Mitte () is the first and most central

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, 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 ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel,

Moabit Moabit () is an inner city locality in the boroughs of Berlin, borough of Mitte, Berlin, Germany. As of 2022, about 84,000 people lived in Moabit. First inhabited in 1685 and incorporated into Berlin in 1861, the former industrial sector, industr ...

, Tiergarten and

Wedding A wedding is a ceremony in which two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnicity, ethnicities, Race (human categorization), races, religions, Religious denomination, denominations, Cou ...

. It is one of the two boroughs (the other being

Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg () is the second Boroughs of Berlin, borough of Berlin, formed in 2001 by merging the former East Berlin borough of Friedrichshain and the former West Berlin borough of Kreuzberg. The historic Oberbaum Bridge, formerly ...

) which were formerly divided between

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

and

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

. Mitte encompasses Berlin's historic core and includes some of the most important tourist sites of Berlin like the Reichstag and Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Checkpoint Charlie, Museum Island, the TV tower,

Brandenburg Gate The Brandenburg Gate ( ) is an 18th-century Neoclassical architecture, neoclassical monument in Berlin. One of the best-known landmarks of Germany, it was erected on the site of a former city gate that marked the start of the road from Berlin t ...

, Unter den Linden, Potsdamer Platz, Alexanderplatz, the latter six of which were in former East Berlin.

Geography

Mitte ( German for "middle", "centre") is located in the central part of Berlin along the Spree River. It borders on Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in the west, Reinickendorf in the north, Pankow in the east,

in the southeast, and Tempelhof-Schöneberg in the southwest. In the middle of the Spree lies Museum Island (''Museumsinsel'') with its museums,

Berlin Cathedral Berlin Cathedral (), also known as the Evangelical Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church, is a monumental Protestant Church in Germany, German Protestant church and dynastic tomb (House of Hohenzollern) at the Lustgarten on the Museum Island ...

(''Berliner Dom'') and Berlin Palace (''Berliner Schloss''). A central square in Mitte is Alexanderplatz with the prominent Fernsehturm (TV tower), Germany's highest building, and the large railway station with connections to many subway ( U-Bahn), tramway ( Berlin trambahn), city trains (

S-Bahn The S-Bahn ( , ), , is a hybrid urban rail, urban–suburban rail system serving a metropolitan region predominantly in German language, German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit syst ...

) and buses. There are some important streets which connect Mitte with the other boroughs, e.g. the boulevard Unter den Linden which connects Berlin Palace with Brandenburg Gate and runs further as Straße des 17. Juni to the Victory Column and the centre of former West Berlin in

Charlottenburg Charlottenburg () is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a German town law, town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Kingdom ...

, or Karl-Marx-Allee from Alexanderplatz to

Friedrichshain Friedrichshain () is a quarter (''Ortsteil'') of the borough of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg in Berlin, Germany. From its creation in 1920 until 2001, it was a freestanding Boroughs of Berlin, city borough. Formerly part of East Berlin, it is adjace ...

and the eastern suburbs.

History

The former Mitte district had been established by the 1920 Greater Berlin Act and comprised large parts of the historic city around Alt-Berlin and

Cölln Cölln () was the Twin cities, twin city of Old Berlin (Alt-Berlin) from the 13th century to the 18th century. Cölln was located on the Fischerinsel, Fisher Island section of Spree Island, opposite Altberlin on the western bank of the River ...

. Brandenburg Gate was the western exit at the Berlin city boundary until 1861. Between 1961 and 1990, the area's East Berlin portion was surrounded by the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

on the north, south and west. There were some border control points, the most notable of which was Checkpoint Charlie between

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

and Mitte, which was operated by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

and was open to foreigners and diplomats. Two other checkpoints were at Heinrich-Heine-Straße/ Prinzenstraße east of Checkpoint Charlie, open to citizens of West Germany and West Berlin and on Invalidenstraße in the north on the border with the West Berlin Tiergarten district (the present-day

locality).

Regierungsviertel (Government District)

The government district is located in the locality of Tiergarten around the Reichstag Building. Most institutions of the German government have their seat at the Regierungsviertel *

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

, the German parliament in the old Reichstag Building * Bellevue Palace, seat of the Federal President * German Chancellery * Offices of the Abgeordneten, members of the parliament, in the ''Paul-Löbe-Haus'' and the ''Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus'' * Federal Ministry of the Interior Berlin reichstag west panorama.jpg, Reichstag Building 2006-09-19 Berlin Bellevue.jpg, Bellevue Palace Bundeskanzleramt Berlin 2010.jpg, German Chancellery Reichstagsgebäude und Paul-Löbe-Haus, Berlin-Mitte, 170327, ako.jpg, Paul-Löbe-Haus Berlin, Tiergarten, Otto-von-Bismarck-Allee, Botschaft Schweiz.jpg, Swiss Embassy

Historische Mitte (Historic center)

The historic center is located in the locality of Mitte proper around the Berlin Palace. * Berlin Palace /

Humboldt Forum The Humboldt Forum is a museum dedicated to human history, art and culture, located in the Berlin Palace on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. It is named in honour of the Prussian scholars Wilhelm von Humboldt, Wilhelm and Alexa ...

* Museum Island * Nikolaiviertel * Gendarmenmarkt * Unter den Linden *

Berlin-BerlinerSchloss-2-Asio (cropped).JPG, Berlin Palace / Humboldt Forum Berlin Aussicht vom Humboldt Forum asv2023-02 img04.jpg, Altes Museum and Berlin Cathedral on Museum Island Berlin Museumsinsel Fernsehturm.jpg, Bode Museum on Museum Island Mitte Nikolaikirchplatz-001.jpg, Nikolaiviertel Gendarmenmarkt Panorama.jpg, Gendarmenmarkt Unter den Linden Berlin2007.jpg, Unter den Linden 2005-10-26 Brandenburger-Tor.JPG, Brandenburg Gate

Botschaftsviertel (Embassy Quarter)

Many embassies and the Federal Ministry of Defence in the historic embassy quarter in the south of the Tiergarten Park. Italienische Botschaft - panoramio.jpg, Italian Embassy Tiergarten Japanische Botschaft-002.JPG, Japanese Embassy Berlin - Spanische Botschaft.jpg, Spanish Embassy Tiergarten Indische Botschaft.JPG, Indian Embassy Be Embassy of UAE 03.jpg, Embassy of the United Arab Emirates

Tiergarten Park

Großer Tiergarten is the name of the biggest urban park in Mitte, located in the same-named locality. Tiergarten Park was established as a hunting ground in the 16th century by the Prussian kings. Today it is enclosed by densely built-up areas by Hansaviertel and

in the north, the Government District in the east and the City West and the Embassy Quarter in the southwest. Many cultural monuments and memorials are located in the Tiergarten Park, like the Siegessäule, the Soviet War Memorial and a historic rose garden. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, the biggest victim group of the Nazi dictatorship, is located on the east side of the park, near the

and near the place where Hitler's New Reich Chancellery once was. Siegessäule10.jpg, Siegessäule Siegessaeule Aussicht 10-13 img4 Tiergarten.jpg, View from the Siegessäule to Brandenburg Gate Berlin Großer Tiergarten Rosengarten.jpg, Rose Garden Memorial to Homosexuals persecuted under Nazism.jpg, Memorial to Homosexuals Persecuted Under Nazism Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europeabove.jpg, Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Kulturforum

The Kulturforum was built in the 1950s and 1960s at the edge of

, after most of the once unified city's cultural assets had been lost behind the

. The Kulturforum is characterized by its innovative modernist architecture; several buildings are distinguished by the organic designs of

Hans Scharoun Bernhard Hans Henry Scharoun (; 20 September 1893 – 25 November 1972) was a German architect best known for designing the (home to the Berlin Philharmonic) and the Schminke House in Löbau, Saxony. He was an important exponent of Organic arc ...

, and the

Neue Nationalgalerie The Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery) at the Kulturforum is a museum for modern art in Berlin, with its main focus on the 20th century. It is part of the National Gallery of the Berlin State Museums. The museum building and its sculpt ...

was designed by Mies van der Rohe, albeit originally as a private house. Among the cultural institutions housed in and around the Kulturforum are: *

* Gemäldegalerie * Museum of Decorative Arts * Musical Instrument Museum * Kupferstichkabinett ( Print room) * Art Library * Berliner Philharmonie * Chamber Music Hall * Berlin State Library * Ibero-American Institute * Wissenschaftszentrum * St. Matthäus-Kirche

In arts and literature

*'' Berlin Alexanderplatz'', a 1929 novel by Alfred Döblin *''

Mitte 1 ''Mitte 1'' Is the second episode of a comedy series of novels by German writer Albrecht Behmel. The eponymous “Mitte” (“downtown”) is the first and most central borough of Germany’s capital Berlin. The series depicts the author as an ...

'', a 2013 novel by

Albrecht Behmel Albrecht Behmel (; born 24 March 1971) is a German artist, novelist, historian, non-fiction writer and award-winning playwright. Surname and family history Son of geologist Hermann Behmel and grandson of architect Paul Behmel. The uncommon famil ...

* ''Berlin-Mitte'', Norman Ohler * ''Unter diesem Einfluss'', Henning Kober

Subdivision

The present-day borough of Mitte consists of six localities:

Demographics

, the borough had a population of 322,919, of whom 144.000 (44.5%) had a migration background. In the former West Berlin areas of Wedding, Gesundbrunnen and Moabit, foreigners and Germans of foreign origin compose nearly 70% of the population, while in Mitte proper the share of migrants is relatively low. The immigrant community is quite diverse, however, Turks, Africans,

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

ans and

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

ns form the largest groups.

Politics

Borough assembly

The governing body of Mitte is the borough assembly (''Bezirksverordnetenversammlung''). It has responsibility for passing laws and electing the borough administration, including the mayor. The most recent borough assembly election was held on 26 September 2021, and led to a coalition between the Greens and the social democrats. The 2021 results were as follows: ! colspan=2, Party ! Lead candidate ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne) , align=left, Laura Neugebauer , 44,653 , 28.5 , 4.6 , 18 , 4 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Social Democratic Party (SPD) , align=left, Ephraim Gothe , 28,997 , 18.5 , 5.3 , 12 , 2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, The Left (LINKE) , align=left, Christoph Keller , 26,256 , 16.8 , 1.1 , 10 , ±0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , align=left, Carsten Spallek , 20,088 , 12.8 , 0.7 , 8 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Free Democratic Party (FDP) , align=left, Bastian Roet , 10,419 , 6.7 , 0.6 , 4 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...

(AfD) , align=left, Sabine Schüler , 7,565 , 4.8 , 5.1 , 3 , 2 , - , colspan=8 bgcolor=lightgrey, , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Volt Germany , align=left, , 3,668 , 2.3 , New , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Tierschutzpartei , align=left, , 3,410 , 2.2 , New , 0 , New , - , 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 magazine ...

, align=left, , 3,358 , 2.1 , New , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, dieBasis , align=left, , 2,193 , 1.4 , New , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Klimaliste , align=left, , 1,927 , 1.2 , New , 0 , New , - , , align=left, The Greys , align=left, , 1,112 , 0.7 , New , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Pirate Party Germany , align=left, , 919 , 0.6 , 2.9 , 0 , 2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

Free Voters Free Voters (, FW) is a political party in Germany. It originates as an umbrella organisation of several Free Voters Associations (), associations of people which participate in an election without having the status of a registered party. These a ...

, align=left, , 903 , 0.6 , New , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, The Humanists , align=left, , 602 , 0.4 , New , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Ecological Democratic Party , align=left, , 287 , 0.2 , New , 0 , New , - , , align=left, The Eligible , align=left, , 99 , 0.1 , New , 0 , New , - ! colspan=3, Valid votes ! 156,456 ! 99.1 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=3, Invalid votes ! 1,384 ! 0.9 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=3, Total ! 157,840 ! 100.0 ! ! 55 ! ±0 , - ! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout ! 247,338 ! 63.8 ! 10.0 ! ! , - , colspan=8, Source
Elections Berlin

Borough government

The borough mayor () is elected by the borough assembly, and positions in the borough administration () are apportioned based on party strength. Stefanie Remlinger of the Greens was elected mayor on 20 October 2022. Since the 2021 municipal elections, the composition of the borough administration is as follows:

Twin towns – sister cities

Mitte is twinned with: * Beyoğlu (Istanbul), Turkey (2008) *

Bottrop Bottrop () is a city in west-central Germany, on the Rhine–Herne Canal, in North Rhine-Westphalia. Located in the Ruhr area, Ruhr industrial area, Bottrop adjoins Essen, Oberhausen, Gladbeck, and Dorsten. The city had been a coal-mining and ...

, Germany (1983) * Central AO (Moscow), Russia (2006) * Chaoyang (Beijing), China (2004) * Chiyoda (Tokyo), Japan (1994) * Frogn, Norway (1990) * Higashiōsaka, Japan (1959) * Holon, Israel (1970) *

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

, Germany (1979) * Petrogradsky (Saint Petersburg), Russia (1994) *

Schwalm-Eder-Kreis Schwalm-Eder-Kreis is a ''Kreis'' (Districts of Germany, district) in the north of Hesse, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Kassel (district), Kassel, Werra-Meißner, Hersfeld-Rotenburg, Vogelsbergkreis, Vogelsberg, Marburg-Biedenkopf, and Wald ...

, Germany (1992) * Shinjuku (Tokyo), Japan (1994) * Tourcoing, France (1995) * Tsuwano, Shimane, Japan (1995)

Gallery

References

External links

Official homepage

Official homepage of Berlin
{{Authority control Districts of Berlin Central business districts 2001 establishments in Germany