LECTURE 1 BERLIN: HISTORY AND IDEOLOGIES

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LECTURE 1 - BERLIN HISTORY AND IDEOLOGIES

• Examine the development of contemporary Berlin,
  highlighting the different ideologies that have
  contributed to the urban landscape.
• Provide a broad overall historical context for
  the field class.

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HISTORY

• Berlin does not have a long history (unlike most
  major cities of Europe)
• It remained of relatively minor importance until
  around 1700
• Not a site of great natural advantages marshy
  flat riverbank
• Poor sandy soil meant low land values the
  result has been a low density city one of the
  most spacious in Europe

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• Historic core of the city is the bridge over the
  River Spree. First record is 1237 (actually twin
  settlements)
• 750th anniversary of 1237 was important urban
  projects were launched to mark it (especially in
  the East)
• First defences were not created until 15th
  century

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• Hohenzollern family - capital of Prussia. (The
  Hohenzollerns became Kings of Prussia from 1701
  onwards)
• The most famous Hohenzollern King was Frederick
  the Great (Frederick III), who ruled 1740 1786.

• Liberal / modernizer
• Made Berlin a home for immigrants and refugees
  (Jews / Huguenots)
• Pro-education
• Anti-torture

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IDEOLOGY 1 THE PRUSSIAN MONARCHY

• From Charlemagne to 1806 Germany was the scene of
  many small princely states (Holy Roman Empire)
• Age of Absolutism saw Prussian Monarchy exert
  considerable power
• Hohenzollerns and the 1st Reich (Reich Territory
  of German State or Empire)

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• The Hohenzollerns (as with other princely
  families elsewhere) built palaces, avenues,
  public buildings etc.

The Humboldt University
Unter den Linden, and the statue of Frederick the
Great
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Schloss Charlottenburg a royal palace. Others
included Potsdam (outside Berlin)

• But Berlin was NOT the capital city of Germany.
  Germany was only a geographical expression

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IDEOLOGY 2 THE FOUNDER PERIOD (Gründerzeit)

• Late 18th Century reaction against absolutist
  monarchies across Europe e.g. French Revolution
• 19th Century industrialisation
• Berlin outgrowing dated systems
• 1806 Holy Roman Empire ended
• 1848 worker revolt
• Economic growth made Berlin a significant
  industrial city

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• Great population expansion was reflected in
  the creation of a uniform tenement style the
  Mietskaserne

Western Kreuzberg
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• Much of the urban landscape was created
  during the Gründerzeit
• Urban industrial models brought tenements
  to the inner city .
• and villas to the suburbs
• The outline of the contemporary urban social
  geography of Berlin was established

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IDEOLOGY 3 THE GERMAN EMPIRE

• Austro-Prussian war of 1866 led to German
  unification
• 1870/71 defeat of France
• Germany becomes the new European super-state
• Berlin ... seat of the new German Empire (the
  Second Reich)
• A nation-state formed after the age of Empire
  creation Britain, France, the Netherlands,
  Portugal etc had already divided up the world
• Germany aimed for a world role as a centre of
  science, culture etc.
• Kaiser Wilhelm / Bismarck, his Chancellor

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• Beautification and status displays

The Pergamon Museum
Industrialisation and Berlins attempt to catch
London and Paris a new pace of life The large
city has no time for thinking, and, what is
worse, it has no time for happiness. What it
creates a hundred times over is the Hunt for
Happiness, which actually is the same as
unhappiness (Theodor Fontane, German Novelist)
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• Population grew from 860,000 in 1870 to over 2
  million in 1905
• Mobility Berlin was a world leader in urban
  transport
• Freedom large scale immigration (of Ostjuden
  from Russia and Poland)
• Property boom after unification
• New west established along Kudam/ Unter den
  Linden from nobles to commerce
• Global tourism Berlin Cabaret
• Silicon valley of the day (Peter Hall) from
  the craft-shop to the factory
• BUT The Second Reich was authoritarian and there
  were some undercurrents against Jews and
  Socialists

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IDEOLOGY 4 THE WEIMAR YEARS

• Defeat in World War I led to the dissolution of
  the Empire and the removal of the monarchy
• The 1919 Spartacus Revolt (influenced by
  Bolsheviks)
• But Berlins role as capital was not changed
  during the Weimar Republic
• The years following the Treaty of Versailles
  (1919) were chaotic
• coup attempts from left and right, devastating
  inflation, racially motivated riots, strikes,
  political assassinations, and a general
  dog-eat-dog rapaciousness (Clay-Large, 2000 p.
  158)

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• But Weimar also brought relief from
  authoritarianism. Berlin was the most liberated
  or decadent city in Europe. Plus a culture of
  distraction.

Marlene Dietrich

• 1923 Berlin boundaries were expanded in
  recognition of the industrial growth

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IDEOLOGY 5 THE HITLER YEARS

• 1933 to 1945 Third Reich (National Socialists)
• Hitler never liked Berlin (same was true of other
  leaders Wilhelm I / Bismarck, Weimar (Von
  Hindenburg), post WWII (Adenaeur)
• Albert Speer . Redesigns for the city ready for
  1950 after Nazi victory

Little was completed or survives Goerings Air
Ministry
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• Hitlers most significant legacies for Berlin
  destruction and its partition (next week).

The Hammer and Sickle raised on the Reichstag
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INTERREGNUM THE EARLY POST-WAR OCCUPATION

• In 1939 Berlins population was 4.3 millions by
  1945 it was 2.8 millions.
• 34 of the housing was totally destroyed in the
  war 54 damaged only 12 survived intact.
• Joint occupation by the four powers (USA, USSR,
  UK, France) 1945-1948, even though the capture of
  the city had been by the USSR. The city boroughs
  (Bezirke) were all allocated to one or other
  occupying power

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• West Berlin was an island, entirely surrounded
  by territory occupied by the USSR
• 1948 blockade by the Soviets the 11month
  Berlin Airlift when West Berlin was supplied by
  air
• US determination to overcome USSR
• Start of huge subsidies to Berlin

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• In 1949 the Soviets lifted the blockade, but
  access to the western sectors (except within the
  city) was limited to 3 air corridors, 3 road
  corridors, 3 rail corridors and 1 canal. This
  system existed until 1990. Within Berlin the
  internal border was controlled, but crossing was
  permitted (with the right papers) for a while.
• 1949 saw the cementing of the division within
  Germany creation of the Federal Republic (BRD/
  FRG) and the East German state (DDR/ GDR).

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IDEOLOGY 6 THE COMMUNIST YEARS (E. BERLIN)

• The East German regime was dependent on the USSR
  for its very existence.
• A showcase for communism communism had to be
  seen to work in East Germany and East Berlin
• First priority was reconstruction (practical)
• Second priority was to sweep away the remains of
  old ideologies (ideological)
• Third priority was to build a new communist
  society (ideological and practical)

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• All three objectives came together in the early
  project for the Karl Marx Allee a prestige
  reconstruction project on the eastern axis of
  Berlin leading towards the USSR

An East German postcard
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• 1953 construction of the Karl Marx Allee led to
  the first worker revolt against communism, but
  was put down with violence by the Soviet
  authorities
• Inner city slums were left alone partly on cost
  grounds
• Some major monuments were destroyed e.g. the
  old royal palace (there is now a campaign to
  rebuild it)

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• Communist society was to be established via
  rational planning in big estates Marzahn,
  Hellersdorf etc. The last of these was still
  under construction in 1989

Model of Hellersdorf
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IDEOLOGY 7 THE FREE MARKET CITY (W. BERLIN)

• Western rhetoric was of the free market city
  facing controlled communism in reality West
  Berlin needed massive subsidies to keep it going.
  
• The social housing sector here was much bigger
  than elsewhere in West Germany, through post-war
  reconstruction, the unwillingness of investors in
  a politically risky situation, and the need to
  stop people leaving for W. Germany proper

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• One particular legacy is that Berlin has two of
  everything opera houses, zoos, television
  towers, universities etc. Most were newly
  created in the west since the old centre went to
  the east.

The original opera house on Unter den Linden
(East Berlin)
The new opera house, in West Berlin
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TOWARDS IDEOLOGY 8 THE BERLIN REPUBLIC?

• August 1961 the construction of the Berlin Wall
  (by the East) separated the two cities more
  next week
• 11 November 1989 the opening of the Berlin Wall
  marked the symbolic end of the Cold War full
  reunification of Berlin and Germany, October
  1990.
• Many on both sides still dont see this as
  reunification but as the victory of the west
  over the east.

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• The decision to move the capital of Germany was
  strongly contested
• The locus of Prussian militarism (that led to
  WWI)
• The centre of the Nazi period (that led to
  WWII)
• The ordering of the Holocaust
• The HQ of the Stasi (E. German secret police)
• The Wall and the Cold War
• The new Berlin Republic, and Berlin itself,
  needs a new ideology. Is it simply to be western
  capitalism?
• It cant claim to be the capital of Europe that
  would sound triumphalist
• Although it is the capital of Europes biggest
  economy it is not a business centre the only
  world scale HQ is Sony

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• It has a historic role as a European capital of
  culture, but it has financial problems in
  supporting the arts
• Berlin culture is distinct from German culture
• The costs of setting up the Berlin Republic
  have bankrupted the city
• Germany does not have a dominant city
• Frankfurt
• Munich
• Düsseldorf
• Hamburg

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SO
Absolutism and the Prussian monarchy
Economic growth the Founder Period
The German Empire
The Weimar Republic
The Hitler period
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Post-war occupation
The Communist years
The free market west
Limited legacies from the old East
The Berlin Republic
A 30 minute walk in many parts of Berlin takes
the walker through the legacies of most of these
ideologies