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Fischerinsel (, ''Fisher Island'') is the southern part of the island in the River
Spree Spree may refer to: Geography * Spree (river), river in Germany Film and television * '' The Spree'', a 1998 American television film directed by Tommy Lee Wallace * ''Spree'' (film), a 2020 American film starring Joe Keery * "Spree" (''Numbers ...
which was formerly the location of the city of
Cölln Cölln () was the twin city of Old Berlin ( Altberlin) from the 13th century to the 18th century. Cölln was located on the Fisher Island section of Spree Island, opposite Altberlin on the western bank of the River Spree, until the cities w ...
and is now 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 constitu ...
. The northern part of the island is known as
Museum Island The Museum Island (german: Museumsinsel) is a museum complex on the northern part of the Spree Island in the historic heart of Berlin. It is one of the most visited sights of Germany's capital and one of the most important museum sites in Europ ...
. Fischerinsel is normally said to extend south from Gertraudenstraße and is named for a fishermen's settlement which formerly occupied the southern end of the island. Until the mid-twentieth-century it was a well preserved pre-industrial neighbourhood, and most of the buildings survived World War II, but in the 1960s and 1970s under the
German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **G ...
it was levelled and replaced with a development of residential tower blocks.


History

The original settlement of fishermen and other boatmen and their families was part of Cölln from 1237 on. The neighbourhood, which occupies approximately had many relatively well to do inhabitants, but during the 17th century it became a crowded neighbourhood of poor people and came to be known as the ''Fischerkiez'' (fishing village).Fischerinsel
, Berliner Bezirkslexikon, Mitte, Luisenstädtische Bildungsverein, 2002, updated 7 October 2009
Fischerinsel
, Sehenswürdigkeiten, Berlin.de
Kirsten Niemann

Auf den Spuren von Berlins berühmten Einwohnern (12), ''
Berliner Zeitung The ''Berliner Zeitung'' (, ''Berlin Newspaper'') is a daily newspaper based in Berlin, Germany. Founded in East Germany in 1945, it is the only East German paper to achieve national prominence since reunification. It is published by Berliner ...
'', 10 June 2009
In 1709, Cölln united with Berlin, whose old centre lay on the east bank of the river. In the 18th century, boating professions became less important as the city industrialised. As a result, in the early 19th century, the Fischerinsel district stopped developing and became a neighbourhood which preserved the look of old Berlin, including the last gabled houses in the city. In the 20th century it became a tourist attraction. The neighbourhood and its high street, Fischerstraße, remained comparatively untouched after World War II.As if.The Luisenstädtische Bildungsverein encyclopedia entry an
the city tourist information page on the Fischerinsel
state that there was considerable destruction in the Fischerinsel: "stark zerstört", "weitgehend zerstört".
Like the rest of the borough of
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-Kre ...
, it fell into the Soviet Zone which became
East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as West Berlin. From 13 August 1961 u ...
. In 1954, a plan was drawn up for the neighbourhood which emphasised conservation of the surviving buildings. Later plans envisaged replacement with low density housing (1957) and a perimeter development of tower blocks. However, in 1960 an overall plan was adopted for central Berlin which required demolition of all the buildings in the Fischerinsel area.Martin Kieren, "The 1960s: The Legacy of Modernism—Curse or Blessing?" in ''City of Architecture, Architecture of the City: Berlin 1900–2000'', ed. Thorsten Scheer, Josef Paul Kleihues and Paul Kahlfeldt, Berlin: Nicolai, 2000, , pp. 282–93, p. 290. This was done beginning in 1964, including 30 registered landmarks, and the ancient street plan was effaced. The painter
Otto Nagel Otto Nagel (27 September 1894 – 12 July 1967) was a German painter, graphic designer and long-time head of the Berlin Academy of Arts who was one of the most prolific artists of East Germany. Life Born at Berlin-Wedding, Nagel was the so ...
, in the last years of his life, documented it in a series of pastels entitled ''Abschied vom Fischerkiez'' (Farewell to the Fishing Village), after calling in vain for its preservation in 1955. Breite Straße was extended and beginning in 1967, five residential tower blocks were built; they were announced as the "first group of high-rise buildings in the capital", but later conflicted with plans for a grand central urban axis. In 1971–73, the dramatic '' Großgaststätte Ahornblatt'' (Great Maple Leaf Restaurant) was added to serve the neighbourhood, which ultimately also included the five 21-storey blocks, a double block with 18- and 21-storey sections,According to the city tourist information page, there are two double tower blocks. a swimming centre opened in October 1979, two kindergartens, and a supermarket. In 2000 the Ahornblatt was demolished, to be replaced by a multi-use centre including a hotel, flats and offices, despite protests that it should be preserved.Steve Danesch, ''Zum Umgang mit dem städtebaulichen Erbe der DDR-Moderne in Berlin-Mitte'', thesis,
University of Kassel The University of Kassel (german: link=no, Universität Kassel) is a university founded in 1971 located in Kassel, Hessen, in central Germany. As of February 2022 it had about 25,000 students and about 3300 staff, including more than 300 profe ...
, GRIN, 2011,
pp. 109–10
As a result of the redevelopment of the site, the old locations of Roßstraße, Petristraße, Grünstraße and Gertraudenstraße can be seen in places. Fischerinsel is today the seat of Historic port of Berlin (Historischer Hafen Berlin), a non profit association focused on renovating old ships and giving them new life. One of them, MS Heimatland, built in 1910, is a seat of Hošek Contemporary, art residency and gallery. The gallery focuses primarily on site specific installations,
performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perfo ...
and experimental sound installations.


Notable buildings

The Petrikirche (St. Peter's Church) on Petriplatz, abutting Gertraudenstraße on the north side, was the parish church of Cölln and is presumed to have been founded in the first half of the 13th century, around the time the cities of Berlin and Cölln were both granted their charters.Gerhild H. M. Komander
Petrikirche
, Die Geschichte Berlins, Verein für die Geschichte Berlins, e.V., August 2004
The last of five churches on the site, the second
neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
church in the city, was designed by Heinrich Strack and built in 1846–53.Mehrere Bauphasen der Kirche, Friedhof
Denkmale in Berlin, Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung und Umwelt, revised 13 July 2012

, Berliner Bezirkslexikon, Mitte, Luisenstädtische Bildungsverein, 2002, updated 7 October 2009
It had a spire high which was for some time the tallest building in Berlin. The building was wrecked by artillery fire and burnt during the
battle for Berlin The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II. After the Vistula– ...
in 1945 because a
Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...
unit was holed up inside, and was demolished in 1964 as part of the clearance of the Fischerinsel. In its place will be built the House Of One - the world's first house of prayer for three religions. The last Cölln Town Hall (''Rathaus'') faced the Köllnischer Fischmarkt. It was designed by the court architect, Martin Grünberg, and built in 1710–23 in
baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...
style, but as a cost-cutting measure, the tower and entrance stairs were not built. It was demolished in 1899/90. The inn '' Zum Nußbaum'' at Fischerstraße 21, built in 1705 according to an inscription over the cellar entrance and named for the nut tree which formerly stood outside it, was one of the oldest remaining drinking establishments in the city. It was popular with tourists and had been frequented and depicted by Heinrich Zille and Otto Nagel. Destroyed in 1943, it was recreated in 1987 in the Nikolaiviertel as part of the East German creation of a tourist old town there.The Ermelerhaus, a patrician townhouse in
rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
style that stood at Breite Straße 11, within old Cölln but north of the Fischerinsel neighbourhood, was demolished in 1966/67 but likewise reconstructed, at Märkisches Ufer 12 in
Neukölln am Wasser Neukölln () is one of the twelve boroughs of Berlin. It is located in the southeastern part from the city centre towards Berlin Schönefeld Airport. It was part of the former American sector under the Four-Power occupation of the city. It featu ...
, on the other side of the Spree Canal from the Fischerinsel
Ermeler-Haus
Denkmale in Berlin, Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung und Umwelt, revised 13 July 2012 . The city tourist information page, however, says that this was a house from Friedrichsgracht 15.
The Großgaststätte Ahornblatt, designed by Gerhard Lehmann, Ulrich Müther, Rüdiger Plaethe and Helmut Stingel, was built in 1971–73. It was registered as a city landmark in 1995 for its modern East German architecture, but was nonetheless demolished in 2000.


Notable residents

*
Hans Kohlhase Hans Kohlhase (c. 1500 – 1540), according to early modern German accounts, was a merchant whose grievance against a Saxon nobleman developed into a full-blown feud against the state of Saxony, thus infringing the Eternal Peace of 1495. The cam ...
, on whom
Heinrich von Kleist Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist (18 October 177721 November 1811) was a German poet, dramatist, novelist, short story writer and journalist. His best known works are the theatre plays '' Das Käthchen von Heilbronn'', ''The Broken Jug'', ''Amph ...
's novella ''
Michael Kohlhaas ''Michael Kohlhaas'' is a novella by the German author Heinrich von Kleist, based on a 16th-century story of Hans Kohlhase. Kleist published fragments of the work in volume 6 of his literary journal '' Phöbus'' in June 1808. The complete work ...
'' is based; the house at Fischerstraße 28 was presumed to have been his. *
Markus Wolf Markus Johannes Wolf (19 January 1923 – 9 November 2006), also known as Mischa, was head of the Main Directorate for Reconnaissance (), the foreign intelligence division of East Germany's Ministry for State Security (, abbreviated MfS, common ...
, chief of foreign intelligence for the
Stasi The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maintaining state autho ...
, lived in one of the tower blocks in the 1970s."Die Insulaner von Mitte"
Unsere Stadt, '' B.Z.'', 30 October 2001
File:Petristraße, Berlin 1880.jpg, View south on Petristraße, around 1880 File:Waldemar Titzenthaler - Grünstraße (1903).jpg, View down Grünstraße to the Petrikirche, 1903 File:M Petristrasse Berlin 1910.jpg, Houses in Petristraße, 1910 File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-10508-0001, Berlin, Petrikirche, Ruine.jpg, Petrikirche with war damage, 1951 File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H0514-0010-001, Berlin, Fischerkiez.jpg, Old buildings on Wallstraße awaiting demolition in 1969, new residential tower blocks in background File:Heinrich Zille Fischerstraße Berlin.jpg, Zum Nußbaum in Fischerstraße; illustrated by Heinrich Zille, 1922 File:Berlin Nikolaiviertel Nussbaum.jpg, Zum Nußbaum in the Nikolaiviertel, 2005 File:Fischerinsel Berlin 1.jpg, Residential tower blocks on Fischerinsel, 2009 File:2000-08-06 Ahornblatt.jpg, Großgaststätte Ahornblatt, 2000


Notes


References


Further reading

* Michael S. Falser. "Zweierlei Erbe auf ein und derselben Insel: Das 'UNESCO-Weltkulturerbe' der nördlichen Museumsinsel und der Abriss des 'Ahornblattes' auf der südlichen Fischerinsel (1999/2000)". in ''Zwischen Identität und Authentizität. Zur politischen Geschichte der Denkmalpflege in Deutschland''. Dissertation,
Technical University Berlin The Technical University of Berlin (official name both in English and german: link=no, Technische Universität Berlin, also known as TU Berlin and Berlin Institute of Technology) is a public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It wa ...
. Dresden: Thelem, 2008. . pp. 243–50.


External links


Fischerinsel and its surroundings
on a 1932 Berlin map
Geschichte von Fischerinsel
listing of former street names, ''Kauperts Straßenführer durch Berlin'' {{coord, 52, 30, 47, N, 13, 24, 24, E, type:landmark_scale:1000, display=title Mitte East German architecture