Rathaus Schöneberg is the

city hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

for the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

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 t ...

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 ...

. From 1949 until 1990 it served as the seat of the state senate of West Berlin and from 1949 until 1991 as the seat of the Governing Mayor.

History

The

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

building was constructed between 1911 and 1914, when it replaced the old town hall of

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 ...

, at that time an

independent city An independent city or independent town is a city or town that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity (such as a province). Historical precursors In the Holy Roman Empire, and to a degree in its successor states ...

(german:

Stadtkreis In all German states, except for the three city states, the primary administrative subdivision higher than a ''Gemeinde'' (municipality) is the (official term in all but two states) or (official term in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia a ...

) not yet incorporated into

Greater Berlin The Greater Berlin Act (german: Groß-Berlin-Gesetz), officially Law Regarding the Creation of the New Municipality of Berlin (german: Gesetz über die Bildung einer neuen Stadtgemeinde Berlin), was a law passed by the Prussian state government i ...

, which took place in 1920. The

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

authorities had a series of war murals by

Franz Eichhorst Franz Eichhorst (Berlin 7 September 1885 – 30 April 1948 Innsbruck) was a German painter, engraver and illustrator, one of a number of German artists known for his war paintings supporting the Nazi regime.McCloskey, Barbara''Artists of Worl ...

added to the interior in 1938. In

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 ...

the building was severely damaged by Allied bombing and during the final

Battle of 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– ...

. After the war the undestroyed ''Neues Stadthaus'', former head office of Berlin's municipal fire insurance ''Feuersozietät'', on Parochialstraße in

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 ...

, served as intermittent city hall, replacing the ruined

Rotes Rathaus The Rotes Rathaus (, ''Red City Hall'') is the town hall of Berlin, located in the Mitte district on Rathausstraße near Alexanderplatz. It is the home to the governing mayor and the government (the Senate of Berlin) of the state of Berlin. The ...

(Red City Hall, also in East Berlin), the traditional seat of the Berlin government. With the division of Berlin's city government and administration in September 1948 the ''Neues Stadthaus'' was in the Communist '' Ostsektor'' (eastern sector) and became off limits to

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 ...

. As a "temporary" measure the barely repaired Rathaus Schöneberg on Rudolph-Wilde-Platz became the city hall for West Berlin. In 1950 the

Freedom Bell The Freedom Bell (in German, ''Freiheitsglocke'') in Berlin, Germany, is a bell that was given as a gift from Americans to the city of Berlin in 1950 as a symbol of anti-communism, and was inspired by the American Liberty Bell. Since 1950, the ...

(''Freiheitsglocke''), a gift by the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, was installed in the rebuilt tower. Gedenktafel John-F

During the

Berlin Blockade The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road ...

, the Uprising of 1953, and the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

, Rudolph-Wilde-Platz in front of the building became a gathering place for protest rallies. After the construction of 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 ...

in 1961, the steps of Rathaus Schöneberg were the location where U.S. President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

spoke on 26 June 1963, proclaiming "

Ich bin ein Berliner "" (; "I am a Berliner") is a speech by United States President John F. Kennedy given on June 26, 1963, in West Berlin. It is one of the best-known speeches of the Cold War and among the most famous anti-communist speeches. Twenty-two months ...

". On the night of his assassination, several thousand Berliners spontaneously gathered at the square, which was officially renamed

John-F.-Kennedy-Platz John-F.-Kennedy-Platz (John F. Kennedy Square), formerly Rudolph-Wilde-Platz, in the Schöneberg section of Berlin is the square in front of the former city hall of West Berlin (Rathaus Schöneberg). It was here, on June 26, 1963, that US President ...

three days later."West Berlin Names Square for Kennedy", UPI report in ''Medford (OR) Mail Tribune'', November 25, 1963, p1 A large memorial plaque, mounted on a column at the entrance of the building, and the room above the entrance overlooking the square are dedicated to Kennedy and his visit. There was a large assembly in front of the Rathaus on 10 November 1989, the day after the fall of the

. Prominent people attending were chancellor

Helmut Kohl Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longes ...

, former chancellor

Willy Brandt Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and served as the chancellor of West Ge ...

, and foreign minister

Hans-Dietrich Genscher Hans-Dietrich Genscher (21 March 1927 – 31 March 2016) was a German statesman and a member of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), who served as Federal Minister of the Interior from 1969 to 1974, and as Federal Minister for Foreign Affa ...

.Heinrich August Winkler. ''The Long Road West'', Oxford University Press, 2006 p. 468 After

reunification A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller polities, or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal governm ...

, Rathaus Schöneberg reverted to its original purpose of being Schöneberg Borough Town Hall. Upon the 2001 Berlin administrative reform, Rathaus Schöneberg became the town hall for the newly constituted borough of

. It was also the permanent home to an exhibition of the life of

(1913–1992),

Mayor of West Berlin The Governing Mayor (german: Regierender Bürgermeister) of Berlin is the head of government, presiding over the Berlin Senate. As Berlin is an independent city as well as one of the constituent States of Germany (''Bundesländer''), the office i ...

from 1957 to 1966 and

Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,; often shortened to ''Bundeskanzler''/''Bundeskanzlerin'', / is the head of the federal government of Germany and the commander in chief of the Ge ...

1969–74. The exhibition was closed as from January 2010; it is planned to open again at another site in the city. Since 2005, the exhibition called ''Wir waren Nachbarn – Biografien jüdischer Zeitzeugen'' (English title:''We were Neighbours once – Biographies of Jews in Schöneberg and Tempelhof under the Nazi Regime'') takes place in the exhibition hall of the Rathaus Schöneberg.

References

External links

Listen to the Freedom Bell
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rathaus Schoneberg Buildings and structures completed in 1914 Buildings and structures in Tempelhof-Schöneberg City and town halls in Germany Articles containing video clips