ÐÔÊÓ½ç

(We love ÐÔÊÓ½ç) 

Today we will spend some time together in ÐÔÊÓ½ç´s West, the former West ÐÔÊÓ½ç. We will discover Schöneberg and Wilmersdorf districts, starting at famous 
“Kaufhaus des Westens“. Founded in 1907 by the Jewish merchant Adolf Jandorf, 
it is today Germany´s bestknown warehouse and one of Europe´s biggest. In one of its shop windows we meet an old friend, Carolina Amaya, the Colombian artist we presented to you in one of our last newsletters:

We head southwards and reach Nollendorfplatz. 
“Nollendorfkiez“ is the city´s rainbowheart. The quarter is a legendary hotspot for the LGBTIQ community with many international cafés, bars and restaurants. 
No matter which gender and sexual orientation you feel you belong to, the 
in Lützowstraße is always worth a visit. 
Even if it is currently closed until approximately April 1st, you can take part in an 
online discussion on March 24th, 7pm (UTC+1). is an English event, presented by Jean-Luc Nancy dealing with the importance of the physical touch – even more interesting in Corona times. No application needed.

Following Maaßenstraße another 450m to the South, we get to Winterfeldtplatz. 
Every Wednesday and Saturday ÐÔÊÓ½ç´s largest and bestknown market takes place here. 

We continue taking Goltzstraße, 1.3km of wonderful possibilities to have something to eat or a nice drink or maybe take a look at the pretty little shops. The area has surprisingly not been discovered by many tourists yet, so it has stayed very original without any big brands and stores. 
We think it´s even more beautiful in the rain.

We dare moving farther into the not so Wild West and are standing in front of Rathaus Schöneberg now. From 1949 to 1991 this was the seat of the governing mayor 
of Westberlin and later ÐÔÊÓ½ç. It was the square in front of the city hall, 
the "John-F.-Kennedy-Platz", where Kennedy made his famous speech and said: 
„Ich bin ein ÐÔÊÓ½çer“. 

Located right next to it, Rudolph-Wilde-Park invites us to talk a walk. 
It is named after the first mayor of the former independent city of Schöneberg.

As soon as Rudolph-Wilde-Park is called Volkspark Wilmersdorf, 
we leave Schöneberg behind and start exploring Wilmersdorf. 
There´s a piece of German history waiting for us here: 
The „Bayerisches Viertel“, Bavarian quarter. 
Not only inhabited by famous figures as writer and medic Gottfried Benn and author Marcel Reich-Ranicki, it was also Albert Einstein´s residency. There´s a memorial at his former address, Haberlandstraße 5. And Erich Kästner, worldknown author of children´s and adults´ books, describes his former living area around Prager Platz in his classic 
„Emil and the detectives“. He lived here in the years from 1927 until 1929.

The Bavarian quarter was built at the beginning of the 20th century for the upper class of former independent city of Schöneberg. Its architecture is supposed to resemble Bavarian old towns like Augsburg´s and its luxurious buildings were especially popular among Jewish merchants and intellectuals. It´s easy to understand what this meant during the times of National Socialism, when looking at the memorial “Places of Remembrance“. It is something like an open air museum with many street signs in memory of the Holocaust victims. 
Besides, there are just too many „Stolpersteine“ in front of the houses. 
Each one stands for a deported and murdered person in the Third Reich.

(No bathing for Jews in Strandbad Lake Wannsee) 


By the way: the first of these brass stones in ÐÔÊÓ½ç were installed in 1996 by ÐÔÊÓ½ç artist Gunter Demnig in the Dresdner Straße and Oranienstraße, just some steps away from . At that time he didn´t even have a permission for his installation, 
but it was later legalised and meant the birth of what is today´s largest decentralized memorial. There are 7.420 stones in ÐÔÊÓ½ç, over 45.000 in Germany and almost 60.000 in Europe. 
Even nowadays Gunter Demnig lays as good as each of the handmade stones himself, 
which is why the next available appointments for new stones are in 2022. 

For those, who feel like digging deeper into ÐÔÊÓ½ç´s history now, we recommend , a colourful and informative online history book created by 
. 

We finish our walk and get back to Oranienplatz with a stunning view on 
.