Moabit

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Location of Moabit in the Mitte borough of Berlin

Moabit is a inner city locality of Berlin. Since Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it belongs to the newly regrouped governmental borough of Mitte. Previously, from 1920 to 2001, it belonged to the borough of Tiergarten. Moabit's borders are defined by three watercourses, the Spree, the Westhafen Canal and the Berlin-Spandau Navigation Canal. The name Moabit also refers to the Central Criminal Court (Kriminalgericht), which deals with all criminal cases in Berlin.

1 Name
2 Historical notes
3 Demography
4 Moabit today
5 Notable people
6 External links
7 Literature

[edit] Name

Turmstraße, the main shopping street of Moabit

The origin of the name Moabit is disputed. Arguably it can be traced back to the first inhabitants of the area, the Huguenots, in the time of King Frederick William I of Prussia. These French refugees named their new residence by analogy to the Biblical description of the Israelites in the country of Moab, where they stayed before being allowed to enter Canaan. Other possible origins include the French "terre maudit"" (cursed land), the Slavic "moch" (moor) or a worn off pronunciation of the German (Berlin dialect) "Moorjebiet" (swamp area).

[edit] Historical notes

In the 13th century the waste area along the road to Spandau known as Große Stadtheide ("Greater Heathland") was a hunting ground of the electors of Brandenburg. 1716 saw the formation of the colony of Old Moabit by the Huguenots, who were meant to cultivate White Mulberry trees for silkworms, but failed because of the low soil quality. In 1818 New Moabit was founded and grew together with Old Moabit to an industrial suburb district, which was incorporated into the City of Berlin in 1861.

The industrialization of Moabit started in 1820 when, with the financial support of court counsellor Baillif, a simple bridge was built to connect the island to the Berlin mainland. The bridge was followed by factories, a power plant, the Berlin-Spandau Canal, the Westhafen port and the Hamburger Bahnhof train station. In 1909 architect Peter Behrens built the AEG turbine factory at the north-western Huttenstraße. A first prison was built in 1848, soon followed by other penal institutions and the central criminal court. This resulted in an exponential growth of the population, facilitating the spreading of a smallpox epidemic. In consequence, Berlin's second hospital was built here in 1872.

Large parts of Moabit are traditional working-class residential areas. Some areas were known for their political activity during the Nazi era, such as the "red Beusselkiez" or the neighbouring "Rostock Kiez". After Hitler was appointed chancellor in 1933 they were considered Communist resistance cells.

[edit] Demography

For a long time, Moabit was sparsely inhabited. Its population grew considerably after its incorporation into Berlin in 1861:

1801: 120 Inhabitants
1805: 201 Inhabitants
1861: 6,534 Inhabitants
1871: 14,818 Inhabitants
1880: 29,693 Inhabitants
1910: ca. 190,000 Inhabitants
2006: 75,181 Inhabitants

[edit] Moabit today

Office buildings along the Spree in Moabit.

With the fall of the Berlin Wall, Moabit's location has changed from a border district of West Berlin to a central district in the reunited city. Due to its proximity to the new Government District, many new buildings are being built there, such as for example the Federal Ministry of the Interior Bundesministerium des Innern.

Near the border to Mitte the former S-Bahn station Lehrter Stadtbahnhof was demolished to make space for the new central station Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Europe's largest two level railway station, where the east-west and the north-south railway axis meet. Nearby is one of Germany's oldest train station buildings, the neoclassical Hamburger Bahnhof, built in 1847, which was closed in 1884 and since 1996 houses one of the Berlin State Museums for contemporary art.

[edit] Notable people

Kurt Tucholsky, journalist, born January 9, 1890 in Moabit, Lübecker Straße 13, died December 21, 1935 in Gothenburg, Sweden
Farin Urlaub, musician, born October 27, 1963 in Moabit
In 1968/69 Uschi Obermaier and the members of the Kommune 1 lived in Moabit, Stephanstraße 60