The Wilhelmstrasse (German Wilhelmstraße, see ß) is a street in the center of Berlin, the capital of Germany. The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. The letter ß ( Unicode U+00DF is a letter in the German alphabet. Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. [1] Between the mid 19th century and 1945 it was the administrative centre first of the Kingdom of Prussia and then of the unified German state, housing in particular the Reich Chancellery and the Foreign Office. The Kingdom of Prussia (Königreich Preußen was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918 and from 1871 was the leading state of the German Empire, comprising The Reich Chancellery ( German Reichskanzlei) was the traditional name of the office of the German Chancellor For this reason the term "the Wilhelmstrasse" was used to signify the German governmental administration as a whole, much as the term "Whitehall" is often used to signify the British governmental administration as a whole. Whitehall is a road in Westminster in London, England. It is the main artery running north from Parliament Square, towards traditional [2]
The Wilhelmstrasse runs south from the Unter den Linden, on a line slightly east of south, until its juncture with the Stresemannstrasse near the Hallesches Ufer, a distance of about two kilometres. Unter den Linden ("under the linden trees" is a Boulevard in the centre of Berlin, the capital of Germany. It is crossed (as one heads south) by Behrenstrasse, Leipziger Strasse and Zimmerstrasse, which to the west of the Wilhelmstrasse becomes Niederkirchnerstrasse (known before World War II as Prinz-Albrecht-Straße). Leipziger Straße is a street in central Berlin, capital of Germany. Niederkirchnerstraße, formerly Prinz-Albrecht-Straße, is a street in Berlin, the capital of Germany. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Niederkirchnerstraße, formerly Prinz-Albrecht-Straße, is a street in Berlin, the capital of Germany.
A street along this line has existed since the early 18th century, and was known as Husarenstraße (Street of the Hussars) until 1740, when it, along with the Friedrichstrasse, which runs roughly parallel to the east, were given their current names to commemorate Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia, who had done much to develop the area. The Friedrichstraße (ˈfʀiːdʀɪçˌʃtʀaːsə (lit Frederick Street) is a major culture and shopping street in central Berlin, forming the core of the Frederick William I (Friedrich Wilhelm I ( August 14, 1688 &ndash May 31, 1740) of the House of Hohenzollern, was the King
Originally a wealthy residential street, with a number of palaces belonging to members of the Prussian royal family, the Wilhelmstrasse developed as a government precinct from the mid 19th century. From 1875 the Reich Chancellery building stood at Wilhelmstraße 77. During the years of the Weimar Republic (1919-33), the Reich President's official residence was at Wilhelmstraße 73. The term Weimar Republic ( ˈvaɪmarɐ repuˈbliːk is used by historians to signify the democratic and Republican period of Germany from 1919 to 1933 The Reichspräsident was the German Head of state during the period of the 1919-1934 Weimar Republic and the title was later briefly revived It was from the balcony of this building that Reich President Paul von Hindenburg watched the torchlight parade on the night the Nazis came to power: 30 January 1933. Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg ( known universally as Paul von Hindenburg ( ( October 2, 1847 &ndash August 2 Events 1648 - Eighty Years' War: The Treaty of Münster is signed ending the conflict between the Netherlands and Spain Year 1933 ( MCMXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
In 1938-39 a new Reich Chancellery was built for Adolf Hitler by Albert Speer. Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, commonly known as Albert Speer ( 19 March 1905 - 1 September 1981 was an Architect, author and for part of World This building stood immediately south of the old Chancellery, on the corner of the Wilhelmstrasse and the Voss Strasse, and its official address was Voßstraße 4, but the balcony from which Hitler addressed crowds faced the Wilhelmstraße. de Voßstraße ( Voss Strasse or Vossstrasse in English ˈfɔsˌʃtʁaːsə is a street in central Berlin, the capital of Germany The square opposite the building, known as the Wilhelmplatz, no longer exists. Also vanished is the Kaiserhof Hotel, which stood a few doors away and had been Hitler's favoured residence in Berlin before he came to power.
During the Nazi era, the German Foreign Office was situated in the former Reich President's palace at Wilhelmstraße 73, the old building being refurbished in grandiose style by the Nazi Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop. Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop (30 April 1893 – 16 October 1946 was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945 The Finance Ministry stood at Wilhelmstraße 61. During the Nazi years Joseph Goebbels' Propaganda Ministry stood further south at Wilhelmstraße 8-9. Paul Joseph Goebbels (German pronunciation ˈɡœbəls English generally ˈɡɝbəlz (29 October 1897 1 May 1945 was a German politician and Reich Minister of Public The Agriculture Ministry stood at Wilhelmstraße 72, as it still does today - the only German government ministry now located on its prewar site, although in a reconstructed building. The British Embassy was at Wilhelmstraße 70. The original building was destroyed by bombing, and a new Embassy was built on the site after the reunification of Germany. Queen Elizabeth II officiated at the grand opening in July 2000. For the ship see RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Context States headed by Elizabeth II
The only major surviving public building in the Wilhelmstrasse from the Nazi era is the Reich Air Ministry building at Wilhelmstraße 81-85, south of the Leipziger Strasse, a huge edifice built on the orders of Hermann Göring between 1933 and 1936. The Reich Air Ministry (Reichsluftfahrtministerium was a government department during the period of Nazi Germany (1933-45 Hermann Wilhelm Göring (also spelled Goering) (12 January 1893 15 October 1946 was a German Politician, Military leader and a leading member This building escaped major damage during the war. As one of the few intact government buildings in central Berlin, it was occupied by the Council of Ministers of the new German Democratic Republic in 1949. The German Democratic Republic ( GDR; Deutsche Demokratische Republik DDR; commonly known in English as East Germany) was a Socialist state As such it was at the centre of the popular demonstrations during the workers' uprising of 17 June 1953. The Uprising of 1953 in East Germany took place in June 1953 A strike by Berlin construction workers on June 16
Apart from the Air Ministry, all the major public buildings along the Wilhelmstrasse were destroyed by Allied bombing during 1944 and early 1945. The Wilhelmstrasse as far south as the Zimmerstrasse was in the Soviet Zone of occupation, and apart from clearing the rubble from the street little was done to reconstruct the area until the founding of the GDR in 1949. The communist GDR regime regarded the former government precinct as a relic of Prussian and Nazi militarism and imperialism, and had all the ruins of the government buildings demolished in the early 1950s. Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based In the late 1950s there were almost no buildings at all along the Wilhelmstrasse from Unter den Linden to the Leipziger Strasse. In the 1980s, apartment blocks were built along this section of the street.
From 1964 to 1991, when the street as far south as Zimmerstraße was in the territory of the GDR, this section was named Otto-Grotewohl-Straße, after Otto Grotewohl, who was Prime Minister of the GDR from 1949 to 1964. Otto Grotewohl ( March 11, 1894 - September 21 1964) was an East German politician
Today the Wilhelmstrasse is an important traffic artery, but has not regained its former status. The Air Ministry building today houses the German Finance Ministry. This, the Agriculture Ministry and the British Embassy are the only public buildings on the street. Many of the occupants of the apartment blocks are recent immigrants, and there are a number of shops and restaurants catering to Russians and Turks.
In recent years the City of Berlin has placed a series of historical markers along the Wilhelmstrasse, showing where the well-known buildings of the pre-war era stood.
Notes
- ^ For the spelling, see, inter alia, Paul Seabury: The Wilhelmstrasse, Joachim Joesten, The "New" Wilhelmstrasse, and the works of George Frost Kennan. George Frost Kennan (February 16 1904 &ndash March 17 2005 was an American Advisor, Diplomat, Political scientist, and Historian, best The Oxford Illustrated Dictionary gives only this spelling; so do the Second Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, and all five of its quotations.
- ^ See Daisy, Princess of Pless by Herself, p. 63.
External links
- Wilhelmstraße in Berlin online streep maps (German)
- The Historical Wilhelmstraße (German)
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