Rathaus Schöneberg is the

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

for the

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 ...

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 ...

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. 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 rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

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

() not yet incorporated into Greater Berlin, which took place in 1920. The

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

authorities had a series of war murals by Franz Eichhorst added to the interior in 1938. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the building was severely damaged by Allied bombing and during the final Battle of Berlin. 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-Kreuz ...

, served as intermittent city hall, replacing the ruined

Rotes Rathaus The Red Town Hall ( ) is the town hall of Berlin, Germany, located in the Mitte (locality), Mitte district on Rathausstraße near Alexanderplatz. It is the home to the Governing Mayor of Berlin, governing mayor and the government (the Senate of B ...

(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 ( 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 ...

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

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, was installed in the rebuilt tower. 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, roa ...

, the Uprising of 1953, and the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 4 November 1956; ), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies caused by ...

, 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 (, ) 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 1961, the steps of Rathaus Schöneberg were the location where U.S. President John F. Kennedy spoke on 26 June 1963, proclaiming " Ich bin ein Berliner". On the night of his assassination, several thousand Berliners spontaneously gathered at the square, which was officially renamed John-F.-Kennedy-Platz three days later. 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 and governed the ''Federal Republic'' from 1982 to 1998. He was leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to ...

, 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 concurrently served as the Chancellor ...

, 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, 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 from 1957 to 1966 and Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany 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