Pankow () is the most populous and the second-largest borough by area of Berlin. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, it was merged with the former boroughs of Prenzlauer Berg and Weißensee; the resulting borough retained the name Pankow. Pankow was sometimes claimed by the Western Allies (United States, United Kingdom, and France) to be the capital of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), while the German Democratic Republic itself considered East Berlin to be its capital.

Overview

The borough, named after the

Panke The Panke is a small river in Brandenburg and Berlin, a right tributary of the Spree, originating from the Barnim plateau. It has a length of 29 km, of which 20,2 are within the area of Berlin. Consequently, the Panke is the third longest ...

river, covers the northeast of the city region, including the inner city locality of Prenzlauer Berg. It borders

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 ...

and Reinickendorf in the west, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg in the south, and Lichtenberg in the east. Pankow is Berlin's largest borough by population and the second largest by area (after

Treptow-Köpenick Treptow-Köpenick () is the ninth borough of Berlin, Germany, formed in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform by merging the former boroughs of Treptow and Köpenick. Overview Among Berlin's boroughs it is the largest by area with the lowest popul ...

). Between 1945 and 1960, Schönhausen Palace and the nearby

Majakowskiring The Majakowskiring (named after Vladimir Mayakovsky) is an ellipse-shaped street in the Pankow district of Berlin, Germany, in the Niederschönhausen locality. It was famous as the residence of many senior figures in the government of the German D ...

street in the Niederschönhausen locality of Pankow was the home to many members of the East German government. Western writers therefore often referred to ''Pankow'' as a

metonym Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept. Etymology The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name' ...

for the East German regime—as reflected by Udo Lindenberg's song '' Sonderzug nach Pankow''. The

Rykestrasse Synagogue Rykestrasse Synagogue, Germany's largest synagogue, is located in the Prenzlauer Berg neighbourhood in the Pankow borough of Berlin. built the synagogue in 1903/1904. It was inaugurated on 4 September 1904, in time for the holidays of and around ...

, Germany's largest

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

, is located in the Prenzlauer Berg locality. The Weißensee Cemetery is one of the largest Jewish cemetery, Jewish cemeteries in Europe. In northern Prenzlauer Berg, the ''Wohnstadt'' ("residential town") ''Carl Legien'' is part of the Berlin Modernist Housing Estates UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Weißer See (Berlin), Weißer See is the borough's largest natural body of water.

Subdivision

The Pankow borough consists of 13 localities:

Politics

District council

The governing body of Pankow 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, Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne) , align=left, Cordelia Koch , 56,349 , 24.7 , 4.1 , 16 , 4 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, The Left (Germany), The Left (LINKE) , align=left, Sören Benn , 44,351 , 19.4 , 1.6 , 12 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD) , align=left, Rona Tietje , 38,984 , 18.1 , 3.0 , 11 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Christian Democratic Union of Germany, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , align=left, Denise Bittner , 28,165 , 12.3 , 0.4 , 8 , ±0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Alternative for Germany (AfD) , align=left, Daniel Krüger , 17,822 , 7.8 , 5.5 , 5 , 3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Free Democratic Party (Germany), Free Democratic Party (FDP) , align=left, Thomas Enge , 13,241 , 5.8 , 1.9 , 3 , 1 , - , colspan=8 bgcolor=lightgrey, , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Human Environment Animal Protection, Tierschutzpartei , align=left, , 6,053 , 2.7 , New , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Die PARTEI , align=left, , 5,310 , 2.3 , 0.3 , 0 , ±0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Grassroots Democratic Party of Germany, dieBasis , align=left, , 4,236 , 1.9 , New , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Volt Germany , align=left, , 3,980 , 1.7 , New , 0 , New , - , , align=left, The Greys , align=left, , 3,429 , 1.5 , New , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Free Voters , align=left, , 2,315 , 1.0 , New , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Klimaliste , align=left, , 1,885 , 0.8 , New , 0 , New , - , , align=left, Renters' Party , align=left, , 1,523 , 0.7 , 0.9 , 0 , ±0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Ecological Democratic Party , align=left, , 459 , 0.2 , New , 0 , New , - ! colspan=3, Valid votes ! 228,102 ! 99.3 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=3, Invalid votes ! 1,561 ! 0.7 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=3, Total ! 229,663 ! 100.0 ! ! 55 ! ±0 , - ! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout ! 310,049 ! 74.1 ! 7.3 ! ! , - , 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. Sören Benn of The Left was elected mayor on 27 October 2016. Since the 2021 municipal elections, the composition of the district government is as follows:

Transportation

Motorised transportation

Pankow's road network is characterised by three radial axes to and from the city centre at Alexanderplatz - all of them running in a north/north-eastern direction: Bundesstraße 96a, B96a (Schönhauser Allee/Berliner Straße), B109 (Prenzlauer Allee/Prenzlauer Promenade) and Bundesstraße 2, B2 (Greifswalder Straße/Berliner Allee). B109 leads to Bundesautobahn 114, A114; Pankow is also the only borough in Berlin which is directly served by the Berliner Ring Bundesautobahn 10, A10. The ring roads of Danziger Straße (within the Berlin S-Bahn circle line) and Ostseestraße - Wisbyer Straße - Bornholmer Straße also of high importance.

Public transportation

Pankow is served by the S-Bahn lines S1, S2, S25, S26, S41, S42, S8 and S85. The northeastern part of the Berlin S-Bahn circle line is located in Pankow, which includes the stations of Berlin Storkower Straße station, Storkower Straße, Berlin Landsberger Allee station, Landsberger Allee, Berlin Greifswalder Straße station, Greifswalder Straße, Berlin Prenzlauer Allee station, Prenzlauer Allee and Berlin Schönhauser Allee station, Schönhauser Allee. Berlin Bornholmer Straße station, Bornholmer Straße station and Berlin Wollankstraße station, Wollankstraße station border the borough of

, while Berlin-Schönholz station, Schönholz station and Berlin-Wilhelmsruh station, Wilhelmsruh station border Reinickendorf. The Stettiner Bahn serves Berlin-Pankow station, Pankow, Berlin-Pankow-Heinersdorf station, Pankow-Heinersdorf, Berlin-Blankenburg station, Blankenburg, Berlin-Karow station, Karow and Berlin-Buch station, Buch. In addition to the S-Bahn, five Berlin U-Bahn, U-Bahn stations are located in the borough of Pankow: Senefelderplatz (Berlin U-Bahn), Senefelderplatz, Eberswalder Straße (Berlin U-Bahn), Eberswalder Straße, Schönhauser Allee, Vinetastraße (Berlin U-Bahn), Vinetastraße and Pankow. At Schönhauser Allee and Pankow, travellers can change to S-Bahn services.

Twin towns – sister cities

Pankow is Sister city, twinned with: * Ashkelon, Israel (1994) * Kołobrzeg, Poland (1994)

Gallery

Rathaus_Pankow_(2009).jpg, Pankow town hall Berlin Synagoge Rykestrasse Eingang.JPG, Rykestrasse Synagogue

References

External links

Official website

Official website of Berlin

tic-berlin: tourist & historical information about Pankow district
{{Authority control Pankow, Districts of Berlin Former boroughs of Berlin