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LECTURE 1 BERLIN: HISTORY AND IDEOLOGIES

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Title: LECTURE 1 BERLIN: HISTORY AND IDEOLOGIES


1
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.

2
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

3
  • 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

4
  • 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

5
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)

6
  • 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
7
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

8
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

9
  • Great population expansion was reflected in
    the creation of a uniform tenement style the
    Mietskaserne

Western Kreuzberg
10
  • 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

11
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

12
  • 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)
13
  • 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

14
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)

15
  • 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

16
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
17
  • Hitlers most significant legacies for Berlin
    destruction and its partition (next week).

The Hammer and Sickle raised on the Reichstag
18
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

19
  • 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

20
  • 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).

21
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)

22
  • 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
23
  • 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)

24
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25
  • 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
26
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

27
  • 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
28
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.

29
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30
  • 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

31
  • 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

32
SO
Absolutism and the Prussian monarchy
Economic growth the Founder Period
The German Empire
The Weimar Republic
The Hitler period
33
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
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