company on Müllerstraße; the company has been a part of Bayer
Bayer
Bayer AG is a chemical and pharmaceutical company founded in Barmen , Germany in 1863. It is headquartered in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and well known for its original brand of aspirin.-History:...
since 2006. A large hospital at the western rim of the locality was built between 1898 and 1906 on the initiative of Rudolf Virchow
Rudolf Virchow
Rudolph Carl Virchow was a German doctor, anthropologist, pathologist, prehistorian, biologist and politician, known for his advancement of public health...
.
The constant migration of country-dwellers into the city at the end of the 19th century converted Wedding into a working-class district. The labourers lived in cramped tenement
Tenement
A tenement is, in most English-speaking areas, a substandard multi-family dwelling, usually old, occupied by the poor.-History:Originally the term tenement referred to tenancy and therefore to any rented accommodation...
blocks. After World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Wedding was known as "Red Wedding" as it was renowned for its militant, largely communist working class; it was the scene of violent protests on May 1, 1929. Because of the politics of the workers in Wedding, it was a target of attacks by the Nazi government
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in the 1930s.
After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Wedding and Reinickendorf
Reinickendorf
Reinickendorf is the twelfth borough of Berlin. It encompasses the northwest of the city area, including the Berlin-Tegel Airport, Lake Tegel, spacious settlements of detached houses as well as housing estates like Märkisches Viertel.-Subdivision:...
together made up the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
sector of Berlin. The buildings on the north side of Wedding's Bernauer Straße
Bernauer Straße
Bernauer Straße is a street of Berlin situated between the localities of Gesundbrunnen and Mitte, today both belonging to the Mitte borough. It runs from the Mauerpark at the corner of Prenzlauer Berg to the Nordbahnhof...
and the street, including sidewalks, were in the French sector, while the buildings along the southern side were in Soviet territory. When the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
was being built in August 1961, many who lived in these buildings frantically jumped from their windows before the buildings could be evacuated and their windows bricked up.
Wedding was also the western terminus of one of the first refugee tunnels dug underneath the Berlin wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
. It extended from the basement of an abandoned factory on Schönholzer Straße in the Soviet sector
East Berlin
East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
underneath Bernauer Straße to another building in the west. Though marvellously well constructed and kept secret, the tunnel was plagued by water from leaking pipes, and had to be shut down after only a few days of operation.
A section of the wall has been reconstructed near the spot on Bernauer Straße (since 2001 part of the locality of Gesundbrunnen
Gesundbrunnen
Gesundbrunnen is a locality of Berlin in the borough of Mitte. It was created as a separate entity by the 2001 administrative reform, formerly the eastern half of the former Wedding district and locality...
) where the tunnel ended. Two sections of wall run parallel to one another down the street with a “death strip” in the middle. A nearby museum documents the history of the wall.
Wedding today
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
areas of Berlin, with a high unemployment
Unemployment
Unemployment , as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks...
rate (almost 26%). Almost 17% of the population live on social welfare; 27% live below the poverty line.http://www.bmgev.de/mieterecho/305/08-sozialstruktur.html Foreigners make up almost 30% of the population.http://www.statistik-berlin.de/pms/2a1/1998/98-02-10.html Low rents accompany the poverty in Wedding so, like many inexpensive areas in large cities, it is home to a vibrant artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
s' community. Many galleries
Art gallery
An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...
have been founded by artists to provide a space for themselves and their peers to show their work.
Wedding has so far not experienced the boom and gentrification of the 1990s in Berlin. Unlike many other 19th-century working class districts like Prenzlauer Berg
Prenzlauer Berg
Prenzlauer Berg is a locality of Berlin, in the borough of Pankow.Until 2001, Prenzlauer Berg was a borough of Berlin; in that year it was included in the borough of Pankow....
, the original character of Wedding has been preserved. It is said to be a place to find the Schnauze mit Herz (big mouth and big heart) of the Berlin working class.
Demographics
However, the spirit is not exclusively German. Along with KreuzbergKreuzberg
Kreuzberg, a part of the combined Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte since 2001, is one of the best-known areas of Berlin...
, Wedding is one of the most ethnically diverse localities of Berlin. The multicultural
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
atmosphere is visible in the bilingual shop signs (predominantly German and Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
or German and Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
).
In recent years Wedding has seen a significant influx of African people
African people
African people refers to natives, inhabitants, or citizen of Africa and to people of African descent.-Etymology:Many etymological hypotheses that have been postulated for the ancient name "Africa":...
. Wedding is also home to a large East Asian community, mostly from China and Korea, which is reflected in many Asian stores and restaurants, especially on Müllerstraße. As of 2009, the ethnic make-up of Wedding was 46% of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an origin, 21% Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
n, 18% Turks, 7% Arabs, 6% Yugoslavs
Yugoslavs
Yugoslavs is a national designation used by a minority of South Slavs across the countries of the former Yugoslavia and in the diaspora...
and 2% Russians
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
. Africans were not included. However, according to the local newspaper, of those residing in Wedding, 4–6% people are of African origin.
Cityscape
Many buildings are relics of European post-war ModernismModern architecture
Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...
. The Schillerpark estate in northern Wedding is part of the Modernist Housing Estates
Modernist Housing Estates
Berlin Modernism Housing Estates consists of six subsidized housing estates that testify to innovative housing policies from 1910 to 1933, especially during the Weimar Republic, when the city of Berlin was particularly progressive socially, politically and culturally...
World Heritage Site. Beside monolithic housing blocks, several old buildings survived the war and urban renewal and still have coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
-fired heating.
A green oasis marks the west borders of the "old red" district, the idyllic Plötzensee lake in the southwest. It is a popular summer hang-out offering sandy beaches and long lawns. A section of the beach is reserved for nudists.