Wilhelmstraße
Encyclopedia
The Wilhelmstrasse is a street in the center of Berlin
, the capital of Germany
. Between the mid 19th century and 1945, it was the administrative centre, first of the Kingdom of Prussia
and then of the unified German state, housing in particular the Reich Chancellery
and the Foreign Office
. For this reason the term "the Wilhelmstrasse" was used in Germany to signify the German governmental administration as a whole, much as the term "Whitehall
" is often used to signify the British governmental administration as a whole; in English, "the Wilhelmstrasse" usually referred to the German Foreign Office.
, on a line slightly east of south, until its juncture with the Stresemannstrasse near the Hallesches Ufer, a distance of about two kilometres. It is crossed (as one heads south) by Behrenstrasse, Leipziger Strasse
and Zimmerstrasse, which to the west of the Wilhelmstrasse becomes Niederkirchnerstrasse
(known until after World War II
as Prinz-Albrecht-Straße).
A street along this line has existed since the early 18th century, and was known as Husarenstraße (Street of the Hussars) until 1740, when it, along with the Friedrichstrasse, which runs roughly parallel to the east, were given their current names to commemorate Frederick William I of Prussia
, who had done much to develop the area.
Originally a wealthy residential street, with a number of palaces belonging to members of the Prussian royal family, the Wilhelmstrasse developed as a government precinct from the mid 19th century. From 1875 the Reich Chancellery building stood at Wilhelmstraße 77. During the years of the Weimar Republic
(1919-33), the Reich President's official residence was at Wilhelmstraße 73. It was from the balcony of this building that Reich President Paul von Hindenburg
watched the torchlight parade on the night the Nazis came to power: 30 January 1933.
In 1938-39 a new Reich Chancellery was built for Adolf Hitler
by Albert Speer
. This building stood immediately south of the old Chancellery, on the corner of the Wilhelmstrasse and the Voss Strasse, and its official address was Voßstraße 4, but the balcony from which Hitler addressed crowds faced the Wilhelmstraße. The square opposite the building, known as the Wilhelmplatz
, no longer exists. Also vanished is the Kaiserhof Hotel, which stood a few doors away and had been Hitler's favoured residence in Berlin before he came to power.
During the Nazi era, the German Foreign Office was situated in the former Reich President's palace at Wilhelmstraße 73, the old building being refurbished in grandiose style by the Nazi Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop
. The Finance Ministry stood at Wilhelmstraße 61. During the Nazi years Joseph Goebbels
' Propaganda Ministry stood farther south at Wilhelmstraße 8-9. The Agriculture Ministry stood at Wilhelmstraße 72, as it still does today - the only German government ministry now located on its prewar site, although in a reconstructed building. The British Embassy was at Wilhelmstraße 70. The original building was destroyed by bombing, and a new Embassy was built on the site after the reunification of Germany. Queen Elizabeth II officiated at the grand opening in July 2000.
The only major surviving public building in the Wilhelmstrasse from the Nazi era is the Reich Air Ministry
building at Wilhelmstraße 81-85, south of the Leipziger Strasse, a huge edifice built on the orders of Hermann Göring
between 1933 and 1936. This building escaped major damage during the war. As one of the few intact government buildings in central Berlin, it was occupied by the Council of Ministers of the new German Democratic Republic
in 1949. As such it was at the centre of the popular demonstrations during the workers' uprising of 17 June 1953
.
Apart from the Air Ministry, all the major public buildings along the Wilhelmstrasse were destroyed by Allied bombing during 1944 and early 1945. The Wilhelmstrasse as far south as the Zimmerstrasse was in the Soviet Zone of occupation, and apart from clearing the rubble from the street little was done to reconstruct the area until the founding of the GDR in 1949. The communist GDR regime regarded the former government precinct as a relic of Prussian and Nazi militarism and imperialism, and had all the ruins of the government buildings demolished in the early 1950s. In the late 1950s there were almost no buildings at all along the Wilhelmstrasse from Unter den Linden to the Leipziger Strasse. In the 1980s, apartment blocks were built along this section of the street.
From 1964 to 1991, when the street as far south as Zimmerstraße was in the territory of the GDR, this section was named Otto-Grotewohl-Straße, after Otto Grotewohl
, who was Prime Minister of the GDR from 1949 to 1964.
Today the Wilhelmstrasse is an important traffic artery, but has not regained its former status. The Air Ministry building today houses the German Finance Ministry. This, the Agriculture Ministry and the British Embassy are the only public buildings on the street. Many of the occupants of the apartment blocks are recent immigrants, and there are a number of shops and restaurants catering to Russians and Turks.
In recent years the City of Berlin has placed a series of historical markers along the Wilhelmstrasse, showing where the well-known buildings of the pre-war era stood.
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...
, the capital of 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...
. Between the mid 19th century and 1945, it was the administrative centre, first of the Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
and then of the unified German state, housing in particular the Reich Chancellery
Reich Chancellery
The Reich Chancellery was the traditional name of the office of the Chancellor of Germany in the period of the German Reich from 1871 to 1945...
and the Foreign Office
Foreign Office (Germany)
The Foreign Office is the foreign ministry of Germany, a federal agency responsible for both the country's foreign politics and its relationship with the European Union. From 1871 to 1919, it was led by a Foreign Secretary, and since 1919, it has been led by the Foreign Minister of Germany...
. For this reason the term "the Wilhelmstrasse" was used in Germany to signify the German governmental administration as a whole, much as the term "Whitehall
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road in Westminster, in London, England. It is the main artery running north from Parliament Square, towards Charing Cross at the southern end of Trafalgar Square...
" is often used to signify the British governmental administration as a whole; in English, "the Wilhelmstrasse" usually referred to the German Foreign Office.
Overview
The Wilhelmstrasse runs south from the Unter den LindenUnter den Linden
Unter den Linden is a boulevard in the Mitte district of Berlin, the capital of Germany. It is named for its linden trees that line the grassed pedestrian mall between two carriageways....
, on a line slightly east of south, until its juncture with the Stresemannstrasse near the Hallesches Ufer, a distance of about two kilometres. It is crossed (as one heads south) by Behrenstrasse, Leipziger Strasse
Leipziger Strasse
Leipziger Straße is a street in central Berlin, capital of Germany. It runs east-west from Potsdamer Platz to Spittelmarkt in the borough of Mitte. At its western end is Leipziger Platz, an octagonal square which before World War II was one of the centres of German national administration, being...
and Zimmerstrasse, which to the west of the Wilhelmstrasse becomes Niederkirchnerstrasse
Niederkirchnerstrasse
Niederkirchnerstraße, formerly Prinz-Albrecht-Straße, is a street in Berlin, the capital of Germany. The street runs east-west from Wilhelmstraße to Stresemannstraße near Potsdamer Platz, forming the border between the districts of Mitte and Kreuzberg...
(known until 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...
as Prinz-Albrecht-Straße).
A street along this line has existed since the early 18th century, and was known as Husarenstraße (Street of the Hussars) until 1740, when it, along with the Friedrichstrasse, which runs roughly parallel to the east, were given their current names to commemorate Frederick William I of Prussia
Frederick William I of Prussia
Frederick William I of the House of Hohenzollern, was the King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death...
, who had done much to develop the area.
Originally a wealthy residential street, with a number of palaces belonging to members of the Prussian royal family, the Wilhelmstrasse developed as a government precinct from the mid 19th century. From 1875 the Reich Chancellery building stood at Wilhelmstraße 77. During the years of the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
(1919-33), the Reich President's official residence was at Wilhelmstraße 73. It was from the balcony of this building that Reich President Paul von Hindenburg
Paul von Hindenburg
Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg , known universally as Paul von Hindenburg was a Prussian-German field marshal, statesman, and politician, and served as the second President of Germany from 1925 to 1934....
watched the torchlight parade on the night the Nazis came to power: 30 January 1933.
In 1938-39 a new Reich Chancellery was built for Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
by Albert Speer
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
. This building stood immediately south of the old Chancellery, on the corner of the Wilhelmstrasse and the Voss Strasse, and its official address was Voßstraße 4, but the balcony from which Hitler addressed crowds faced the Wilhelmstraße. The square opposite the building, known as the Wilhelmplatz
Wilhelmplatz
Wilhelmplatz is a former square in the Mitte district of Berlin, Germany at the corner of Wilhelmstrasse and Voßstraße. The square also gave its name to a Berlin U-Bahn station which has since been renamed Mohrenstraße...
, no longer exists. Also vanished is the Kaiserhof Hotel, which stood a few doors away and had been Hitler's favoured residence in Berlin before he came to power.
During the Nazi era, the German Foreign Office was situated in the former Reich President's palace at Wilhelmstraße 73, the old building being refurbished in grandiose style by the Nazi Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945. He was later hanged for war crimes after the Nuremberg Trials.-Early life:...
. The Finance Ministry stood at Wilhelmstraße 61. During the Nazi years Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
' Propaganda Ministry stood farther south at Wilhelmstraße 8-9. The Agriculture Ministry stood at Wilhelmstraße 72, as it still does today - the only German government ministry now located on its prewar site, although in a reconstructed building. The British Embassy was at Wilhelmstraße 70. The original building was destroyed by bombing, and a new Embassy was built on the site after the reunification of Germany. Queen Elizabeth II officiated at the grand opening in July 2000.
The only major surviving public building in the Wilhelmstrasse from the Nazi era is the Reich Air Ministry
Reich Air Ministry
thumb|300px|The Ministry of Aviation, December 1938The Ministry of Aviation was a government department during the period of Nazi Germany...
building at Wilhelmstraße 81-85, south of the Leipziger Strasse, a huge edifice built on the orders of Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
between 1933 and 1936. This building escaped major damage during the war. As one of the few intact government buildings in central Berlin, it was occupied by the Council of Ministers of the new German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
in 1949. As such it was at the centre of the popular demonstrations during the workers' uprising of 17 June 1953
Uprising of 1953 in East Germany
The Uprising of 1953 in East Germany started with a strike by East Berlin construction workers on June 16. It turned into a widespread anti-Stalinist uprising against the German Democratic Republic government the next day....
.
Apart from the Air Ministry, all the major public buildings along the Wilhelmstrasse were destroyed by Allied bombing during 1944 and early 1945. The Wilhelmstrasse as far south as the Zimmerstrasse was in the Soviet Zone of occupation, and apart from clearing the rubble from the street little was done to reconstruct the area until the founding of the GDR in 1949. The communist GDR regime regarded the former government precinct as a relic of Prussian and Nazi militarism and imperialism, and had all the ruins of the government buildings demolished in the early 1950s. In the late 1950s there were almost no buildings at all along the Wilhelmstrasse from Unter den Linden to the Leipziger Strasse. In the 1980s, apartment blocks were built along this section of the street.
From 1964 to 1991, when the street as far south as Zimmerstraße was in the territory of the GDR, this section was named Otto-Grotewohl-Straße, after Otto Grotewohl
Otto Grotewohl
Otto Grotewohl was a German politician and prime minister of the German Democratic Republic from 1949 until his death. According to Roth , "He was a figurehead who led various economic commissions, lobbied the Soviets for increased aid, and conducted foreign policy tours in the attempt to break...
, who was Prime Minister of the GDR from 1949 to 1964.
Today the Wilhelmstrasse is an important traffic artery, but has not regained its former status. The Air Ministry building today houses the German Finance Ministry. This, the Agriculture Ministry and the British Embassy are the only public buildings on the street. Many of the occupants of the apartment blocks are recent immigrants, and there are a number of shops and restaurants catering to Russians and Turks.
In recent years the City of Berlin has placed a series of historical markers along the Wilhelmstrasse, showing where the well-known buildings of the pre-war era stood.