Zehlendorf (Berlin)


Zehlendorf is a locality within the borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf in Berlin. Before Berlin's 2001 administrative reform Zehlendorf was a borough in its own right, consisting of the locality of Zehlendorf as well as Wannsee, Nikolassee and Dahlem. Zehlendorf contains some of the most remarked upon natural settings in Berlin, including parts of the Grunewald forest and the Schlachtensee, Krumme Lanke and Waldsee lakes. Additionally, it has large affluent residential neighborhoods, some with cobblestone streets and buildings that are over 100 years old.

History

The village of Zehlendorf was first mentioned as Cedelendorp in a 1245 contract between the Margraves John I and Otto III of Brandenburg and the Lehnin Abbey. Probably a German foundation, the name Cedelen appears to be a dialect word for "settlement", or "noble".
In the affluent and well-educated environment of Zehlendorf, top World War II figures mingled with opponents of the Nazi regime. Express S-Bahn trains, known as the "Banker Trains", whisked them at to the financial and government centers until the service was disrupted towards the end of World War II.
During the Nazi period, Zehlendorf's mayor was Walter Helfenstein, a convinced Nazi. Helfenstein was responsible for erecting a memorial to the antisemitic publisher Theodor Fritsch, described as "the first antisemitic memorial in Germany" in Zehlendorf in 1935. The memorial was the first memorial sculpted by the artist Arthur Wellmann, who was a Zehlendorf resident. The Fritsch memorial was melted down in 1943 to make armaments for the war. Mayor Helfenstein committed suicide on 24 April 1945 as the Red Army took Berlin. Helfenstein's death is referred to in the novel Berlin by the anti-Nazi novelist Theodor Plievier.
In 1944, Zehlendorf was the location of a subcamp of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp for Polish women.

Geography

Subdivision

Zehlendorf is subdivided into 6 zones:
  • Düppel
  • Schlachtensee-Ost
  • Schönow/Zehlendorf-Süd
  • Zehlendorf-West
  • Zehlendorf-Ost
  • Zehlendorf-Nord

Locale

Visitors can stop at the Dahlem Church, where the vicar, Pastor Martin Niemöller, served from 1931 through 1937. Niemöller's sermons against the Nazis led to his imprisonment and the publication of them in English during the war helped shape discussion of the nature of National Socialism in Christian circles.
Many walking trips are available in and around Zehlendorf. Popular destinations include the Grunewald trails north from the Onkel Toms Hütte U-Bahn station and neighborhood shopping center, the walk from Krumme Lanke U-Bahn station to the lake of the same name, and the cross-Zehlendorf walk from the end of the U-Bahn at Krumme Lanke to the S-Bahn station in the center of old Zehlendorf. Zehlendorf shopping center has undergone major changes with plenty of new construction centering on the S-Bahn station "Zehlendorf."
When American forces occupied Berlin and later were stationed in Berlin during the Cold War, Zehlendorf with the "Steuben Barracks", Dahlem and Lichterfelde were the areas where most of those forces were centered, including elements of the Berlin Brigade stationed at the McNair Barracks.

Transportation

There is direct access to central Berlin via road and S-Bahn. The S1 line makes 3 stops in Zehlendorf and runs right through Unter den Linden, where the Brandenburg Gate is located. The newer portion of the borough of Zehlendorf developed around extended U-Bahn service in the first third of the 20th century. It may be reached via the U3 line at the station Onkel Toms Hütte and the terminus Krumme Lanke.
The Bundesstraße 1 federal highway runs through the locality along the streets Berliner Straße, Potsdamer Straße and Potsdamer Chaussee. Zehlendorf has also access to the A 115 Autobahn at the Hüttenweg junction.

Points of interest

People

Sons and daughters

People, who live(d) there