City West (formerly known as ''Neuer Westen'' ("New West") or ''Zooviertel'' ("

Zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoo ...

Quarter")) is an area in the western part of central

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. It is one of Berlin's main

commercial area Commercial areas in a city are areas, districts, or neighborhoods primarily composed of commercial buildings, such as a strip mall, office parks, downtown, central business district, financial district, " Main Street", or shopping centers. Comm ...

s, and was the commercial centre of former

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

when the city was divided by the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

Geography

The area stretches from the localities of

Charlottenburg Charlottenburg () is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a German town law, town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Kingdom ...

and

Wilmersdorf Wilmersdorf (), an inner-city locality of Berlin, lies south-west of the central city. Formerly a borough by itself, Wilmersdorf became part of the new borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform. History The vi ...

in the west to

Schöneberg Schöneberg () is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Tempelh ...

and Tiergarten in the east. It is located southwest of the central

Mitte Mitte () is the first and most central borough of Berlin. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel, Moabit, Tiergarten and Wedding. It is one of the two boroughs (the other being Friedrichshain-Kreuzb ...

locality and the

Großer Tiergarten The Tiergarten ( en, Animal Garden; formal German name: ( en, Greater Animal Garden)) is Berlin’s most popular inner-city park, located completely in the district of the same name. The park is in size and is among the largest urban garden ...

park, along

Kurfürstendamm The Kurfürstendamm (; colloquially ''Ku'damm'', ; en, Prince Elector Embankment) is one of the most famous avenues in Berlin. The street takes its name from the former ''Kurfürsten'' (prince-electors) of Brandenburg. The broad, long boulevar ...

and

Tauentzienstraße Tauentzienstraße (colloquially: ''der Tauentzien''; en, Tauentzien Street) is a major shopping street in the City West area of Berlin, Germany. With a length of about , it runs between two important squares, Wittenbergplatz in the east and Brei ...

, two leading shopping streets meeting at

Breitscheidplatz Breitscheidplatz () is a major public square in the inner city of Berlin, Germany. Together with the Kurfürstendamm boulevard, it marks the centre of former West Berlin and the present-day City West. It is named after Rudolf Breitscheid. Locat ...

, where the landmark of the ruined

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (in German: Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche, but mostly just known as Gedächtniskirche ) is a Protestant church affiliated with the Evangelical Church in Berlin, Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia, a reg ...

rises. The major part belongs to the

Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf () is the fourth borough of Berlin, formed in an administrative reform with effect from 1 January 2001, by merging the former boroughs of Charlottenburg and Wilmersdorf. Overview Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf covers the w ...

borough, while the eastern half of Tauentzienstraße with the famous ''

Kaufhaus des Westens The Kaufhaus des Westens (), abbreviated to KaDeWe, is a department store in Berlin, Germany. With over of retail space and more than 380,000 articles available, it is the second-largest department store in Europe after Harrods in London. It att ...

'' (KaDeWe) department store on

Wittenbergplatz Wittenbergplatz is a square in the central Schöneberg district of Berlin, Germany. One of the main plazas in the "City West" area, it is known for the large ''Kaufhaus des Westens'' (KaDeWe) department store on its southwestern side. It was la ...

belongs to

Tempelhof-Schöneberg Tempelhof-Schöneberg () is the seventh borough of Berlin, formed in 2001 by merging the former boroughs of Tempelhof and Schöneberg. Situated in the south of the city it shares borders with the boroughs of Mitte and Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg in ...

. The adjacent streets of Tiergarten in the northeast since 2001 are part of the

borough.

History

City West started developing in the

Wilhelmine The Wilhelmine Period () comprises the period of German history between 1890 and 1918, embracing the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II in the German Empire from the resignation of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck until the end of World War I and Wilhelm' ...

era from about 1895 onwards as a commercial and entertainment centre of the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

's capital, in addition to the historical centre in Mitte. At that time, Charlottenburg, Schöneberg and Wilmersdorf still were towns in their own right, rivalling with Berlin for locational advantages. The KaDeWe opened in 1907 competed with the Wertheim and

Tietz Tietz is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Anton Ferdinand Tietz (1742–1810), German composer * Gerold Tietz (1941–2009), German author * Hermann Tietz (1837–1907), merchant and founder of one of the first German departm ...

department stores on

Leipziger Straße Leipziger Straße is a major thoroughfare in the central Mitte district of Berlin, capital of Germany. It runs from Leipziger Platz, an octagonal square adjacent to Potsdamer Platz in the west, to Spittelmarkt in the east. Part of the Bundesstr ...

in Mitte. Likewise, the ''

Theater des Westens The Theater des Westens (Theatre of the West) is one of the most famous theatres for musicals and operettas in Berlin, Germany, located at 10–12 in Charlottenburg. It was founded in 1895 for plays. The present house was opened in 1896 and de ...

'' opened in 1896 or the ''

Romanisches Café The ''Romanisches Café'' ("Romanesque Café") was a café- bar in Berlin well known as a meeting place for artists. It was located in what is now Breitscheidplatz at the end of the Kurfürstendamm in the Charlottenburg district (although that ...

'' from 1916 were newly established cultural institutions. In the time of the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...

after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the New West incorporated by the 1920 Greater Berlin Act became synonymous to the

Golden Twenties The Golden Twenties ( also known as the Happy Twenties (german: Glückliche Zwanziger Jahre), was a five-year time period within the decade of the 1920s in Germany. The era began in 1924 after the end of the hyperinflation following on World ...

. Large cinemas like the

Ufa-Palast am Zoo The Ufa-Palast am Zoo, located near Berlin Zoological Garden in the New West area of Charlottenburg, was a major Berlin cinema owned by Universum Film AG, or Ufa. Opened in 1919 and enlarged in 1925, it was the largest cinema in Germany until 19 ...

opened, then the main locations of

German film The film industry in Germany can be traced back to the late 19th century. German cinema made major technical and artistic contributions to early film, broadcasting and television technology. Babelsberg became a household synonym for the early 20 ...

, accompanied by a lively

variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

and ''

Kabarett Kabarett (; from French ''cabaret'' = tavern) is satirical revue, a form of cabaret which developed in France by Rodolphe Salis in 1881 as the ''cabaret artistique''. It was named Le Chat Noir and was centered on political events and satire. It ...

'' scene, while in 1928

Max Reinhardt Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born Theatre director, theatre and film director, theater manager, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his innovative stage productions, he i ...

took over the Kurfürstendamm theatres in the rooms of the former

Berlin Secession The Berlin Secession was an art movement established in Germany on May 2, 1898. Formed in reaction to the Association of Berlin Artists, and the restrictions on contemporary art imposed by Kaiser Wilhelm II, 65 artists "seceded," demonstrating ag ...

. Shortly afterwards, first

antisemitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

encroachments occurred on

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

residents and shopkeepers, culminating in the ''

Kristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from ...

'' pogrom of 1938. Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F002774-0010, Berlin, Café Kranzler

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and the division of Germany the area around the Zoologischer Garten railway station developed to the West Berlin city centre in the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

era. The process was reinforced by the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961, followed by the opening of the

Europa-Center The Europa-Center is a building complex on Breitscheidplatz in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin, with a shopping mall and an high-rise tower. Erected between 1963 and 1965, it is today a historically preserved building. History of the s ...

high-rise on Breitscheidplatz two years later. After the

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

in 1990, the central administrative functions of reunified Berlin are today again located in Mitte. Nevertheless, City West has struggled to maintain its status as "second centre" and one of the main commercial areas of the city beside

Alexanderplatz () ( en, Alexander Square) is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin. The square is named after the Russian Tsar Alexander I, which also denotes the larger neighbourhood stretching from in the nort ...

Friedrichstraße The Friedrichstraße () (lit. ''Frederick Street'') is a major culture and shopping street in central Berlin, forming the core of the Friedrichstadt neighborhood and giving the name to Berlin Friedrichstraße station. It runs from the northern pa ...

and

Potsdamer Platz Potsdamer Platz (, ''Potsdam Square'') is a public square and traffic intersection in the center of Berlin, Germany, lying about south of the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag (German Parliament Building), and close to the southeast corne ...

, stressing its distinct

boulevard A boulevard is a type of broad avenue planted with rows of trees, or in parts of North America, any urban highway. Boulevards were originally circumferential roads following the line of former city walls. In American usage, boulevards may ...

character and the exclusive range of items. Recent building projects like the ''

Zoofenster Waldorf Astoria Berlin is a hotel in Berlin, Germany. It is located in the City West area of Berlin , next to the upscale retail area Kurfürstendamm. It opened on January 3, 2013, and is the first Waldorf Astoria branded hotel in Germany. Guerl ...

'' document these efforts.

References

External links

Berlin City West website

History and projects about City West
{{coord, 52.5047, N, 13.3353, E, source:wikidata, display=title Geography of Berlin Economy of Berlin Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf Mitte Tempelhof-Schöneberg