At the Edge of the Wall: Public and Private Spheres in Divided Berlin

Hanno Hochmuth

Published by Berghahn Books 2021

At the Edge of the Wall

Public and Private Spheres in Divided Berlin

Hanno Hochmuth

In the series Studies in Contemporary European History

Volume 26 in the series Contemporary European History

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781789208757

Overview
Contents

About this book

Located in the geographical center of Berlin, the neighboring boroughs of Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg shared a history and identity until their fortunes diverged dramatically following the construction of the Berlin Wall, which placed them within opposing political systems. This revealing account of the two municipal districts before, during and after the Cold War takes a microhistorical approach to investigate the broader historical trajectories of East and West Berlin, with particular attention to housing, religion, and leisure. Merged in 2001, they now comprise a single neighborhood that bears the traces of these complex histories and serves as an illuminating case study of urban renewal, gentrification, and other social processes that continue to reshape Berlin.

Author / Editor information

Hanno Hochmuth is a research fellow at the Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History in Potsdam (ZZF) and teaches at the Free University of Berlin. He is editor, with Paul Nolte, of Stadtgeschichte als Zeitgeschichte: Berlin im 20. Jahrhundert (Urban History as Contemporary History: Berlin in the Twentieth Century) published in 2019 by Wallstein, and with Martin Sabrow and Tilmann Siebeneichner, of Weimars Wirkung. Das Nachleben der ersten deutschen Republik (Weimar’s Legacy. The Afterlife of the First German Republic), published in 2020 by Wallstein.

Reviews

“[This book] provides a rich account of the dual history of cultural change and economic restructuring in post-socialist Europe. The methodological and theoretical framework is fascinating and productive. The book will be of interest to students and researchers in the field of urban history in post-socialist Europe as well anyone engaged in modern urban historical research in general.” • Baltic Worlds

Praise for the German edition:
“A lively, detailed and well-written book… It provides profound and exciting insights into urban life in Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg in the 20th century, and makes a sound contribution to the history of Berlin.” • H-Soz-Kult

“Historians of cities and urbanization rarely succeed in linking local with broader social history. Hanno Hochmuth's study on the two Berlin working-class districts of Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg masters this methodological challenge by analyzing the specific stories of the two districts as a comparative history of integration.” • Sehepunkte

“This is a thorough and exemplary study, shedding light not just on the past under discussion, but, by implication, illuminating current developments too. The focus on the years of division allows for a particularly clear profile of general and specific forces that are at work in Berlin’s urban environment.” • The Year’s Work in Modern Language Studies

“Overshadowed by the Cold War and global confrontation, the complexity and utter normality of everyday life on both sides of the Berlin Wall have often been overlooked. Hanno Hochmuth’s fascinating account of two neighborhoods on the margins of West and East uniquely succeeds in providing a fresh picture of urban society, seen through the eyes of its principal actors: proletarians and pastors, drop-outs and dissidents. Here is the historian as “wall-pecker”: The story Hochmuth tells is 20th-century German history in a nutshell, full of insights that also provide background for understanding the current transformation of Germany’s capital.” • Paul Nolte, Freie Universität Berlin

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	v
ILLUSTRATIONS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
ABBREVIATIONS Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Map of Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
INTRODUCTION Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PART I Before the Wall
Chapter 1 HISTORICAL FOUNDATIONS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	35
PART II Housing
Chapter 2 HOUSING AS A CONSTITUTIVE FIELD OF THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SPHERES Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	71
Chapter 3 THE LONG “GESTATION PERIOD” OF TENEMENT BUILDINGS: SORAUER STRASSE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	83
Chapter 4 THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SPHERE IN URBAN TRANSFORMATION: STRASSE DER PARISER KOMMUNE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	101
Chapter 5 KREUZBERG COUNTER-PUBLIC SPHERES Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	125
Chapter 6 NEIGHBORHOOD APPROPRIATION IN FRIEDRICHSHAIN Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	145
PART III The Church
Chapter 7 THE CHURCH AS A CONSTITUTIVE FIELD OF THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SPHERES Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	163
Chapter 8 CHURCH AND THE NEIGHBORHOOD PUBLIC SPHERE IN KREUZBERG Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	174
Chapter 9 THE CHURCH AS A SURROGATE PUBLIC SPHERE IN FRIEDRICHSHAIN Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
PART IV Entertainment
Chapter 10 ENTERTAINMENT AS A CONSTITUTIVE FIELD OF THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SPHERES Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
Chapter 11 NEIGHBORHOOD ENTERTAINMENT: FRUCHTSTRASSE TAVERNS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	226
Chapter 12 THE DIVERSIFICATION OF KREUZBERG BAR CULTURE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
Chapter 13 FESTIVAL CULTURE BETWEEN EAST AND WEST Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	255
PART V After the Wall
Chapter 14 PERSPECTIVES: FRIEDRICHSHAIN AND KREUZBERG IN TRANSFORMATION SINCE 1989–90 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	279
CONCLUSION Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	304
BIBLIOGRAPHY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	312
INDEX OF STREETS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	344
INDEX OF PERSONS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	347