Mehringdamm

Mehringdamm
Street in Berlin
Listed building Mehringdamm 22: The tax office Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg
Basic data
place	Berlin
District	Kreuzberg
Created	Early 19th century
Hist. Names	Tempelhofer Strasse, Belle-Alliance-Strasse, Franz-Mehring-Strasse
Connecting roads	Wilhelmstrasse (north) , Tempelhofer Damm (south)
Cross streets	Tempelhofer Ufer, Obentrautstrasse, Blücherstrasse, Yorckstrasse , Gneisenaustrasse , Hagelberger Strasse, Kreuzbergstrasse, Bergmannstrasse , Fidicinstrasse, Dudenstrasse, Columbiadamm
Places	Airlift Square
Buildings	Cemeteries in front of Hallesches Tor , Kreuzberg tax office
use
User groups	Pedestrian traffic , bicycle traffic , car traffic , public transport
Technical specifications
Street length	1500 meters

The Mehringdamm is a 1.5 kilometer road in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg . It is named after the Marxist publicist and politician Franz Mehring .

Location and course

Mehringdamm runs in a north-south direction and is part of federal highway 96 . It is located almost exclusively in the area of ​​the Kreuzberg 61 district , only the southern end of this street is directly on the border between the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district and Tempelhof-Schöneberg . There the Mehringdamm merges into the Tempelhofer Damm near the former Tempelhof Airport at the Platz der Luftbrücke . The northern entrance of the Platz der Luftbrücke underground station is along the southern Mehringdamm. Further north, Bergmannstrasse meets Mehringdamm from the east; it continues west of Mehringdamm in Kreuzbergstrasse. The Gneisenaustrasse also meets the Mehringdamm from the east and continues west of the Mehringdamm in the Yorckstrasse . The Mehringdamm underground station is a little north of this intersection . In the north of Mehring Damm crossed at the Mehringbrücke the Landwehr canal and flows near the county line Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg to center in the Wilhelmstrasse . The northern end of Mehringdamm is in close proximity to Hallesches Tor underground station .

history

Mehringdamm 32/34 was the headquarters of the Telefunken company for wireless telegraphy from 1948 to 1952 . Until the end of the 1920s, the Jonaß department store was located in part of the house (at that time: Belle-Alliance-Straße 7-10)

The course of the road follows a centuries-old land route from the center of Berlin as an extension of Friedrichstrasse via Tempelhof to Großbeeren and further south. The arterial road was expanded at the beginning of the 19th century and was named Tempelhofer Straße in 1837 . In connection with the construction of the general train in 1864, this traffic route was renamed Belle-Alliance-Straße after the name customary in Prussia for the battle of Waterloo . After the Second World War , the name was initially changed to Franz-Mehring-Straße . In 1947 the Mehringdamm got its current name.

The Mehringdamm was already used by horse-drawn trams from 1875 , and later by electric trams . The subway opened in 1924. In 1962 the tram traffic on the northern Mehringdamm was stopped, the tracks south of the Yorckstraße intersection became the terminus. The last trams on the southern Mehringdamm ran in 1966 (line 96 to Lichterfelde ).

The northern end of Mehringdamm radically changed its appearance in the 1960s and 1970s. Until then, the traffic-intensive Mehringdamm ended at Blücherplatz directly in front of Hallescher Tor. By redesigning the Mehringplatz according to the plans of Hans Scharoun in the sense of a “habitable urban landscape”, the Mehringplatz and the Blücherplatz were freed from the traffic of the through streets and significantly calmed . For this purpose, the Mehringdamm at the Kreuzberg tax office was swiveled to the west, passed over the Mehringbrücke, which was newly built in 1975, and connected to Wilhelmstrasse, which was also swiveled westwards.

Remarkable things about Mehringdamm

The five cemeteries in front of Hallesches Tor , located between Mehringdamm and Zossener Straße, are considered a sight. In addition, the Berlin list of monuments contains 21 monuments on Mehringdamm (see under web links).

In the headlines illegally built in the backyard Mehringdamm 51 came mosque Hasan-Baschri that was evicted in 2003 and closed.

The snack stands Curry 36 and Mustafa's Vegetable Kebab at the Mehringdamm underground station are internationally known and attract numerous tourists.

In the industrial building of the commercial real estate group Becker & Kries , Mehringdamm 32–34, the stage of the Berlin cabaret company , the BKA theater , is located on the top floor . In the 1960s and 1970s, the Dachluke disco was located there, where numerous live concerts were also held.

Since 1949, the Mehringdamm, sloping from south to north between Platz der Luftbrücke and Bergmannstrasse, has been the regular venue for the Berlin soap box races .

The Mehringdamm 61 building is also known as the "Homo-Hof". Here were

• SchwuZ , founded in 1977 from 1995 to autumn 2013 , was the first alternative gay club in Berlin,
• from 1989 to March 2013 the Schwules Museum as well
• from 1989 to 2008 the General Homosexual Working Group .

A café named after the gay entertainer Melitta Sundström still exists here today .

Since 2013, rooms on the first floor of the Lettrétage literary house have been used for readings and other events.

The Mehringdamm is sung about by the rapper Pashanim in the song Airwaves .

See also

• List of streets and squares in Berlin-Kreuzberg

Web links

Commons : Mehringdamm  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Mehringdamm. In: Street name lexicon of the Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein (near  Kaupert )
  • Tempelhofer Strasse . In: Luise.
  • Belle-Alliance-Strasse . In: Luise.
  • Franz-Mehring-Strasse . In: Luise.
• Details of the Berlin list of monuments to Mehringdamm with the house numbers:

Former Guard Dragoon barracks: complex nos. 20/22/28 No. 32 + 34 No. 40 No. 42 No. 43 No. 45 Nos. 44 + 46 # 48

No. 50 No. 52 No. 53 No. 54 No. 55 # 56 No. 57: Former Sarotti Chocoladen & Cacao-Industrie AG

No. 59: 6th secondary school No. 64 No. 73 Nos. 73 + 75 No. 75

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wolfgang Kramer: Depots of the Berlin horse railways . In: Berliner Verkehrsblätter . Volume 6, 1995, pp. 100 .
2. ↑ Marcel Götze: Post-War History 1960–1969. In: Berlin-Straba.de. Retrieved January 29, 2013 . 
3. ↑ Photo of Mehringdamm from 1965 with tram see Tram Forum , 2nd picture from above
4. ↑ Information on the cemeteries ( Memento of the original from October 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Senate administration 
5. ^ Mosque on Mehringdamm evicted . In: Berliner Zeitung , September 24, 2003
6. ↑ Mehringdamm No. 51 on kreuzberger-chronik.de
7. ^ List of concerts in the skylight . RockinBerlin website. Retrieved November 29, 2013.
8. ↑ 170 drivers race across Mehringdamm . In: Berliner Zeitung , July 1, 1999; Retrieved July 17, 2011
9. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Bergmannstrasse festival and soap box races on the weekend . At: blogspot.com , accessed July 17, 2011
10. ↑ Pashanim - Airwaves. Retrieved June 6, 2020 . 

Coordinates: 52 ° 29 ′ 29.6 ″  N , 13 ° 23 ′ 13.7 ″  E