Lichtenberg () is the eleventh borough of Berlin, Germany. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it absorbed the former borough of Hohenschönhausen.

Overview

The district contains the Tierpark Berlin in Friedrichsfelde, the larger of Berlin's two zoological gardens. During the period of Berlin's partition between West and East, Lichtenberg was the location of the headquarters of the

Stasi The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the Intelligence agency, 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 maint ...

, the East German state security service. Prior to the establishment of the

GDR 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 ...

it housed the main office of the Soviet Military Administration in Berlin, and before that it was an officers' mess of the Wehrmacht. The complex is now the location of the

Stasi Museum The Stasi Museum (also known in German as the ''Forschungs- und Gedenkstätte Normannenstraße'') is a research and memorial centre concerning the political system of the former East Germany. It is located in the Lichtenberg locality of Berli ...

. The

Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial The Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial (german: Gedenkstätte Berlin-Hohenschönhausen) is a museum and memorial located in Berlin's north-eastern Lichtenberg district in the locality of Alt-Hohenschönhausen, part of the former borough of Hoh ...

is on the site of the main remand prison of the Stasi. Additionally, Lichtenberg is the location of the German-Russian Museum, the historical venue of the unconditional surrender of the German armed forces (Wehrmacht) on Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945.

Subdivision

Lichtenberg is divided into 10 localities:

History

The historic village of Lichtenberg together with neighbouring Friedrichsfelde, Karlshorst, Marzahn, Biesdorf (Berlin), Biesdorf, Hellersdorf, Kaulsdorf (Berlin), Kaulsdorf and Mahlsdorf was incorporated as the 17th borough of Berlin by the 1920 Greater Berlin Act. In the 1970s, the East German government had large pre-fabricated high-rise housing estates (''Plattenbau'') built in the east of the Lichtenberg borough. This area was separated off and became the new borough of Marzahn, which included Biesdorf, Hellersdorf, Kaulsdorf and Mahlsdorf in 1979. In 1986, this district in turn was split into the two boroughs of Marzahn and Hellersdorf in 1986, and again merged as Marzahn-Hellersdorf by the 2001 administrative reform.

Politics

District council

The governing body of Lichtenberg 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, The Left (Germany), The Left (LINKE) , align=left, Michael Grunst , 36,283 , 24.8 , 5.0 , 15 , 3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD) , align=left, Jutta Feige , 28,739 , 19.6 , 2.0 , 12 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Christian Democratic Union of Germany, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , align=left, Martin Schaefer , 19,224 , 13.1 , 0.5 , 8 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne) , align=left, Daniela Ehlers , 19,057 , 13.0 , 4.8 , 8 , 3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Alternative for Germany (AfD) , align=left, Karsten Woldeit , 17,528 , 12.0 , 7.2 , 7 , 5 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Free Democratic Party (Germany), Free Democratic Party (FDP) , align=left, Rico Apitz , 8,009 , 5.5 , 2.5 , 3 , 3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Human Environment Animal Protection, Tierschutzpartei , align=left, Katja Michel , 6,528 , 4.5 , New , 2 , New , - , colspan=8 bgcolor=lightgrey, , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Die PARTEI , align=left, , 3,744 , 2.6 , New , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Free Voters , align=left, , 3,214 , 2.2 , New , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Grassroots Democratic Party of Germany, dieBasis , align=left, , 2,179 , 1.5 , New , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Pirate Party Germany , align=left, , 1,124 , 0.8 , 2.1 , 0 , ±0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, National Democratic Party of Germany, National Democratic Party , align=left, , 433 , 0.3 , 0.7 , 0 , ±0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Liberal Conservative Reformers , align=left, , 214 , 0.1 , New , 0 , New , - ! colspan=3, Valid votes ! 146,276 ! 98.8 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=3, Invalid votes ! 1,767 ! 1.2 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=3, Total ! 148,043 ! 100.0 ! ! 55 ! ±0 , - ! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout ! 216,202 ! 68.5 ! 8.4 ! ! , - , 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. Michael Grunst of the Left was elected mayor on 16 December 2016. Since the 2021 municipal elections, the composition of the district government is as follows:

Twin towns – sister cities

Lichtenberg is Sister city, twinned with: * Białołęka, Białołęka (Warsaw), Poland (2000) * Hajnówka County, Poland (2001) * Hoàn Kiếm District, Hoàn Kiếm (Hanoi), Vietnam (2015) * Jurbarkas District Municipality, Jurbarkas, Lithuania (2003) * Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia (2001) * KaMubukwana, KaMubukwana (Maputo), Mozambique (1995) * Margareten, Margareten (Vienna), Austria (2015)

People

* Ilse Stöbe (1911–1942), German journalist and resistance fighter * Hans Kempin (1913–1992), German Waffen-SS combat and training officer * Bommi Baumann (born 1947), German construction worker, co-founder of the German organization Movement 2 June and author * Gregor Gysi (born 1948), German politician (SED, The Linke) * Katja Lange-Müller (born 1951), German writer * Gesine Lötzsch (born 1961), German politician (SED, The Linke) * Annett Fleischer (born 1979), German actress * Alexander Fehling (born 1981), German actor * Christoph Sydow (1985–2020), German journalist * Daniel Siebert (referee), Daniel Siebert (born 1984), German football referee * Patrick Hausding (born 1989), German diver

References

External links

* *
Official homepage

Official homepage of Berlin

Event- und Informationportal of Berlin Lichtenberg
{{Authority control Lichtenberg, Districts of Berlin Former boroughs of Berlin sv:Lichtenberg