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{{Short description|Major thoroughfare in Berlin, Germany}}
{{Foreignchar|ß|Wilhelmstrasse}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2024}}
]
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
] can be seen on the historical marker.]]
{{For|the street in the Berlin district of Spandau|Wilhelmstraße (Spandau)}}
] at Wilhelmstraße 70. On the historical marker can be seen British Ambassadors ] and Sir ].]]
{{more citations needed|date=October 2024}}
{{Expand German|topic=geo|date=October 2024|Wilhelmstraße (Berlin-Mitte)}}
{{Infobox street
| name = Wilhelmstraße
| marker_image =
| alternate_name = Wilhelmstrasse
| image = Wilhelmstraße Berlin Britische Botschaft.jpg
| image_size =
| image_alt = Wilhelmstraße today: anti-car bomb ]s at the British embassy
| image_map =
| caption = Wilhelmstraße today: anti-car bomb ]s at the British embassy
| map_type = Germany Berlin
| map_size =
| map_caption = Location within Berlin
| map_alt = Location within Berlin
| former_names = {{ubl|{{small|Central and southern parts:}}|{{lang|de|Husarenstraße}}|{{small|(after 1731–1740)}}<ref name=vinkler>{{cite thesis |last=Vinkler |first=Aleš |date=2010 |title=Die Straßennamen in Berlin und Wien heute: Ein Beitrag zur Mikrotoponymie |trans-title=The names of streets in Berlin and Wien today: A contribution to microtoponymy |url=https://theses.cz/id/h529ga/877657 |degree=Masters |chapter= |publisher=Palacký University Olomouc |pages=49–50 |oclc= |access-date=17 October 2024}}</ref>|{{lang|de|Wilhelmstraße}}|{{small|(1740–1964)}}<ref name=vinkler/>|{{small|Northern part:}}|{{lang|de|Neue Wilhelmstraße}}|{{small|(1822–1964)}}<ref name="kauperts">{{cite web |title=Wilhelmstraße |url=https://berlin.kauperts.de/Strassen/Wilhelmstrasse-10117-10963-Berlin |website=Kauperts Straßenführer durch Berlin |publisher={{ill|Kaupert (publisher)|de|Kaupert (Verlag)|lt=Kaupert}} |access-date=17 October 2024 |language=de}}</ref>|{{small|Northern and central parts:}}|{{lang|de|Otto-Grotewohl-Straße}}|{{small|(1964–1993)}}<ref name=vinkler/><ref name="kauperts"/>|{{small|Southern part:}}|{{lang|de|Wilhelmstraße}}|{{small|(1964–1993)}}<ref name=vinkler/><ref name="taz 1991-11-11">{{cite news |author1=<!--not stated--> |title=Ironie einer »Umbenennung« |trans-title=Irony of a "renaming" |url=https://taz.de/Ironie-einer-Umbenennung/!1694840/ |access-date=16 October 2024 |work=] |date=11 November 1991 |language=de}}</ref>|{{small|Northern and central parts:}}|{{lang|de|Toleranzstraße}}|{{small|(1991,}}<ref name="taz 1991-11-11"/> {{small|not implemented}}<ref name="saarinen">{{cite book |last1=Saarinen |first1=Hannes |editor1-last=Aunesluoma |editor1-first=Juhana |editor2-last=Kettunen |editor2-first=Pauli |title=The Cold War and the Politics of History |date=2008 |publisher=Edita Publishing / University of Helsinki Department of Social Science History |location=Helsinki |isbn=9789521046377 |page=91 |url=https://helda.helsinki.fi/server/api/core/bitstreams/784f7953-025f-49f1-b1fa-152533bfccd4/content |chapter=Symbolic Places in Berlin before and after the Fall of the Wall}}</ref>)}}
| part_of =
| namesake = ]
| type = ]
| owner =
| maint =
| length = {{cvt|2400|m}}<ref name="bz 2012-11-16">{{cite news |last1=Reich |first1=Anja |title=Die Geschichte der Berliner Wilhelmstraße: Schönheitsfehler Plattenbau |trans-title=The History of Berlin's Wilhelmstraße: Flawed Prefabricated Buildings |url=https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/archiv/die-geschichte-der-berliner-wilhelmstrasse-schoenheitsfehler-plattenbau-li.799813 |access-date=18 October 2024 |work=] |date=16 November 2012 |language=de}}</ref><ref name="dt 2013-01-27">{{cite news |last1=Heinke |first1=Lothar |title=Wilhelmstraße: Auf verwischten Spuren |trans-title=Wilhelmstraße: On blurred tracks |url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/auf-verwischten-spuren-2280031.html |access-date=18 October 2024 |work=] |date=27 January 2013 |language=de-DE}}</ref><ref name="bm 2022-08-05">{{cite news |last1=Teuber |first1=Dirk |title=Die Wilhelmstraße ist eine Straße mit Geschichte |trans-title=Wilhelmstraße is a street with history |url=https://www.ghb-online.de/oeffentlichkeitsarbeit/pressestimmen/1128-die-wilhelmstrasse-ist-eine-strasse-mit-geschichte.html |access-date=18 October 2024 |work=] / {{ill|Gesellschaft Historisches Berlin|de}} |date=5 August 2022 |language=de}}</ref>
| length_m =
| length_km =
| length_ref =
| length_notes =
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| area =
| addresses =
| location = ], Germany
| quarter = ], ]
| postal_code =
| metro = {{ubl|{{ric|Berlin S-Bahn|S1|size=x12}} {{ric|Berlin S-Bahn|S2|size=x12}} {{ric|Berlin S-Bahn|S25|size=x12}} {{ric|Berlin S-Bahn|S26|size=x12}} {{ric|Berlin U-Bahn|U5|size=x12}} | ] | {{ric|Berlin U-Bahn|U2|size=x12}} | ] |{{ric|Berlin S-Bahn|S1|size=x12}} {{ric|Berlin S-Bahn|S2|size=x12}} {{ric|Berlin S-Bahn|S25|size=x12}} {{ric|Berlin S-Bahn|S26|size=x12}} | ] | {{ric|Berlin U-Bahn|U1|size=x12}} {{ric|Berlin U-Bahn|U3|size=x12}} {{ric|Berlin U-Bahn|U7|size=x12}} | ] | {{ric|Berlin U-Bahn|U1|size=x12}} {{ric|Berlin U-Bahn|U3|size=x12}} {{ric|Berlin U-Bahn|U6|size=x12}} | ] }}
| coordinates = {{coord|format=dms|region:DE-BE_type:landmark|display=it}}
| direction_a = North
| terminus_a = {{ubl|{{ill|Luisenstraße (Berlin)|de|lt=Luisenstraße}}|{{ill|Marschall Bridge|de|Marschallbrücke}}|{{ill|Reichstagufer|de}}}}
| direction_b = South
| terminus_b = {{ubl|{{ill|Hallesches Ufer|de}}|Mehring Bridge|]}}
| junction = {{ubl|{{ill|Dorotheenstraße (Berlin)|de|lt=Dorotheenstraße}}|]|{{ill|Behrenstraße|de}}|Hannah-Arendt-Straße|{{ill|Französische Straße (Berlin)|de|lt=Französische Straße}}|]|]|]|]|Zimmerstraße|{{ill|Kochstraße (Berlin)|de|lt=Kochstraße}}|Anhalter Straße|Puttkamerstraße|Hedemannstraße|Franz-Klühs-Straße|{{ill|Stresemannstraße (Berlin)|de|lt=Stresemannstraße}} }}
| main_contractor =
| cost =
| references =
| commissioning_date =
| construction_start_date =
| completion_date =
| inauguration_date = After {{Start date|1731<!--|MM|DD-->}}<ref name=vinkler/><ref name="kauperts"/>
| demolition_date =
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The '''Wilhelmstraße''' (normally ] ''Wilhelmstrasse'') is a street in the center of ], the capital of ]. Between the mid 19th century and 1945 it was the administrative centre first of the ] and then of the unified German state, housing in particular the ] and the ]. For this reason the term "the Wilhelmstrasse" was used to signify the German governmental administration as a whole, much as the term "]" is often used to signify the British governmental administration as a whole. '''Wilhelmstraße''', or '''Wilhelmstrasse''' (see ];<ref>For the spelling, see, ''inter alia'', Paul Seabury: ''The Wilhelmstrasse'', Joachim Joesten, ''The "New" Wilhelmstrasse'', and the works of ]. The ''Oxford Illustrated Dictionary'' gives only this spelling; so do the Second Edition of the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', and all five of its quotations.</ref> {{IPA|de|ˈvɪlhɛlmˌʃtʁaːsə|De-Wilhelmstraße.ogg}}; {{trans|William Street}}) is a major ] in the central ] and ] districts of Berlin, Germany. Until 1945, it was recognised as the centre of the government, first of the ], and later of the unified ], housing in particular the ] and the ]. The street's name was thus also frequently used as a ] for overall German governmental administration: much as the term "]" is often used to signify the British governmental administration as a whole. In English, "the Wilhelmstrasse" usually referred to the German Foreign Office.<ref>See ''Daisy, Princess of Pless'' by Herself, p. 63. ''OED'', "Wilhelmstrasse"</ref>


==Course==
The Wilhelmstraße runs south from the ], on a line slightly east of south, until its juncture with ] near the ], a distance of about two kilometres. It is crossed (as one heads south) by ], ] and ], which to the west of the Wilhelmstraße becomes ] (known before ] as ]).
The Wilhelmstraße runs south from the ] riverside through the historic ] quarter to the ] boulevard near ] and ], where it takes on a line slightly east of south through adjacent ], until its juncture with Stresemannstraße near ] in Kreuzberg, an overall distance of about {{convert|2.4|km|mi|abbr=on}}.


Further south of ] it passes the nowadays built-over former ] vis-à-vis ], it crosses ] near ] and ], and ], known until after World War II as ''Prinz-Albrecht-Straße''. At its southern end, Wilhelmstraße originally met with ], which runs roughly parallel to the east, on the ] circus, before the street course was westerly redirected to the Stresemannstraße junction about 1970.
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 ], which runs roughly parallel to the east, were given their current names to commemorate ], who had done much to develop the area.


Between Unter den Linden and parallel Behrenstraße, the road is closed for motor vehicles as a protection of the ].
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 ] (1919-33), the ] official residence was at Wilhelmstraße 73. It was from the balcony of this building that Reich President ] watched the torchlight parade on the night the Nazis came to power: ] ].


==History==
In 1938-39 a new Reich Chancellery was built for ] by ]. This building stood immediately south of the old Chancellery, on the corner of Wilhelmstraße and ], 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 ], no longer exists. Also vanished is the ], which stood a few doors away and had been Hitler's favoured residence in Berlin before he came to power.
], from 1713 ] and ], had the southwestern Friedrichstadt quarter of his Berlin residence significantly enlarged, whereby the premises up to the ] (on present-day Stresemannstrasse) were developed as an affluent residential area. In 1731 the ''Husarenstraße'' (Street of the ]s) was built as a north-south thoroughfare of the ] city layout, where many ]s, who had fled from ], as well as expelled members of the ] settled. Several personal confidants of the king had large city palaces erected, most notably General ] and the French Baron François Mathieu Vernezobre de Laurieux, who took his residence in the later ]. The street was renamed ''Wilhelmstraße'' in honour of the king, who had died in 1740.


===Government district===
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 ]. The Finance Ministry stood at Wilhelmstraße 61. During the Nazi years ]' Propaganda Ministry stood further 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. ] officiated at the grand opening in July 2000.
]
Originally a wealthy residential street, with a number of palaces belonging to members of the ] royal family, the Wilhelmstrasse developed as a Prussian government precinct from the mid 19th century. In 1858 King ] acquired the former ''Palais Schwerin'' on No. 73. This building now called ] housed an administrative seat of the Prussian minister for the Royal Household, from 1861 led by ]. In 1869 the nearby ''Palais Schulenburg'' residence of late Prince ], built in 1738/39 on No. 77, was purchased by the Prussian state government at the behest of Schleinitz' opponent Minister-President ]. Rebuilt from 1875 until 1878, it served as his official seat as ]. The next door building on No. 76 was used for the chancellery's Foreign Office department.


Several further governmental departments took their seat on Wilhelmstrasse, such as the ] (No. 61), the ] (No. 62), the ] (No. 63), the ] (No. 72), and the ] (No. 79, from 1919). The lavish ] of bankrupt "railway king" ] on No. 70 was bought by Prince Hugo of ] in an 1876 auction and rented out to the ] ambassador ], until it was finally purchased by the United Kingdom in 1884. In 1877 the ] was erected on the corner with Voss-Strasse.
The only major surviving public building on the Wilhelmstraße from the Nazi era is the ] building at Wilhelmstraße 81-85, south of Leipziger Straße, a huge edifice built on the orders of ] 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 ] in 1949. As such it was at the centre of the popular demonstrations during the ].


===Weimar Republic and Nazi years===
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 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 ] 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 the Unter den Linden to Leipziger Straße. In the 1980s, apartment blocks were built along this section of the street.
] can be seen on the historical marker.]]
After World War I the ''Palais Schwerin'' was sold by exiled Emperor ] to the ] government and in 1919 became the residence of the first ] of Germany, ]. Until the death of his successor ] in 1934, the President's official residence was at ''Wilhelmstraße 73'', where he could watch the torchlight parade on the night of the Nazi '']'' on 30 January 1933, after he had sworn in ] as German chancellor. Hitler addressed the cheering crowds on Wilhelmstasse from a window of a modern chancellery annex building erected in 1930. Styling himself "'']'' and Reich Chancellor" from 1934, he regarded the residence inadequate and ordered the construction of the vast ] according to plans designed by ]. This building, a prime example of ], stood immediately south of the old Chancellery, on the corner of the Wilhelmstrasse and the ], and its official address was ''Voßstraße 4''.


The Foreign Office moved into the former Reich President's palace, the old building being refurbished in grandiose style at the behest of Nazi Minister ]. Vis-à-vis on Wilhelmplatz, the Baroque '']'' was refurbished as seat of the ] led by ]. In 1935/36 his party fellow ] had the huge ] edifice designed by ] built on the corner with Leipziger Strasse. The adjacent ''Prinz-Albrecht-Palais'' in the south became notorious as the seat of the '']'' of the '']'' and the '']'' chief-of-staff; merged into the '']'' terror complex under ] in 1939. Most of the public buildings along Wilhelmstrasse were destroyed by ] during 1944 and early 1945 and during the following ].
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 ], who was Prime Minister of the GDR from 1949 to 1964.


===Cold War===
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.
]
After the war, Wilhelmstrasse as far south as Niederkirchnerstrasse was in the ] sector of Allied-occupied Berlin, and apart from clearing the rubble from the street little was done to reconstruct the area until the founding of the ] (GDR) in 1949, with ] as its capital. One of the earliest reconstructions was the 1948-built provisional wooden church hall of the ] congregation on Wilhelmstrasse 138.


The ] 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. The only major surviving public building in the Wilhelmstrasse was just Göring's ], which had escaped major damage during the war. As one of the few intact government buildings in central Berlin, it was used by the ] and the (East) ], later by the ] of the ], its ] successor and several East German ministries and government departments. As ''Haus der Ministerien'' it was at the centre of the popular demonstrations during the ].
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.


The building of the ] in 1961 cut the street in half. In 1964 the East Berlin section of the street was named after the former GDR Minister-president ], who had died in office on September 21. Several embassies of "befriended" countries were erected on the corner with Unter den Linden from about 1970 onwards. The new embassy building of the ] was erected from 1974 to 1978 on Wilhelmplatz. In the 1980s, several '']'' (concrete slab) apartment blocks were built on the cleared premises along East Berlin ''Otto-Grotewohl-Straße''. The flats were quite popular among the ], as they provided an undisturbed view across the Wall's towards ]. The former "death strip" is today the site of the ].
==External links==
{{Commons|Wilhelmstraße (Berlin)}}
* {{de icon}}
* {{de icon}}


==Today==
{{coor title dms|52|30|35|N|13|23|03|E|region:DE-BE_type:landmark}}
] and Sir ]]]
Today, the Wilhelmstraße is an important traffic artery, but has not regained its former status. Since ], some federal ministries have moved their seats to Wilhelmstraße, such as the ] on former Wilhelmplatz, the ] in the former Reich Ministry of Aviation complex (renamed '']'' in 1992), as well as the ] on ''Wilhelmstraße'' 72 – the only German government ministry now located on its prewar site although in a partly reconstructed building.

The British Embassy, whose original building had been destroyed by bombing, was rebuilt on the site. ] officiated at the grand opening in July 2000. Other public institutions on Wilhelmstraße include the ] (television studio) of the ] broadcasting organization at the northern Spree riverside, the ] techno club, the ] museum at the former ''Reichssicherheitshauptamt'' site, and the ''Willy-Brandt-Haus'' headquarters of the ] on the southern corner with Stresemannstrasse.

Many of the occupants of the GDR apartment blocks are recent immigrants, and there are a number of shops and restaurants catering to ] and ]. In recent years the City of Berlin has placed a series of historical markers along Wilhelmstraße, showing where the well-known buildings of the pre-war era stood. On 8 November 2011 a memorial in honour of the failed assassin ] was inaugurated at the site of the former Reich Chancellery.

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Commonscat-inline|Wilhelmstraße (Berlin-Kreuzberg/Mitte)}}
*
* {{in lang|de}}
*
*


{{Authority control}}
]


]
]
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Latest revision as of 14:55, 28 December 2024

Major thoroughfare in Berlin, Germany

For the street in the Berlin district of Spandau, see Wilhelmstraße (Spandau).
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Wilhelmstraße
Wilhelmstrasse
Wilhelmstraße today: anti-car bomb bollards at the British embassyWilhelmstraße today: anti-car bomb bollards at the British embassy
Wilhelmstrasse is located in BerlinWilhelmstrasseLocation within Berlin
Former name(s)
  • Central and southern parts:
  • Husarenstraße
  • (after 1731–1740)
  • Wilhelmstraße
  • (1740–1964)
  • Northern part:
  • Neue Wilhelmstraße
  • (1822–1964)
  • Northern and central parts:
  • Otto-Grotewohl-Straße
  • (1964–1993)
  • Southern part:
  • Wilhelmstraße
  • (1964–1993)
  • Northern and central parts:
  • Toleranzstraße
  • (1991, not implemented)
NamesakeFrederick William I of Prussia
TypeStreet
Length2,400 m (7,900 ft)
LocationBerlin, Germany
QuarterMitte, Kreuzberg
Nearest metro station
Coordinates52°30′29″N 13°22′39″E / 52.50792°N 13.37744°E / 52.50792; 13.37744
North end
Major
junctions
South end
Construction
InaugurationAfter 1731 (1731)

Wilhelmstraße, or Wilhelmstrasse (see ß; German pronunciation: [ˈvɪlhɛlmˌʃtʁaːsə]; transl. William Street) is a major thoroughfare in the central Mitte and Kreuzberg districts of Berlin, Germany. Until 1945, it was recognised as the centre of the government, first of the Kingdom of Prussia, and later of the unified German Reich, housing in particular the Reich Chancellery and the Foreign Office. The street's name was thus also frequently used as a metonym for overall German governmental administration: 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.

Course

The Wilhelmstraße runs south from the Spree riverside through the historic Dorotheenstadt quarter to the Unter den Linden boulevard near Pariser Platz and Brandenburg Gate, where it takes on a line slightly east of south through adjacent Friedrichstadt, until its juncture with Stresemannstraße near Hallesches Tor in Kreuzberg, an overall distance of about 2.4 km (1.5 mi).

Further south of Unter den Linden it passes the nowadays built-over former Wilhelmplatz vis-à-vis Voss-Straße, it crosses Leipziger Straße near Leipziger and Potsdamer Platz, and Niederkirchnerstraße, known until after World War II as Prinz-Albrecht-Straße. At its southern end, Wilhelmstraße originally met with Friedrichstraße, which runs roughly parallel to the east, on the Belle-Alliance circus, before the street course was westerly redirected to the Stresemannstraße junction about 1970.

Between Unter den Linden and parallel Behrenstraße, the road is closed for motor vehicles as a protection of the Embassy of the United Kingdom.

History

Frederick William I, from 1713 King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg, had the southwestern Friedrichstadt quarter of his Berlin residence significantly enlarged, whereby the premises up to the Berlin Customs Wall (on present-day Stresemannstrasse) were developed as an affluent residential area. In 1731 the Husarenstraße (Street of the Hussars) was built as a north-south thoroughfare of the Baroque city layout, where many Huguenots, who had fled from France, as well as expelled members of the Moravian Church settled. Several personal confidants of the king had large city palaces erected, most notably General Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin and the French Baron François Mathieu Vernezobre de Laurieux, who took his residence in the later Prinz-Albrecht-Palais. The street was renamed Wilhelmstraße in honour of the king, who had died in 1740.

Government district

Wilhelmstraße in 1934, Reich Chancellery and Foreign Office on the left

Originally a wealthy residential street, with a number of palaces belonging to members of the Hohenzollern royal family, the Wilhelmstrasse developed as a Prussian government precinct from the mid 19th century. In 1858 King Frederick William IV acquired the former Palais Schwerin on No. 73. This building now called Palace of the Reich President housed an administrative seat of the Prussian minister for the Royal Household, from 1861 led by Alexander von Schleinitz. In 1869 the nearby Palais Schulenburg residence of late Prince Antoni Radziwiłł, built in 1738/39 on No. 77, was purchased by the Prussian state government at the behest of Schleinitz' opponent Minister-President Otto von Bismarck. Rebuilt from 1875 until 1878, it served as his official seat as German chancellor. The next door building on No. 76 was used for the chancellery's Foreign Office department.

Several further governmental departments took their seat on Wilhelmstrasse, such as the Reich Ministry of Finance (No. 61), the Imperial Colonial Office (No. 62), the Prussian state ministry (No. 63), the Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture (No. 72), and the Reich Ministry of Transport (No. 79, from 1919). The lavish Palais Strousberg of bankrupt "railway king" Bethel Henry Strousberg on No. 70 was bought by Prince Hugo of Hohenlohe in an 1876 auction and rented out to the British ambassador Lord Ampthill, until it was finally purchased by the United Kingdom in 1884. In 1877 the Borsig Palace was erected on the corner with Voss-Strasse.

Weimar Republic and Nazi years

The site of the Propaganda Ministry building at Wilhelmstraße 8. Joseph Goebbels can be seen on the historical marker.

After World War I the Palais Schwerin was sold by exiled Emperor Wilhelm II to the Weimar Republic government and in 1919 became the residence of the first Reich President of Germany, Friedrich Ebert. Until the death of his successor Paul von Hindenburg in 1934, the President's official residence was at Wilhelmstraße 73, where he could watch the torchlight parade on the night of the Nazi Machtergreifung on 30 January 1933, after he had sworn in Adolf Hitler as German chancellor. Hitler addressed the cheering crowds on Wilhelmstasse from a window of a modern chancellery annex building erected in 1930. Styling himself "Führer and Reich Chancellor" from 1934, he regarded the residence inadequate and ordered the construction of the vast New Reich Chancellery according to plans designed by Albert Speer. This building, a prime example of Nazi architecture, stood immediately south of the old Chancellery, on the corner of the Wilhelmstrasse and the Voss Strasse, and its official address was Voßstraße 4.

The Foreign Office moved into the former Reich President's palace, the old building being refurbished in grandiose style at the behest of Nazi Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop. Vis-à-vis on Wilhelmplatz, the Baroque Ordenspalais was refurbished as seat of the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda led by Joseph Goebbels. In 1935/36 his party fellow Hermann Göring had the huge Ministry of Aviation edifice designed by Ernst Sagebiel built on the corner with Leipziger Strasse. The adjacent Prinz-Albrecht-Palais in the south became notorious as the seat of the Sicherheitsdienst of the Reichsführer-SS and the Sicherheitspolizei chief-of-staff; merged into the SS-Reichssicherheitshauptamt terror complex under Reinhard Heydrich in 1939. Most of the public buildings along Wilhelmstrasse were destroyed by Allied bombing during 1944 and early 1945 and during the following Battle of Berlin.

Cold War

Demolished Wilhelmstraße, 1946

After the war, Wilhelmstrasse as far south as Niederkirchnerstrasse was in the Soviet sector of Allied-occupied Berlin, and apart from clearing the rubble from the street little was done to reconstruct the area until the founding of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1949, with East Berlin as its capital. One of the earliest reconstructions was the 1948-built provisional wooden church hall of the Moravian Brethren congregation on Wilhelmstrasse 138.

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. The only major surviving public building in the Wilhelmstrasse was just Göring's Reich Air Ministry, which had escaped major damage during the war. As one of the few intact government buildings in central Berlin, it was used by the Soviet Military Administration in Germany and the (East) German Economic Commission, later by the German People's Council of the Soviet occupation zone, its People's Chamber successor and several East German ministries and government departments. As Haus der Ministerien it was at the centre of the popular demonstrations during the workers' uprising of 17 June 1953.

The building of the Berlin Wall in 1961 cut the street in half. In 1964 the East Berlin section of the street was named after the former GDR Minister-president Otto Grotewohl, who had died in office on September 21. Several embassies of "befriended" countries were erected on the corner with Unter den Linden from about 1970 onwards. The new embassy building of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was erected from 1974 to 1978 on Wilhelmplatz. In the 1980s, several Plattenbau (concrete slab) apartment blocks were built on the cleared premises along East Berlin Otto-Grotewohl-Straße. The flats were quite popular among the nomenklatura, as they provided an undisturbed view across the Wall's towards West Berlin. The former "death strip" is today the site of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

Today

New British Embassy, historical marker displays Ambassadors Lord D'Abernon and Sir Eric Phipps

Today, the Wilhelmstraße is an important traffic artery, but has not regained its former status. Since German reunification, some federal ministries have moved their seats to Wilhelmstraße, such as the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs on former Wilhelmplatz, the Ministry of Finance in the former Reich Ministry of Aviation complex (renamed Detlev-Rohwedder-Haus in 1992), as well as the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection on Wilhelmstraße 72 – the only German government ministry now located on its prewar site although in a partly reconstructed building.

The British Embassy, whose original building had been destroyed by bombing, was rebuilt on the site. Queen Elizabeth II officiated at the grand opening in July 2000. Other public institutions on Wilhelmstraße include the ARD-Hauptstadtstudio (television studio) of the ARD broadcasting organization at the northern Spree riverside, the E-Werk techno club, the Topography of Terror museum at the former Reichssicherheitshauptamt site, and the Willy-Brandt-Haus headquarters of the Social Democratic Party of Germany on the southern corner with Stresemannstrasse.

Many of the occupants of the GDR 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 Wilhelmstraße, showing where the well-known buildings of the pre-war era stood. On 8 November 2011 a memorial in honour of the failed assassin Johann Georg Elser was inaugurated at the site of the former Reich Chancellery.

Notes

  1. ^ Vinkler, Aleš (2010). Die Straßennamen in Berlin und Wien heute: Ein Beitrag zur Mikrotoponymie [The names of streets in Berlin and Wien today: A contribution to microtoponymy] (Masters thesis). Palacký University Olomouc. pp. 49–50. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  2. ^ "Wilhelmstraße". Kauperts Straßenführer durch Berlin (in German). Kaupert [de]. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  3. ^ "Ironie einer »Umbenennung«" [Irony of a "renaming"]. die tageszeitung (taz) (in German). 11 November 1991. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  4. Saarinen, Hannes (2008). "Symbolic Places in Berlin before and after the Fall of the Wall". In Aunesluoma, Juhana; Kettunen, Pauli (eds.). The Cold War and the Politics of History. Helsinki: Edita Publishing / University of Helsinki Department of Social Science History. p. 91. ISBN 9789521046377.
  5. Reich, Anja (16 November 2012). "Die Geschichte der Berliner Wilhelmstraße: Schönheitsfehler Plattenbau" [The History of Berlin's Wilhelmstraße: Flawed Prefabricated Buildings]. Berliner Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 18 October 2024.
  6. Heinke, Lothar (27 January 2013). "Wilhelmstraße: Auf verwischten Spuren" [Wilhelmstraße: On blurred tracks]. Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Retrieved 18 October 2024.
  7. Teuber, Dirk (5 August 2022). "Die Wilhelmstraße ist eine Straße mit Geschichte" [Wilhelmstraße is a street with history]. Berliner Morgenpost / Gesellschaft Historisches Berlin [de] (in German). Retrieved 18 October 2024.
  8. For the spelling, see, inter alia, Paul Seabury: The Wilhelmstrasse, Joachim Joesten, The "New" Wilhelmstrasse, and the works of George Frost Kennan. The Oxford Illustrated Dictionary gives only this spelling; so do the Second Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, and all five of its quotations.
  9. See Daisy, Princess of Pless by Herself, p. 63. OED, "Wilhelmstrasse"

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