Neukölln () is one of the twelve

boroughs of Berlin Berlin is both a city and one of Germany’s federated states ( city state). Since the 2001 administrative reform, it has been made up of twelve districts (german: Bezirke, ), each with its own administrative body. However, unlike the municipalit ...

. It is located in the southeastern part from the city centre towards

Berlin Schönefeld Airport Berlin Schönefeld Airport () (formerly ) was the secondary international airport of Berlin, the capital of Germany. It was located southeast of Berlin near the town of Schönefeld in the state of Brandenburg and bordered Berlin's southern bou ...

. It was part of the former American sector under the Four-Power occupation of the city. It features many

Gründerzeit (; "founders' period") was the economic phase in 19th-century Germany and Austria before the great stock market crash of 1873. In Central Europe, the age of industrialisation had been taking place since the 1840s. That period is not precisely ...

buildings and is characterized by having one of the highest percentage of

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...

in Berlin. In recent years an influx of students and creative types has led to

gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the ec ...

History

Neukölln's independence ended on 1 October 1920 when it was incorporated into Berlin. In September 1929, Goebbels led his men into Neukölln, a

KPD The Communist Party of Germany (german: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, , KPD ) was a major political party in the Weimar Republic between 1918 and 1933, an underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and a minor party in West German ...

stronghold, and the two warring parties exchanged pistol and revolver fire. From 1966 to 1975 the

Gropiusstadt Gropiusstadt () is a locality (''Ortsteil'') within the Berlin borough (''Bezirk'') of Neukölln. It was named after the architect who projected the complex: Walter Gropius. History Building of the quarter, initially named Britz-Buckow-Rudow and p ...

was built, a "Trabantenstadt" or city-within-a-city

housing estate A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Popular throughout the United States ...

, designed by architect

Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect and founder of the Bauhaus School, who, along with Alvar Aalto, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, is widely regarded as one ...

Locality subdivisions

Neukölln is subdivided into five localities: Berlin Neukölln

Public transport

Berlin Neukoelln Hermannplatz asv2021-03 img1

Neukölln is served by three operational sections of urban rail.

U-Bahn Rapid transit in Germany consists of four U-Bahn systems and fourteen S-Bahn systems. The U-Bahn commonly understood to stand for Untergrundbahn (''underground railway'') are conventional rapid transit systems that run mostly underground, while ...

: * U7:

Rathaus Spandau The Rathaus Spandau () is the town hall of the borough of Spandau Spandau () is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs () of Berlin, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It ...

↔

Rudow Rudow () is a locality (''Ortsteil'') within the Berlin borough (''Bezirk'') of Neukölln. History The village was founded in 1373. Until 1920 it was a municipality of the former Teltow district, merged into Berlin with the "Greater Berlin Act". ...

(running northwest–southeast) * U8:

Wittenau Wittenau () is a German locality (''Ortsteil'') within the borough (''Bezirk'') of Reinickendorf, Berlin. History Originally named Dalldorf it was first mentioned in 1332. In 1869 the city of Berlin had acquired land in the Dalldorf in order to ...

↔ Hermannstraße (running north–south) Part of each of the following

S-Bahn The S-Bahn is the name of hybrid urban-suburban rail systems serving a metropolitan region in German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit systems, while smaller ones often resemble c ...

routes share an east–west-running section of

Ringbahn The Ringbahn (German for circle railway) is a long circle route around Berlin's inner city area, on the Berlin S-Bahn network. Its course is made up of a double-tracked S-Bahn ring and a parallel freight ring. The S-Bahn lines S41 and S42 prov ...

track through Neukölln: * S41S41 "Bahnhofs- und Linieninformationssystem" s-bahn-berlin.de accessed 19 March 2018
/ref>/ S42:S42 "Bahnhofs- und Linieninformationssystem" s-bahn-berlin.de accessed 19 March 2018
/ref> Südkreuz → Gesundbrunnen → Südkreuz (clockwise ↔ anti clockwise circular) *

S45 S45 may refer to: Aviation * Blériot-SPAD S.45, a French biplane airliner * SABCA S-45bis, a Belgian bomber * Short S.45, a British biplane trainer * Short S.45 Seaford, a British flying boat * Sikorsky S-45, a proposed American flying boat ...

:S45 "Bahnhofs- und Linieninformationssystem" s-bahn-berlin.de accessed 91 march 2018
/ref> Südkreuz ↔ Berlin Schönefeld Flughafen (only from Monday till Friday). An extension of the S45 is projected to run beyond the current terminus at Schönefeld Airport to the under construction

Berlin Brandenburg Airport Berlin Brandenburg Airport ''Willy Brandt'' (german: Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg "Willy Brandt", , ) is an international airport in Schönefeld, just south of the German capital Berlin in the state of Brandenburg. Named after the former ...

. * S46:S45 "Bahnhofs- und Linieninformationssystem" s-bahn-berlin.de accessed 19 March 2018
/ref> Westend ↔

Königs Wusterhausen Königs Wusterhausen () is a town in the Dahme-Spreewald district of the state of Brandenburg in Germany a few kilometers outside Berlin. Geography Geographical location Königs Wusterhausen – or "KW" () as it is often called locally – ...

* S47:S47 "Bahnhofs- und Linieninformationssystem" s-bahn-berlin.de accessed 19 March 2018
/ref> Spindlersfeld ↔ Hermannstraße Among the numerous rail stations in Neukölln three act as interchanges: * Hermannplatz - U7 / U8 * Hermannstraße - U8 / S-Bahn * Berlin-Neukölln - U7 / S-bahn

Demographics

As of 2010, the borough had a population of 310,283, of whom 121,000 (38.9%) were of non-German ethnicity. The percentage is significantly higher in the locality of the same name, Neukölln. The borough is known for its large Turkish,

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

and

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

communities, which together make up roughly 18% of the borough's population. Recently, there has been an influx of

Romani people The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sig ...

and Sub-Saharan Africans.

Gentrification

A trend is the rapid

of certain neighbourhoods within the borough. There has been an influx of students, creatives and other young professionals of mostly

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

origin avoiding higher rents which are charged in other parts of Berlin. This has caused a knock-on effect, with rents rising in some parts of Neukölln. Northern Neukölln, just to the south of the

Kreuzberg Kreuzberg () is a district of Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte. During the Cold War era, it was one of the poorest areas of West Berlin, but since German reunification in 1990 it ha ...

area, has become informally referred to as "Kreuzkölln" as the area becomes increasingly fashionable."Sagt endlich Kreuzkölln!" 12 April 2016 Der Tagesspiegel
/ref>

Politics

District council

The governing body of Neukölln is the district council (''Bezirksverordnetenversammlung''). It has responsibility for passing laws and electing the city government, including the mayor. The most recent district council election was held on 26 September 2021, and the results were as follows: ! colspan=2, Party ! Lead candidate ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

(SPD) , align=left, Martin Hikel , 41,104 , 28.7 , 1.7 , 18 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne) , align=left, Susann Worschech , 25,238 , 17.6 , 2.7 , 11 , 2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , align=left, Falko Liecke , 24,191 , 16.9 , 0.6 , 10 , ±0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, The Left (LINKE) , align=left, Sarah Nagel , 21,525 , 15.0 , 2.8 , 9 , 2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Alternative for Germany (AfD) , align=left, Julian Potthast , 10,125 , 7.1 , 5.7 , 4 , 4 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Free Democratic Party (FDP) , align=left, Roland Leppek , 6,971 , 4.9 , 0.6 , 3 , 1 , - , colspan=8 bgcolor=lightgrey, , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Tierschutzpartei , align=left, , 4,101 , 2.9 , 0.7 , 0 , ±0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

Die PARTEI (''Party for Labour, Rule of Law, Animal Protection, Promotion of Elites and Grassroots Democratic Initiative''), or Die PARTEI (''The PARTY''), is a German political party. It was founded in 2004 by the editors of the German satirical magazi ...

, align=left, , 2,909 , 2.0 , 0.4 , 0 , ±0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, dieBasis , align=left, , 1,787 , 1.2 , New , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

Klimaliste Klimaliste ( en, Climate List) is the name of various microparties and voter groups in Germany that advocate climate protection measures to meet the 1.5 °C IPCC and Paris Agreement warming limit target. They see themselves as a grassroots mo ...

, align=left, , 1,451 , 1.0 , New , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

Volt Germany Volt Germany (, mostly known by the abbreviated name Volt) is a social-liberal pro-European, eurofederalist political party in Germany. It is the German branch of Volt Europa, a political movement that operates on a European level. Italian And ...

, align=left, , 1,431 , 1.0 , New , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

Free Voters Free Voters (german: Freie Wähler, FW or FWG) in Germany may belong to an association of people which participates in an election without having the status of a registered political party. Usually it involves a locally organized group of voters ...

, align=left, , 1,061 , 0.7 , New , 0 , New , - , , align=left, We are Berlin , align=left, , 843 , 0.6 , New , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

Ecological Democratic Party The Ecological Democratic Party (german: Ökologisch-Demokratische Partei, ÖDP) is a conservative and ecologist minor party in Germany. The ÖDP was founded in 1982. The strongest level of voting support for the ÖDP is in Bavaria, where in ...

, align=left, , 235 , 0.2 , New , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

Liberal Conservative Reformers The Liberal Conservative Reformers (german: Liberal-Konservative Reformer, LKR) is a centre-right to right-wing political party in Germany which was known from July 2015 to November 2016 as ALFA. The party was established in July 2015 as a spli ...

, align=left, , 192 , 0.1 , New , 0 , New , - ! colspan=3, Valid votes ! 143,164 ! 98.9 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=3, Invalid votes ! 1,655 ! 1.1 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=3, Total ! 144,819 ! 100.0 ! ! 55 ! ±0 , - ! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout ! 225,767 ! 64.1 ! 6.5 ! ! , - , colspan=8, Source
Elections Berlin

District government

The district mayor (''Bezirksbürgermeister'') is elected by the Bezirksverordnetenversammlung, and positions in the district government (Bezirksamt) are apportioned based on party strength. Martin Hikel of the SPD was elected mayor on 21 March 2018. Since the 2021 municipal elections, the composition of the district government is as follows:

Notable people

* Edgar Froese (1944–2015), musician, founder of the electronic music group

Tangerine Dream Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The group has seen many personnel changes over the years, with Froese having been the only constant member until his death in January 2015. The best-known lineup ...

Leo Arons Martin Leo Arons (15 February 1860 – 10 October 1919) was a German physicist and social democratic politician. He was the namesake of the ''Lex Arons'', a law which disallowed members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemo ...

(1860–1919), physicist, social democrat and supporter of the trade union movement * Sebastian Blomberg (born 1972), actor *

Horst Buchholz Horst Werner Buchholz (4 December 1933 – 3 March 2003) was a German actor who appeared in more than 60 feature films from 1951 to 2002. During his youth, he was sometimes called "the German James Dean". He is perhaps best known in English- ...

(1933–2003), actor * Heinz Buschkowsky (born 1948), politician (SPD), former district mayor of Neukölln * Christiane F. (born 1962), author of the book '' Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo'' * Ursula Goetze, anti-Nazi activist (1916–1943) *

Alexander Hacke Alexander Hacke (also known as Alexander von Borsig, Alex Hacke, Hacke, born 11 October 1965) is a guitarist, bass guitarist, singer, musician, record producer, writer and filmmaker from Germany. He is primarily known as a longtime member of the ...

, musician, born 1965 in Neukölln * Kirsten Heisig (1961–2010), juvenile magistrate in Neukölln, created the ''Neuköllner Modell'', applying rapid intervention procedures to deal with juvenile offenders before they embarked on a criminal lifestyle *

Kurt Krömer Kurt Krömer (stage name for ''Alexander Bojcan'') (born 20 November 1974) is a German television presenter, comedian and actor. Life Krömer was born in Berlin. He works as actor and comedian in German television and film. From 2003 to 2005 ...

(born 1974), presenter, actor and entertainer *

Jutta Limbach Jutta Limbach (27 March 1934 – 10 September 2016) was a German jurist and politician. She was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and served as President of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany from 1994 to 2002, th ...

(1934–2016), legal academic * Will Meisel (1897–1967), composer and publisher *

Inge Meysel Inge Meysel (; 30 May 1910 – 10 July 2004) was a German actress. From the early 1960s until her death, Meysel was one of Germany's most popular actresses. She had a successful stage career and played more than 100 roles in film and on televisio ...

(1910–2004), actress *

Gunnar Möller Gunnar Möller (1 July 1928 – 16 May 2017) was a German television and film actor. He appeared in over 160 film and television productions between 1940 and 2016. He was most successful as a leading man in German cinema of the 1950s, especially w ...

(1928–2017), actor *

Mady Rahl Mady Rahl (3 January 1915 – 29 August 2009) was a German stage and film actress. Born Edith Gertrud Meta Raschke in Neukölln, now part of Berlin, Rahl trained as an actress and dancer. In 1935 she made her stage debut in Leipzig under the di ...

(1915–2009), actress *

Antonio Rüdiger Antonio Rüdiger (born 3 March 1993) is a German professional Association football, footballer who plays as a centre-back for La Liga club Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid and the Germany national football team, Germany national team. Rüdiger began ...

(born 1993), footballer *

Werner Seelenbinder Werner Seelenbinder (2 August 1904 – 24 October 1944) was a German communist and wrestler. Early years Seelenbinder was born in Stettin, Pomerania (modern-day Poland), and became a wrestler after training as a joiner. He had connections wit ...

(1904–1944), wrestler, politician (KPD) and resistance fighter * Katharina Szelinski-Singer (1918–2010), sculptor * Elsa Thiemann (1910–1981),

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 20 ...

educated photographer, who took many photographs of Neukölln where she lived * Lotte Ulbricht (1903–2002), wife of

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

leader

Walter Ulbricht Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht (; 30 June 18931 August 1973) was a German communist politician. Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and later (after spending the years of Nazi rule in ...

* Emil Wutzky (1871–1963), trade unionist and local politician (SPD) *

Engelbert Zaschka Engelbert Zaschka (September 1, 1895 in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany – June 26, 1955 in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany) was a German chief engineer, chief designer and inventor. Zaschka is one of the first German helicopter pioneers and he is a ...

(1895–1955), inventor and helicopter pioneer

In popular culture

Neuköln "Neuköln" is an instrumental piece written by David Bowie and Brian Eno in 1977 for the album '' "Heroes"''. It was the last of three consecutive instrumentals on side two of the original vinyl album, following " Sense of Doubt" and "Moss Garden ...

" (deliberately spelt with one 'l') is an instrumental piece by

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

, the ninth track on his 1977 album '' "Heroes"''. *The last track of

Miss Kittin Caroline Hervé (born 1973), known professionally as Miss Kittin, is a French electronic music producer, DJ, singer, and songwriter. Since rising to prominence in 1998 for her singles "1982" and "Frank Sinatra" with The Hacker, she has worked ...

's first solo album ''

I Com ''I Com'' is the first solo studio album by French singer and DJ Miss Kittin, released on 31 May 2004 by NovaMute Records. It is Miss Kittin's first solo release, having previously released albums in collaboration with The Hacker and Golden Boy. ...

'' is called "Neukölln 2". *The German film Knallhart is set in the northern part of Neukölln. *The German documentary

Neukölln Unlimited ''Neukölln Unlimited'' is a 2010 German documentary. The film follows three Lebanese siblings—Hassan, Lial and Maradona—through their daily lives in Berlin's district of Neukölln. The film was co-produced by the German broadcaster RBB in ...

tells the story of three Lebanese teenagers based in Neukölln, who fight their deportation out of Germany. *

Electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroa ...

producer Kobosil is a native of the city. With a Bachelor of Arts in

audio production Sound design is the art and practice of creating sound tracks for a variety of needs. It involves specifying, acquiring or creating auditory elements using audio production techniques and tools. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including ...

, he has released music on the Ostgut Ton and MDT labels. *The series

4 Blocks ''4 Blocks'' is a German drama series. It stars Kida Khodr Ramadan as Ali "Toni" Hamadi, the leader of a drug cartel in Berlin- Neukölln which has strong connections with the Arab crime families including his clan. He is forced to postpone his pl ...

is set in Neukölln and Kreuzberg. *The sixth leg of ''

The Amazing Race 32 ''The Amazing Race 32'' is the thirty-second season of the American reality television show ''The Amazing Race''. It featured eleven teams of two competing in a race around the world. The season premiered on CBS on October 14, 2020, and the sea ...

'' had its

Pit Stop In motorsports, a pit stop is a pause for refuelling, new tyres, repairs, mechanical adjustments, a driver change, as a penalty, or any combination of the above. These stops occur in an area called the pits, most commonly accessed via a pit lan ...

in Neukölln.

Twin towns – sister cities

Neukölln is twinned with: * Anderlecht, Belgium (1955) *

Bat Yam Bat Yam ( he, בַּת יָם or ) is a city located on Israel's Mediterranean Sea coast, on the Central Coastal Plain just south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan area and the Tel Aviv District. In 2020, it had a population ...

, Israel (1978) * Boulogne-Billancourt, France (1955) * Çiğli (İzmir), Turkey (2005) *

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

, Germany (1967) * Hammersmith and Fulham (London), England, United Kingdom (1955) * Leonberg, Germany (1970) * Marino, Italy (1980) * Pavlovsk (Saint Petersburg), Russia (1991) * Prague 5 (Prague), Czech Republic (2005) * Pushkin (Saint Petersburg), Russia (1991) *

Ústí nad Orlicí Ústí nad Orlicí (; german: Wildenschwert) is a town in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 14,000 inhabitants. The town lies in the Orlické Mountains on the confluence of the rivers Tichá Orlice and Třebovka. The town ...

, Czech Republic (1989) *

Wetzlar Wetzlar () is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany. It is the twelfth largest city in Hesse with currently 55,371 inhabitants at the beginning of 2019 (including second homes). As an important cultural, industrial and commercial center, the un ...

, Germany (1959) *

Zaanstad Zaanstad () is a Dutch municipality in the province of North Holland, situated northwest of Amsterdam. Its main city is Zaandam. It is part of the conurbation and metropolitan area of Amsterdam. It had a population of in . Topography Popul ...

, Netherlands (1955)

Gallery

Berlin neukoelln county-court 20050228 p1010186.jpg, County Court Berlin Neukoelln Rathaus asv2021-03 img1.jpg, City hall Skulptur Karl-Marx-Str 83 (Neukö) Buddy Bär.jpg, Buddy Bear Neukölln in front of the City hall Landwehrkanal 2005-06-24.jpg, Landwehrkanal Bundesarchiv Bild 183-C0104-0010-001, Berlin, Grenzübergang Sonnenallee, West-Berliner Besucher.jpg, Border crossing at Sonnenallee, 1964 Stadtbad B-Neukoelln 07-2014.jpg, Stadtbad Neukölln

References

External links

Official homepage

WebTV from Berlin, Neukoelln
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neukolln Districts of Berlin Ethnic enclaves in Germany Former boroughs of Berlin fr:Neukölln it:Neukölln ru:Нойкёльн