Berlin is divided into boroughs or districts ( Bezirke ) for administration. The boroughs are further divided into neighborhoods ( Ortsteile ) which are officially recognised but have no administrative bodies of their own. Neighborhoods typically have strong identities that sometimes pre-date their inclusion into the modern boundaries of Berlin. These function differently to other subdivisions in Germany because of the dual status of Berlin as both a city and a federated state of Germany in its own right.
27-540: Schöneberg ( German: [ˈʃøːnəˌbɛʁk] ) is a locality of Berlin , Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau . Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg . The village was first documented in a 1264 deed issued by Margrave Otto III of Brandenburg . In 1751, Bohemian weavers founded Neu-Schöneberg also known as Böhmisch-Schöneberg along northern Hauptstraße. During
54-583: A certain grade of autonomy—though in no way comparable to the German Landkreise districts or independent cities , nor even to the local government of a common municipality as a legal entity, as according to the Berlin Constitution the legal status of the city as a German state itself is that of a unified municipality ( Einheitsgemeinde ). The power of the borough governments is limited and their performance of assigned tasks
81-555: A district board ( Bezirksamt ) led by a district mayor ( Bezirksbürgermeister ), elected by the assembly representatives. The district board is in charge of most administrative matters affecting its residents, but its decisions can be revoked by the Berlin Senate . The district mayors form a council of mayors ( Rat der Bürgermeister ) led by the city's governing mayor, which advises the Berlin Senate. Each borough
108-503: Is Neukölln (154,127 inhabitants in 2009), the least populated is Malchow (450 inhabitants in 2008). Note that the coats of arms shown for localities in the tables below are historical and no longer in official use, having lost their validity upon incorporation into Greater Berlin or new districts. Greater Berlin Act The Greater Berlin Act ( German : Groß-Berlin-Gesetz ), officially Law Regarding
135-465: Is directly elected by the borough's population and therefore acts as a borough parliament , though it is officially part of the executive . It elects the members of the borough council, checks its daily administration, and is able to make applications and recommendations. The twelve borough mayors regularly meet in the Council of Mayors ( Rat der Bürgermeister ), led by the city's Governing Mayor ;
162-408: Is divided into twelve boroughs ( Bezirke ), reduced from twenty-three boroughs before Berlin's 2001 administrative reform. An administrative reform in 2001 merged all but three of the existing boroughs into the current 12 boroughs, as listed below. The three boroughs that were not affected were Spandau , Reinickendorf and Neukölln , as the population of each was already exceeding 200,000. All
189-554: Is made up of several officially recognized subdistricts or neighborhoods ( Ortsteile in German, sometimes called quarters in English). The number of neighborhoods that form a borough varies considerably, ranging from two ( Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg ) to fifteen ( Treptow-Köpenick ). These neighborhoods typically have a historical identity as former independent cities, villages, or rural municipalities that were united in 1920 as part of
216-510: Is subject to regulatory supervision by the Senate. Nevertheless, the twelve self-governing boroughs have constitutional status and are themselves subdivided into two administrative bodies: each is governed by the borough assembly ( Bezirksverordnetenversammlung , BVV) and a full-time borough council ( Bezirksamt ), consisting of five councilors ( Bezirksstadträte ) and headed by a borough mayor ( Bezirksbürgermeister ). The BVV assembly
243-654: The Greater Berlin Act , forming the basis for the present-day city and state. The neighborhoods do not have their own governmental bodies but are recognized by the city and the boroughs for planning and statistical purposes. Berliners often identify more with the neighborhood where they live than with the borough that governs them. The neighborhoods are further subdivided into statistical tracts, which are mainly used for planning and statistical purposes. The statistical tracts correspond roughly but not exactly with neighborhoods recognized by residents. When Greater Berlin
270-489: The Greater Berlin Act of 1920 . The districts are financially dependent on state donations, as they neither possess any taxation power nor own any property. This is contrast to municipalities and counties in other German states, which are territorial corporations ( Gebietskörperschaften ) with autonomous functions and property. Each district is administered by a representatives' assembly ( Bezirksverordnetenversammlung ), directly elected by proportional representation, and
297-675: The Rote Insel (English: “red island”) as well as Lindenhof and the large natural park area Südgelände (English: “south grounds”) on the outside of the Ringbahn railway circle line. Boroughs and localities of Berlin Since 2001, Berlin has been made up of twelve districts, each with its own administrative body. However because Berlin is a single municipality ( Einheitsgemeinde ), its districts have limited power, acting only as agencies of Berlin's state and city governments as laid out in
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#1732765291391324-524: The Seven Years' War on 7 October 1760 Schöneberg and its village church were completely destroyed by a fire due to the joint attack on Berlin by Habsburg and Russian troops. Both Alt-Schöneberg and Neu-Schöneberg were in an area developed in the course of industrialization and incorporated in a street network laid out in the Hobrecht-Plan in an area that came to be known architecturally as
351-564: The Wilhelmine Ring . The two villages were not combined as one entity until 1874 and received town privileges in 1898. In the following year it was disentangled from the Kreis of Teltow, and became a Prussian Stadtkreis ( independent city ). Many of the former peasants gained wealth by selling their acres to the settlement companies of growing Berlin and built luxurious mansions on Hauptstraße. The large town hall, Rathaus Schöneberg ,
378-760: The Berlin Wall fell, and the city was reunified. This marked the end of the Cold War and the beginning of a new era in Berlin's history. After reunification, Berlin underwent a process of rapid transformation, as the city worked to rebuild and modernize its infrastructure and economy. Many new businesses and cultural institutions were established, and the city became a center of creativity and innovation. By 2000, Berlin comprised twenty-three boroughs, as three new boroughs had been created in East Berlin . Today Berlin
405-790: The Creation of the New Municipality of Berlin ( German : Gesetz über die Bildung einer neuen Stadtgemeinde Berlin ), was a law passed by the Prussian state government in 1920, which greatly expanded the size of the Prussian and German capital of Berlin . Berlin had been part of the Province of Brandenburg since 1815. On 1 April 1881, the city became Stadtkreis Berlin , a city district separate from Brandenburg. The Greater Berlin Act
432-733: The United States, Britain, and France, and the Eastern sector controlled by the Soviet Union. In 1961, the SED built the Berlin Wall to divide the city, effectively separating West Berlin from East Berlin and the rest of East Germany. Three new boroughs were created in East Berlin: Marzahn was split off from Lichtenberg in 1979, Hohenschönhausen from Weissensee in 1985, and Hellersdorf from Marzahn in 1986. In 1989,
459-422: The coats of arms of Berliner boroughs (the current as of the ones in the period 1990 to 2001) have some common points: The shield has a Spanish form and the coronet is represented by a mural crown : 3 towers in red bricks with the coat of arms of Berlin in the middle. Most of the coats of arms of current boroughs have changed some elements in their field : Some of them have created a "fusion" of themes of
486-459: The corner on Nollendorfstraße. This apartment was the basis for his book Goodbye to Berlin (1939) and later the musical Cabaret (1966) and the film Cabaret (1972) and is commemorated by a historic plaque on the building. The locality of Schöneberg includes the neighborhoods (Stadtquartiere) of Bayerisches Viertel (English: “ Bavarian quarter [ de ] ”; an affluent residential area with streets named after Bavarian towns) and
513-610: The council answers to and advises the Senate. The localities have no local government bodies, and the administrative duties of the former locality representative, the Ortsvorsteher , were taken over by the borough mayors. People who live in the former West Berlin tend to vote for the CDU and the SPD, While voters in the former East Berlin tend to vote for Linke and the AfD. As of 2012,
540-403: The merged Bezirke (Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Lichtenberg, Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Tempelhof-Schöneberg); others have modified their themes taken from one of the two (or more) former merged boroughs (Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Marzahn-Hellersdorf, Mitte and Treptow-Köpenick). Only the unchanged boroughs of Neukölln, Reinickendorf and Spandau have not changed their field. The coat of arms of Pankow
567-473: The twelve boroughs are made up of a total of 97 officially recognized neighborhoods or localities ( Ortsteile ). Almost all of these are further subdivided into several other zones (defined in German as Ortslagen, Teile, Stadtviertel, Orte etc.). The largest Ortsteil is Köpenick (34.9 km or 13.5 sq mi), the smallest one is Hansaviertel (53 ha or 130 acres). The most populated
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#1732765291391594-657: Was closed down by the Nazis on coming to power in December 1932. Holocaust survivor Elsa Conrad co-ran the lesbian bar Mali und Igel. Inside the bar, was a club called Monbijou des Westens . The club was exclusive and catered for Berlin's lesbian, intellectual elite; one famous guest was the actress Marlene Dietrich . Each year the club hosted balls with up to 600 women in attendance. The painter and printmaker Otto Dix used patrons of this establishment as subjects for some of his works. Christopher Isherwood lived just around
621-690: Was completed in 1914. In 1920, Schöneberg became a part of Greater Berlin . Subsequent to World War II the Rathaus served as the city hall of West Berlin until 1991 when the administration of the reunited City of Berlin moved back to the Rotes Rathaus in Mitte . The area around Nollendorfplatz has been the heart of gay life in Berlin, since the 1920s and early–1930s during the Weimar Republic . The Eldorado nightclub on Motzstraße
648-456: Was created with a new design in 2008, having been the only district without an emblem for 7 years. The borough government is part of the two-tier administration of the Berlin city-state , whereby the Senate and its affiliated agencies, institutions, and municipal enterprises form the first tier of the so-called Hauptverwaltung (central administration). In the second tier, the boroughs enjoy
675-469: Was established in 1920, the city was organized into twenty boroughs, most of which were named after their largest component neighborhood, often a former city or municipality; others, such as Kreuzberg and Prenzlauer Berg , were named for geographic features. Minor changes to borough boundaries were made in 1938. After World War II, Berlin was divided into four sectors, with the Western sectors controlled by
702-621: Was passed by the Prussian Parliament on 27 April 1920 and came into effect on 1 October of the same year. The new Prussian province then termed Greater Berlin acquired territories from the Province of Brandenburg and consisted of the following: The Act increased the area of Berlin thirteen times from 6,572 hectares to 87,810 hectares. The population also rose to 4 million, making it the largest city in Germany. Greater Berlin
729-432: Was then subdivided into 20 boroughs ( Verwaltungsbezirke ): Through that law, it became possible to implement integrated town planning across the whole of Greater Berlin. The Act was an important foundation for the rise of Berlin to a cultural centre of Europe in the 1920s . Apart from minor changes, the city boundary defined in the law is still the same as today even though its character has changed several times over
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