Northeast:
Mariendorf
The branch village of the Knights Templar had to take heavy blows in the course of its history, but was then able to develop through infratsturk measures into a Berlin housing estate with prosperity at the old village center. The harness racing track even brought international renown.
Stein-Hardenberg reforms and infrastructure give kick
Housing estates and Templar village core
International flair at trotter derbies
At the German Trotting Derby, the most important race, Berlin’s largest trotting track is the center of attention. Yet the Knights Templar foundation of Mariendorf offers more than just a facility for horse racing. Fieldstone church, cemeteries and architectural history are exciting witnesses of the time. And for the residents there is a good quality of life all year round.
Founded as a branch village of Tempelhof (see above) probably in 1230, sold to Berlin in 1435 – whereby the services of the peasants went to the Electoral Office of Mühlendorf – the city silvered its share to Cölln after the Reformation. It was hit by the plague in 1611 (and several times thereafter) and the Thirty Years’ War (1630-1648) and experienced better times due to the Stein-Hardenberg reforms (1807), the construction of the Berlin-Dresden highway (1838) and the paving of the village street (1864). The development continued with the villa colony Südende, the construction of the trotting track (1913) and the train station Mariendorf (today S-Bahnhof Attilastr.). Today, the district, which belongs to the Tempelhof-Schöneberg borough, is characterized by large housing estates and housing developments of the 1930s, 1950s and 1960s with its largely closed residential development.
Mariendorf gas plant
Already on the way to Mariendorf, on Lankwitzer Straße, is the Mariendorf gasworks, also Gasanstalt Mariendorf (4.8 km; Altes Gaswerk Mariendorf 31). Built between 1900 and 1901 in North German brick Gothic, it was the largest gasworks in Berlin with 25 buildings and supplied mainly the southern communities and especially their gas lighting. The London-based Imperial Continental Gas Association (ICGA), which had introduced gas lighting to Berlin in 1826, built and operated the gasworks, as it did in other European cities.
In 1918, ICGA was liquidated and the Deutsche Gasgeselschaft took over the plant, followed five years later by Berliner Gaswerke AG (GASAG). Originally designed for town gas production by degassing coal, it was renovated several times and underwent changes in production methods. It was finally shut down in 1996. Finally, Berlin successively switched to natural gas in the 1990s. Since then, a newly founded corporation has been marketing the site. Various companies have set up shop here and the Marienpark Berlin company operates the marketing.
Mariendorf Community School
The fact that the old school building was no longer adequate after only 30 years shows the upswing that this part of town has taken. The new school building of the Mariendorf community school dominates the village center with its size. According to plans by Otto Kerwen 1907/08 sent the Art Nouveau building.
Protestant cemetery
Bitte haben Sie Verständnis, dass Text und Fotos nach und nach eingestellt werden, da Recherche und Aufnahmen einen nicht unerheblichen zeitlichen Aufwand erfordern. – Schauen Sie demnach bald wieder rein! Danke!
I
Café Octagon
Also in Friedensstraße, men can go to the Café Achteck. At least, that’s what the people called the public urinals designed by city architect Carl Theodor Rospatt in 1878 because of their octagonal layout. In 1920, there were 142 of these urinals in Berlin. Today, only a few of them remain.
Mariendorf Village Church
The Protestant village church of Mariendorf is one of the oldest village churches in Berlin from the second quarter of the 13th century. As a fieldstone church with careful ashlar work, the Knights Templar designed it as a four-part apse church. The west transverse tower was already built at that time, but was probably only finished after the Middle Ages and received a wooden baroque tower construction including copper helmet and weather vane in 1737.
The Cölln City Council donated a valuable carved altar over almost the entire apse in 1626. However, this has been lost since it was removed from storage during the Second World War. And also the pulpit had to be replaced in the 20th century. However, the bells from 1480 are among the oldest in Berlin. As a result, they were spared melting down in one of the two world wars. Another carillon with 16 bells was added in 1970. The organ was created by the Potsdam master builder Gottlieb Heise in 1846. The altar cross is a cast of the Werdender Kreuz from the 11th century. In addition, six small panel paintings (1600-1646) decorate the interior. However, they come from the Holy Spirit Chapel in Berlin-Mitte. Service Sun 10:00-11:00, open village church 15:00-17:00. mariendorf-evangelisch.de
Museum of local history
The Museum of Local History (Alt-Mariendorf 43) or Tempelhof Museum, also part of the ensemble, has been housed in an old schoolhouse since 1960. Inaugurated in 1873, 250 pupils could learn here on two floors, Now the building is dedicated to researching and conveying the history of Tempelhof. Tue-Sun 13:00-18:00.
Alt-Mariendorf
The village center of Mariendorf is called Alt-Mariendorf (5.4 km) and is located on the street of the same name. The entire ensemble of former farmhouses and multi-story Wilhelminian style buildings, as well as some residential buildings from the post-war period, is a listed building. The village church (see below) and school (see below) are also included. The much older farms with thatched roofs in simple half-timbered style were replaced by massive buildings with gable or hip roofs after severe fires in 1748 and 1809. They have more or less elaborate plaster facades, small front gardens with wrought-iron or wooden fences. On the property Alt-Mariendorf 41 there was once a large farm. Its owner had a one-story grape-shaped residential house with a gable roof built before 1860. In 1890 extended to the east and remodeled in late classicist style. This includes the caryatids, which frame the windows according to the antique model.
Heath Cemetery
Heidefriedhof (5.9 km; Reißeckstr. 14) owes its name to the juniper and heather planted along its central axis. Architect Bernhard Kynast planned the site in 1951. A memorial to war victims features 624 individual graves of soldiers and civilians.
People’s Park Mariendorf
Already planned in 1908, the First World War prevented the implementation of the plans for the Volkspark Mariendorf (6.4 km; Prühlstraße). From 1922, however, City Councilor Friedrich Küter forced the start of construction. Above all, the garden architects Rudolf Fischer and Erwin Barth designed the 13-hectare green space around the Blümelteich. The groundbreaking ceremony took place in 1923, and the work was carried out as part of an emergency program, sometimes with interruptions. Between 1927 and 1929, a 60-meter-high toboggan hill was created as a result of garbage dumping and subway construction. Second World War debris increased it by another ten meters.
In 1931, the city fathers officially inaugurated the park by symbolically commissioning a fountain. In 1933-34, the rose and perennial gardens were added. Today’s Volksparkstadion with its 10,000 seats was still called Kampfbahn when it was built in 1935, later with floodlights, two artificial turf pitches and a hockey pitch. In the 1950s, the Mariendorf summer pool was built. While sundial was added in 1999, various sculptures date from the 1920s to today. Musicians have met here annually since 1984 at the Rocktreff, the largest amateur band festival in Berlin. On Ascension Day, the Kulturlustgarten costs one euro admission.
Mariendorf Bialik Centre
After World War II, a United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) camp for Jewish displaced persons (DP) was located in the apartment block at 39 Eisenacher Str., Roxdorfer Str./Dirschelweg and Äneas-Didostrasse from 1946 to 1948. Residents of this Mariendorf-Bialik Center (7 km) – named after the Jewish poet Chaim Nachman Bialik (1873-1934) – were then sent to the Berlin-Düppel DP camp before they were able to fly out of West Berlin via the airlift.
Holy Trinity Churchyard III
Trinity Churchyard III (Eisenacher Str. 61) was built in 1897 after Trinity Churchyard I and II had reached their capacity limits. August Orth’s chapel was destroyed during World War II; however, the entrance gate, mourning hall, cemetery caretaker’s house and enclosure, also from his drawing, have been preserved and are listed.
However, the site is to be closed and used for housing construction. Buried here are, among others, RAF terrorist Ulrike Meinhof and Turkish asylum seeker Camal Kemal Altun, who in 1983, fearing deportation to the Turkish military dictatorship, took his own life by jumping from the 25-meter-high hall of Berlin’s Higher Administrative Court, thus setting in motion a debate in Germany that ultimately led to a change in asylum law.
Holy Cross Cemetery
The Heilig-Kreuz-Kirchhof (Eisenacher Str. 62) from 1890 was built by the Heilig-Kreuz-Gemeinde in Berlin-Kreuzberg. It had purchased land in what was then the district of Teltow. The cemetery chapel (1892-93) was built in a neo-Gothic brick look according to plans by the staff inspector Gustav Erdmann. The entrance gate followed in 1902-03. These buildings as well as the mortuary, living quarters of the cemetery caretaker, the enclosure and the portal are listed monuments.
Since 2003, a Greek Orthodox cemetery is part of the complex. In addition, a small complex is dedicated to the victims of the First and Second World Wars. In addition, there is a memorial for assistant conductors of the BVG, who died in an air raid, as well as forced laborers and other war dead.
Monopol Estate
Askania Factory
Ringstrasse was once home to the Askania-Werke. The son of a watchmaker, Carl Bamberg, had founded it at Linienstrasse 185 (near Hackesche Höfe) in 1871 to manufacture precision instruments for navies, observatories and expeditions. Accordingly, it was officially called “Werkstatt für wissenschaftliche, spec. physikalische, nautische u. magnetische Präzisionsinstrumente”. He successfully acquired many renowned customers, such as the Imperial Navy, Siemens & Halste, and also Schottwerke Jena, and his company grew accordingly.
He moved the headquarters in 1888 to Friedenau, today Askania-Höfe Bundesallee 86-88. However, he died already at the age of 44 and his widow and son Paul Adolf Bamberg continued the business, then his son-in-law Max Roux. Then the workshops merged with the Potsdam precision mechanics company Otto Töpfer & Sohn and moved the company headquarters there. The cooperation with the “Dessauer Central-Werkstatt für Gasgeräte GmbH” eventually became Askania-Werke AG. The name refers to the medieval noble family of the Ascanians, who ruled Brandenburg and Saxony.
By the end of the 1920s, the company had branches in Paris, Houston and Chicago, as well as several production sites in Berlin, including one on Mariendorfer Ringstrasse. Askania expanded its product range to include cinema projectors and film cameras. Not only was “The Blue Angel” with Marlene Dietrich and Reni Riefenstahl’s “The White Hell of Pia Palü” filmed with Askania cameras, but they were also used to record the individual competitions of the 1936 Olympic Games, and Askania’s precision instruments were used to measure the times. The world’s first shoulder-mounted camera from the Askania factories was used for front-line reporting. The company also received major armaments orders: gyroscopic instruments for battleships, on-board instruments for aircraft, targeting optics for anti-aircraft guns, etc. Managing director Max Roux became “Wehrwirtschaftsführer”, a distinction awarded by the NSDAP to managers of companies important to the war effort, which was given to a total of about 400 people throughout the Reich. As a war-important company, Askania received forced laborers.
In the Marienfeld barracks camp, at least 16 female forced laborers from the Soviet Union died in an Allied air raid. In addition, children of forced laborers in the Ringstraße from France and the then Eastern territories are said to have starved to death in 1944/45. At the same time, the resistance organization of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) with Russian support, the Saefkow-Jacob-Bästlein organization, was active with secret factory cells in the Askania factories; i.e., about 50 members in the various factories distributed clothing and food to forced laborers and also propagandistic handbills and carried out sabotage. In July 1944, the Gestapo broke up the organization and the seven members were executed. A memorial plaque commemorates them at Großbeerenstraße 2.
After the end of the war, the American authorities arrested the management of Askania-Werke in Mariendorf as well and the plant was confiscated (as per Control Council Law No. 43, “Possession and Manufacture of War Equipment”). The management was sentenced, but pardoned again in 1948. The various plants either became VEBs in the GDR or new companies in the West, such as Askania Werke AG Bodenseewerke Überlingen in 1947, especially since parts of the armaments production had already been outsourced there in the early 1940s.
Schindler AG later moved into the Mariendorfer Ringstraße. And in 2004, watch enthusiast Leonhard R. Müller re-founded Askania AG and acquired the rights to the name. Thus Askania is Berlin’s oldest and at the same time youngest watch manufactory.
Harness racing track
When it was inaugurated in 1913, the trotting track was the most modern facility in Germany and to this day it is known nationwide. Stables and service rooms are housed in low half-timbered buildings. The grandstand in Art Nouveau style is a listed building. Like the whole complex, it was designed by the architect August Endell. Later, the Robinson Grandstand (1936), Champions Teahouse (1961) and the glazed main grandstand with five floors (1974) were added.
The annual major international event with 100,000 visitors is the Derby week. The operation was continued during the Second World War, despite partial damage, and already in 1946 it was resumed. Part of the entire facility had to be sold for financial reasons to preserve the track, as racecourse attendance declined due to Internet betting. The senior citizens’ residence “Rosenhof” was built on the separated piece of land.
Christ Churchyard
The Christuskirchhof Lutheran cemetery (6.4 km; Mariendorfer Damm 225-227), built in 1902, is located east of the Trabrennbahn. The neo-Gothic chapel with gable roof and portal made of bricks by master builder F. Schwencke, who also designed the enclosure and entrance portal, features a mosaic above the entrance with a medallion of Jesus and the letters Alpha and Omega. Also noteworthy is the sandstone mausoleum in neoclassical style with wrought-iron grilles, which is a protected monument. The Max Golz family is buried here.
Residential complex Tauernalleee
The residential area Tauernallee (5.8 km; house nos. 10-28, 11-19 and Furkastr. 89) from the years 1929/30 was designed by the architect Hans Jensen on behalf of the Deutsche Bank for their employees. Since 1991, the generously laid out garden has been a listed building.
Eagle Mill
The Adlermühle (5.1 km; Buchsteinweg 32) is one of four mills of Berlin existing at their original location. While there were 150 in 1860, steam power led to the gradual disappearance of water and wind mills. The last windmill still in production in Buckow ceased operation in 1980. The Adlermühle, built in 1889 and once the largest in the Mark Brandenburg region, is an octagonal gallery holland mill. Its milling operation ended in 1959.
It has been a listed building since 1963. In 1982, sail gate wings ended their wingless period and replaced the historic louvered wings. It takes its name from the heraldic animal of Prussia, which is placed above the entrance door.
The Berlin swimming club Friesen 1895 uses the former grain mill as a clubhouse and recreational facility, especially since they have contributed their own and public funds to preserve it. Occasionally it is used for events.