The changing Face of Berlin or: Berlin: City of many Cities

Year (appr.)London inhabitants (appr.) Paris inhabitants (appr.) ,000130, ,000500, Mio2 Mio Mio3 Mio Mio+2.3 // 10 Mio

London und Paris (1798) All news the world is interested in, come from London and Paris. […] All other capitals of Europe have voluntarily stepped back behind them. What happens on these two world stages, is felt immediately, and almost equally strong, in Philadelphia and Calcutta, in St. Petersburg and in Cape Town. No wonder then, that everyone keeps writing about London and Paris.

London around 1750 (Roque’s Map of London 1746)

Map of Paris, 1900

Berlin around 1650 Berlin around 1650

Year (appr.)London inhabitants Paris inhabitants Berlin inhabitants ,000130,000(1600: 9,000) ,000500,00057,000 (1800: 170,000) Mio 2 Mio419, Mio 3 Mio2 Mio Mio+ 2.3 Mio (agglom.: 10 mio) 3.5 Mio

Friedrich Wilhelm I König von Preußen „Soldatenkönig“

Friedrich II König von Preußen „Friedrich der Große“ „Philosoph auf dem Thron“

Germaine de Staël : On Germany “Berlin is a big city, with very broad streets that are perfectly straight, beautiful houses and a general impression of orderliness. But since it has only recently been rebuilt it has no traces of earlier times. […] I feel that in America I should like new cities and new laws: there nature and liberty speak to the soul in such a way that people do not need mementoes. But in our old lands we need a sense of the past. […] Berlin, this entirely modern city, however beautiful it may be, does not make a serious enough impression.” 1806

Johanna Schopenhauer on Berlin: „Der Anblick der wie nagelneu aussehenden Stadt war mir zwar auffallend, aber die un- absehbar langen und breiten Straßen kamen eben wegen ihrer Länge und Breite mir öde und menschenleer vor, ebenso auch die alle wie nach einem Modell erbauten, einander durchaus ähnlichen Häuser, von denen damals einige gar keine Häuser, sondern bloß eine Fassade waren […]. Wider mein Wollen mußte ich in Berlin immer an Theaterdekorationen denken.“

Germaine de Staël : On Germany “ The capital of Prussia resembles Prussia itself; the buildings and institutions are no older than the age of manhood because one man alone is their creator.”

Berlin March 1848

Wilhelm I König von Preußen Deutscher Kaiser

filling in the courtyards

Ludwig Meidner, Betrunkene Stadt

‘World Capital Germania’

Hitler’s ‘Imperial Air Ministry’

Berlin May 1945

4 Zones of Occupation

13 August 1961

EASTWEST Humboldt-Universität- Freie Universität - Technische Universität StaatsbibliothekStaatsbibliothek Preußischer Kulturbesitz VolksbühneFreie Volksbühne StaatsoperDeutsche Oper MuseumsinselMuseen Dahlem TierparkZoologischer Garten FernsehturmFunkturm

9 November 1989

Potsdamer Platz today

Mauerpark today