Niederschönhausen (, literally "Lower Schönhausen") is a

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

(''Ortsteil'') within the borough (''Bezirk'') of

Pankow Pankow () is the second largest and most populous Boroughs and quarters of Berlin, borough of the German capital Berlin. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, it was merged with the former boroughs of Prenzlauer Berg and Weissensee (Berlin), W ...

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 ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It is also known as "Pankow-Schönhausen" to differ it from

Hohenschönhausen Hohenschönhausen () was a borough of Berlin, that existed from 1985 until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform. It comprised the present-day localities of Alt-Hohenschönhausen (the core of the borough), Neu-Hohenschönhausen, Malchow, Warte ...

in Berlin-

Lichtenberg Lichtenberg may refer to: Places * Lichtenberg, Austria * Lichtenberg, Bas-Rhin, France * Lichtenberg, Bavaria, Germany * Lichtenberg, Berlin, Germany * Lichtenberg, Mittelsachsen, Saxony, Germany * Lichtenberg (Lausitz), Saxony, Germany * Lichte ...

. From 1949 until 1960

Schönhausen Palace Schönhausen Palace () is a Baroque palace at Niederschönhausen, in the borough of Pankow, Berlin, Germany. It is surrounded by gardens through which the Panke river runs. The palace is maintained by the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundatio ...

and the adjacent

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 Ger ...

quarter were the residence of several members of the

East German East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

government, commonly referred to as ''Pankow'' by the

West German West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital c ...

media.

Geography

Overview

Located north of the Berlin city centre, Niederschönhausen borders with the localities of

Wilhelmsruh Wilhelmsruh () is a German locality (''Ortsteil'') within the borough (''Bezirk'') of Pankow, Berlin. It is the city's smallest locality, after Halensee and Hansaviertel. History In the locality, originally part of Rosenthal, it was built a cou ...

Rosenthal Rosenthal is a German and Jewish surname meaning "rose valley". The Lithuanized form is Rosenthalis. Notable people with the name include: A * Abe M. Rosenthal (1922–2006), ''New York Times'' editor and columnist * Albert Rosenthal (1863– ...

in the north,

Französisch Buchholz Französisch Buchholz (), also known simply as Buchholz, is a German locality (''Ortsteil'') within the Berlin borough (''Bezirk'') of Pankow. History First mentioned in 1242 as ''Buckholtz'' in a document, it became the property of Frederick ...

in the east,

in the south and the

Reinickendorf Reinickendorf () is the twelfth borough of Berlin. It encompasses the northwest of the city area, including the Berlin Tegel Airport, Lake Tegel, spacious settlements of detached houses as well as housing estates like Märkisches Viertel. Subd ...

locality (in the homonymous borough) along the

Berlin Northern Railway The Berlin Northern Railway () is a 223-kilometre-long main line (railway), main line route, that runs from Berlin via Neustrelitz and Neubrandenburg to Stralsund on the Baltic Sea coast. Nowadays, long-distance and regional traffic on the Nord ...

line in the west. The locality comprises several green areas, as the Schönholzer Heide, the Brosepark, the Schlosspark Pankow, the Bürgerpark and the cemetery

Friedhof Pankow III Friedhof is German language, German for ''cemetery''. See: * List of cemeteries in Germany ** List of cemeteries in Berlin *** Städtischer Friedhof III *** Weißensee Cemetery *** Zentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde * Friedhof Fluntern, Fluntern Ceme ...

Subdivision

Niederschönhausen is divided into 3 zones (''Ortslagen''): *

Nordend Nordend (meaning ''north end'' in German) is a northern peak of the Monte Rosa Massif. Nordend is the fourth highest peak of the massif, after the Dufourspitze (4,634 m), the Dunantspitze (4,632 m) and the Grenzgipfel (4,618 m). See also *L ...

* Schönholz

Transport

The locality is served by the tramway line M1 and by the

bus lines A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used in ...

107, 150, 155 and 250. The ''

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 ...

'' crosses Niederschönhausen at the borders between Schönholz and Reinickendorf and serves it at Schönholz station (lines S1, S25 and S85).

History

A settlement called ''Schonenhusen inferior'' or ''Nydderen Schonhusen'' was, like many others in the

Margraviate of Brandenburg The Margraviate of Brandenburg () was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806 that, having electoral status although being quite poor, grew rapidly in importance after inheriting the Duchy of Prussia in 1618 and then came ...

, first mentioned in the 1375 doomsday book (''Landbuch'') of Emperor Charles IV. The

linear village In mathematics, the term ''linear'' is used in two distinct senses for two different properties: * linearity of a '' function'' (or '' mapping''); * linearity of a ''polynomial''. An example of a linear function is the function defined by f(x)= ...

was probably founded about 1230 by German colonists in the course of the medieval ''

Ostsiedlung (, ) is the term for the Early Middle Ages, early medieval and High Middle Ages, high medieval migration of Germanic peoples and Germanisation of the areas populated by Slavs, Slavic, Balts, Baltic and Uralic languages, Uralic peoples; the ...

'' migration. The estates were purchased by the Elector Frederick III ("

King in Prussia King ''in'' Prussia (German language, German: ''König in Preußen'') was a title used by the Prussian kings (also in personal union Elector of Brandenburg, Electors of Brandenburg) from 1701 to 1772. Subsequently, they used the title King ''of' ...

" as Frederick I from 1701), who had the local manor house rebuilt in a

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

style as a

Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern (, ; , ; ) is a formerly royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) German dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania. ...

residence. In 1740 the new king

Frederick the Great Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself ''King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prussia ...

left Schönhausen Castle (''Schloß Schönhausen'') to his consort Elisabeth Christine who lived here until her death in 1797. The residential area that arose after nearby Berlin had become the German capital is characterised by mansions and dwelling houses, developed primarily around the year 1910 on the former estates of Schönhausen Palace.Infos about the ''Schloß Schönhausen''
This short-lived municipality of the former

Niederbarnim Barnim () is a district in Brandenburg, Germany. It is bounded by (from the east and clockwise) Poland, the district of Märkisch-Oderland, the city state of Berlin and the districts of Oberhavel and Uckermark. History The name "Barnim" emerge ...

district merged into Berlin with the "

Greater Berlin Act The Greater Berlin Act (), officially Law Regarding the Creation of the New Municipality of Berlin (), was a law passed by the Prussian state government in 1920, which greatly expanded the size of the Prussian and German capital of Berlin. Hist ...

" in 1920. Part of

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 ...

during the "

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

", Schönhausen Palace from 1949 served as the seat of East German President

Wilhelm Pieck Friedrich Wilhelm Reinhold Pieck (; 3 January 1876 – 7 September 1960) was a German communist politician who served as the Leadership of East Germany, chairman of the Socialist Unity Party from 1946 to 1950 and as the only president of the Ger ...

and later as a guest house of the East German government. Johannes R. Becher and several East German government officials resided in the secluded Majakowskiring quarter, until they moved to

Wandlitz Wandlitz is a municipality in the district of Barnim, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 25 km north of Berlin, and 15 km east of Oranienburg. The municipality was established in 2004 by merger of the nine villages ''Basdorf'', ' ...

in 1960. From 1961 to 1989 the western boundary of Niederschönhausen with

(in

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 ...

) was part of 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 ...

. In June 1990 Schönhausen Palace was a site of the

Two Plus Four The Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany (), more commonly referred to as the Two Plus Four Agreement (), is an international agreement that allowed the reunification of Germany in October 1990. It was negotiated in 1990 betwee ...

talks that paved the way for

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

. Today the adjacent premises house the German

Federal Academy for Security Policy The Federal Academy for Security Policy (, BAKS) is the Federal Republic of Germany’s interministerial institution for advanced studies, education and training in security policy in the remit of the Federal Ministry of Defence. It has its seat i ...

. The palace has been restored in its original Baroque condition and since 2009 is open to the public.

Photogallery

File:Max-Delbrück-Gymnasium, Berlin, Ostseite (2009).jpg, Max-Delbrück-Gymnasium File:Schützenhaus Niederschönhausen (2004).jpg, A Club house in the Schönholzer Heide File:Berlin Schlosspark Niederschönhausen.jpg, The Schlosspark

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Niederschonhausen Localities of Berlin *