Neukölln's and Berlin's Jewish survivors at first sheltered i.a. in Berlin's UNRRA camps for Jewish displaced persons, e.g. in nearby Mariendorf, before emigrating to Israel or the United States; these camps were mainly constructed between 1945 and 1946 for Jewish refugees from Poland, who were fleeing post-war anti-semitic pogroms; cf. Sigrid Kneist, "Eine eigene Stadt mitten in Berlin", Tagesspiegel, 25 July 2021 (archived).
It was founded in 1981 and first occupied an area on Potsdamer Platz, before relocating to its lease on the Oderstraße in 1995; however, its lease was terminated at the end of 2023; Madlen Harbach, "Kündigung für Berlins ältestes Wagendorf: Wie geht es weiter mit den Neuköllner Rollheimern?", Tagesspiegel, 25 November 2023 (archived). One additional Wagenburg is the radical alternative queer trailer park Kanal, which has occupied a compound on the Neukölln side of Kiefholzstraße at the border to Plänterwald since 2010, though their domain had to be downsized by half for the new modular refugee center; the Wagenburg was formerly known as Schwarzer Kanal, and has existed in various inner-city locations since 1989.
"Je nachdem, wie man draufschaut, kann man sagen: Hier schaffen es Menschen, auf engen Raum recht gut miteinander auszukommen. Oder: Es ist mehr ein Nebeneinander, hin und wieder auch ein Gegeneinander." Derviş Hızarcı in: Madlen Haarbach, "Warum immer Neukölln?", Tagesspiegel, 28 October 2024 (archived).
Compared to Kreuzberg and the Eastern inner-city quarters of Berlin after German reunification, Neukölln has had far fewer squats. As of 2024, of the 21 squatted apartment houses and occupied undeveloped areas, only two houses remain, both of which have been occupied since 1981, a rear building on Karl-Marx-Straße and a building on Richardplatz, whose residents supported the Comenius Garden and cooperate in the historical forge on Richardplatz. Neukölln is furthermore home to several partially squatted houses, used e.g. for radical left stores, organizational offices or cultural venues, with notable examples from recent times being the Friedel54 on Friedelstraße (Reuterkiez), which was evicted under heavy protests in 2017, while the alternative pub Syndikat, which had been forcibly evicted in 2020 by a shell company of British William Pears Group from their home on Weisestraße (Schillerkiez), reopened in 2023 on Emser Straße (Rixdorf); cf. i.a. Ingo Salmen, Hasan Gökkaya & André Görke, "Friedel 54 in Berlin-Neukölln: Kiezladen nach Protesten an Gerichtsvollzieher übergeben", Tagesspiegel, 29 June 2017; Erik Peter, "Denen, die drin saufen", taz, 19 January 2023. For the history and an overview of Berlin's and Neukölln's squatting scene, see e.g. Toni Grabowsky (ed.), "berlin besetzt", Assoziation A, Berlin 2024.
berlin.de
berlin.de
In the charter, the ultimate (earthly) authorities are only named indirectly as mit Vollmacht unserer Oberen ("authorized by our superiors"); beside Hermann von Werberg ("Werberge"), the charter also names other representatives of the regional Hospitaller authorities, namely co-founder Dietrich von Sasar, Komtur (Commander) of Tempelhof, Jacob von Detz, the incumbent priest at Tempelhof, as advisor and attestor, as well as other witnesses, e.g. Hans Schuler, the Küster (Sexton) at Tempelhof. The charter already mentions a schultheiß, a municipal magistrate, to be inaugurated. The size of the new village's allocated area was 25 Hufe, i.e. 425.5 hectares (4.255 square kilometers) or 1501.5 acres (1.64 square miles), and it offered a home to 14 families of mostly farmers with (depending on the source) 50 to 100 residents; e.g. "Chronik und Geschichte Neuköllns", Bezirksamt Neukölln.
As of July 2024, the whole borough of Neukölln houses only 1,703 of Berlin's refugees (4.68%); "Überblick über die Flüchtlingsunterkünfte in Berlin", Landesamt für Flüchtlingsangelegenheiten, 7 July 2024. As of January 2024, of the borough's seven refugee centers, only two were in the quarter Neukölln, a larger one on Karl-Marx-Straße in Neukölln's southern dockland area just north of Grenzallee, and a smaller one at the Kiefholzstraße near the eastern border to Plänterwald.
For a complete list, see "Städtepartnerschaften". Der Regierende Bürgermeister / Staatskanzlei. 2024.
kriminalitaetsatlas.berlin.de
Crime statistics only exist for the borough of Neukölln, and in 2023, crime overall rose slightly to 13,794 registered cases, but still remains below the previous decade's maximum of 14,406 in 2015. Generally, Neukölln, in relation to its population size, has fewer registered criminal cases than, for example, the boroughs Mitte and Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain. However, as in all of Berlin, violent felonies in Neukölln have been steadily rising for the last decade to a new high of 1,393 in 2023, especially aggravated assaults, which, compared to the pre-pandemic high, rose by more than 10% from 383 in 2020 to 423 cases; for the full statistics, see e.g. "Kriminalitätsatlas Berlin", Polizei Berlin.
Karl Grünberg, "Das Geisterhaus vom Hermannplatz", Tip, January 2014; "Das Geisterhaus vom Hermannplatz", Berliner Kurier, 14 March 2016. The so-called Geisterhaus ("haunted house") at Hasenheide 119, which had been abandoned since 2012, was originally owned by Rixdorf's Bohemian Barta family (see above), but was eventually sold and completely renovated in 2020.
Different from the M41, the new tram line would not terminate at Berlin Hauptbahnhof, and the routing via Urbanstraße could interfere with operations at the planned M10 terminus; therefore, an alternate route south of Hermannplatz via Hasenheide was also part of the proposal; the new tram line will not open before 2035; Peter Neumann, "Von Schöneweide zum Potsdamer Platz: Berlins unbeliebteste Buslinie soll Straßenbahn werden", Berliner Zeitung, 7 November 2024.
The new leadership over the Teltow by the Johannite Knights Hospitaller perpetuated the Templar rule of force, which i.a. led to continuous strife along the northern border at the Schafgraben, later known as Müllen-Graben, modern-day Landwehr Canal; in 1435 the Hospitaller were accused of having secretly moved boundary stones in the area around the Johannistisch, in modern-day Kreuzberg near the road Am Johannistisch, which prompted the so-called Tempelhofer Fehde (Feud of Tempelhof), as the Hospitaller under the command of Nickel von Colditz launched a military attack against Cölln and Berlin at the Köpenicker Tor near the Roßstraßenbrücke south of Cölln, but their battalion was quickly repelled at the city gates under heavy bombardment, so the Hospitaller decided to retreat toward Richardsdorf, pursued by Cölln's forces, but were ambushed from behind by Cölln's and Berlin's cavalry in the area of modern-day Lausitzer Platz, so they fled across the Schafgraben or the Schlangengraben into their own domain, possibly into the western part of the Richardsdorf lot, where they were defeated before dusk; cf. Frank Eberhardt, "Verziert mit Ross und Meerjungfrauen: Die Roßstraßenbrücke im Bezirk Mitte", Berlinische Monatsschrift4, p. 11 sq., Berlin 2001; Werner von Westhafen, "Die Tempelhofer Fehde", Kreuzberger Chronik174, November 2015.
Apart from the infamy, some representatives had different and more ordinary reservations regarding the city's name, arguing that the last syllable -dorf ("village") had become unbefitting of Prussia's largest town, while some had even taken offense at the unaesthetic sound of the first syllable Rix-. The alternative name, originally proposed by first mayor Boddin in an act of self-approval, had been Hermannstadt (Herbert Schwenk, "Alle ding… vorgan mit der tydt – Die Verwandlungen von Rixdorf und Neukölln", Berlinische Monatsschrift8, p. 43, Berlin 2001; Fabian Friedmann, "Der Patriarch", Neukoellner, 19 September 2012).
The decree was first published on 31 July 1873; cf. Amtsblatt der Königlichen Regierung zu Potsdam und der Stadt Berlin, Potsdam 1873, p. 230, s.v. No. 130. For many decades Böhmisch-Rixdorf had resisted plans for unification; the Gesetz über die Landgemeinde-Verfassungen (Law on the Constitution of rural Communes) of 14 April 1856 created the legal basis for the 1871 establishment of the two Rixdorf municipal councils, which paved the way for more cooperation and eventually unification. The principal municipal magistrate in charge of Böhmisch-Rixdorf, who had conducted the unification affairs on the Bohemian side, was Carl Friedrich Barta, who had been in office since the formation of the councils in 1871, and he remained a municipal magistrate under Boddin from 1874 to 1882; the Bartas had been one of Neukölln's most prominent families, among the very first Bohemian settlers of 1737.
bz-berlin.de
Over the years there have been several petitions to reestablish the historical name Rixdorf; Kai Ritzmann, "Aus (Nord-)Neukölln soll wieder Rixdorf werden", 1 July 2019, B.Z.. Other alternative toponyms are Neukölln-Nord and Neukölln 44. The number 44 had been part of the quarter's old postal code (1000 Berlin 44, Neukölln 1) and is still in informal cultural use after the introduction of the new postal codes in Germany on 1 July 1993. Neukölln's current postal codes range from 12043 to 12059, using only the odd terminating numbers in-between. Aside from its use to distinguish the quarter from the borough, the old postal code 44 has i.a. become part of local youth and music culture, adopted e.g. by native hip hop musicians such as Nashi44, Doni44, 44Grad and Kalazh44.
Prehistorical overview and historical chronology, settlement history and monuments i.a. in Berlin-Neukölln, seine Geschichte und Denkmale: Rixdorf, Bezirksamt Neukölln, Berlin 1999 (online copy); for more detailed annals of Rixdorf and Neukölln from its inception to 1999, cf. Manfred Motel, Chronik von Rixdorf, Berlin 1999 (online copy).
Cf. e.g. the 650-years anniversary edition "Rixdorf – 650 – Neukölln" of Mitteilungen des Vereins für die Geschichte Berlins (Vol. 3, 2010). Other important (and officially recognized) historical festivals are the foundation of Rixdorf's Bohemian village on 31 May 1737, and Rixdorf's independence on 1 April 1899 (see below).
digitale-sammlungen.de
daten.digitale-sammlungen.de
Johann Georg Theodor Graesse, Friedrich Benedict, Helmut Piechl (ed.), Sophie-Charlotte Piechl (ed.), Orbis Latinus – Lexikon lateinischer geographischer Namen des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit1, Braunschweig 1972, p. 550 s.v. "Colonia Brandenburgica".
Due to the part-time function of the Hermannplatz as a marketplace (see below), its relatively small space and the large motorized traffic volume, the M10 will terminate just north of the plaza on Kreuzberg's Urbanstraße; "Weiterbau der Tramlinie M10: Neue Endhaltestelle an der Urbanstraße", Entwicklungsstadt Berlin, 17 November 2022.
According to modern sources, the Hermannstraße is supposedly named after Arminius, who was later mythologized in Germany as Hermann der Cherusker and became a prominent ideological figurehead in Prussian politics of the 19th century, but contemporary official documents from the time of the street's rechristening in 1875 attest that its name is derived from Hermann Boddin, who had been instrumental in the street's development and expansion. Even though this provenance was widely known among the populace, Boddin's family always denied it (Fabian Friedmann, "Der Patriarch", Neukoellner, 19 September 2012). The same provenance could therefore apply to the name Hermannplatz (since 1885), and such was certainly the people's belief, but official sources are missing in this specific regard; however, modern sources occasionally list Hermann Boddin as the plaza's eponym; cf. "Hermannplatz", in: Roman Kaupert (ed.), Kauperts Straßenführer durch Berlin, Zepter und Krone: Edition Luisenstadt, Berlin 2019.
The new leadership over the Teltow by the Johannite Knights Hospitaller perpetuated the Templar rule of force, which i.a. led to continuous strife along the northern border at the Schafgraben, later known as Müllen-Graben, modern-day Landwehr Canal; in 1435 the Hospitaller were accused of having secretly moved boundary stones in the area around the Johannistisch, in modern-day Kreuzberg near the road Am Johannistisch, which prompted the so-called Tempelhofer Fehde (Feud of Tempelhof), as the Hospitaller under the command of Nickel von Colditz launched a military attack against Cölln and Berlin at the Köpenicker Tor near the Roßstraßenbrücke south of Cölln, but their battalion was quickly repelled at the city gates under heavy bombardment, so the Hospitaller decided to retreat toward Richardsdorf, pursued by Cölln's forces, but were ambushed from behind by Cölln's and Berlin's cavalry in the area of modern-day Lausitzer Platz, so they fled across the Schafgraben or the Schlangengraben into their own domain, possibly into the western part of the Richardsdorf lot, where they were defeated before dusk; cf. Frank Eberhardt, "Verziert mit Ross und Meerjungfrauen: Die Roßstraßenbrücke im Bezirk Mitte", Berlinische Monatsschrift4, p. 11 sq., Berlin 2001; Werner von Westhafen, "Die Tempelhofer Fehde", Kreuzberger Chronik174, November 2015.
Prehistorical overview and historical chronology, settlement history and monuments i.a. in Berlin-Neukölln, seine Geschichte und Denkmale: Rixdorf, Bezirksamt Neukölln, Berlin 1999 (online copy); for more detailed annals of Rixdorf and Neukölln from its inception to 1999, cf. Manfred Motel, Chronik von Rixdorf, Berlin 1999 (online copy).
neukoellner.net
Apart from the infamy, some representatives had different and more ordinary reservations regarding the city's name, arguing that the last syllable -dorf ("village") had become unbefitting of Prussia's largest town, while some had even taken offense at the unaesthetic sound of the first syllable Rix-. The alternative name, originally proposed by first mayor Boddin in an act of self-approval, had been Hermannstadt (Herbert Schwenk, "Alle ding… vorgan mit der tydt – Die Verwandlungen von Rixdorf und Neukölln", Berlinische Monatsschrift8, p. 43, Berlin 2001; Fabian Friedmann, "Der Patriarch", Neukoellner, 19 September 2012).
According to modern sources, the Hermannstraße is supposedly named after Arminius, who was later mythologized in Germany as Hermann der Cherusker and became a prominent ideological figurehead in Prussian politics of the 19th century, but contemporary official documents from the time of the street's rechristening in 1875 attest that its name is derived from Hermann Boddin, who had been instrumental in the street's development and expansion. Even though this provenance was widely known among the populace, Boddin's family always denied it (Fabian Friedmann, "Der Patriarch", Neukoellner, 19 September 2012). The same provenance could therefore apply to the name Hermannplatz (since 1885), and such was certainly the people's belief, but official sources are missing in this specific regard; however, modern sources occasionally list Hermann Boddin as the plaza's eponym; cf. "Hermannplatz", in: Roman Kaupert (ed.), Kauperts Straßenführer durch Berlin, Zepter und Krone: Edition Luisenstadt, Berlin 2019.
Fabian Friedmann, "Der Patriarch", Neukoellner, 19 September 2012.
Karl Grünberg, "Das Geisterhaus vom Hermannplatz", Tip, January 2014; "Das Geisterhaus vom Hermannplatz", Berliner Kurier, 14 March 2016. The so-called Geisterhaus ("haunted house") at Hasenheide 119, which had been abandoned since 2012, was originally owned by Rixdorf's Bohemian Barta family (see above), but was eventually sold and completely renovated in 2020.
rixdorf.info
Signified by the words: Kost'n Groschen nur für die ganze Tour. Rieke lacht und sagt: "Na ja, dazu sind wir auch noch da!" ("It'll cost only a Groschen for the whole shebang. Rieke laughs and says: 'Well, that's what we're there for, too!'"). For the complete German lyrics, see e.g. "In Rixdorf ist Musike – Der Rixdorfer – Willi Rose", rixdorf.info. The character's name Rieke is a pun on the Rix in Rixdorf, chosen to personify the city and its vice; see above for the toponym's alternate spelling as Rieksdorf.
rollberg-quartier.de
"Die Rollbergsiedlung", Brandenburgische Stadterneuerungsgesellschaft, s.v. "Geschichte".
senstadt-bln.de
Since the closing of the old Terminal 5 near Schönefeld, the daytime bus line 171 between Hermannplatz and BER has not been extended to reach the operational terminals 1–4: using this line, passengers need to interchange either at Rudow (X7/71) or at the terminus Schönefeld (S-Bahn). Furthermore, line 171 is eventually set to terminate at Rudow; cf. "Nahverkehrsplan Berlin 2019–2023", Senatsverwaltung für Umwelt, Verkehr und Klimaschutz, p. 282.
Cf. e.g. this translation. One striking sentence in the charter foreshadows Rixdorf's and Neukölln's diverse, ephemeral and changeful history; nds.: Alle ding, dy geschyen jn der tydt, dy vorgan mit der tydt. Hirumme ist id not, dat man sy stetige vnd veste met briuen vnd hantuestigen; ger.: Alle Dinge, die in der Zeit geschehen, vergehen mit der Zeit. Darum ist es notwendig, sie stetig zu machen und zu festigen mit Urkunden und Handfestigen; eng.: "All things which occur through time, vanish with time. Therefore, it is necessary to make them steady, and to cement them, in deeds and tangible form".
"Alle Dinge, die in der Zeit geschehen, vergehen mit der Zeit. Darum ist es notwendig, sie stetig zu machen und zu festigen mit Urkunden und Handfestigen" (nds.: "Alle ding, dy geschyen jn der tydt, dy vorgan mit der tydt. Hirumme ist id not, dat man sy stetige vnd veste met briuen vnd hantuestigen"). Richardsdorf foundational charter, 1360 (digital copy).
Approximate extent of Kreuzkölln (red: minimum, red dotted: maximum, purple: Reuterkiez wedge) The toponym originally stood for the western part of the Reuterkiez, excluding the Harzer Kiez, and comprising the LORs Maybachufer, Reuterplatz and Weichselplatz, which are geographically wedged between the adjacent city blocks of the quarter Kreuzberg, whose neighborhoods SO 36 and Kreuzberg 61 border to the north and west respectively. The toponym formed in the wake of Neukölln's early gentrifying wave, which slowly resurrected the neighborhood's culture and night life, attracted an ever increasing number of young new residents, and enticed Berliners to favorably compare the up-and-coming new north of Neukölln with the more established Kreuzberg (Christine Eichelmann, "Ein Berliner Kiez erwacht zu neuem Leben", Welt, 15 June 2007). The toponym was at first dismissed by many locals on both sides of the border (Johanna Lühr, " Stadtleben: Auf lässige Nachbarschaft", Tagesspiegel, 25 October 2008), mainly due to the different history and urban characteristics of the two quarters, which at the time were still very much unequal, with Kreuzberg either more middle-class (Kreuzberg 61) or strongly influenced by the traditional alternative counterculture of Cold WarWest Berlin (SO 36) vis-à-vis the Reuterquartier's emerging hipstersubculture. But as gentrification did not stop at Neukölln's borders, the toponym Kreuzkölln today, for better or for worse, describes the western part of the Reuterkiez together with the adjacent city blocks of Kreuzberg, more precisely the Graefekiez and the Reichenberger Kiez, also known as Wiener Kiez, which together have now formed an almost fully integrated, albeit gentrified, social and urban sphere (Johannes Schneider, "Sagt endlich Kreuzkölln!", Tagesspiegel, 12 April 2016).
Approximate extent of Kreuzkölln (red: minimum, red dotted: maximum, purple: Reuterkiez wedge) The toponym originally stood for the western part of the Reuterkiez, excluding the Harzer Kiez, and comprising the LORs Maybachufer, Reuterplatz and Weichselplatz, which are geographically wedged between the adjacent city blocks of the quarter Kreuzberg, whose neighborhoods SO 36 and Kreuzberg 61 border to the north and west respectively. The toponym formed in the wake of Neukölln's early gentrifying wave, which slowly resurrected the neighborhood's culture and night life, attracted an ever increasing number of young new residents, and enticed Berliners to favorably compare the up-and-coming new north of Neukölln with the more established Kreuzberg (Christine Eichelmann, "Ein Berliner Kiez erwacht zu neuem Leben", Welt, 15 June 2007). The toponym was at first dismissed by many locals on both sides of the border (Johanna Lühr, " Stadtleben: Auf lässige Nachbarschaft", Tagesspiegel, 25 October 2008), mainly due to the different history and urban characteristics of the two quarters, which at the time were still very much unequal, with Kreuzberg either more middle-class (Kreuzberg 61) or strongly influenced by the traditional alternative counterculture of Cold WarWest Berlin (SO 36) vis-à-vis the Reuterquartier's emerging hipstersubculture. But as gentrification did not stop at Neukölln's borders, the toponym Kreuzkölln today, for better or for worse, describes the western part of the Reuterkiez together with the adjacent city blocks of Kreuzberg, more precisely the Graefekiez and the Reichenberger Kiez, also known as Wiener Kiez, which together have now formed an almost fully integrated, albeit gentrified, social and urban sphere (Johannes Schneider, "Sagt endlich Kreuzkölln!", Tagesspiegel, 12 April 2016).
However, an average of 50–100 kills of wild boar are usually registered every year in the borough of Neukölln. Generally, boars only seldomly migrate into Berlin's inner-city quarters, which would need to be directly interconnected with the large forests in Berlin's periphery, for example like the western parts of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf; for sightnings of wild boar on the Kurfürstendamm, see e.g. Cay Dobberke, "Wildschweinplage: Schweine am Ku'damm", Tagesspiegel, 25 March 2011.
Neukölln's and Berlin's Jewish survivors at first sheltered i.a. in Berlin's UNRRA camps for Jewish displaced persons, e.g. in nearby Mariendorf, before emigrating to Israel or the United States; these camps were mainly constructed between 1945 and 1946 for Jewish refugees from Poland, who were fleeing post-war anti-semitic pogroms; cf. Sigrid Kneist, "Eine eigene Stadt mitten in Berlin", Tagesspiegel, 25 July 2021 (archived).
It was founded in 1981 and first occupied an area on Potsdamer Platz, before relocating to its lease on the Oderstraße in 1995; however, its lease was terminated at the end of 2023; Madlen Harbach, "Kündigung für Berlins ältestes Wagendorf: Wie geht es weiter mit den Neuköllner Rollheimern?", Tagesspiegel, 25 November 2023 (archived). One additional Wagenburg is the radical alternative queer trailer park Kanal, which has occupied a compound on the Neukölln side of Kiefholzstraße at the border to Plänterwald since 2010, though their domain had to be downsized by half for the new modular refugee center; the Wagenburg was formerly known as Schwarzer Kanal, and has existed in various inner-city locations since 1989.
Compared to Kreuzberg and the Eastern inner-city quarters of Berlin after German reunification, Neukölln has had far fewer squats. As of 2024, of the 21 squatted apartment houses and occupied undeveloped areas, only two houses remain, both of which have been occupied since 1981, a rear building on Karl-Marx-Straße and a building on Richardplatz, whose residents supported the Comenius Garden and cooperate in the historical forge on Richardplatz. Neukölln is furthermore home to several partially squatted houses, used e.g. for radical left stores, organizational offices or cultural venues, with notable examples from recent times being the Friedel54 on Friedelstraße (Reuterkiez), which was evicted under heavy protests in 2017, while the alternative pub Syndikat, which had been forcibly evicted in 2020 by a shell company of British William Pears Group from their home on Weisestraße (Schillerkiez), reopened in 2023 on Emser Straße (Rixdorf); cf. i.a. Ingo Salmen, Hasan Gökkaya & André Görke, "Friedel 54 in Berlin-Neukölln: Kiezladen nach Protesten an Gerichtsvollzieher übergeben", Tagesspiegel, 29 June 2017; Erik Peter, "Denen, die drin saufen", taz, 19 January 2023. For the history and an overview of Berlin's and Neukölln's squatting scene, see e.g. Toni Grabowsky (ed.), "berlin besetzt", Assoziation A, Berlin 2024.
Carolina Schwarz, "Wie bunt ist Neukölln wirklich?", die tageszeitung, 12 February 2024; see alsoLGBT people and Islam; according to official 2024 numbers for the whole of Berlin, queerphobic felonies have risen eightfold since 2014, with more than 71% committed against male victims, while 80% were committed for indeterminate reasons, 12% due to right-wing and 6% due to foreign or religious ideologies, with the latter having increased significantly over the past decade, especially with regard to insults, harassment and property damage; within the quarter Neukölln, only a few streets and neighborhoods are potentially queerphobic hotspots, but those have still raised the whole borough to the fifth rank compared to other boroughs of Berlin; Alexander Fröhlich, "Mehr queerfeindliche Taten: Berliner Polizei meldet Höchststand", Der Tagesspiegel, 27 July 2024.
"Je nachdem, wie man draufschaut, kann man sagen: Hier schaffen es Menschen, auf engen Raum recht gut miteinander auszukommen. Oder: Es ist mehr ein Nebeneinander, hin und wieder auch ein Gegeneinander." Derviş Hızarcı in: Madlen Haarbach, "Warum immer Neukölln?", Tagesspiegel, 28 October 2024 (archived).
Compared to Kreuzberg and the Eastern inner-city quarters of Berlin after German reunification, Neukölln has had far fewer squats. As of 2024, of the 21 squatted apartment houses and occupied undeveloped areas, only two houses remain, both of which have been occupied since 1981, a rear building on Karl-Marx-Straße and a building on Richardplatz, whose residents supported the Comenius Garden and cooperate in the historical forge on Richardplatz. Neukölln is furthermore home to several partially squatted houses, used e.g. for radical left stores, organizational offices or cultural venues, with notable examples from recent times being the Friedel54 on Friedelstraße (Reuterkiez), which was evicted under heavy protests in 2017, while the alternative pub Syndikat, which had been forcibly evicted in 2020 by a shell company of British William Pears Group from their home on Weisestraße (Schillerkiez), reopened in 2023 on Emser Straße (Rixdorf); cf. i.a. Ingo Salmen, Hasan Gökkaya & André Görke, "Friedel 54 in Berlin-Neukölln: Kiezladen nach Protesten an Gerichtsvollzieher übergeben", Tagesspiegel, 29 June 2017; Erik Peter, "Denen, die drin saufen", taz, 19 January 2023. For the history and an overview of Berlin's and Neukölln's squatting scene, see e.g. Toni Grabowsky (ed.), "berlin besetzt", Assoziation A, Berlin 2024.
Carolina Schwarz, "Wie bunt ist Neukölln wirklich?", die tageszeitung, 12 February 2024; see alsoLGBT people and Islam; according to official 2024 numbers for the whole of Berlin, queerphobic felonies have risen eightfold since 2014, with more than 71% committed against male victims, while 80% were committed for indeterminate reasons, 12% due to right-wing and 6% due to foreign or religious ideologies, with the latter having increased significantly over the past decade, especially with regard to insults, harassment and property damage; within the quarter Neukölln, only a few streets and neighborhoods are potentially queerphobic hotspots, but those have still raised the whole borough to the fifth rank compared to other boroughs of Berlin; Alexander Fröhlich, "Mehr queerfeindliche Taten: Berliner Polizei meldet Höchststand", Der Tagesspiegel, 27 July 2024.
Cf. Mark Twain, "The Chicago of Europe", Chicago Daily Tribune, 3 April 1892, with relevant parts emphasized: "Berlin […] is newer to the eye than is any other city, and also blonder of complexion and tidier; no other city has such an air of roominess, freedom from crowding; no other city has so many straight streets; and with Chicago it contests the chromo for flatness of surface and for phenomenal swiftness of growth. Berlin is the European Chicago. The two cities have about the same population—say a million and a half. […] But now the parallels fail. Only parts of Chicago are stately and beautiful, whereas all of Berlin is stately and substantial, and it is not merely in parts but uniformly beautiful."
wahlen-berlin.de
The 1920 local election followed the 6 June 1920 German federal election; in Berlin it was a dual election, both in the Greater Berlin boroughs and of the state deputies who would serve in the Berlin Abgeordnetenhaus (State House of Representatives). However, the constituents of the new boroughs were not yet allowed to vote in the Berlin state election, but that election was eventually declared void due to partial electoral fraud and repeated on 16 October 1921. Neukölln's BVV election was also repeated, and the SPD (27.9%) became the winner before the socialist USPD (23.8%) and the communist KPD (13.8%); "Wahlen zu den Bezirksverordnetenversammlungen in Berlin am 16. Oktober 1921 nach Bezirken und Parteien – Stimmen in Prozent", Der Landeswahlleiter für Berlin, Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg. The first Berlin state election, in which Neukölln's constituents were finally allowed to vote, was held on 25 October 1925.
Approximate extent of Kreuzkölln (red: minimum, red dotted: maximum, purple: Reuterkiez wedge) The toponym originally stood for the western part of the Reuterkiez, excluding the Harzer Kiez, and comprising the LORs Maybachufer, Reuterplatz and Weichselplatz, which are geographically wedged between the adjacent city blocks of the quarter Kreuzberg, whose neighborhoods SO 36 and Kreuzberg 61 border to the north and west respectively. The toponym formed in the wake of Neukölln's early gentrifying wave, which slowly resurrected the neighborhood's culture and night life, attracted an ever increasing number of young new residents, and enticed Berliners to favorably compare the up-and-coming new north of Neukölln with the more established Kreuzberg (Christine Eichelmann, "Ein Berliner Kiez erwacht zu neuem Leben", Welt, 15 June 2007). The toponym was at first dismissed by many locals on both sides of the border (Johanna Lühr, " Stadtleben: Auf lässige Nachbarschaft", Tagesspiegel, 25 October 2008), mainly due to the different history and urban characteristics of the two quarters, which at the time were still very much unequal, with Kreuzberg either more middle-class (Kreuzberg 61) or strongly influenced by the traditional alternative counterculture of Cold WarWest Berlin (SO 36) vis-à-vis the Reuterquartier's emerging hipstersubculture. But as gentrification did not stop at Neukölln's borders, the toponym Kreuzkölln today, for better or for worse, describes the western part of the Reuterkiez together with the adjacent city blocks of Kreuzberg, more precisely the Graefekiez and the Reichenberger Kiez, also known as Wiener Kiez, which together have now formed an almost fully integrated, albeit gentrified, social and urban sphere (Johannes Schneider, "Sagt endlich Kreuzkölln!", Tagesspiegel, 12 April 2016).
Approximate extent of Kreuzkölln (red: minimum, red dotted: maximum, purple: Reuterkiez wedge) The toponym originally stood for the western part of the Reuterkiez, excluding the Harzer Kiez, and comprising the LORs Maybachufer, Reuterplatz and Weichselplatz, which are geographically wedged between the adjacent city blocks of the quarter Kreuzberg, whose neighborhoods SO 36 and Kreuzberg 61 border to the north and west respectively. The toponym formed in the wake of Neukölln's early gentrifying wave, which slowly resurrected the neighborhood's culture and night life, attracted an ever increasing number of young new residents, and enticed Berliners to favorably compare the up-and-coming new north of Neukölln with the more established Kreuzberg (Christine Eichelmann, "Ein Berliner Kiez erwacht zu neuem Leben", Welt, 15 June 2007). The toponym was at first dismissed by many locals on both sides of the border (Johanna Lühr, " Stadtleben: Auf lässige Nachbarschaft", Tagesspiegel, 25 October 2008), mainly due to the different history and urban characteristics of the two quarters, which at the time were still very much unequal, with Kreuzberg either more middle-class (Kreuzberg 61) or strongly influenced by the traditional alternative counterculture of Cold WarWest Berlin (SO 36) vis-à-vis the Reuterquartier's emerging hipstersubculture. But as gentrification did not stop at Neukölln's borders, the toponym Kreuzkölln today, for better or for worse, describes the western part of the Reuterkiez together with the adjacent city blocks of Kreuzberg, more precisely the Graefekiez and the Reichenberger Kiez, also known as Wiener Kiez, which together have now formed an almost fully integrated, albeit gentrified, social and urban sphere (Johannes Schneider, "Sagt endlich Kreuzkölln!", Tagesspiegel, 12 April 2016).
Over the years there have been several petitions to reestablish the historical name Rixdorf; Kai Ritzmann, "Aus (Nord-)Neukölln soll wieder Rixdorf werden", 1 July 2019, B.Z.. Other alternative toponyms are Neukölln-Nord and Neukölln 44. The number 44 had been part of the quarter's old postal code (1000 Berlin 44, Neukölln 1) and is still in informal cultural use after the introduction of the new postal codes in Germany on 1 July 1993. Neukölln's current postal codes range from 12043 to 12059, using only the odd terminating numbers in-between. Aside from its use to distinguish the quarter from the borough, the old postal code 44 has i.a. become part of local youth and music culture, adopted e.g. by native hip hop musicians such as Nashi44, Doni44, 44Grad and Kalazh44.
Also called Rollbergkiez, Rollbergviertel or Rollbergsiedlung; named after the Rollberge, a range of glacial hills (see above); not to be confused with the Rollberge estates, which is the alternative name for the Schwarzwaldsiedlung in Berlin Reinickendorf.
Lit. "white estates"; named after the white faces of most of the neighborhood's high-rise buildings; not to be confused with the World Heritage SiteWeiße Stadt in Berlin Reinickendorf. The Weiße Siedlung is often lumped together with (and even called) the Dammwegsiedlung; however, the latter is a distinct 1920s settlement further south (see below).
Sometimes referred to as Körnerkiez; named after the Körnerpark, itself named after Franz Körner, the former owner of the gravel quarry, in which the park was created; Körner gifted the quarry to the city of Rixdorf under the condition that the planned park would bear his name.
Approximate extent of Kreuzkölln (red: minimum, red dotted: maximum, purple: Reuterkiez wedge) The toponym originally stood for the western part of the Reuterkiez, excluding the Harzer Kiez, and comprising the LORs Maybachufer, Reuterplatz and Weichselplatz, which are geographically wedged between the adjacent city blocks of the quarter Kreuzberg, whose neighborhoods SO 36 and Kreuzberg 61 border to the north and west respectively. The toponym formed in the wake of Neukölln's early gentrifying wave, which slowly resurrected the neighborhood's culture and night life, attracted an ever increasing number of young new residents, and enticed Berliners to favorably compare the up-and-coming new north of Neukölln with the more established Kreuzberg (Christine Eichelmann, "Ein Berliner Kiez erwacht zu neuem Leben", Welt, 15 June 2007). The toponym was at first dismissed by many locals on both sides of the border (Johanna Lühr, " Stadtleben: Auf lässige Nachbarschaft", Tagesspiegel, 25 October 2008), mainly due to the different history and urban characteristics of the two quarters, which at the time were still very much unequal, with Kreuzberg either more middle-class (Kreuzberg 61) or strongly influenced by the traditional alternative counterculture of Cold WarWest Berlin (SO 36) vis-à-vis the Reuterquartier's emerging hipstersubculture. But as gentrification did not stop at Neukölln's borders, the toponym Kreuzkölln today, for better or for worse, describes the western part of the Reuterkiez together with the adjacent city blocks of Kreuzberg, more precisely the Graefekiez and the Reichenberger Kiez, also known as Wiener Kiez, which together have now formed an almost fully integrated, albeit gentrified, social and urban sphere (Johannes Schneider, "Sagt endlich Kreuzkölln!", Tagesspiegel, 12 April 2016).
Approximate extent of Kreuzkölln (red: minimum, red dotted: maximum, purple: Reuterkiez wedge) The toponym originally stood for the western part of the Reuterkiez, excluding the Harzer Kiez, and comprising the LORs Maybachufer, Reuterplatz and Weichselplatz, which are geographically wedged between the adjacent city blocks of the quarter Kreuzberg, whose neighborhoods SO 36 and Kreuzberg 61 border to the north and west respectively. The toponym formed in the wake of Neukölln's early gentrifying wave, which slowly resurrected the neighborhood's culture and night life, attracted an ever increasing number of young new residents, and enticed Berliners to favorably compare the up-and-coming new north of Neukölln with the more established Kreuzberg (Christine Eichelmann, "Ein Berliner Kiez erwacht zu neuem Leben", Welt, 15 June 2007). The toponym was at first dismissed by many locals on both sides of the border (Johanna Lühr, " Stadtleben: Auf lässige Nachbarschaft", Tagesspiegel, 25 October 2008), mainly due to the different history and urban characteristics of the two quarters, which at the time were still very much unequal, with Kreuzberg either more middle-class (Kreuzberg 61) or strongly influenced by the traditional alternative counterculture of Cold WarWest Berlin (SO 36) vis-à-vis the Reuterquartier's emerging hipstersubculture. But as gentrification did not stop at Neukölln's borders, the toponym Kreuzkölln today, for better or for worse, describes the western part of the Reuterkiez together with the adjacent city blocks of Kreuzberg, more precisely the Graefekiez and the Reichenberger Kiez, also known as Wiener Kiez, which together have now formed an almost fully integrated, albeit gentrified, social and urban sphere (Johannes Schneider, "Sagt endlich Kreuzkölln!", Tagesspiegel, 12 April 2016).
Still, due to their old age, many of Neukölln's cemeteries now double as recreational parks or tourist locations during opening hours; the most famous and oldest ones are the 1751 Moravian cemetery, the small Böhmischer Gottesacker in Rixdorf, and the 1813 Garnisonsfriedhof (garrison cemetery) on Columbiadamm, while the largest one, situated between the neighborhoods Rollberg and Körnerpark, is a cemeterial ensemble consisting of St. Thomas, Neue Luisenstadt and St. Michael, of which the former is one of Neukölln's historical garden monuments, originally built in 1872. Four additional active or former cemeteries are now historical monuments, namely the 1888 Emmauskirchhof in the far south, St. Jacobi on Karl-Marx-Straße (1852), the 1866 Turkish cemetery on Columbiadamm (see below), and the western part of St. Thomas (1872), present-day Anita-Berber-Park.
Examples are monuments like the Reuterpark on Reuterplatz or the Richardpark on Richardplatz, smaller parks like Trusepark, green plazas like Hertzbergplatz, dedicated plaza parks like Weichselpark on Weichselplatz and Wildenbruchpark on Wildenbruchplatz, as well as special places like the atrium of Neukölln's Stadtbad (public bath house).
The latter hypothesis was propagated by Friedrich Nicolai in his work Beschreibung der königlichen Residenzstädte Berlin und Potsdam (1779), alleging an origin from the Ryke (Reiche) family, one of Cölln's and Berlin's old patrician dynasties; see alsoRykestraße. In 1344, Johannes Ryke, a patrician citizen of Cölln, had been given the schultheiß court of Marienfelde south of Tempelhof by Herrenmeister (Lord of the Knights) Hermann von Werberg, bailiff and Statthalter (Governor) of Brandenburg, who in turn would play an important role in the foundation of Richardsdorf (see below), which is why it was theorized that the family name Reiche (Ryke) is the origin of Reichsdorp and other variants of Rixdorf, similar to the etymology of Schleswig-Holstein's Rixdorf Manor (Gut Rixdorf), which probably originated from a documented local knight called Hinrich von Ryckestorp. However, for the theories on Neukölln's Rixdorf, no primary sources exist that would refute the Richard theory and corroborate a clear etymological distinction between the documented original toponym Richarsdorp and the later contracted form Rixdorf.
The "water" referenced both Neu-Cölln's southern military moat, which was later filled, and the historical Cöllnischer Stadtgraben ("Cölln Moat") between Cölln and Neu-Cölln, which later became the Spree Canal west and south of Spree Island; see alsoFischerinsel, the southern neighborhood on Spree Island.
The same is true for the historical centers of Berlin and Cölln; the Slavic tribes had mostly settled on the plateaus surrounding Berlin's glacial valley, i.e. the Sprevane on the Teltow and Barnim, and on the rivers Spree and Dahme, e.g. in Trebow and Copnic, and the Hevelli in the Havelland and the Zauche, and on the rivers Havel and Nuthe, e.g. in Spandow and Poztupimi; cf. Horst Ulrich, Uwe Prell, Ernst Luuk, "Besiedlung des Berliner Raums", in: Berlin Handbuch, Berlin 1992, p. 127 sq.
Tempelhof and other previously Slavic villages were conquered or founded around 1190, and the surrounding Teltow region was incorporated in two planned-out phases between 1190 and 1230; cf. Winfried Schich, "Das mittelalterliche Berlin (1237–1411)", in: Wolfgang Ribbe (ed.), Veröffentlichung der Historischen Kommission zu Berlin: Geschichte Berlins. 1. Band, München, 1987, p. 157. *Richardshof was probably part of the second colonization wave, beginning with the year 1200. While Ascanian rule over the Teltow is well attested for that time, there is still debate over who had actually initiated the foundation of the Teltow villages, whether the House of Ascania, or their direct rivals, the bishops of Magdeburg, e.g. Ludolf von Kroppenstedt, or the dukes of Silesia, e.g. Bolesław I the Tall, or the House of Wettin, which would imply a later conquest by the Ascanians and Knights Templar; cf. Ulrich Waack, "Die frühen Herrschaftsverhältnisse im Berliner Raum. Eine neue Zwischenbilanz der Diskussion um die 'Magdeburg-Hypothese'", in: Jahrbuch für brandenburgische Landesgeschichte54, 2005, pp. 7–38.
In later centuries renamed Berlinische Wiesen (Berlin Meadows); these grasslands were the north-western part of the Mirica, a forest region later known as Cöllnische Heide (Cölln Heath).
Richardsdorf's chapel is first mentioned in the 1435 contract between the Hospitallers and the cities of Cölln and Alt-Berlin (see below). The original 1360 charter and later documents attest that the Richardsdorf farmers still belonged to the Tempelhof parish, and the Landbuch does not mention a chapel for the year 1375 either; furthermore, before 1400 the village had to pay tributes to the priest at Tempelhof, which also rules out a church in Richardsdorf during these early times. This would refute unsourced claims that a chapel already stood long before and even received its church bell as early as 1322. However, the foundational charter explicitly orders Richardsdorf's farmers to adhere to the Tempelhof parish; this suggests that the farmers had already built a Flurkapelle ("field chapel"), which had never been officially consecrated by the Church authorities.
The new leadership over the Teltow by the Johannite Knights Hospitaller perpetuated the Templar rule of force, which i.a. led to continuous strife along the northern border at the Schafgraben, later known as Müllen-Graben, modern-day Landwehr Canal; in 1435 the Hospitaller were accused of having secretly moved boundary stones in the area around the Johannistisch, in modern-day Kreuzberg near the road Am Johannistisch, which prompted the so-called Tempelhofer Fehde (Feud of Tempelhof), as the Hospitaller under the command of Nickel von Colditz launched a military attack against Cölln and Berlin at the Köpenicker Tor near the Roßstraßenbrücke south of Cölln, but their battalion was quickly repelled at the city gates under heavy bombardment, so the Hospitaller decided to retreat toward Richardsdorf, pursued by Cölln's forces, but were ambushed from behind by Cölln's and Berlin's cavalry in the area of modern-day Lausitzer Platz, so they fled across the Schafgraben or the Schlangengraben into their own domain, possibly into the western part of the Richardsdorf lot, where they were defeated before dusk; cf. Frank Eberhardt, "Verziert mit Ross und Meerjungfrauen: Die Roßstraßenbrücke im Bezirk Mitte", Berlinische Monatsschrift4, p. 11 sq., Berlin 2001; Werner von Westhafen, "Die Tempelhofer Fehde", Kreuzberger Chronik174, November 2015.
Cölln and Berlin had formed an administrative unity in 1432, but the despotism of Margrave Frederick Irontooth in the 1440s with the ensuing Berliner Unwille (lit. "the reluctance of Berlin") had resulted i.a. in the annulment of the shared administration, which soured relations over many generations, and complicated their joint fiefdom over Richardsdorf (Ricksdorf).
The village's tax register lists 12 farmers, 8 cotters (Kossäten), a herdsman and his serf, a blacksmith, and two pairs of domestic serfs.
The tavern was located at Richardplatz 16, later known as Zum Goldenen Adler (1840) and Winkelmanns Salon (1872), and also functioned as a venue for the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Städtisches Theater, until the original building was torn down in 1889; a newer Gründerzeit building was constructed in its place, which now houses the bar Herr Lindemann (2024).
Voted on by the Brandenburg Provincial Assembly on 30 January 1899; the sum of acquittance to the Kreis Teltow was 1 million gold mark (approx. $27.8 million in 2024). Today, Rixdorf's independence day is still regarded as an important date in Neukölln's history.
The new hospital was built to relieve Teltow's preexisting hospital in Britz, and the two eventually merged in the 1990s.
Named after the city of Cottbus; it was built sometime between 1850 (terminus post quem) and 1874 (terminus ante quem) as a replacement for the old elevated road through the Cöllnische Wiesen into Cölln and Alt-Berlin via present-day Kottbusser Tor, originally called Ricksdorfscher Damm and Ricksdorfsche Straße, which had existed there since the 16th century. It was part of the old road from Cölln via present-day Hermannplatz and through Rixdorf along present-day Karl-Marx-Straße to Mittenwalde (Brandenburg), later extended to Cottbus; in 1712, a second southern extension of the Ricksdorfscher Damm to Dresden along present-day Hermannstraße had been built as a postal, trade and military road, the Dresdener Heerstraße, which was often used as a pars pro toto name for the Ricksdorfscher Damm before its renaming in the 19th century.
Named after Ernst Friedel (1837–1918), a Berlin politician, jurist and historian; for the first decades only designated Straße 12 c ("12th Street c"), parts of the southern section were named Friedelstraße already in 1895, while the northern section, which had replaced a preexisting meadow trail, was originally called Wiebestraße before 1900, named after Hermann Wiebe, engineer, millwright and president of the Berlin Bauakademie (building academy).
SeeTramway of the city of Berlin (Straßenbahnen der Stadt Berlin, SSB); until then, Rixdorf's own tram lines had been horse-drawn (Pferde-Eisenbahn), and the electric tram network development had been managed by the Südliche Berliner Vorortbahn (SBV).
Due to Berlin's unusually high ground water level, much of the older industry had to settle to the north and south of the glacial valley on the Barnim and Teltow plateaus to be able to construct deep basements for manufacturing and storage, especially attracting breweries like Rixdorf's Vereinsbrauerei (association brewery) of the Berliner Gastwirte Aktiengesellschaft (Berlin Innkeepers joint-stock company), the predecessor of the Kindl-Brauerei, which needed large underground fermentation vaults.
The rents were comparatively high, so most of the regular tenants had to sublet to additional Schlafgänger (part-time lodgers).
The 1920 local election followed the 6 June 1920 German federal election; in Berlin it was a dual election, both in the Greater Berlin boroughs and of the state deputies who would serve in the Berlin Abgeordnetenhaus (State House of Representatives). However, the constituents of the new boroughs were not yet allowed to vote in the Berlin state election, but that election was eventually declared void due to partial electoral fraud and repeated on 16 October 1921. Neukölln's BVV election was also repeated, and the SPD (27.9%) became the winner before the socialist USPD (23.8%) and the communist KPD (13.8%); "Wahlen zu den Bezirksverordnetenversammlungen in Berlin am 16. Oktober 1921 nach Bezirken und Parteien – Stimmen in Prozent", Der Landeswahlleiter für Berlin, Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg. The first Berlin state election, in which Neukölln's constituents were finally allowed to vote, was held on 25 October 1925.
Scholz was succeeded as borough mayor by Nazi politician Kurt Samson, who remained in office until the end of the war and died in the SovietPOW camp Buchenwald in 1947.
Some activists also moved to socialist East Germany after the war and became prominent state officials and politicians, for example Klaus Gysi and Friedel Hoffmann.
In addition, the first stolpersteinin Neukölln to honor the victims of Nazism was laid in 2006 in front of Hermannstraße 46; as of 2024, Neukölln has 242 of these commemorative pavement stones.
Today, the library is part of the Neukölln Arcaden mall; it was renamed Helene-Nathan-Bibliothek in 1989 in honor of Helene Nathan, the old borough library's Jewish director, who had been driven into suicide under Nazi oppression.
Line 47 between Buschkrugallee and the so-called Rudow Spider had been in operation since 30 September 1913.
It was founded in 1981 and first occupied an area on Potsdamer Platz, before relocating to its lease on the Oderstraße in 1995; however, its lease was terminated at the end of 2023; Madlen Harbach, "Kündigung für Berlins ältestes Wagendorf: Wie geht es weiter mit den Neuköllner Rollheimern?", Tagesspiegel, 25 November 2023 (archived). One additional Wagenburg is the radical alternative queer trailer park Kanal, which has occupied a compound on the Neukölln side of Kiefholzstraße at the border to Plänterwald since 2010, though their domain had to be downsized by half for the new modular refugee center; the Wagenburg was formerly known as Schwarzer Kanal, and has existed in various inner-city locations since 1989.
Compared to Kreuzberg and the Eastern inner-city quarters of Berlin after German reunification, Neukölln has had far fewer squats. As of 2024, of the 21 squatted apartment houses and occupied undeveloped areas, only two houses remain, both of which have been occupied since 1981, a rear building on Karl-Marx-Straße and a building on Richardplatz, whose residents supported the Comenius Garden and cooperate in the historical forge on Richardplatz. Neukölln is furthermore home to several partially squatted houses, used e.g. for radical left stores, organizational offices or cultural venues, with notable examples from recent times being the Friedel54 on Friedelstraße (Reuterkiez), which was evicted under heavy protests in 2017, while the alternative pub Syndikat, which had been forcibly evicted in 2020 by a shell company of British William Pears Group from their home on Weisestraße (Schillerkiez), reopened in 2023 on Emser Straße (Rixdorf); cf. i.a. Ingo Salmen, Hasan Gökkaya & André Görke, "Friedel 54 in Berlin-Neukölln: Kiezladen nach Protesten an Gerichtsvollzieher übergeben", Tagesspiegel, 29 June 2017; Erik Peter, "Denen, die drin saufen", taz, 19 January 2023. For the history and an overview of Berlin's and Neukölln's squatting scene, see e.g. Toni Grabowsky (ed.), "berlin besetzt", Assoziation A, Berlin 2024.
Due to the recent cultural changes induced by migration, the Sonnenallee is also called شارع العرب (Schara al Arab, Arabische Straße, Arabic Street), similar to the Bohemian migrants calling Böhmisch-Rixdorf Český Rixdorf (Czech Rixdorf) three centuries earlier.
Depending on the source, the Rixdorf was built in 1962 or 1963. After its launch at the Ruhrort shipyard, it was first used on Lake Baldeney under the name Gruga. It was sold to Berlin in 1984 and rechristened Spreekieker. In 1987, it was resold to the Riedel shipping company and rechristened Rixdorf. It is 30.07 meters (98.65 ft) long and 5.24 meters (17.19 ft) wide, with a gauge of 1.23 meters (4.04 ft) and a machine capacity of 180 PS (132 kW). It is authorized for 250 passengers and crew.
Before Rixdorf was chartered, Boddin had already been the town's principal municipal magistrate (Amts- und Gemeindevorsteher) since 4 February 1874, following the unification of Deutsch- and Böhmisch-Rixdorf (see above); Boddin transitioned to the role of mayor on 1 April 1899, received the official title Erster Bürgermeister auf Lebenszeit (First Mayor for Life) from district presidentRobert Earl Hue de Grais on 4 May 1899, and became Oberbürgermeister (Lord Mayor) in 1904, after Rixdorf's population had crossed the 100,000 threshold.
Scholz became mayor following a brief stint as president of the council of city representatives in 1919, when long-serving president Hermann Sander (1899–1919) stepped down after a reform of Neukölln's electoral law. Scholz remained in office until 1933, including another three years as council president (1931–33), when he was forced to resign from his offices under pressure from the new ruling NSDAP; see alsoLaw for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service. In 2014, the plaza Platz der Stadt Hof at Rixdorf's Karl-Marx-Straße was renamed Alfred-Scholz-Platz in his honor.
