Berlin#20th to 21st centuries

{{Main|History of Berlin}}

{{For timeline|Timeline of Berlin}}

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| quote = 15px Margraviate of Brandenburg 1237–1660

File:Brandenburg-Prussia.svg Brandenburg-Prussia 1660–1701

{{flag|Kingdom of Prussia|1803}} 1701–1867

{{flagicon|Germany|1866}} North German Confederation 1867–1871

{{flag|German Empire}} 1871–1918

{{flag|Weimar Republic}} 1918–1933

{{flag|Nazi Germany}} 1933–1945

{{flag|Allied-occupied Germany}} 1945–1949

{{flag|West Germany}} 1949–1990

{{flag|East Germany}} 1949–1990

{{flagcountry|Germany}} 1990–present

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Berlin lies in northeastern Germany, in an area formerly settled by Slavs which thus exhibits many (Germanised) Slavic-derived placenames until today (see below). The word Berlin also has its roots in the language of the West Slavs, and may be related to the Old Polabian stem {{Lang|pox|berl-/birl-}} ("swamp").{{Cite book| last=Berger| first=Dieter| title=Geographische Namen in Deutschland| publisher=Bibliographisches Institut| year=1999| isbn=9783411062522}}

Of Berlin's twelve boroughs, five bear a Slavic-derived name—Pankow, Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Marzahn-Hellersdorf, Treptow-Köpenick and Spandau; furthermore, across the city's 96 neighbourhoods, there are 22 which bear a Slavic-rooted name—Altglienicke, Alt-Treptow, Britz, Buch, Buckow, Gatow, Karow, Kladow, Köpenick, Lankwitz, Lübars, Malchow, Marzahn, Pankow, Prenzlauer Berg, Rudow, Schmöckwitz, Spandau, Stadtrandsiedlung Malchow, Steglitz, Tegel and Zehlendorf.

The earliest human settlements in the area of modern Berlin are dated around 60,000 BC.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}} A deer mask, dated to 9,000 BC, is attributed to the Maglemosian culture. In 2,000 BC dense human settlements along the Spree and Havel rivers gave rise to the Lusatian culture.{{cite web | url= https://berlintouristinformation.com/berlin-geschichte | title= Die Geschichte Berlins: Zeittafel & Fakten | date= 11 May 2022 | access-date= 9 December 2023 | archive-date= 2 December 2023 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231202122923/https://berlintouristinformation.com/berlin-geschichte/ | url-status= live }} Starting around 500 BC Germanic tribes settled in a number of villages in the higher situated areas of today's Berlin. After the Semnones left around 200 AD, the Burgundians followed. In the 7th century Slavic tribes, the later known Hevelli and Sprevane, reached the region.

File:ZLB-Berliner Ansichten-Januar.jpg

File:Dom und Stadtschloss, Berlin 1900.png (left) and Berlin Palace (right), 1900]]

In the 12th century the region came under German rule as part of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, founded by Albert the Bear in 1157. Early evidence of middle age settlements in the area of today's Berlin are remnants of a house foundation dated 1270 to 1290, found in excavations in Berlin Mitte.{{Cite news |title=Berliner Stadtmitte: Was aus den Fundamenten der mittelalterlichen Gerichtslaube wird |language=de |author1=Thomas Lackmann |publisher=Tagesspiegel |date=4 January 2015 |url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/was-aus-den-fundamenten-der-mittelalterlichen-gerichtslaube-wird-4639129.html |access-date=9 December 2023 |archive-date=9 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209215810/https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/was-aus-den-fundamenten-der-mittelalterlichen-gerichtslaube-wird-4639129.html |url-status=live }} The first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209.{{cite web|url=https://www.berlin.de/tourismus/sehenswuerdigkeiten.en/00175.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612020333/https://www.berlin.de/tourismus/sehenswuerdigkeiten.en/00175.html|archive-date=12 June 2008 |title=Zitadelle Spandau |year=2002 |publisher=BerlinOnline Stadtportal GmbH & Co. KG |access-date=18 August 2008}} 1237 is considered the founding date of the city.{{cite web |url=https://www.berlin.de/berlin-im-ueberblick/en/history/the-medieval-trading-center/ |title=The medieval trading center |access-date=11 June 2013 |publisher=BerlinOnline Stadtportal GmbH & Co. KG. |archive-date=31 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160731190906/https://www.berlin.de/berlin-im-ueberblick/en/history/the-medieval-trading-center/ |url-status=live }} The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, and profited from the staple right on the two important trade routes, one was known as Via Imperii, and the other trade route reached from Bruges to Novgorod. In 1307 the two towns formed an alliance with a common external policy, their internal administrations still being separated.Stöver B. Geschichte Berlins Verlag CH Beck 2010 {{ISBN|9783406600678}}

In 1326 the territory of Berlin was raided by pagan Lithuanians during the Raid on Brandenburg.

Members of the Hohenzollern family ruled in Berlin until 1918, first as electors of Brandenburg, then as kings of Prussia, and eventually as German emperors. In 1443, Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new royal palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln. The protests of the town citizens against the building culminated in 1448, in the "Berlin Indignation" ({{langx|de|Berliner Unwille|links=no}}).{{cite web |url=https://www.diegeschichteberlins.de/geschichteberlins/berlinabc/stichworteag/555-berliner-unwillen.html |title=Berliner Unwillen |trans-title=Berlin unwillingness |publisher=Verein für die Geschichte Berlins e. V. |first=Gerhild H. M. |last=Komander |date=November 2004 |access-date=30 May 2013 |language=de |archive-date=19 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130919215632/https://www.diegeschichteberlins.de/geschichteberlins/berlinabc/stichworteag/555-berliner-unwillen.html |url-status=live }} Officially, the Berlin-Cölln palace became permanent residence of the Brandenburg electors of the Hohenzollerns from 1486, when John Cicero came to power.{{cite web |url=https://www.berlin.de/berlin-im-ueberblick/en/history/the-electors-residence/ |title=The electors' residence |publisher=BerlinOnline Stadtportal GmbH & Co. KG |access-date=11 June 2013 |archive-date=21 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170421214734/https://www.berlin.de/berlin-im-ueberblick/en/history/the-electors-residence/ |url-status=live }} Berlin-Cölln, however, had to give up its status as a free Hanseatic League city. In 1539, the electors and the city officially became Lutheran.{{cite web |url=https://www.smp-protein.de/SMPConference/berlin.htm |title=Berlin Cathedral |access-date=18 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060818100934/https://www.smp-protein.de/SMPConference/berlin.htm |archive-date=18 August 2006 |publisher=SMPProtein}}

The Thirty Years' War between 1618 and 1648 devastated Berlin. One third of its houses were damaged or destroyed, and the city lost half of its population.{{cite web |url=https://www.zum.de/whkmla/region/germany/bra30.html |title=Brandenburg during the 30 Years War |publisher=World History at KMLA |access-date=18 August 2008 |archive-date=28 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080928213849/https://www.zum.de/whkmla/region/germany/bra30.html |url-status=live }} Frederick William, known as the "Great Elector", who had succeeded his father George William as ruler in 1640, initiated a policy of promoting immigration and religious tolerance.{{cite book|first=Thomas |last=Carlyle|title=Fraser's Magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/frasersmagazine03carlgoog|year=1853|publisher=J. Fraser|page=[https://archive.org/details/frasersmagazine03carlgoog/page/n71 63]|access-date=11 February 2016}} With the Edict of Potsdam in 1685, Frederick William offered asylum to the French Huguenots.{{cite book|first=W. Gunther|last=Plaut|title=Asylum: A Moral Dilemma|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oirvylPVAhAC&pg=PA42|date=1 January 1995|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-275-95196-2|page=42|access-date=20 June 2015|archive-date=15 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915214210/https://books.google.com/books?id=oirvylPVAhAC&pg=PA42|url-status=live}}

By 1700, approximately 30 percent of Berlin's residents were French, because of the Huguenot immigration.{{cite book|first=Jeremy|last=Gray|title=Germany|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z5t5mZE_s5YC&pg=PA49|year=2007|publisher=Lonely Planet|isbn=978-1-74059-988-7|page=49|access-date=20 June 2015|archive-date=15 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915225030/https://books.google.com/books?id=Z5t5mZE_s5YC&pg=PA49|url-status=live}} Many other immigrants came from Bohemia, Poland, and Salzburg.{{cite book|first=Roman Adrian|last=Cybriwsky|title=Capital Cities around the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qb6NAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA48|date=23 May 2013|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-61069-248-9|page=48|access-date=20 June 2015|archive-date=15 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915232139/https://books.google.com/books?id=qb6NAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA48|url-status=live}}

File:Berlin Unter den Linden Victoria Hotel um 1900.jpg in 1871 and expanded rapidly in the following years.|219x219px]]

Since 1618, the Margraviate of Brandenburg had been in personal union with the Duchy of Prussia. In 1701, the dual state formed the Kingdom of Prussia, as Frederick III, Elector of Brandenburg, crowned himself as king Frederick I in Prussia. Berlin became the capital of the new Kingdom,Horlemann, Bernd (Hrsg.), Mende, Hans-Jürgen (Hrsg.): Berlin 1994. Taschenkalender. Edition Luisenstadt Berlin, Nr. 01280. replacing Königsberg. This was a successful attempt to centralise the capital in the very far-flung state, and it was the first time the city began to grow. In 1709, Berlin merged with the four cities of Cölln, Friedrichswerder, Friedrichstadt and Dorotheenstadt under the name Berlin, "Haupt- und Residenzstadt Berlin".

In 1740, Frederick II, known as Frederick the Great (1740–1786), came to power.{{cite book|first=Gregorio F.|last=Zaide|title=World History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kq512SmGMIsC&pg=PA273|year=1965|publisher=Rex Bookstore, Inc.|isbn=978-971-23-1472-8|page=273|access-date=20 June 2015|archive-date=15 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915200510/https://books.google.com/books?id=Kq512SmGMIsC&pg=PA273|url-status=live}} Under the rule of Frederick II, Berlin became a center of the Enlightenment, but also, was briefly occupied during the Seven Years' War by the Russian army.{{cite book |first1=Marvin |last1=Perry |first2=Myrna |last2=Chase |first3=James |last3=Jacob |first4=Margaret |last4=Jacob |first5=Theodore |last5=Von Laue |title=Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YYIJAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA444 |date=1 January 2012 |publisher=Cengage Learning |isbn=978-1-133-70864-3 |page=444 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-date=14 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150914174457/https://books.google.com/books?id=YYIJAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA444 |url-status=live }} Following France's victory in the War of the Fourth Coalition, Napoleon Bonaparte marched into Berlin in 1806, but granted self-government to the city.{{cite book|first=Peter B.|last=Lewis|title=Arthur Schopenhauer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6TBXX9KVtzsC&pg=PA57|date=15 February 2013|publisher=Reaktion Books|isbn=978-1-78023-069-6|page=57|access-date=20 June 2015|archive-date=14 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150914174348/https://books.google.com/books?id=6TBXX9KVtzsC&pg=PA57|url-status=live}} In 1815, the city became part of the new Province of Brandenburg.{{cite book|author1=Harvard Student Agencies Inc. Staff|author2=Harvard Student Agencies, Inc.|title=Let's Go Berlin, Prague & Budapest: The Student Travel Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nj0YqD4ntvIC&pg=PA83|date=28 December 2010|publisher=Avalon Travel|isbn=978-1-59880-914-5|page=83|access-date=20 June 2015|archive-date=14 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150914181704/https://books.google.com/books?id=Nj0YqD4ntvIC&pg=PA83|url-status=live}}

The Industrial Revolution transformed Berlin during the 19th century; the city's economy and population expanded dramatically, and it became the main railway hub and economic center of Germany. Additional suburbs soon developed and increased the area and population of Berlin. In 1861, neighboring suburbs including Wedding, Moabit and several others were incorporated into Berlin.{{cite book|author=Andrea Schulte-Peevers|title=Lonel Berlin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DKlXQS6c3p0C&pg=PA25|date=15 September 2010|publisher=Lonely Planet|isbn=978-1-74220-407-9|page=25|access-date=20 June 2015|archive-date=15 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915214354/https://books.google.com/books?id=DKlXQS6c3p0C&pg=PA25|url-status=live}} In 1871, Berlin became capital of the newly founded German Empire.{{cite book|first=Bernd|last=Stöver|title=Berlin: A Short History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LVA8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PT20|date=2 October 2013|publisher=C.H.Beck|isbn=978-3-406-65633-0|page=20|access-date=20 June 2015|archive-date=15 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915200615/https://books.google.com/books?id=LVA8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PT20|url-status=live}} In 1881, it became a city district separate from Brandenburg.{{cite book |first=W. Paul |last=Strassmann |title=The Strassmanns: Science, Politics and Migration in Turbulent Times (1793–1993) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5cCuBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA26 |date=15 June 2008 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=978-1-84545-416-6 |page=26 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-date=10 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910121944/https://books.google.com/books?id=5cCuBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA26 |url-status=live }}

{{Further|Greater Berlin Act|1920s Berlin|West Berlin|East Berlin}}

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| caption2 = The controversial 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin under the Nazi rule

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In the early 20th century, Berlin had become a fertile ground for the German Expressionist movement.{{cite book|author1=Jack Holland|author2=John Gawthrop|title=The Rough Guide to Berlin|url=https://archive.org/details/roughguidetoberl00holl|url-access=registration|year=2001|publisher=Rough Guides|isbn=978-1-85828-682-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/roughguidetoberl00holl/page/361 361]}} In fields such as architecture, painting and cinema new forms of artistic styles were invented. At the end of World War I in 1918, a republic was proclaimed by Philipp Scheidemann at the Reichstag building. In 1920, the Greater Berlin Act incorporated dozens of suburban cities, villages, and estates around Berlin into an expanded city. The act increased the area of Berlin from {{cvt|66|to|883|km2}}. The population almost doubled, and Berlin had a population of around four million. During the Weimar era, Berlin underwent political unrest due to economic uncertainties but also became a renowned center of the Roaring Twenties. The metropolis experienced its heyday as a major world capital and was known for its leadership roles in science, technology, arts, the humanities, city planning, film, higher education, government, and industries. Albert Einstein rose to public prominence during his years in Berlin,{{cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-celebrity-scientist-albert-einstein-used-fame-denounce-american-racism-180962356/|last=Francis|first=Matthew|title=How Albert Einstein Used His Fame to Denounce American Racism|date=3 March 2017|publisher=Smithsonian Magazine|access-date=5 September 2023|archive-date=11 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211150143/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-celebrity-scientist-albert-einstein-used-fame-denounce-american-racism-180962356/|url-status=live}} being awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921.{{cite web |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1921/ |title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1921 |publisher=Nobel Prize |access-date=5 September 2023 |archive-date=3 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703190346/https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1921/ |url-status=live }}

In 1933, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power. Hitler was inspired by the architecture he had experienced in Vienna, and he wished for a German Empire with a capital city that had a monumental ensemble. The National Socialist regime embarked on monumental construction projects in Berlin as a way to express their power and authority through architecture. Adolf Hitler and Albert Speer developed architectural concepts for the conversion of the city into World Capital Germania; these were never implemented.{{cite book |last1=Donath |first1=Matthias |title=Architecture in Berlin 1933–1945: A Guide Through Nazi Berlin |date=2006 |publisher=Lukas Verlag |location=Germany |isbn=9783936872934 |page=7}}

NSDAP rule diminished Berlin's Jewish community from 160,000 (one-third of all Jews in the country) to about 80,000 due to emigration between 1933 and 1939. After Kristallnacht in 1938, thousands of the city's Jews were imprisoned in the nearby Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Starting in early 1943, many were deported to ghettos like Łódź, and to concentration and extermination camps such as Auschwitz.{{cite web|url=https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005450|title=The Jewish Community of Berlin|publisher=Holocaust Encyclopedia|access-date=10 November 2018|archive-date=8 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170708152027/https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005450|url-status=live}}

Berlin hosted the 1936 Summer Olympics for which the Olympic stadium was built.[http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1936/1936v1sum.pdf 1936 Summer Olympics official report.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080625173406/http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1936/1936v1sum.pdf |date=25 June 2008 }} Volume 1. pp. 141–9, 154–62. Accessed 17 October 2010.

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| caption1 = View from Pariser Platz in June 1945, after the battle of Berlin

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| caption2 = Berlin in ruins after World War II (Potsdamer Platz, 1945)

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During World War II, Berlin was the location of multiple Nazi prisons, forced labour camps, 17 subcamps of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp for men and women, including teenagers, of various nationalities, including Polish, Jewish, French, Belgian, Czechoslovak, Russian, Ukrainian, Romani, Dutch, Greek, Norwegian, Spanish, Luxembourgish, German, Austrian, Italian, Yugoslavian, Bulgarian, Hungarian,{{cite book|last=Megargee|first=Geoffrey P.|year=2009|title=The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume I|publisher=Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum|pages=1268–1291|isbn=978-0-253-35328-3}} a camp for Sinti and Romani people (see Romani Holocaust),{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=416|title=Lager für Sinti und Roma in Berlin-Marzahn|website=Bundesarchiv.de|access-date=31 March 2024|language=de|archive-date=31 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240331102414/https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=416|url-status=live}} and the Stalag III-D prisoner-of-war camp for Allied POWs of various nationalities.

During World War II, large parts of Berlin were destroyed during {{Dash year|1943|1945}} Allied air raids and the 1945 Battle of Berlin. The Allies dropped 67,607 tons of bombs on the city, destroying 6,427 acres of the built-up area. Around 125,000 civilians were killed.{{citation| author1= Micheal Clodfelter| title=Warfare and Armed Conflicts- A Statistical Reference to Casualty and Other Figures, 1500–2000| edition=2nd| publisher=McFarland & Company|year=2002 | isbn=9780786412044 }} After the end of World War II in Europe in May 1945, Berlin received large numbers of refugees from the Eastern provinces. The victorious powers divided the city into four sectors, analogous to Allied-occupied Germany the sectors of the Allies of World War II (the United States, the United Kingdom, and France) formed West Berlin, while the Soviet Union formed East Berlin.{{cite web | url=https://www.bpb.de/geschichte/nationalsozialismus/dossier-nationalsozialismus/39619/das-geteilte-berlin?p=all |title=Berlin – auf dem Weg zur geteilten Stadt |trans-title=Berlin – on the way to a divided city |date=27 April 2005 | author1=Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Benz |language=de |publisher= Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung |access-date=10 November 2018 |archive-date=10 November 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181110120432/https://www.bpb.de/geschichte/nationalsozialismus/dossier-nationalsozialismus/39619/das-geteilte-berlin?p=all |url-status=live }}

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| caption1 = US and Soviet tanks face each other. Taken in 1961 at Checkpoint Charlie, during the construction of the Berlin Wall

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| caption2 = The Berlin Wall (painted on the western side) was a barrier that divided the city from 1961 to 1989.

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All four Allies of World War II shared administrative responsibilities for Berlin. However, in 1948, when the Western Allies extended the currency reform in the Western zones of Germany to the three western sectors of Berlin, the Soviet Union imposed the Berlin Blockade on the access routes to and from West Berlin, which lay entirely inside Soviet-controlled territory. The Berlin airlift, conducted by the three western Allies, overcame this blockade by supplying food and other supplies to the city from June 1948 to May 1949.{{cite web|url=https://www.western-allies-berlin.com/historic-events/detail/airlift-blockade|title=Berlin Airlift / Blockade|publisher=Western Allies Berlin|access-date=18 August 2008|archive-date=18 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318232831/https://www.western-allies-berlin.com/historic-events/detail/airlift-blockade|url-status=live}} In 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany was founded in West Germany and eventually included all of the American, British and French zones, excluding those three countries' zones in Berlin, while the Marxist–Leninist German Democratic Republic was proclaimed in East Germany. West Berlin officially remained an occupied city, but it politically was aligned with the Federal Republic of Germany despite West Berlin's geographic isolation. Airline service to West Berlin was granted only to American, British and French airlines.

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| caption1 = The Berlin Wall bordered with East and West Berlin in 1983

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| caption2 = The fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989.

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| caption3 = The German reunification on 3 October 1990, with flags of all German states at the Reichstag building

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The founding of the two German states increased Cold War tensions. West Berlin was surrounded by East German territory, and East Germany proclaimed the Eastern part as its capital, a move the western powers did not recognize. East Berlin included most of the city's historic center. The West German government established itself in Bonn.{{cite web |url=https://www.berlin.de/berlin-im-ueberblick/geschichte/1945.en.html |title=Berlin after 1945 |publisher=BerlinOnline Stadtportal GmbH & Co. KG. |access-date=8 April 2009 |archive-date=12 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090412221115/https://www.berlin.de/berlin-im-ueberblick/geschichte/1945.en.html |url-status=live }} In 1961, East Germany began to build the Berlin Wall around West Berlin, and events escalated to a tank standoff at Checkpoint Charlie. West Berlin was now de facto a part of West Germany with a unique legal status, while East Berlin was de facto a part of East Germany. John F. Kennedy gave his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech on 26 June 1963, in front of the Schöneberg city hall, located in the city's western part, underlining the US support for West Berlin.Andreas Daum, Kennedy in Berlin. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008, {{ISBN|978-0-521-85824-3}}, pp. 125‒56, 223‒26. Berlin was completely divided. Although it was possible for Westerners to pass to the other side through strictly controlled checkpoints, for most Easterners, travel to West Berlin or West Germany was prohibited by the government of East Germany. In 1971, a Four-Power Agreement guaranteed access to and from West Berlin by car or train through East Germany.{{cite web |url=https://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/ga5-710903.htm |title=Ostpolitik: The Quadripartite Agreement of September 3, 1971 |publisher=U.S. Diplomatic Mission to Germany |year=1996 |access-date=18 August 2008 |archive-date=25 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225042306/https://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/ga5-710903.htm |url-status=live }}

In 1989, with the end of the Cold War and pressure from the East German population, the Berlin Wall fell on 9 November and was subsequently mostly demolished. Today, the East Side Gallery preserves a large portion of the wall. On 3 October 1990, the two parts of Germany were reunified as the Federal Republic of Germany, and Berlin again became a reunified city. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the city experienced significant urban development and still impacts urban planning decisions.Berlin ‒ Washington, 1800‒2000: Capital Cities, Cultural Representation, and National Identities, ed. Andreas Daum and Christof Mauch. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006, 23‒27.

Walter Momper, the mayor of West Berlin, became the first mayor of the reunified city in the interim.{{cite web |title=AGI |url=https://americangerman.institute/by-author/walter-momper/ |website=AGI |access-date=21 August 2023 |archive-date=21 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230821065849/https://americangerman.institute/by-author/walter-momper/ |url-status=live }} City-wide elections in December 1990 resulted in the first "all Berlin" mayor being elected to take office in January 1991, with the separate offices of mayors in East and West Berlin expiring by that time, and Eberhard Diepgen (a former mayor of West Berlin) became the first elected mayor of a reunited Berlin.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/01/world/berlin-mayoral-contest-has-many-uncertainties.html |title=Berlin Mayoral Contest Has Many Uncertainties |newspaper=The New York Times |date=1 December 1990 |access-date=17 June 2019 |archive-date=17 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190617212414/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/01/world/berlin-mayoral-contest-has-many-uncertainties.html |url-status=live }} On 18 June 1994, soldiers from the United States, France and Britain marched in a parade which was part of the ceremonies to mark the withdrawal of allied occupation troops allowing a reunified Berlin{{cite news | last=Kinzer | first=Stephan | title=Allied Soldiers March to Say Farewell to Berlin | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/19/world/allied-soldiers-march-to-say-farewell-to-berlin.html | newspaper=The New York Times | location=New York City | date=19 June 1994 | access-date=20 November 2015 | archive-date=21 November 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121133602/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/19/world/allied-soldiers-march-to-say-farewell-to-berlin.html | url-status=live }} (the last Russian troops departed on 31 August, while the final departure of Western Allies forces was on 8 September 1994). On 20 June 1991, the Bundestag (German Parliament) voted to move the seat of the German capital from Bonn to Berlin, which was completed in 1999, during the chancellorship of Gerhard Schröder.{{cite web |title=When Did Germany's Capital Move to Berlin? |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/germany-capital-from-bonn-to-berlin-1434930 |website=ThoughtCo |language=en |access-date=9 August 2023 |archive-date=10 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230810225020/https://www.thoughtco.com/germany-capital-from-bonn-to-berlin-1434930 |url-status=live }}

Berlin's 2001 administrative reform merged several boroughs, reducing their number from 23 to 12.{{cite web |title=Bezirke or Boroughs, Berlin, Germany, 2001 – Digital Maps and Geospatial Data {{!}} Princeton University |url=https://maps.princeton.edu/catalog/tufts-berlin-bezirke-boroughs01 |website=maps.princeton.edu |access-date=21 August 2023 |archive-date=21 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230821070030/https://maps.princeton.edu/catalog/tufts-berlin-bezirke-boroughs01 |url-status=live }}

In 2006, the FIFA World Cup Final was held in Berlin.{{cite news |title=Zidane off as Italy win World Cup |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2006/4991652.stm |date=9 July 2006 |access-date=8 August 2023 |archive-date=6 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170906192236/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2006/4991652.stm |url-status=live }}

Construction of the "Berlin Wall Trail" (Berliner Mauerweg) began in 2002 and was completed in 2006.

In a 2016 terrorist attack linked to ISIL, a truck was deliberately driven into a Christmas market next to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, leaving 13 people dead and 55 others injured.{{cite news |url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/nach-anschlag-in-berlin-is-reklamiert-attentat-fuer-sich-14585337.html |title=IS reklamiert Attacke auf Weihnachtsmarkt für sich |trans-title=IS recalls attack on Christmas market for itself |date=20 December 2016 |access-date=10 November 2018 |work=Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung |language=de |archive-date=21 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190321175944/https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/nach-anschlag-in-berlin-is-reklamiert-attentat-fuer-sich-14585337.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59048891|title=Berlin attack: First aider dies 5 years after Christmas market murders|work=BBC|date=26 October 2021|access-date=26 October 2021|archive-date=26 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026190214/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59048891|url-status=live}}

In 2018, more than 200,000 protestors took to the streets in Berlin with demonstrations of solidarity against racism, in response to the emergence of far-right politics in Germany.{{cite news |title=Protests against far-right politics draw thousands – DW – 10/13/2018 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/berlin-protests-against-far-right-politics-draw-thousands/a-45873439 |work=dw.com |language=en |access-date=8 August 2023 |archive-date=10 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230810230628/https://www.dw.com/en/berlin-protests-against-far-right-politics-draw-thousands/a-45873439 |url-status=live }}

Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) opened in 2020, nine years later than planned, with Terminal 1 coming into service at the end of October, and flights to and from Tegel Airport ending in November.{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/berlin-tegel-airport-germany-closing-history-brandenburg-b672759.html|title=Berlin's Tegel airport: A love letter as it prepares to close|last1=Gardner|first1=Nicky|last2=Kries|first2=Susanne|work=The Independent|date=8 November 2020|access-date=5 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205135633/https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/berlin-tegel-airport-germany-closing-history-brandenburg-b672759.html|archive-date=5 February 2021|language=de}} Due to the fall in passenger numbers resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, plans were announced to close BER's Terminal 5, the former Schönefeld Airport, beginning in March 2021.{{Cite news|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/flugverkehr-wegen-corona-eingebrochen-berschliesst-terminal-in-schoenefeld-am-23-februar/26864858.html|title=BER schließt Terminal in Schönefeld am 23. Februar|trans-title=BER closes the terminal in Schönefeld on February 23|work=Der Tagesspiegel|date=29 January 2021|access-date=5 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205134830/https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/flugverkehr-wegen-corona-eingebrochen-berschliesst-terminal-in-schoenefeld-am-23-februar/26864858.html|archive-date=5 February 2021|language=de|last1=Jacobs|first1=Stefan}} The connecting link of U-Bahn line U5 from Alexanderplatz to Hauptbahnhof, along with the new stations Rotes Rathaus and Unter den Linden, opened on 4 December 2020, the Museumsinsel U-Bahn station opened in 2021, which completed all new works on the U5.{{Cite web|url=https://www.rbb24.de/panorama/beitrag/2020/08/berlin-bvg-u5-lueckenschluss-verlaengerung-start.html|title=BVG will verlängerte U5 am 4. Dezember eröffnen|trans-title=BVG wants to open the extended U5 on December 4th|work=rbb24|date=24 August 2020|access-date=5 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205133537/https://www.rbb24.de/panorama/beitrag/2020/08/berlin-bvg-u5-lueckenschluss-verlaengerung-start.html|archive-date=5 February 2021|language=de}}

{{multiple image

| align = right

| image1 = Football-stadium-berlin.jpg

| width1 = 225

| caption1 = The 2006 FIFA World Cup final was held in Berlin

| image2 = 2023 Cube Berlin 4 2.jpg

| width2 = 240

| caption2 = Berlin Hauptbahnhof was opened in 2006

| image3 = Berlin-BerlinerSchloss-4-Asio.JPG

| width3 = 255

| caption3 = The rebuilt Berlin Palace in 2022

}}

A partial opening by the end of 2020 of the Humboldt Forum museum, housed in the reconstructed Berlin Palace, was postponed until March 2021.{{Cite news|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/museen-in-der-corona-pandemie-humboldt-forum-will-zunaechst-nur-digital-eroeffnen/26666500.html|title=Humboldt Forum will zunächst nur digital eröffnen|trans-title=Humboldt Forum will initially only open digitally|work=Der Tagesspiegel|date=27 November 2020|access-date=5 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205133156/https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/museen-in-der-corona-pandemie-humboldt-forum-will-zunaechst-nur-digital-eroeffnen/26666500.html|archive-date=5 February 2021|language=de}} On 16 September 2022, the opening of the eastern wing, the last section of the Humboldt Forum museum, meant the Humboldt Forum museum was finally completed. It became Germany's currently most expensive cultural project.{{cite news |title=Completed Humboldt Forum opens in Berlin – DW – 09/16/2022 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/completed-humboldt-forum-opens-in-berlin/a-63146991 |work=dw.com |language=en |access-date=8 August 2023 |archive-date=10 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230810230632/https://www.dw.com/en/completed-humboldt-forum-opens-in-berlin/a-63146991 |url-status=live }}

{{Main|Fusion of Berlin and Brandenburg}}

File:DEU Berlin-Brandenburg COA.svg

The legal basis for a combined state of Berlin and Brandenburg is different from other state fusion proposals. Normally, Article 29 of the Basic Law stipulates that a state fusion requires a federal law.{{cite act |type= |index= |date=24 May 1949 |article=29 |article-type=Article |legislature=Parlamentarischer Rat |title=Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland |trans-title=Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany |page= |url=https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/gg/art_29.html |language=de }} {{Cite web |url=http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/gg/art_29.html |title=Art 29 GG – Einzelnorm |access-date=9 November 2023 |archive-date=8 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221208004305/http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/gg/art_29.html |url-status=live }} However, a clause added to the Basic Law in 1994, Article 118a, allows Berlin and Brandenburg to unify without federal approval, requiring a referendum and a ratification by both state parliaments.{{cite act |type= |index= |date=27 October 1994 |article=118a |article-type=Einzelnorm |legislature=Bundestag |title=Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland |trans-title=Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany |page= |url=https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/gg/art_118a.html |language=de }} {{Cite web |url=https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/gg/art_118a.html |title=Art 118a GG – Einzelnorm |access-date=15 April 2022 |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331191515/https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/gg/art_118a.html |url-status=live }}

In 1996, there was an unsuccessful attempt of unifying the states of Berlin and Brandenburg.{{Cite web |title=LÄNDERFUSION / FUSIONSVERTRAG (1995) |url=https://berlingeschichte.de/stadtentwicklung/texte/5_33_laefuver.htm |year=2004 |access-date=31 March 2022 |archive-date=5 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230305230614/https://berlingeschichte.de/stadtentwicklung/texte/5_33_laefuver.htm |url-status=live }} Both share a common history, dialect and culture and in 2020, there are over 225,000 residents of Brandenburg that commute to Berlin. The fusion had the near-unanimous support by a broad coalition of both state governments, political parties, media, business associations, trade unions and churches.{{cite news|date=4 May 2016|title=Die Brandenburger wollen keine Berliner Verhältnisse|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/gescheiterte-laenderfusion-mit-berlin-die-brandenburger-wollen-keine-berliner-verhaeltnisse/13539146.html|access-date=30 March 2022|work=Tagesspiegel|language=de|archive-date=11 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220311094627/https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/gescheiterte-laenderfusion-mit-berlin-die-brandenburger-wollen-keine-berliner-verhaeltnisse/13539146.html|url-status=live}} Though Berlin voted in favor by a small margin, largely based on support in former West Berlin, Brandenburg voters disapproved of the fusion by a large margin. It failed largely due to Brandenburg voters not wanting to take on Berlin's large and growing public debt and fearing losing identity and influence to the capital.

{{Main|Geography of Berlin}}

File:Berlin by Senitnel-2.jpg

File:Luftbild bln-schmoeckwitz.jpg

Berlin is in northeastern Germany, in an area of low-lying marshy woodlands with a mainly flat topography, part of the vast Northern European Plain which stretches all the way from northern France to western Russia. The Berliner Urstromtal (an ice age glacial valley), between the low Barnim Plateau to the north and the Teltow plateau to the south, was formed by meltwater flowing from ice sheets at the end of the last Weichselian glaciation. The Spree follows this valley now. In Spandau, a borough in the west of Berlin, the Spree empties into the river Havel, which flows from north to south through western Berlin. The course of the Havel is more like a chain of lakes, the largest being the Tegeler See and the Großer Wannsee. A series of lakes also feeds into the upper Spree, which flows through the Großer Müggelsee in eastern Berlin.{{cite web|url=https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=52.5333,13.38000&spn=0.060339,0.085316&t=k|title=Satellite Image Berlin|publisher=Google Maps|access-date=18 August 2008|archive-date=18 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220218131221/https://www.google.com/maps?ll=52.5333,13.38000&spn=0.060339,0.085316&t=k|url-status=live}}

Substantial parts of present-day Berlin extend onto the low plateaus on both sides of the Spree Valley. Large parts of the boroughs Reinickendorf and Pankow lie on the Barnim Plateau, while most of the boroughs of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Tempelhof-Schöneberg, and Neukölln lie on the Teltow Plateau.

The borough of Spandau lies partly within the Berlin Glacial Valley and partly on the Nauen Plain, which stretches to the west of Berlin. Since 2015, the Arkenberge hills in Pankow at {{convert|122|m|sp=us}} elevation, have been the highest point in Berlin. Through the disposal of construction debris they surpassed Teufelsberg ({{cvt|120.1|m|disp=or}}), which itself was made up of rubble from the ruins of the Second World War.{{cite web |url=https://www.qiez.de/pankow/wohnen-und-leben/gruenes-berlin/der-hoechste-berg-von-berlin-liegt-nun-in-pankow-arkenberge/169588800 |title=Berlin hat eine neue Spitze |trans-title=Berlin has a new top |first=Nikolaus |last=Triantafillou |access-date=11 November 2018 |language=de |publisher=Qiez |date=27 January 2015 |archive-date=22 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160722225809/https://www.qiez.de/pankow/wohnen-und-leben/gruenes-berlin/der-hoechste-berg-von-berlin-liegt-nun-in-pankow-arkenberge/169588800 |url-status=dead }} The Müggelberge at {{convert|114.7|m|sp=us}} elevation is the highest natural point and the lowest is the Spektesee in Spandau, at {{convert|28.1|m|sp=us}} elevation.{{cite news |url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/bezirke/pankow/das-ist-die-hoehe-arkenberge-der-hoechste-berg-von-berlin-ist-neuerdings-in-pankow/11406254.html |title=Der höchste Berg von Berlin ist neuerdings in Pankow |trans-title=The tallest mountain in Berlin is now in Pankow |date=22 February 2015 |access-date=22 February 2015 |work=Der Tagesspiegel |first=Stefan |last=Jacobs |language=de |archive-date=19 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150519014725/https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/bezirke/pankow/das-ist-die-hoehe-arkenberge-der-hoechste-berg-von-berlin-ist-neuerdings-in-pankow/11406254.html |url-status=live }}

Berlin has an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb){{cite web|url=https://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather-summary.php3?s=58301&cityname=Berlin,+Germany|title=Berlin, Germany Köppen Climate Classification (Weatherbase) |website=Weatherbase|access-date=30 January 2019|archive-date=30 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190130184209/https://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather-summary.php3?s=58301&cityname=Berlin,+Germany|url-status=live}} bordering on a humid continental climate (Dfb). This type of climate features mild to very warm summer temperatures and cold, though not very severe, winters. Annual precipitation is modest.{{cite web|url=https://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather-summary.php3?s=58301&cityname=Berlin%2C+Berlin%2C+Germany&units=|title=Berlin, Germany Climate Summary|publisher=Weatherbase|access-date=15 March 2015|archive-date=29 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150629211853/https://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather-summary.php3?s=58301&cityname=Berlin%2C+Berlin%2C+Germany&units=|url-status=live}}{{Cite book |last1=Elkins |first1=Dorothy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8VqRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA77 |title=Berlin: The Spatial Structure of a Divided City |last2=Elkins |first2=T. H. |last3=Hofmeister |first3=B. |date=4 August 2005 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781135835057 |language=en |access-date=21 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220218131221/https://books.google.com/books?id=8VqRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA77 |archive-date=18 February 2022 |url-status=live}}

Frosts are common in winter, and there are larger temperature differences between seasons than typical for many oceanic climates. Summers are warm and sometimes humid with average high temperatures of {{cvt|22|–|25|C}} and lows of {{cvt|12|–|14|C}}. Winters are cold with average high temperatures of {{cvt|3|C}} and lows of {{cvt|−2|to|0|C}}. Spring and autumn are generally chilly to mild. Berlin's built-up area creates a microclimate, with heat stored by the city's buildings and pavement. Temperatures can be {{cvt|4|C-change|sigfig=1}} higher in the city than in the surrounding areas.{{cite web|url=https://www.weather.com/|title=weather.com|publisher=weather.com|access-date=7 April 2012|archive-date=23 March 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070323015551/https://www.weather.com/|url-status=live}} Annual precipitation is {{convert|570|mm|sp=us}} with moderate rainfall throughout the year. Snowfall mainly occurs from December through March.{{cite web|url=https://www.worldweather.org/016/c00059.htm|title=Climate figures|website=World Weather Information Service|access-date=18 August 2008|archive-date=17 August 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080817114255/https://www.worldweather.org/016/c00059.htm|url-status=live}} The hottest month in Berlin was July 1757, with a mean temperature of {{cvt|23.9|C}} and the coldest was January 1709, with a mean temperature of {{cvt|-13.2|C}}.{{Cite web|url=https://old.wetterzentrale.de/klima/tberlintem.html|title=Temperaturmonatsmittel BERLIN-TEMPELHOF 1701- 1993|website=old.wetterzentrale.de|access-date=23 June 2019|archive-date=2 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702031754/https://old.wetterzentrale.de/klima/tberlintem.html|url-status=dead}} The wettest month on record was July 1907, with {{convert|230|mm|sp=us}} of rainfall, whereas the driest were October 1866, November 1902, October 1908 and September 1928, all with {{convert|1|mm|3|sp=us}} of rainfall.{{Cite web|url=https://old.wetterzentrale.de/klima/pberlinda.html|title=Niederschlagsmonatssummen BERLIN-DAHLEM 1848– 1990|website=old.wetterzentrale.de|access-date=23 June 2019|archive-date=7 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190707182905/https://old.wetterzentrale.de/klima/pberlinda.html|url-status=dead}}{{Weather box

| location = Berlin (Brandenburg), 1991–2020, extremes 1957–2024

| metric first = Yes

| single line = Yes

| Jan record high C = 15.1

| Feb record high C = 19.2

| Mar record high C = 25.8

| Apr record high C = 30.8

| May record high C = 32.7

| Jun record high C = 38.4

| Jul record high C = 38.3

| Aug record high C = 38.0

| Sep record high C = 34.1

| Oct record high C = 27.7

| Nov record high C = 20.9

| Dec record high C = 15.6

| year record high C =

| Jan avg record high C = 10.6

| Feb avg record high C = 12.4

| Mar avg record high C = 17.9

| Apr avg record high C = 24.0

| May avg record high C = 28.4

| Jun avg record high C = 31.5

| Jul avg record high C = 32.7

| Aug avg record high C = 32.7

| Sep avg record high C = 26.9

| Oct avg record high C = 21.5

| Nov avg record high C = 14.8

| Dec avg record high C = 11.2

| year avg record high C = 34.8

| Jan high C = 3.2

| Feb high C = 4.9

| Mar high C = 9.0

| Apr high C = 15.1

| May high C = 19.6

| Jun high C = 22.9

| Jul high C = 25.0

| Aug high C = 24.8

| Sep high C = 19.8

| Oct high C = 13.9

| Nov high C = 7.7

| Dec high C = 4.1

| year high C =

| Jan mean C = 0.7

| Feb mean C = 1.6

| Mar mean C = 4.6

| Apr mean C = 9.7

| May mean C = 14.2

| Jun mean C = 17.6

| Jul mean C = 19.6

| Aug mean C = 19.2

| Sep mean C = 14.7

| Oct mean C = 9.6

| Nov mean C = 4.9

| Dec mean C = 1.8

| year mean C =

| Jan low C = -2.2

| Feb low C = -1.8

| Mar low C = 0.4

| Apr low C = 4.0

| May low C = 8.2

| Jun low C = 11.7

| Jul low C = 14.0

| Aug low C = 13.5

| Sep low C = 9.8

| Oct low C = 5.6

| Nov low C = 1.9

| Dec low C = -0.9

| year low C =

| Jan avg record low C = -12.0

| Feb avg record low C = -9.5

| Mar avg record low C = -5.8

| Apr avg record low C = -2.6

| May avg record low C = 1.7

| Jun avg record low C = 6.3

| Jul avg record low C = 8.9

| Aug avg record low C = 8.1

| Sep avg record low C = 3.9

| Oct avg record low C = -1.3

| Nov avg record low C = -5.0

| Dec avg record low C = -8.9

| year avg record low C = -14.2

| Jan record low C = -25.3

| Feb record low C = -22.0

| Mar record low C = -19.1

| Apr record low C = -7.4

| May record low C = -2.8

| Jun record low C = 1.3

| Jul record low C = 4.9

| Aug record low C = 4.6

| Sep record low C = -0.9

| Oct record low C = -7.7

| Nov record low C = -17.8

| Dec record low C = -24.0

| year record low C =

| precipitation colour = green

| Jan precipitation mm = 41.5

| Feb precipitation mm = 30.0

| Mar precipitation mm = 35.9

| Apr precipitation mm = 27.7

| May precipitation mm = 52.8

| Jun precipitation mm = 60.2

| Jul precipitation mm = 70.0

| Aug precipitation mm = 52.4

| Sep precipitation mm = 43.6

| Oct precipitation mm = 40.3

| Nov precipitation mm = 38.8

| Dec precipitation mm = 39.1

| year precipitation mm =

| unit precipitation days = 0.1 mm

| Jan precipitation days = 15.8

| Feb precipitation days = 13.9

| Mar precipitation days = 14

| Apr precipitation days = 10.9

| May precipitation days = 12.8

| Jun precipitation days = 12.4

| Jul precipitation days = 13.4

| Aug precipitation days = 12.7

| Sep precipitation days = 11.6

| Oct precipitation days = 13.6

| Nov precipitation days = 14.5

| Dec precipitation days = 16.4

| year precipitation days =

| unit snow days = 1.0 cm

| Jan snow days = 8.4

| Feb snow days = 6.8

| Mar snow days = 2.6

| Apr snow days = 0.2

| May snow days = 0

| Jun snow days = 0

| Jul snow days = 0

| Aug snow days = 0

| Sep snow days = 0

| Oct snow days = 0

| Nov snow days = 1.4

| Dec snow days = 4.9

| year snow days =

| Jan humidity = 85.9

| Feb humidity = 81.2

| Mar humidity = 75.8

| Apr humidity = 67.2

| May humidity = 66.9

| Jun humidity = 66.3

| Jul humidity = 67

| Aug humidity = 68.5

| Sep humidity = 76

| Oct humidity = 82.7

| Nov humidity = 87.8

| Dec humidity = 87.5

| year humidity =

| Jan sun = 52.6

| Feb sun = 77.9

| Mar sun = 126.7

| Apr sun = 196.4

| May sun = 231.1

| Jun sun = 232.9

| Jul sun = 233.7

| Aug sun = 222.2

| Sep sun = 168.9

| Oct sun = 113.8

| Nov sun = 57.4

| Dec sun = 45.0

| year sun =

| source 1 = Data derived from Deutscher Wetterdienst{{Cite web|url=https://www.dwd.de/DE/klimaumwelt/cdc/cdc_node.html|title=Wetter und Klima – Deutscher Wetterdienst – CDC (Climate Data Center)|website=www.dwd.de|access-date=15 September 2022|archive-date=19 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220619232425/https://www.dwd.de/DE/klimaumwelt/cdc/cdc_node.html|url-status=live}}

| source 2 = NCEI(days with precipitation and snow, humidity){{Cite web |url=https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/archive/arc0216/0253808/2.2/data/0-data/Region-6-WMO-Normals-9120/Germany/CSV/Berlin-Brandenburg_10385.csv |title=World Meteorological Organization Climate Normals for 1991–2020: Berlin-Brandenburg |access-date=11 April 2024 |publisher=National Oceanic and Atmosphric Administration |format=CSV |quote=WMO number: 10385}}

| date = 15 September 2022

| source =

}}

{{Weather box

| collapsed = y

| metric first = y

| single line = y

| location = Berlin (Dahlem), {{convert|58|m|abbr=on|disp=or}}, 1961–1990 normals, extremes 1908–present

|Jan record high C = 15.2

|Feb record high C = 18.6

|Mar record high C = 25.1

|Apr record high C = 30.9

|May record high C = 33.3

|Jun record high C = 36.1

|Jul record high C = 37.9

|Aug record high C = 37.7

|Sep record high C = 34.2

|Oct record high C = 27.5

|Nov record high C = 19.5

|Dec record high C = 15.7

| Jan mean C =-0.4

| Feb mean C =0.6

| Mar mean C =4.0

| Apr mean C =8.4

| May mean C =13.5

| Jun mean C =16.7

| Jul mean C =17.9

| Aug mean C =17.2

| Sep mean C =13.5

| Oct mean C =9.3

| Nov mean C =4.6

| Dec mean C =1.2

| Jan high C =1.8

| Feb high C =3.5

| Mar high C =7.9

| Apr high C =13.1

| May high C =18.6

| Jun high C =21.8

| Jul high C =23.1

| Aug high C =22.8

| Sep high C =18.7

| Oct high C =13.3

| Nov high C =7.0

| Dec high C =3.2

| Jan low C =-2.9

| Feb low C =-2.2

| Mar low C =0.5

| Apr low C =3.9

| May low C =8.2

| Jun low C =11.4

| Jul low C =12.9

| Aug low C =12.4

| Sep low C =9.4

| Oct low C =5.9

| Nov low C =2.1

| Dec low C =-1.1

|Jan record low C = -21.0

|Feb record low C = -26.0

|Mar record low C = -16.5

|Apr record low C = -6.7

|May record low C = -2.9

|Jun record low C = 0.8

|Jul record low C = 5.4

|Aug record low C = 4.7

|Sep record low C = -0.5

|Oct record low C = -9.6

|Nov record low C = -16.1

|Dec record low C = -20.2

| precipitation colour = green

| Jan precipitation mm =43.0

| Feb precipitation mm =37.0

| Mar precipitation mm =38.0

| Apr precipitation mm =42.0

| May precipitation mm =55.0

| Jun precipitation mm =71.0

| Jul precipitation mm =53.0

| Aug precipitation mm =65.0

| Sep precipitation mm =46.0

| Oct precipitation mm =36.0

| Nov precipitation mm =50.0

| Dec precipitation mm =55.0

| Jan sun =45.4

| Feb sun =72.3

| Mar sun =122.0

| Apr sun =157.7

| May sun =221.6

| Jun sun =220.9

| Jul sun =217.9

| Aug sun =210.2

| Sep sun =156.3

| Oct sun =110.9

| Nov sun =52.4

| Dec sun =37.4

| unit precipitation days = 1.0 mm

| Jan precipitation days =10.0

| Feb precipitation days =9.0

| Mar precipitation days =8.0

| Apr precipitation days =9.0

| May precipitation days =10.0

| Jun precipitation days =10.0

| Jul precipitation days =9.0

| Aug precipitation days =9.0

| Sep precipitation days =9.0

| Oct precipitation days =8.0

| Nov precipitation days =10.0

| Dec precipitation days =11.0

| source 1 = NOAA{{cite web

| url = ftp://ftp.atdd.noaa.gov/pub/GCOS/WMO-Normals/TABLES/REG_VI/DL/10381.TXT

| title = Berlin (10381) – WMO Weather Station

| access-date = 30 January 2019

| publisher = NOAA

}}{{dead link|date=June 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} [https://archive.org/details/19611990NormalsNOAABerlin Archived] 30 January 2019, at the Wayback Machine

|source 2 = Berliner Extremwerte{{cite web |url = https://www.berliner-extremwerte.com/Berliner-Extremwerte.htm |title = Berliner Extremwerte |access-date = 1 December 2014 |archive-date = 6 June 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200606191249/https://www.berliner-extremwerte.com/Berliner-Extremwerte.htm |url-status = live }}

}}

File:16-07-04-Abflug-Berlin-DSC 0122.jpg, Potsdamer Platz, Unter den Linden and Alexanderplatz]]

File:PotsdamerPlatz Vogelperspektive 2004 1.jpg from above]]

File:Bebelplatz Night of Shame Monument.jpg by Micha Ullman set into the Bebelplatz]]

Berlin's history has left the city with a polycentric metropolitan area and an eclectic mix of architecture. The city's appearance today has been predominantly shaped by German history during the 20th century. 17% of Berlin's buildings are Gründerzeit or earlier and nearly 25% are of the 1920s and 1930s, when Berlin played a part in the origin of modern architecture.{{Cite web |url=https://interaktiv.morgenpost.de/so-alt-wohnt-berlin/ |title=Alt- oder Neubau? So wohnt Berlin |access-date=29 March 2024 |archive-date=28 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230528095512/https://interaktiv.morgenpost.de/so-alt-wohnt-berlin/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1239 |title=Berlin Modernism Housing Estates |access-date=29 March 2024 |archive-date=28 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120228161839/http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1239 |url-status=live }}

Devastated by the bombing of Berlin in World War II many of the buildings that had survived in both East and West were demolished during the postwar period. After the reunification, many important heritage structures have been reconstructed, including the Forum Fridericianum along with, the Berlin State Opera, Charlottenburg Palace, Gendarmenmarkt, Alte Kommandantur, as well as the City Palace.

The tallest buildings in Berlin are spread across the urban area, with clusters at Potsdamer Platz, City West, and Alexanderplatz.

Over one-third of the city's area consists of green and open-space, with the Großer Tiergarten, one of the largest and most popular parks in Berlin, located in the centre of the city.

{{Main|Architecture of Berlin}}

{{Further|List of sights in Berlin|List of tallest buildings in Berlin}}

File:Mitte Nikolaikirchplatz-001.jpg, the oldest settlement area in Berlin|180x180px]]

File:Gendarmenmarkt Panorama.jpg, showing the Konzerthaus Berlin, flanked by the German Church (left) and French Church (right)]]

File:Berlin James-Simon-Galerie asv2019-07 img2.jpg]]

File:Berlin-BerlinerSchloss-2-Asio (cropped).JPG / Humboldt Forum]]

File:Berliner Dom seen from James Simon Park.jpg at Museum Island]]

File:Fernsehturm, Berlín, Alemania, 2016-04-22, DD 40-42 HDR.jpg)]]

File:Brandemburger Tor de noche - panoramio.jpg at night]]

The Fernsehturm (TV tower) at Alexanderplatz in Mitte is among the tallest structures in the European Union at {{cvt|368|m}}. Built in 1969, it is visible throughout most of the central districts of Berlin. The city can be viewed from its {{convert|204|m|ft|adj=mid|sp=us|-high}} observation floor. Starting here, the Karl-Marx-Allee heads east, an avenue lined by monumental residential buildings, designed in the Socialist Classicism style. Adjacent to this area is the Rotes Rathaus (City Hall), with its distinctive red-brick architecture. In front of it is the Neptunbrunnen, a fountain featuring a mythological group of Tritons, personifications of the four main Prussian rivers, and Neptune on top of it. Nearby is the Nikolaiviertel, the reconstructed oldest settlement area in the city.

The Brandenburg Gate is an iconic landmark of Berlin and Germany; it stands as a symbol of eventful European history and of unity and peace. The Reichstag building is the traditional seat of the German Parliament. It was remodeled by British architect Norman Foster in the 1990s and features a glass dome over the session area, which allows free public access to the parliamentary proceedings and magnificent views of the city.

The East Side Gallery is an open-air exhibition of art painted directly on the last existing portions of the Berlin Wall. It is the largest remaining evidence of the city's historical division.

The Gendarmenmarkt is a neoclassical square in Berlin, the name of which derives from the headquarters of the famous Gens d'armes regiment located here in the 18th century. Two similarly designed cathedrals border it, the Französischer Dom with its observation platform and the Deutscher Dom. The Konzerthaus (Concert Hall), home of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, stands between the two cathedrals.

File:MJK 46430 Schloss Charlottenburg.jpg]]

File:Berlin Hackesche Höfe1.jpg]]

The Museum Island in the River Spree houses five museums built from 1830 to 1930 and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Restoration and construction of a main entrance to all museums (James Simon Gallery), as well as reconstruction of the Berlin Palace (Stadtschloss) were completed.{{cite web |url=https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/newsticker/neumann--stadtschloss-wird-teurer,10917074,10924086.html |title=Neumann: Stadtschloss wird teurer |trans-title=Neumann: Palace is getting more expensive |work=Berliner Zeitung |language=de |date=24 June 2011 |access-date=7 April 2012 |archive-date=3 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160203200703/https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/newsticker/neumann--stadtschloss-wird-teurer,10917074,10924086.html |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/archiv/die-nullerjahre--nation-building---der-wiedervereinigte-staat-baut-sich-eine-neue-hauptstadt-das-pathos-der-berliner-republik,10810590,10717494.html |title=Das Pathos der Berliner Republik |trans-title=The pathos of the Berlin republic |work=Berliner Zeitung |language=de |date=19 May 2010 |access-date=7 April 2012 |archive-date=3 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160203200702/https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/archiv/die-nullerjahre--nation-building---der-wiedervereinigte-staat-baut-sich-eine-neue-hauptstadt-das-pathos-der-berliner-republik,10810590,10717494.html |url-status=live |author1=Jähner }} Also on the island and next to the Lustgarten and palace is Berlin Cathedral, emperor William II's ambitious attempt to create a Protestant counterpart to St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. A large crypt houses the remains of some of the earlier Prussian royal family. St. Hedwig's Cathedral is Berlin's Roman Catholic cathedral.

File:Bikinihaus Berlin-1210760.jpg with Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is the center of City West.]]

Unter den Linden is a tree-lined east–west avenue from the Brandenburg Gate to the Berlin Palace, and was once Berlin's premier promenade. Many Classical buildings line the street, and part of Humboldt University is there. Friedrichstraße was Berlin's legendary street during the Golden Twenties. It combines 20th-century traditions with the modern architecture of today's Berlin.

Potsdamer Platz is an entire quarter built from scratch after the Wall came down.{{cite web |url=https://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/bauen/baubilanz/en/potsdamer_platz.html |title=Construction and redevelopment since 1990 |publisher=Senate Department of Urban Development |access-date=18 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080610103008/https://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/bauen/baubilanz/en/potsdamer_platz.html |archive-date=10 June 2008}} To the west of Potsdamer Platz is the Kulturforum, which houses the Gemäldegalerie, and is flanked by the Neue Nationalgalerie and the Berliner Philharmonie. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a Holocaust memorial, is to the north.{{cite news |url=https://travel2.nytimes.com/2005/05/09/arts/design/09holo.html |title=A Forest of Pillars, Recalling the Unimaginable |work=The New York Times |access-date=18 August 2008 |first=Nicolai |last=Ouroussoff |date=9 May 2005 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230401113405/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/09/arts/design/a-forest-of-pillars-recalling-the-unimaginable.html |archive-date=2023-04-01}}

The area around Hackescher Markt is home to fashionable culture, with countless clothing outlets, clubs, bars, and galleries. This includes the Hackesche Höfe, a conglomeration of buildings around several courtyards, reconstructed around 1996. The nearby New Synagogue is the center of Jewish culture.

The Straße des 17. Juni, connecting the Brandenburg Gate and Ernst-Reuter-Platz, serves as the central east–west axis. Its name commemorates the uprisings in East Berlin of 17 June 1953. Approximately halfway from the Brandenburg Gate is the Großer Stern, a circular traffic island on which the Siegessäule (Victory Column) is situated. This monument, built to commemorate Prussia's victories, was relocated in 1938–39 from its previous position in front of the Reichstag.

The Kurfürstendamm is home to some of Berlin's luxurious stores with the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at its eastern end on Breitscheidplatz. The church was destroyed in the Second World War and left in ruins. Nearby on Tauentzienstraße is KaDeWe, claimed to be continental Europe's largest department store. The Rathaus Schöneberg, where John F. Kennedy made his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner!" speech, is in Tempelhof-Schöneberg.

West of the center, Bellevue Palace is the residence of the German President. Charlottenburg Palace, which was burnt out in the Second World War, is the largest historical palace in Berlin.

The Funkturm Berlin is a {{convert|150|m|ft|adj=mid|sp=us|-tall}} lattice radio tower in the fairground area, built between 1924 and 1926. It is the only observation tower which stands on insulators and has a restaurant {{cvt|55|m}} and an observation deck {{cvt|126|m}} above ground, which is reachable by a windowed elevator.

The Oberbaumbrücke over the Spree river is Berlin's most iconic bridge, connecting the now-combined boroughs of Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg. It carries vehicles, pedestrians, and the U1 Berlin U-Bahn line. The bridge was completed in a brick gothic style in 1896, replacing the former wooden bridge with an upper deck for the U-Bahn. The center portion was demolished in 1945 to stop the Red Army from crossing. After the war, the repaired bridge served as a checkpoint and border crossing between the Soviet and American sectors, and later between East and West Berlin. In the mid-1950s, it was closed to vehicles, and after the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, pedestrian traffic was heavily restricted. Following German reunification, the center portion was reconstructed with a steel frame, and U-Bahn service resumed in 1995.

{{Main|Demographics of Berlin}}

File:Berlin population pyramid in 2022.svg

File:Berlin population2.svg

At the end of 2023 the city-state of Berlin had 3.66 million registered inhabitants, in an area of {{cvt|891.3|km2}}. Berlin is the most populous city proper in the European Union. In 2021, the urban area of Berlin had a population of over 4.6 million inhabitants. {{As of|2019}}, the functional urban area was home to about 5.2 million people.[https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=urb_lpop1&lang=en Population on 1 January by age groups and sex – functional urban areas, Eurostat] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150903213351/https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=urb_lpop1&lang=en |date=3 September 2015 }}. Retrieved 28 April 2019. The entire Berlin-Brandenburg capital region has a population of more than 6 million in an area of {{cvt|30546|km2|0}}.{{Cite web|url=https://www.deutsche-metropolregionen.org/mitglieder/berlin-brandenburg/|title=Initiativkreis Europäische Metropolregionen in Deutschland: Berlin-Brandenburg|website=www.deutsche-metropolregionen.org|date=31 August 2020|access-date=6 February 2013|archive-date=17 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190817083458/https://www.deutsche-metropolregionen.org/mitglieder/berlin-brandenburg/|url-status=live}}

{{historical populations

|1721|65300

|1750|113289

|1800|172132

|1815|197717

|1825|220277

|1840|330230

|1852|438958

|1861|547571

|1871|826341

|1880|1122330

|1890|1578794

|1900|1888848

|1910|2071257

|1920|3879409

|1925|4082778

|1933|4221024

|1939|4330640

|1945|3064629

|1950|3336026

|1960|3274016

|1970|3208719

|1980|3048759

|1990|3433695

|2000|3388434

|2011|3292365

|2022|3596999

|footnote=Population size may be affected by changes in administrative divisions.}}

In 2014, the city-state Berlin had 37,368 live births (+6.6%), a record number since 1991. The number of deaths was 32,314. Almost 2.0 million households were counted in the city. 54 percent of them were single-person households. More than 337,000 families with children under the age of 18 lived in Berlin. In 2014, the German capital registered a migration surplus of approximately 40,000 people.[https://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/produkte/kleinestatistik/AP_kleinestatistik_en_2015_be.pdf statistics Berlin Brandenburg] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160315084534/https://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/produkte/kleinestatistik/AP_kleinestatistik_en_2015_be.pdf |date=15 March 2016}}. http://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de Retrieved 10 October 2016.

File:Einwohnerinnen und Einwohner ohne Migrationshintergrund in Berlin am 31. Dezember 2020 nach Bezirken.svg in Berlin on 31 December 2020 by district]]

National and international migration into the city has a long history. In 1685, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in France, the city responded with the Edict of Potsdam, which guaranteed religious freedom and tax-free status to French Huguenot refugees for ten years. The Greater Berlin Act in 1920 incorporated many suburbs and surrounding cities of Berlin. It formed most of the territory that comprises modern Berlin and increased the population from 1.9 million to 4 million.

Active immigration and asylum politics in West Berlin triggered waves of immigration in the 1960s and 1970s. Berlin is home to at least 180,000 Turkish and Turkish German residents, making it the largest Turkish community outside of Turkey.{{cite web |title=How Berlin Became the World's Second Turkish... |url=https://theculturetrip.com/europe/germany/articles/how-berlin-became-the-worlds-second-turkish-capital |website=Culture Trip |language=en |date=6 March 2018 |access-date=23 August 2023 |archive-date=23 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230823212341/https://theculturetrip.com/europe/germany/articles/how-berlin-became-the-worlds-second-turkish-capital |url-status=live }} In the 1990s the Aussiedlergesetze enabled immigration to Germany of some residents from the former Soviet Union. Today ethnic Germans from countries of the former Soviet Union make up the largest portion of the Russian-speaking community.{{cite web |author=Dmitry Bulgakov |url=https://www.russiajournal.com/node/4653 |title=Berlin is speaking Russians' language |publisher=Russiajournal.com |date=11 March 2001 |access-date=10 February 2013 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130406142034/https://www.russiajournal.com/node/4653 |archive-date=6 April 2013}} The last decade experienced an influx from various Western countries and some African regions.{{cite news |url=https://www.welt.de/print-wams/article616463/Berlin_wird_farbiger_Die_Afrikaner_kommen.html |title=Berlin wird farbiger. Die Afrikaner kommen – Nachrichten Welt am Sonntag – Welt Online |language=de |newspaper=Die Welt |date=28 October 2001 |access-date=2 June 2011 |last1=Heilwagen |first1=Oliver |archive-date=15 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515022639/https://www.welt.de/print-wams/article616463/Berlin_wird_farbiger_Die_Afrikaner_kommen.html |url-status=live }} A portion of the African immigrants have settled in the Afrikanisches Viertel.{{cite press release |author= |date=6 February 2009 |title=Zweites Afrika-Magazin "Afrikanisches Viertel" erschienen Bezirksbürgermeister Dr. Christian Hanke ist Schirmherr |url=https://www.berlin.de/ba-mitte/aktuell/presse/archiv/20090206.1305.119894.html |location=Berlin |publisher=berlin.de |access-date=27 September 2016 |archive-date=21 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021050530/https://www.berlin.de/ba-mitte/aktuell/presse/archiv/20090206.1305.119894.html |url-status=live }} Young Germans, EU-Europeans and Israelis have also settled in the city.{{cite journal|title=Hummus in the Prenzlauer Berg|journal=The Jewish Week|date=12 December 2014|url=https://www.thejewishweek.com/special-sections/jewish-journeys/hummus-prenzlauer-berg|access-date=29 December 2014|archive-date=30 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141230010937/https://www.thejewishweek.com/special-sections/jewish-journeys/hummus-prenzlauer-berg|url-status=live}}

In December 2019 there were 777,345 registered residents of foreign nationality and another 542,975 German citizens with a "migration background" (Migrationshintergrund, MH), meaning they or one of their parents immigrated to Germany after 1955. Foreign residents of Berlin originate from about 190 countries.{{cite web|access-date=28 April 2019|title=457 000 Ausländer aus 190 Staaten in Berlin gemeldet|trans-title=457,000 Foreigners from 190 Countries Registered in Berlin|url=https://www.morgenpost.de/printarchiv/berlin/article104791484/457-000-Auslaender-aus-190-Staaten-in-Berlin-gemeldet.html|date=5 February 2011|website=Berliner Morgenpost|language=de|archive-date=28 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428201553/https://www.morgenpost.de/printarchiv/berlin/article104791484/457-000-Auslaender-aus-190-Staaten-in-Berlin-gemeldet.html|url-status=live}} 48 percent of the residents under the age of 15 have a migration background in 2017.{{Cite web |url=https://www.morgenpost.de/berlin/article132070813/Bald-jeder-dritte-Berliner-hat-einen-Migrationshintergrund.html |title=Bald jeder dritte Berliner hat einen Migrationshintergrund |last=Fahrun |first=Joachim |date=2014-09-10 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20160723113447/http://www.morgenpost.de/berlin/article132070813/Bald-jeder-dritte-Berliner-hat-einen-Migrationshintergrund.html |archive-date=2016-07-23 |access-date=2024-08-29 |website=Berliner Morgenpost |language=de}} Berlin in 2009 was estimated to have 100,000 to 250,000 unregistered inhabitants.{{cite news |author=Von Andrea Dernbach |url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/deutschland/berlin-will-illegalen-einwanderern-helfen/1452916.html |title=Migration: Berlin will illegalen Einwanderern helfen – Deutschland – Politik – Tagesspiegel |newspaper=Der Tagesspiegel Online |publisher=Tagesspiegel.de |date=23 February 2009 |access-date=15 September 2011 |archive-date=18 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220218131251/https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/migration-berlin-will-illegalen-einwanderern-helfen/1452916.html |url-status=live }} Boroughs of Berlin with a significant number of migrants or foreign born population are Mitte, Neukölln and Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg.{{cite news |date=8 September 2016 |newspaper=Junge Freiheit |url=https://jungefreiheit.de/politik/deutschland/2016/zahl-der-auslaender-in-berlin-steigt-auf-rekordhoch/ |title=Zahl der Ausländer in Berlin steigt auf Rekordhoch |language=de |access-date=13 June 2017 |archive-date=4 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170804053354/https://jungefreiheit.de/politik/deutschland/2016/zahl-der-auslaender-in-berlin-steigt-auf-rekordhoch/ |url-status=live }} The number of Arabic speakers in Berlin could be higher than 150,000. There are at least 40,000 Berliners with Syrian citizenship, third only behind Turkish and Polish citizens. The 2015 refugee crisis made Berlin Europe's capital of Arab culture.{{cite web |title=Berlin: Inside Europe's capital of Arab culture |url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/berlin-germany-europe-capital-arab-culture |website=Middle East Eye |access-date=23 August 2023 |archive-date=27 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027161825/https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/berlin-germany-europe-capital-arab-culture |url-status=live }} Berlin is among the cities in Germany that have received the biggest amount of refugees after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. As of November 2022, an estimated 85,000 Ukrainian refugees were registered in Berlin,{{cite news |title=Berlin to create 10,000 extra beds for Ukrainian refugees – DW – 11/20/2022 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/berlin-to-create-10000-more-beds-for-ukrainian-refugees/a-63811862 |work=dw.com |language=en |access-date=23 August 2023 |archive-date=23 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230823063024/https://www.dw.com/en/berlin-to-create-10000-more-beds-for-ukrainian-refugees/a-63811862 |url-status=live }} making Berlin the most popular destination of Ukrainian refugees in Germany.{{cite web |title=Survey of Ukrainian War Refugees |url=https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/kurzmeldungen/EN/2022/04/survey-ukraine.html |website=Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community |language=en |access-date=23 August 2023 |archive-date=23 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230823064914/https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/kurzmeldungen/EN/2022/04/survey-ukraine.html |url-status=live }}

Berlin has a vibrant expatriate community involving, among others, precarious immigrants, seasonal workers, and refugees. Therefore, Berlin sustains a broad variety of English-based speakers. Speaking a particular type of English does attract prestige and cultural capital in Berlin.{{Cite book | title= English in the German-Speaking World| date= 5 December 2019| isbn= 9781108488099| editor1= Raymond Hickey |publisher= Cambridge University Press | page= 150}}

{{Main|German language|Berlinerisch dialect}}

German is the official and predominant spoken language in Berlin. It is a West Germanic language that derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. German is one of 24 languages of the European Union,{{cite web |url=https://ec.europa.eu/languages/policy/linguistic-diversity/official-languages-eu_en.htm |title=Official Languages |author=European Commission |access-date=29 July 2014 |archive-date=26 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140926004848/https://ec.europa.eu/languages/policy/linguistic-diversity/official-languages-eu_en.htm |url-status=live }} and one of the three working languages of the European Commission.

Berlinerisch or Berlinisch is not a dialect linguistically. It is spoken in Berlin and the surrounding metropolitan area. It originates from a Brandenburgish variant. The dialect is now seen more like a sociolect, largely through increased immigration and trends among the educated population to speak standard German in everyday life.

The most commonly spoken foreign languages in Berlin are Turkish, Polish, English, Persian, Arabic, Italian, Bulgarian, Russian, Romanian, Kurdish, Serbo-Croatian, French, Spanish and Vietnamese. Turkish, Arabic, Kurdish, and Serbo-Croatian are heard more often in the western part due to the large Middle Eastern and former-Yugoslavian communities. Polish, English, Russian, and Vietnamese have more native speakers in East Berlin.{{cite web |date=18 May 2010 |title=how many- languages are spoken in berlin |url=https://berlinbnb.co/2023/12/15/how-many-languages-are-spoken-in-berlin-2/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522160634/https://www.morgenpost.de/printarchiv/wirtschaft/article1309952/Zwei-Millionen-Berliner-sprechen-mindestens-zwei-Sprachen.html |archive-date=22 May 2011 |access-date=2 June 2011 |publisher=Morgenpost.de}}

{{Main|Religion in Berlin}}

File:Lutherbibel b.jpg

{{Pie chart

|thumb = right

|caption = Religion in Berlin (2022)[https://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/publikationen/stat_berichte/2021/SB_A01-05-00_2022h02_BE.pdf Statistischer Bericht Einwohnerinnen und Einwohner im Land Berlin am 31 Dezember 2022] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240414000343/https://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/publikationen/stat_berichte/2023/SB_A01-05-00_2018h02_BE.pdf |date=14 April 2024 }} (PDF). Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg. Retrieved 22 February 2023.

|label1 = Not religious/other

|value1 = 72

|color1 = Honeydew

|label2 = EKD Protestants

|value2 = 15

|color2 = DodgerBlue

|label3 = Catholics

|value3 = 9

|color3 = DarkOrchid

|label4 = Islam

|value4 = 4

|color4 = Green

|label5 = Jewish

|value5 = 1

|color5 = Black

|label6 = Other

|value6 = 0.5

|color6 = Red

}}

{{multiple image

| align = right

| perrow = 2

| total_width = 400

| width1 = 500 |width2=500 |width3=500 |width4=500

| height1=350 |height2=350 |height3=350 |height4=350

| image1 = Berliner Dom - panoramio (20).jpg

| image2 = NeueSynagogue.JPG

| image3 = 2020-04-16 P4160889 St.Hedwigs-Kathedrale, Bebelplatz b.jpg

| image4 = Şehitlik mosque Berlin by ZUFAr.jpg

| footer = Clockwise from top left: Berlin Cathedral, New Synagogue, Şehitlik Mosque, and St. Hedwig's Cathedral

}}

On the report of the 2011 census, approximately 37 percent of the population reported being members of a legally-recognized church or religious organization. The rest either did not belong to such an organization, or there was no information available about them.{{cite web|title=Zensus 2011 – Bevölkerung und Haushalte – Bundesland Berlin|url=https://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/zensus/gdb/bev/be/11_Berlin_bev.pdf|website=Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg|pages=6–7|access-date=23 February 2019|language=de|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303193809/https://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/zensus/gdb/bev/be/11_Berlin_bev.pdf|archive-date=3 March 2016|url-status=dead}}

The largest religious denomination recorded in 2010 was the Protestant regional church body—the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia (EKBO)—a united church. EKBO is a member of the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD) and of the Union of Protestant Churches in the EKD (UEK). According to the EKBO, their membership accounted for 18.7 percent of the local population, while the Roman Catholic Church had 9.1 percent of residents registered as its members.{{cite web |url=https://www.ekd.de/ekd_de/ds_doc/Ber_Kirchenmitglieder_2010.pdf |title=Kirchenmitgliederzahlen am 31.12.2010 |trans-title=Church membership on 31 December 2010 |date=November 2011 |publisher=Protestant Church in Germany |access-date=10 March 2012 |language=de |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180209204513/https://www.ekd.de/ekd_de/ds_doc/Ber_Kirchenmitglieder_2010.pdf |archive-date=9 February 2018 |url-status=dead}} About 2.7% of the population identify with other Christian denominations (mostly Eastern Orthodox, but also various Protestants).{{cite web |url=https://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/Produkte/kleinestatistik/kBEst_2010.pdf |title=Die kleine Berlin–Statistik 2010 |trans-title=The small Berlin statistic 2010 |publisher=Amt für Statistik Berlin–Brandenburg |date=December 2010 |access-date=4 January 2011 |language=de |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719085946/https://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/Produkte/kleinestatistik/kBEst_2010.pdf |archive-date=19 July 2011}} According to the Berlin residents register, in 2018 14.9 percent were members of the Evangelical Church, and 8.5 percent were members of the Catholic Church. The government keeps a register of members of these churches for tax purposes, because it collects church tax on behalf of the churches. It does not keep records of members of other religious organizations which may collect their own church tax, in this way.

In 2009, approximately 249,000 Muslims were reported by the Office of Statistics to be members of mosques and Islamic religious organizations in Berlin,{{cite web |url=https://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/produkte/jahrbuch/jb2010/JB_201004_BE.pdf |title=Statistisches Jahrbuch für Berlin 2010 |trans-title=Statistical yearbook for Berlin 2010 |publisher=Amt für Statistik Berlin–Brandenburg |language=de |access-date=10 February 2013 |archive-date=20 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121120202750/https://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/produkte/jahrbuch/jb2010/JB_201004_BE.pdf |url-status=live }} while in 2016, the newspaper Der Tagesspiegel estimated that about 350,000 Muslims observed Ramadan in Berlin. In 2019, about 437,000 registered residents, 11.6% of the total, reported having a migration background from one of the Member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.{{cite news |url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/muslime-im-fastenmonat-ramadan-in-fluechtlingsheimen-und-schulen-in-berlin/13696160.html |title=Ramadan in Flüchtlingsheimen und Schulen in Berlin |trans-title=Ramadan in refugee homes and schools in Berlin |work=Der Tagesspiegel |date=6 June 2016 |access-date=13 June 2017 |language=de |last1=Berger |first1=Melanie |archive-date=12 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170712125538/https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/muslime-im-fastenmonat-ramadan-in-fluechtlingsheimen-und-schulen-in-berlin/13696160.html |url-status=live }} Between 1992 and 2011 the Muslim population almost doubled.{{cite news |last=Schupelius |first=Gunnar |date=28 May 2015 |title=Wird der Islam künftig die stärkste Religion in Berlin sein? |url=https://www.bz-berlin.de/berlin/kolumne/wird-der-islam-kuenftig-die-staerkste-religion-in-berlin-sein |work=Berliner Zeitung |access-date=13 June 2017 |archive-date=3 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170603092248/https://www.bz-berlin.de/berlin/kolumne/wird-der-islam-kuenftig-die-staerkste-religion-in-berlin-sein |url-status=live }}

About 0.9% of Berliners belong to other religions. Of the estimated population of 30,000–45,000 Jewish residents,{{cite web |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/11/01/germany-jewish-community-now-thrives/fcPnmnfpbLQ0hM1A6zDyNN/story.html |title=In Germany, a Jewish community now thrives |first=Mike |last=Ross |date=1 November 2014 |work=The Boston Globe |access-date=19 August 2016 |archive-date=22 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222235631/https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/11/01/germany-jewish-community-now-thrives/fcPnmnfpbLQ0hM1A6zDyNN/story.html |url-status=live }} approximately 12,000 are registered members of religious organizations.

Berlin is the seat of the Roman Catholic archbishop of Berlin and EKBO's elected chairperson is titled the bishop of EKBO. Furthermore, Berlin is the seat of many Orthodox cathedrals, such as the Cathedral of St. Boris the Baptist, one of the two seats of the Bulgarian Orthodox Diocese of Western and Central Europe, and the Resurrection of Christ Cathedral of the Diocese of Berlin (Patriarchate of Moscow).

The faithful of the different religions and denominations maintain many places of worship in Berlin. The Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church has eight parishes of different sizes in Berlin.{{cite web |url=https://www.selk-berlin.de/ |title=Lutheran Diocese Berlin-Brandenburg |publisher=Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche |access-date=19 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080328152944/https://www.selk-berlin.de/ |archive-date=28 March 2008 |url-status=dead}} There are 36 Baptist congregations (within Union of Evangelical Free Church Congregations in Germany), 29 New Apostolic Churches, 15 United Methodist churches, eight Free Evangelical Congregations, four Churches of Christ, Scientist (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 11th), six congregations of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, an Old Catholic church, and an Anglican church in Berlin. Berlin has more than 80 mosques,{{cite web |url=https://www.dw.com/en/berlins-mosques/g-17572423 |title=Berlin's mosques |publisher=Deutsche Welle |access-date=11 November 2018 |archive-date=11 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181111093250/https://www.dw.com/en/berlins-mosques/g-17572423 |url-status=live }} ten synagogues,{{cite news |url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/berlins-juedische-gotteshaeuser-vor-der-pogromnacht-1938-untergang-einer-religioesen-vielfalt/9052966.html |title=Berlins jüdische Gotteshäuser vor der Pogromnacht 1938: Untergang einer religiösen Vielfalt |trans-title=Berlin's jewish places of worship before the Pogromnacht 1938: Decline of a religious diversity |date=10 November 2013 |access-date=11 November 2018 |work=Der Tagesspiegel |language=de |quote=Von den weit mehr als 100 jüdischen Gotteshäusern sind gerade einmal zehn übrig geblieben. (in english: Of the far more than 100 synagogues, only ten are left.) |last1=Keller |first1=Claudia |archive-date=11 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181111093246/https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/berlins-juedische-gotteshaeuser-vor-der-pogromnacht-1938-untergang-einer-religioesen-vielfalt/9052966.html |url-status=live }} and two Buddhist as well as four Hindu temples.

{{Main|Politics of Berlin|Berlin Police}}

File:At Berlin 2024 263.jpg (Red City Hall), seat of the Senate and Mayor of Berlin]]

Since the German reunification on 3 October 1990, Berlin has been one of the three city-states of Germany among the present 16 federal states of Germany. The Abgeordnetenhaus von Berlin (House of Representatives) functions as the city and state parliament, which has 141 seats. Berlin's executive body is the Senate of Berlin (Senat von Berlin). The Senate consists of the Governing Mayor of Berlin (Regierender Bürgermeister), and up to ten senators holding ministerial positions, two of them holding the title of "Mayor" (Bürgermeister) as deputy to the Governing Mayor.{{Cite web |date=1 November 2016 |title=Verfassung von Berlin – Abschnitt IV: Die Regierung |url=https://www.berlin.de/rbmskzl/regierender-buergermeister/verfassung/artikel.41527.php |access-date=2 October 2020 |website=www.berlin.de |language=de |archive-date=8 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201008025644/https://www.berlin.de/rbmskzl/regierender-buergermeister/verfassung/artikel.41527.php |url-status=live}}

File:Charlottenburg Otto-Suhr-Allee Rathaus Charlottenburg-001.jpg]]

File:Bahnhof Spandau Nacht 1.jpg]]

The total annual budget of Berlin in 2015 exceeded €24.5 ($30.0) billion including a budget surplus of €205 ($240) million.{{cite news|url=https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/berlin/berliner-haushalt-finanzsenator-bleibt-trotz-sprudelnder-steuereinnahmen-vorsichtig-24702234|title=Berliner Haushalt Finanzsenator bleibt trotz sprudelnder Steuereinnahmen vorsichtig|work=Berliner Zeitung|access-date=20 September 2016|archive-date=18 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220218131248/https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/sport-leidenschaft/berliner-haushalt-finanzsenator-kollatz-ahnen-bleibt-trotz-sprudelnder-steuereinnahmen-vorsichtig-li.6132?pid=true|url-status=live}} The German Federal city state of Berlin owns extensive assets, including administrative and government buildings, real estate companies, as well as stakes in the Olympic Stadium, swimming pools, housing companies, and numerous public enterprises and subsidiary companies.{{cite web |access-date=28 September 2019 |title=Vermögen |trans-title=Assets |url=https://www.berlin.de/sen/finanzen/de-plain/vermoegen/artikel.92737.de-plain.php |date=18 May 2017 |website=Berlin.de |archive-date=28 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190928151604/https://www.berlin.de/sen/finanzen/de-plain/vermoegen/artikel.92737.de-plain.php|url-status=live}}{{cite web|access-date=28 September 2019|title=Beteiligungen des Landes Berlin|trans-title=Holdings of the State of Berlin|url=https://www.berlin.de/sen/finanzen/vermoegen/beteiligungen/artikel.7208.php|language=de|date=5 September 2019|website=Berlin.de|archive-date=19 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191219070001/https://www.berlin.de/sen/finanzen/vermoegen/beteiligungen/artikel.7208.php|url-status=live}} The federal state of Berlin runs a real estate portal to advertise commercial spaces or land suitable for redevelopment.{{Cite web |url=https://www.businesslocationcenter.de/immoportal/en/ |title=Real Estate Portal of the Berlin Business Location Center |access-date=10 December 2023 |archive-date=10 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231210091833/https://www.businesslocationcenter.de/immoportal/en/ |url-status=live }}

The Social Democratic Party (SPD) and The Left (Die Linke) took control of the city government after the 2001 state election and won another term in the 2006 state election.{{cite web|url=https://www.statistik-berlin.de/produkte/Faltblatt_Brochure/berlin_in_Zahlen_engl.pdf |title=Berlin state election, 2006 |website=Der Landeswahlleiter für Berlin |access-date=17 August 2008 |language=de |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323161037/https://www.statistik-berlin.de/produkte/Faltblatt_Brochure/berlin_in_Zahlen_engl.pdf |archive-date=23 March 2012}} From the 2016 state election until the 2023 state election, there was a coalition between the Social Democratic Party, the Greens and the Left Party. Since April 2023, the government has been formed by a coalition between the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats.{{cite web |title=Kai Wegner zum Regierenden Bürgermeister von Berlin gewählt – neuer Senat im Amt |date=27 April 2023 |url=https://www.berlin.de/rbmskzl/aktuelles/pressemitteilungen/2023/pressemitteilung.1318344.php |access-date=19 June 2023 |archive-date=4 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230504125317/https://www.berlin.de/rbmskzl/aktuelles/pressemitteilungen/2023/pressemitteilung.1318344.php |url-status=live }}

The Governing Mayor is simultaneously Lord Mayor of the City of Berlin (Oberbürgermeister der Stadt) and Minister President of the State of Berlin (Ministerpräsident des Bundeslandes). The office of the Governing Mayor is in the Rotes Rathaus (Red City Hall). Since 2023, this office has been held by Kai Wegner of the Christian Democrats. He is the first conservative mayor in Berlin in more than two decades.{{cite news |last1=Marsh |first1=Sarah |last2=Rinke |first2=Andreas |last3=Marsh |first3=Sarah |title=Berlin gets first conservative mayor in more than two decades |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/berlin-gets-first-conservative-mayor-more-than-two-decades-2023-04-27/ |work=Reuters |date=27 April 2023 |language=en |access-date=18 August 2023 |archive-date=18 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230818074258/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/berlin-gets-first-conservative-mayor-more-than-two-decades-2023-04-27/ |url-status=live }}

{{Main|Boroughs and neighborhoods of Berlin}}

File:Berlin Subdivisions.svg ]]

Berlin is subdivided into 12 boroughs or districts (Bezirke). Each borough has several subdistricts or neighborhoods (Ortsteile), which have roots in much older municipalities that predate the formation of Greater Berlin on 1 October 1920. These subdistricts became urbanized and incorporated into the city later on. Many residents strongly identify with their neighborhoods, colloquially called Kiez. At present, Berlin consists of 96 subdistricts, which are commonly made up of several smaller residential areas or quarters.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

Each borough is governed by a borough council (Bezirksamt) consisting of five councilors (Bezirksstadträte) including the borough's mayor (Bezirksbürgermeister). The council is elected by the borough assembly (Bezirksverordnetenversammlung). However, the individual boroughs are not independent municipalities, but subordinate to the Senate of Berlin.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}} The borough's mayors make up the council of mayors (Rat der Bürgermeister), which is led by the city's Governing Mayor and advises the Senate. The neighborhoods have no local government bodies.

{{main|List of twin towns and sister cities in Germany}}

Berlin to this day maintains official partnerships with 17 cities.{{cite web|url=https://www.berlin.de/rbmskzl/en/international-relations/city-partnerships/|title=City Partnerships |publisher=Governing Mayor of Berlin, Senate Chancellery, Directorate for Protocol and International Relations |website=Berlin.de |access-date=8 February 2021|archive-date=5 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205104217/https://www.berlin.de/rbmskzl/en/international-relations/city-partnerships/|url-status=live}} Town twinning between West Berlin and other cities began with its sister city Los Angeles, California, in 1967. East Berlin's partnerships were canceled at the time of German reunification.

Berlin is the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany. The President of Germany, whose functions are mainly ceremonial under the German constitution, has their official residence in Bellevue Palace.{{cite web |url=https://www.bundespraesident.de/DE/Home/home_node.html |title=Bundespräsident Horst Köhler |language=de |publisher=Bundespraesident.de |access-date=7 April 2012 |archive-date=23 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200323221516/https://www.bundespraesident.de/DE/Home/home_node.html |url-status=live }} Berlin is the seat of the German Chancellor (Prime Minister), housed in the Chancellery building, the Bundeskanzleramt. Facing the Chancellery is the Bundestag, the German Parliament, housed in the renovated Reichstag building since the government's relocation to Berlin in 1998. The Bundesrat ("federal council", performing the function of an upper house) is the representation of the 16 constituent states (Länder) of Germany and has its seat at the former Prussian House of Lords. The total annual federal budget managed by the German government exceeded €310 ($375) billion in 2013.{{cite web|url=https://www.buzer.de/gesetz/11213/a188132.htm|title=Gesetz über die Feststellung des Bundeshaushaltsplans für das Haushaltsjahr 2014|website=buzer.de|access-date=20 September 2016|archive-date=13 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160713104953/https://www.buzer.de/gesetz/11213/a188132.htm|url-status=live}}

File:07.08.21.Bundeskanzleramt.jpg|The Federal Chancellery building, seat of the Chancellor of Germany

File:Berlin reichstag west panorama.jpg|The Reichstag, seat of the Bundestag

File:Bellevue Palace Berlin 02-14.jpg|Schloss Bellevue, seat of the President of Germany

File:Bundesrat Gebäude, Berlin, Leipziger Strasse.jpg|Prussian House of Lords, seat of the Bundesrat of Germany

File:Zentrale des Bundesnachrichtendienst, Berlin.jpg|Headquarters of the Federal Intelligence Service

The relocation of the federal government and Bundestag to Berlin was mostly completed in 1999. However, some ministries, as well as some minor departments, stayed in the federal city Bonn, the former capital of West Germany. Discussions about moving the remaining ministries and departments to Berlin continue.{{cite web |url=https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/der-regierungsumzug-ist-ueberfaellig-li.6130 |title=Der Regierungsumzug ist überfällig |publisher=Berliner Zeitung |language=de |date=26 October 2010 |access-date=20 November 2023 |archive-date=24 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924034346/http://www.berliner-zeitung.de/archiv/der-regierungsumzug-ist-ueberfaellig,10810590,10751012.html |url-status=live }}

The Federal Foreign Office and the ministries and departments of Defense, Justice and Consumer Protection, Finance, Interior, Economic Affairs and Energy, Labor and Social Affairs, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Food and Agriculture, Economic Cooperation and Development, Health, Transport and Digital Infrastructure and Education and Research are based in the capital.

Berlin hosts in total 158 foreign embassies{{cite web|url=https://www.embassypages.com/germany|title=Germany – Embassies and Consulates|website=embassypages.com|access-date=23 August 2014|archive-date=26 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140326142148/https://www.embassypages.com/germany|url-status=live}} as well as the headquarters of many think tanks, trade unions, nonprofit organizations, lobbying groups, and professional associations. Frequent official visits and diplomatic consultations among governmental representatives and national leaders are common in contemporary Berlin.

{{Main|Economy of Berlin}}

File:Blue Hour in Berlin.jpg and startup ecosystem.{{cite web|url=https://www.credit-suisse.com/us/en/news-and-expertise/entrepreneurs/articles/news-and-expertise/2015/08/en/berlin-europes-new-start-up-capital.html|title=Berlin – Europe's New Start-Up Capital|website=Credit Suisse|access-date=27 March 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331043259/https://www.credit-suisse.com/us/en/news-and-expertise/entrepreneurs/articles/news-and-expertise/2015/08/en/berlin-europes-new-start-up-capital.html|archive-date=31 March 2016}}]]

In 2018, the GDP of Berlin totaled €147 billion, an increase of 3.1% over the previous year. Berlin's economy is dominated by the service sector, with around 84% of all companies doing business in services. In 2015, the total labor force in Berlin was 1.85 million. The unemployment rate reached a 24-year low in November 2015 and stood at 10.0%.{{cite news|url=https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/wirtschaft/arbeitsmarkt-in-berlin-berlin-hat-so-wenig-arbeitslose-wie-seit-24-jahren-nicht,10808230,32678128.html|title=Berlin hat so wenig Arbeitslose wie seit 24 Jahren nicht|newspaper=Berliner Zeitung|access-date=1 November 2015|language=de|archive-date=3 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151203224849/https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/wirtschaft/arbeitsmarkt-in-berlin-berlin-hat-so-wenig-arbeitslose-wie-seit-24-jahren-nicht,10808230,32678128.html|url-status=live}} From 2012 to 2015 Berlin, as a German state, had the highest annual employment growth rate. Around 130,000 jobs were added in this period.{{cite news|url=https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/berlin/rekord-in-der-hauptstadt-in-berlin-gibt-es-so-viele-beschaeftigte-wie-nie-zuvor,10809148,33634676.html|title=In Berlin gibt es so viele Beschäftigte wie nie zuvor|newspaper=Berliner Zeitung|date=28 January 2015|access-date=16 February 2016|language=de|archive-date=24 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160224010722/https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/berlin/rekord-in-der-hauptstadt-in-berlin-gibt-es-so-viele-beschaeftigte-wie-nie-zuvor,10809148,33634676.html|url-status=live}}

Important economic sectors in Berlin include life sciences, transportation, information and communication technologies, media and music, advertising and design, biotechnology, environmental services, construction, e-commerce, retail, hotel business, and medical engineering.{{Cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=7953479|title=Poor but sexy|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=19 August 2008|date=21 September 2006|archive-date=22 June 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080622201720/https://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=7953479|url-status=live}}

Research and development have economic significance for the city.{{cite web|url=https://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/produkte/kleinestatistik/AP_kleinestatistik_de_2013_be.pdf |title=Die kleine Berlin Statistik |website=berlin.de |access-date=26 August 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714163544/https://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/produkte/kleinestatistik/AP_kleinestatistik_de_2013_be.pdf |archive-date=14 July 2014}} Several major corporations like Volkswagen, Pfizer, and SAP operate innovation laboratories in the city.{{cite news|url=https://www.morgenpost.de/wirtschaft/article208628997/Immer-mehr-Konzerne-suchen-den-Spirit-Berlins.html|title=Immer mehr Konzerne suchen den Spirit Berlins|publisher=Berliner Morgenpost|access-date=13 January 2017|archive-date=16 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170116150546/https://www.morgenpost.de/wirtschaft/article208628997/Immer-mehr-Konzerne-suchen-den-Spirit-Berlins.html|url-status=live}}

The Science and Business Park in Adlershof is the largest technology park in Germany measured by revenue.{{cite web|title=The Science and Technology Park Berlin-Adlershof|url=https://www.adlershof.de/en/facts-figures/adlershof-in-numbers/|website=Berlin Adlershof: Facts and Figures|publisher=Adlershof|access-date=13 January 2017|archive-date=17 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170117042743/https://www.adlershof.de/en/facts-figures/adlershof-in-numbers/|url-status=live}} Within the eurozone, Berlin has become a center for business relocation and international investments.{{cite news|url=https://www.kpmg.com/FR/fr/IssuesAndInsights/News/Documents/GPIA-KPMG-CIM-2012.pdf|title=Global Cities Investment Monitor 2012|publisher=KPMG|access-date=28 August 2014|archive-date=2 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102003006/https://www.kpmg.com/FR/fr/IssuesAndInsights/News/Documents/GPIA-KPMG-CIM-2012.pdf|url-status=live}}

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| caption1 = Deutsche Bahn, the largest railway company in the world,{{cite web |url=https://fortune.com/ranking/global500/ |title=Global 500 2023 |work=Fortune |access-date=24 December 2023 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=16 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230116163740/https://fortune.com/ranking/global500/ |url-status=live }} is headquartered in Berlin.

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| caption2 = Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband, the European Union's second-largest financial services group, has its headquarters in Berlin.

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Many German and international companies have business or service centers in the city. For several years Berlin has been recognized as a major center of business founders.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jan/03/berlin-poor-sexy-silicon-valley-microsoft-google |title=Berlin's 'poor but sexy' appeal turning city into European Silicon Valley |newspaper=The Guardian |date=3 January 2014 |access-date=6 September 2014 |archive-date=21 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021144623/https://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jan/03/berlin-poor-sexy-silicon-valley-microsoft-google |url-status=live }} In 2015, Berlin generated the most venture capital for young startup companies in Europe.{{cite web|last1=Frost|first1=Simon|title=Berlin outranks London in start-up investment|url=https://www.euractiv.com/sections/innovation-industry/berlin-outranks-london-start-investment-317140|website=euractiv.com|date=28 August 2015|access-date=28 October 2015|archive-date=6 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151106224621/https://www.euractiv.com/sections/innovation-industry/berlin-outranks-london-start-investment-317140|url-status=live}}

Among the 10 largest employers in Berlin are the City-State of Berlin, {{lang|de|Deutsche Bahn|italic=no}}, largest railway company in the world, the hospital providers Charité and Vivantes, the Federal Government of Germany, the local public transport provider BVG, Siemens and Deutsche Telekom.{{Cite web|date=2015|title=Berlin's Economy in Figures|url=https://www.ihk-berlin.de/blueprint/servlet/resource/blob/3178106/8435c9f495d401cf57c9109e458e8580/berlin-s-economy-in-figures-2015-1--data.pdf|access-date=27 April 2021|website=IHK Berlin|archive-date=27 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427222910/https://www.ihk-berlin.de/blueprint/servlet/resource/blob/3178106/8435c9f495d401cf57c9109e458e8580/berlin-s-economy-in-figures-2015-1--data.pdf|url-status=live}}

Siemens, a Global 500 and DAX-listed company is partly headquartered in Berlin. Other DAX-listed companies headquartered in Berlin are the property company Deutsche Wohnen and the online food delivery service Delivery Hero. The national railway operator {{lang|de|Deutsche Bahn|italic=no}},{{cite web|url=https://www.deutschebahn.com/site/bahn/en/group/group__affairs/schenker__frankfurt__20100714.html |title=DB Schenker to concentrate control functions in Frankfurt am Main |access-date=6 June 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100922063223/https://www.deutschebahn.com/site/bahn/en/group/group__affairs/schenker__frankfurt__20100714.html |archive-date=22 September 2010}} Europe's largest digital publisher{{Cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-07/axel-springer-is-winning-the-internet-with-business-insider |title=A German Publisher Is Winning the Internet |newspaper=Bloomberg.com |date=7 August 2018 |access-date=25 June 2020 |archive-date=2 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200902072725/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-07/axel-springer-is-winning-the-internet-with-business-insider |url-status=live }} Axel Springer as well as the MDAX-listed firms Zalando and HelloFresh and also have their main headquarters in the city. Among the largest international corporations who have their German or European headquarters in Berlin are Bombardier Transportation, Securing Energy for Europe, Coca-Cola, Pfizer, Sony and TotalEnergies.

As of 2023, Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe, a network of public banks that together form the largest financial services group in Germany and in all of Europe, is headquartered in Berlin. The Bundesverband der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken has its headquarters in Berlin, managing around 1.200 trillion euros.{{cite web | url=https://www.bvr.de/press/facts_and_figures | title=Press – Facts and figures – BVR – National Association of German Cooperative Banks | access-date=8 January 2024 | archive-date=8 January 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240108213602/https://www.bvr.de/press/facts_and_figures | url-status=live }} The three largest banks in the capital are Deutsche Kreditbank, Landesbank Berlin and Berlin Hyp.{{Cite web |url=https://www.die-bank.de/fileadmin/images/top100/diebank_07-2019_Top-100.pdf |title=TOP 100 der deutschen Kreditwirtschaft |website=die-bank.de |language=de |access-date=25 June 2020 |archive-date=25 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225005847/https://www.die-bank.de/fileadmin/images/top100/diebank_07-2019_Top-100.pdf |url-status=live }}

Mercedes-Benz Group manufactures cars, and BMW builds motorcycles in Berlin. In 2022, American electric car manufacturer Tesla opened its first European Gigafactory outside the city borders in Grünheide (Mark), Brandenburg. The Pharmaceuticals division of Bayer{{Cite web |url=https://www.bayer.com/en/german-sites.aspx |title=Bayer Worldwide: Activities and Directions to the German Sites |website=bayer.com |access-date=25 June 2020 |archive-date=11 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200611020108/https://www.bayer.com/en/german-sites.aspx |url-status=live }} and Berlin Chemie are major pharmaceutical companies in the city.

{{Main|List of tourist attractions in Berlin}}

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Berlin had 788 hotels with 134,399 beds in 2014.{{cite web|url=https://press.visitberlin.de/en/news-release/berlin-welcomes-record-numbers-of-tourists-and-convention-participants-in-2014-287-mill|title=Berlin Welcomes Record Numbers of Tourists and Convention Participants in 2014|website=visitBerlin|access-date=5 March 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150305115925/https://press.visitberlin.de/en/news-release/berlin-welcomes-record-numbers-of-tourists-and-convention-participants-in-2014-287-mill|archive-date=5 March 2015}} The city recorded 28.7 million overnight hotel stays and 11.9 million hotel guests in 2014. Tourism figures have more than doubled within the last ten years and Berlin has become the third-most-visited city destination in Europe. Some of the most visited places in Berlin include: Potsdamer Platz, Brandenburger Tor, the Berlin wall, Alexanderplatz, Museumsinsel, Fernsehturm, the East-Side Gallery, Schloss-Charlottenburg, Zoologischer Garten, Siegessäule, Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer, Mauerpark, Botanical Garden, Französischer Dom, Deutscher Dom and Holocaust-Mahnmal. The largest visitor groups are from Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and the United States.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

According to figures from the International Congress and Convention Association in 2015, Berlin became the leading organizer of conferences globally, hosting 195 international meetings.{{cite news |url=https://www.c-mw.net/berlin-no-1-city-germany-no-2-country-new-icca-rankings/ |title=Berlin No.1 city and Germany No.2 country in new ICCA rankings |work=C-MW.net |date=12 January 2017 |access-date=13 January 2017 |archive-date=16 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170116152841/https://www.c-mw.net/berlin-no-1-city-germany-no-2-country-new-icca-rankings/ |url-status=live }} Some of these congress events take place on venues such as CityCube Berlin or the Berlin Congress Center (bcc).

The Messe Berlin (also known as Berlin ExpoCenter City) is the main convention organizing company in the city. Its main exhibition area covers more than {{convert|160000|m2|0|sp=us}}. Several large-scale trade fairs like the consumer electronics trade fair IFA, where the first practical audio tape recorder and the first completely electronic television system were first introduced to the public,{{cite web | url =http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/recording/tape.html| title = Magnetic Recording History Pictures | author = History Department at the University of San Diego | archiveurl =https://web.archive.org/web/20080509130422/http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/recording/tape.html | archivedate =9 May 2008}}{{cite web|url=http://mixonline.com/TECnology-Hall-of-Fame/aeg-magnetophone-recorder-090106/|title=1935 AEG Magnetophon Tape Recorder|date=1 September 2006|work=Mix|publisher=Penton Media Inc|accessdate=18 June 2010|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130208162634/http://mixonline.com/TECnology-Hall-of-Fame/aeg-magnetophone-recorder-090106/|archivedate=8 February 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://www.richardhess.com/tape/history/Engel_Hammar--Magnetic_Tape_History.pdf|title=A Selected History of Magnetic Recording|last=Engel|first=Friedrich Karl|author2=Peter Hammar|date=27 August 2006|accessdate=18 June 2010|archive-date=24 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210524211321/https://www.richardhess.com/tape/history/Engel_Hammar--Magnetic_Tape_History.pdf|url-status=live}}
A brief history of magnetic tape from the BASF Historian and the founding curator of the Ampex museum.{{cite web | url=https://www.vonardenne.biz/ja/company/history/manfred-von-ardenne/ | title=Manfred von Ardenne | access-date=8 January 2024 | archive-date=6 March 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306070250/https://www.vonardenne.biz/ja/company/history/manfred-von-ardenne/ | url-status=live }} the ILA Berlin Air Show, the Berlin Fashion Week (including the Premium Berlin and the Panorama Berlin),{{cite web|title=Following the Followers of Fashion|url=https://global.handelsblatt.com/companies-markets/following-the-followers-of-fashion-683735|publisher=Handelsblatt Global|access-date=21 January 2017|archive-date=18 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118155242/https://global.handelsblatt.com/companies-markets/following-the-followers-of-fashion-683735|url-status=live}} the Green Week, the Fruit Logistica, the transport fair InnoTrans, the tourism fair ITB and the adult entertainment and erotic fair Venus are held annually in the city, attracting a significant number of business visitors.

{{Clear}}

{{Main list|List of films set in Berlin}}

File:European Film Academy - European Film Awards logo.svg (logo pictured) was founded in Berlin.]]

File:Postfuhramt (Berlin) -msu-2021-4274-.jpg in Berlin-Mitte, where Ottomar Anschütz held the first showing of life sized pictures in motion on 25 November 1894{{cite web | url=https://www.ottomar-anschuetz.de/kino_1__vorfuehrung.htm | title=Ottomar Anschütz, Kinogeschichte, lebender Bilder, Kino, erste-Kinovorführung, Kinovorführung, Projektion, Kinoe, Bewegungsbilder }}]]

The creative arts and entertainment business is an important part of Berlin's economy. The sector comprises music, film, advertising, architecture, art, design, fashion, performing arts, publishing, R&D, software,{{cite magazine |url=https://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-12/berlin-cracks-the-startup-code |title=Berlin Cracks the Startup Code |magazine=Businessweek |date=12 April 2012 |access-date=10 February 2013 |archive-date=30 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130130130708/https://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-12/berlin-cracks-the-startup-code |url-status=dead }} TV, radio, and video games.

In 2014, around 30,500 creative companies operated in the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan region, predominantly SMEs. Generating a revenue of 15.6 billion Euro and 6% of all private economic sales, the culture industry grew from 2009 to 2014 at an average rate of 5.5% per year.{{cite web |url=https://www.creative-city-berlin.de/en/good-to-know/facts-figures/ |title=Culture and Creative Industries Index Berlin-Brandenburg 2015 |publisher=Creative City Berlin |date=7 June 2015 |access-date=3 January 2016 |archive-date=23 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160123121709/https://www.creative-city-berlin.de/en/good-to-know/facts-figures/ |url-status=live }}

Berlin is an important European and German film industry hub.{{cite news|url=https://www.theage.com.au/news/arts/walltowall-culture/2007/11/09/1194329483873.html|title=Wall-to-wall culture|work=The Age|location=Australia|date=10 November 2007|access-date=30 November 2007|archive-date=13 December 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071213082441/https://www.theage.com.au/news/arts/walltowall-culture/2007/11/09/1194329483873.html|url-status=live}} It is home to more than 1,000 film and television production companies, 270 movie theaters, and around 300 national and international co-productions are filmed in the region every year. The historic Babelsberg Studios and the production company UFA are adjacent to Berlin in Potsdam. The city is also home of the German Film Academy (Deutsche Filmakademie), founded in 2003, and the European Film Academy, founded in 1988.

{{Main|Media in Berlin}}

File:Axel-Springer-Neubau Berlin, 1. Juli 2019 01.jpg which is headquartered in Berlin]]

Berlin is home to many magazine, newspaper, book, and scientific/academic publishers and their associated service industries. In addition, around 20 news agencies, more than 90 regional daily newspapers and their websites, as well as the Berlin offices of more than 22 national publications such as {{Lang|de|Der Spiegel}}, and Die Zeit reinforce the capital's position as Germany's epicenter for influential debate. Therefore, many international journalists, bloggers, and writers live and work in the city.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

Berlin is the central location to several international and regional television and radio stations.{{cite web|url=https://www.medienboard.de/WebObjects/Medienboard.woa/wa/CMSshow/2809830 |title=Media Companies in Berlin and Potsdam |website=medienboard |access-date=19 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602163244/https://www.medienboard.de/WebObjects/Medienboard.woa/wa/CMSshow/2809830 |archive-date=2 June 2013}} The public broadcaster RBB has its headquarters in Berlin as well as the commercial broadcasters MTV Europe and Welt. German international public broadcaster Deutsche Welle has its TV production unit in Berlin, and most national German broadcasters have a studio in the city, including ZDF and RTL.

Berlin has Germany's largest number of daily newspapers, with numerous local broadsheets (Berliner Morgenpost, Berliner Zeitung, Der Tagesspiegel), and three major tabloids, as well as national dailies of varying sizes, each with a different political affiliation, such as Die Welt, Neues Deutschland, and Die Tageszeitung. The Berliner, a monthly magazine, is Berlin's English-language periodical and La Gazette de Berlin a French-language newspaper.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

Berlin is also the headquarter of major German-language publishing houses like Walter de Gruyter, Springer, the Ullstein Verlagsgruppe (publishing group), Suhrkamp, and Cornelsen are all based in Berlin. Each of which publishes books, periodicals, and multimedia products.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

According to Mercer, Berlin ranked number 19 in the Quality of Living City Ranking in 2024.{{Cite web |title=Quality of Living City Ranking | Mercer |url=https://mobilityexchange.mercer.com/Insights/quality-of-living-rankings |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180418074611/https://mobilityexchange.mercer.com/Insights/quality-of-living-rankings |archive-date=18 April 2018 |access-date=16 February 2025 |website=mobilityexchange.mercer.com}}

Also in 2024, according to Monocle, Berlin occupied the position of the 17th-most-livable city in the world.{{Cite web| url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/bishopjordan/2018/06/25/monocle-most-livable-city-quality-life-survey-2018-munich/|title=Munich Named The Most Livable City In The World| first=Jordan|last=Bishop|website=Forbes|access-date=13 November 2019 |archive-date=3 July 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703022046/https://www.forbes.com/sites/bishopjordan/2018/06/25/monocle-most-livable-city-quality-life-survey-2018-munich/|url-status=live}} Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Berlin number 21 of all global cities for livability.{{Cite web |url=https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/worlds-most-livable-cities-2019-trnd/index.html |title=World's most livable city revealed |first=Julia |last=Buckley |date=4 September 2019 |publisher=CNN Travel |access-date=10 December 2023 |archive-date=26 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190926063813/https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/worlds-most-livable-cities-2019-trnd/index.html |url-status=live }} In 2019 Berlin was also number 8 on the Global Power City Index.{{Cite web|url=https://www.mori-m-foundation.or.jp/english/ius2/gpci2/2019.shtml|title=Global Power City Index 2019|website=The Mori Memorial Foundation|access-date=14 December 2019|archive-date=14 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214090437/https://www.mori-m-foundation.or.jp/english/ius2/gpci2/2019.shtml|url-status=live}} In the same year Berlin was honored for having the best future prospects of all cities in Germany.{{Cite web|url=https://www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/inhalt.muenchen-rutscht-ab-staedte-studie-sieht-berlin-auf-dem-spitzenplatz.c46f7666-29d0-46ff-92fe-65c64b8c719a.html |title=München rutscht ab: Städte-Studie sieht Berlin auf dem Spitzenplatz |publisher=Stuttgarter Zeitung |access-date=13 November 2019|archive-date=13 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191113191429/https://www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/inhalt.muenchen-rutscht-ab-staedte-studie-sieht-berlin-auf-dem-spitzenplatz.c46f7666-29d0-46ff-92fe-65c64b8c719a.html|url-status=dead}}

{{Main|Transport in Berlin}}

Berlin's transport infrastructure provides a diverse range of urban mobility.{{cite web |url=https://www.businesslocationcenter.de/en/business-location/business-location/infrastructure/transport-infrastructure/passenger-and-freight-service |title=Mobile capital |publisher=Business Location Center |date=2011 |access-date=14 February 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414050459/https://www.businesslocationcenter.de/en/business-location/business-location/infrastructure/transport-infrastructure/passenger-and-freight-service |archive-date=14 April 2016}}

A total of 979 bridges cross 197 km (122 miles) the inner-city waterways. Berlin roads total 5,422 km (3,369 miles) of which 77 km (48 miles) are motorways (known as Autobahn). In 2013 only 1.344 million motor vehicles were registered in the city.{{cite web |url=https://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/BasisZeitreiheGrafik/Bas-Strassenverkehr.asp?Ptyp=300&Sageb=46002&creg=BBB&anzwer=6 |title=Straßenverkehr 2013 |publisher=Amt für Statistik Berlin Brandenburg |access-date=28 March 2015 |language=de |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402133316/https://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/BasisZeitreiheGrafik/Bas-Strassenverkehr.asp?Ptyp=300&Sageb=46002&creg=BBB&anzwer=6 |archive-date=2 April 2015 |url-status=dead}} With 377 cars per 1000 residents in 2013 (570/1000 in Germany), Berlin as a Western global city has one of the lowest numbers of cars per capita.{{cite web |url=https://www.euromonitor.com/article/top-developed-world-cities-with-low-reliance-on-car-based-mobility |title=Top Developed World Cities with Low Reliance on Car-Based Mobility |website=Euromonitor International |date=31 August 2015 |access-date=23 February 2023 |language=en |archive-date=23 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230223102951/https://www.euromonitor.com/article/top-developed-world-cities-with-low-reliance-on-car-based-mobility |url-status=dead }}

File:Berlin Cycle Tour.jpg

{{Main|Cycling in Berlin}}

Berlin is well known for its highly developed bicycle lane system.{{cite web |url=https://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/07/bike_city_berli.php |title=Bike City Berlin |website=Treehugger |access-date=19 August 2008 |archive-date=21 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080921163501/https://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/07/bike_city_berli.php |url-status=live }} It is estimated that Berlin has 710 bicycles per 1,000 residents. Around 500,000 daily bike riders accounted for 13 percent of total traffic in 2010.{{cite web |url=https://www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/193840.platz-da-8211-fuer-die-radfahrer.html |title=Platz da! – für die Radfahrer |website=Neues Deutschland |access-date=22 March 2011 |archive-date=26 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110326195118/https://www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/193840.platz-da-8211-fuer-die-radfahrer.html |url-status=live }}

Cyclists in Berlin have access to 620 km of bicycle paths including approximately 150 km of mandatory bicycle paths, 190 km of off-road bicycle routes, 60 km of bicycle lanes on roads, 70 km of shared bus lanes which are also open to cyclists, 100 km of combined pedestrian/bike paths and 50 km of marked bicycle lanes on roadside pavements or sidewalks.{{cite web |url=https://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/verkehr/politik_planung/zahlen_fakten/download/Mobility_en_komplett.pdf |title=Berlin Traffic in Figures |website=Senate Department of Urban Development |year=2013 |access-date=14 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160319085713/https://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/verkehr/politik_planung/zahlen_fakten/download/Mobility_en_komplett.pdf |archive-date=19 March 2016 |url-status=dead}} Riders are allowed to carry their bicycles on Regionalbahn (RE), S-Bahn and U-Bahn trains, on trams, and on night buses if a bike ticket is purchased.{{cite web |url=https://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/verkehr/mobil/fahrrad/bus_bahn/ |title=Mit dem Fahrrad – In Bussen und Bahnen |trans-title=By Bicycle – In Buses and Trains |publisher=Senate Department of Urban Development |language=de |access-date=15 June 2010 |archive-date=22 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522101353/https://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/verkehr/mobil/fahrrad/bus_bahn/ |url-status=live }}

File:Taxis_at_EDDT.jpg

Taxicabs in Berlin are yellow or beige. In 2024, around 8,000 taxicabs were in service.{{Cite web |title=Taxis in Berlin |url=https://www.visitberlin.de/en/taxis-berlin |access-date=2024-06-25 |website=www.visitberlin.de |language=en}} Like in most of Europe, app-based sharing cab services are available but limited.{{Cite web |date=July 31, 2023 |title=Yes, There's Uber in Germany, but… |url=https://www.german-way.com/yes-theres-uber-in-germany-but/}}

File:Train station Berlin Potsdamer Platz.jpg Station Potsdamer Platz]]

File:Berlin Hauptbahnhof0514.JPG (Berlin Central Station)]]

Long-distance rail lines directly connect Berlin with all of the major cities of Germany. the regional rail lines of the Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg provide access to Brandenburg and to the Baltic Sea. The Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Berlin Central Station) is the largest grade-separated railway station in Europe.{{cite web |url=https://berliner-hbf.de/bahnhof_berlin_hbf_daten_und_fakten.html |title=Bahnhof Berlin Hbf Daten und Fakten |publisher=Berlin Hauptbahnhof |access-date=14 February 2016 |language=de |archive-date=15 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160115155518/https://berliner-hbf.de/bahnhof_berlin_hbf_daten_und_fakten.html |url-status=dead }} The Deutsche Bahn runs the high speed Intercity-Express (ICE) to domestic destinations, including Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Stuttgart, and Frankfurt am Main.

The Spree and the Havel rivers cross Berlin. There are no frequent passenger connections to and from Berlin by water. Berlin's largest harbour, the Westhafen, is located in the district of Moabit. It is a transhipment and storage site for inland shipping with a growing importance.{{cite news |url=https://www.morgenpost.de/bezirke/mitte/article231791147/Wie-der-Westhafen-Berlins-Gueterverkehr-in-die-Zukunft-bringt.html |title=Wie der Westhafen Berlins Güterverkehr in die Zukunft bringt |website=morgenpost.de |date=14 March 2021 |access-date=4 September 2021 |language=German |archive-date=4 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210904114311/https://www.morgenpost.de/bezirke/mitte/article231791147/Wie-der-Westhafen-Berlins-Gueterverkehr-in-die-Zukunft-bringt.html |url-status=live |last1=Latz |first1=Christian }}

There is an increasing quantity of intercity bus services. Berlin city has more than 10 stations{{cite web|url=https://www.travelinho.com/en/travel/berlin|title=Berlin: Stations|publisher=Travelinho.com|access-date=2 December 2017|archive-date=3 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171203013756/https://www.travelinho.com/en/travel/berlin|url-status=dead}} that run buses to destinations throughout Berlin. Destinations in Germany and Europe are connected via the intercity bus exchange Zentraler Omnibusbahnhof Berlin.

File:Berlin - U-Bahnhof Heidelberger Platz Südzugang.jpg]]

The Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) and the German State-owned Deutsche Bahn (DB) manage several extensive urban public transport systems.{{cite web |url=https://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/produkte/kleinestatistik/AP_kleinestatistik_de_2015_be.pdf |title=Die kleine Berlin-Statistik 2015 |language=de |publisher=Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg |access-date=14 February 2016 |archive-date=15 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160315083836/https://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/produkte/kleinestatistik/AP_kleinestatistik_de_2015_be.pdf |url-status=live }}

Public transport in Berlin has a long and complicated history because of the 20th-century division of the city, where movement between the two halves was not served. Since 1989, the transport network has been developed extensively. However, it still contains early 20th century traits, such as the U1.{{Cite book |author= Winfried Wolf |title=Berlin, Weltstadt ohne Auto? : Verkehrsgeschichte 1848–2015 |date=1994 |publisher=ISP |isbn=3929008742 |edition=1. Aufl |location=Köln |oclc=33163088 }}

File:Berlin Brandenburg Airport at night.jpg (BER) at night]]

Berlin is served by one commercial international airport: Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), located just outside Berlin's south-eastern border, in the state of Brandenburg. It began construction in 2006, with the intention of replacing Berlin Tegel Airport (TXL) and Berlin Schönefeld Airport (SXF) as the single commercial airport of Berlin.{{cite web| first=Emily| last=Schultheis| date=6 November 2018|access-date=23 May 2019|title=Whatever happened to Berlin's deserted 'ghost' airport?| url=https://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20181030-what-happened-to-berlins-ghost-airport| publisher=BBC| archive-date=30 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190530013917/https://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20181030-what-happened-to-berlins-ghost-airport|url-status=live}} Previously set to open in 2012, after extensive delays and cost overruns, it opened for commercial operations in October 2020.{{cite web |title=Berlin's new $7 billion airport has finally opened after 9 years of delays, corruption allegations, and construction woes— see inside |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/berlin-brandenburg-airport-finally-opens-after-9-years-of-delays-2020-11?r=US&IR=T |website=Business Insider |access-date=9 November 2020 |archive-date=9 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109200613/https://www.businessinsider.com/berlin-brandenburg-airport-finally-opens-after-9-years-of-delays-2020-11?r=US&IR=T |url-status=live }} The planned initial capacity of around 27 million passengers per year{{cite web |access-date=23 May 2019 |title=Airport Berlin Brandenburg BER |url=https://www.berlin.de/en/airports-and-stations/1872865-2932875-airport-berlin-brandenburg-ber.en.html |website=berlin.de |archive-date=25 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025182145/https://www.berlin.de/en/airports-and-stations/1872865-2932875-airport-berlin-brandenburg-ber.en.html |url-status=live }} is to be further developed to bring the terminal capacity to approximately 55 million per year by 2040.{{cite web |access-date=23 May 2019 |title=BER: A brief history of how not to build an airport |url=https://www.tip-berlin.de/ber-a-brief-history-of-how-not-to-build-an-airport/ |date=24 April 2019 |archive-date=25 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425145806/https://www.tip-berlin.de/ber-a-brief-history-of-how-not-to-build-an-airport/ |url-status=live }}

Before the opening of the BER in Brandenburg, Berlin was served by Tegel Airport and Schönefeld Airport. Tegel Airport was within the city limits, and Schönefeld Airport was located at the same site as BER. Both airports together handled 29.5 million passengers in 2015. In 2014, 67 airlines served 163 destinations in 50 countries from Berlin.{{cite web |url=https://www.berlin-airport.de/en/press/press-releases/2014/2014-03-28-summer-flight-schedule/index.php |title=2014 summer flight schedule |website=FBB |access-date=10 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140911063838/https://www.berlin-airport.de/en/press/press-releases/2014/2014-03-28-summer-flight-schedule/index.php |archive-date=11 September 2014 |url-status=dead}} {{lang|de|Tegel|italic=no}} Airport was a focus city for Lufthansa and Eurowings while Schönefeld served as an important destination for airlines like {{lang|de|Germania|italic=no}}, easyJet and Ryanair. Until 2008, Berlin was also served by the smaller Tempelhof Airport, which functioned as a city airport, with a convenient location near the city center, allowing for quick transit times between the central business district and the airport. The airport grounds have since been turned into a city park.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

{{Main|Rohrpost in Berlin}}

From 1865 to 1976, Berlin operated an expansive pneumatic postal network, reaching a maximum length of 400 kilometers (roughly 250 miles) by 1940. The system was divided into two distinct networks after 1949. The West Berlin system remained in public use until 1963, and continued to be utilized for government correspondence until 1972. Conversely, the East Berlin system, which incorporated the {{lang|de|Hauptelegraphenamt}}—the central hub of the operation—remained functional until 1976.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

File:Berlin-mitte heizkraftwerk-mitte 20060605 629.jpg

Berlin's two largest energy provider for private households are the Swedish firm Vattenfall and the Berlin-based company GASAG. Both offer electric power and natural gas supply. Some of the city's electric energy is imported from nearby power plants in southern Brandenburg.{{cite web|url=https://www.siemens.com/entry/cc/features/greencityindex_international/all/en/pdf/berlin.pdf|title=European Green City Index Berlin Germany|website=Siemens|year=2009|access-date=19 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180913113150/https://www.siemens.com/entry/cc/features/greencityindex_international/all/en/pdf/berlin.pdf|archive-date=13 September 2018|url-status=dead}}

{{As of|2015}} the five largest power plants measured by capacity are the Heizkraftwerk Reuter West, the Heizkraftwerk Lichterfelde, the Heizkraftwerk Mitte, the Heizkraftwerk Wilmersdorf, and the Heizkraftwerk Charlottenburg. All of these power stations generate electricity and useful heat at the same time to facilitate buffering during load peaks.

In 1993 the power grid connections in the Berlin-Brandenburg capital region were renewed. In most of the inner districts of Berlin power lines are underground cables; only a 380 kV and a 110 kV line, which run from Reuter substation to the urban Autobahn, use overhead lines. The Berlin 380-kV electric line is the backbone of the city's energy grid.

File:Charité vom Futurium aus.jpg]]

Berlin has a long history of discoveries in medicine and innovations in medical technology.{{cite news|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/magazin/wissen/Elitewettbewerb-Universitaeten;art304,2400973|title=Berlin leuchtet| first1=Anja| last1=Kühne| first2=Tilmann| last2=Warnecke| publisher=Der Tagesspiegel| date=17 October 2007| access-date=18 December 2016|language=de| archive-date=22 June 2008| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080622052142/https://www.tagesspiegel.de/magazin/wissen/Elitewettbewerb-Universitaeten;art304,2400973|url-status=live}} The modern history of medicine has been significantly influenced by scientists from Berlin. Rudolf Virchow was the founder of cellular pathology, while Robert Koch developed vaccines for anthrax, cholera, and tuberculosis.{{cite web| url=https://www.charite.de/en/the_charite/about_us/history/| title=History of the Charité of Berlin| publisher=Charité| date=2015| access-date=14 February 2016|archive-date=20 March 2016| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160320005731/https://www.charite.de/en/the_charite/about_us/history/| url-status=live}} For his life's work Koch is seen as one of the founders of modern medicine.{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCVnOb6VXmg | title=Louis Pasteur vs Robert Koch: The History of Germ Theory | website=YouTube | date=26 May 2023 | access-date=7 January 2024 | archive-date=30 January 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240130055659/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCVnOb6VXmg | url-status=live }}

The Charité complex (Universitätsklinik Charité) is the largest university hospital in Europe, tracing back its origins to the year 1710. More than half of all German Nobel Prize winners in Physiology or Medicine, including Emil von Behring, Robert Koch and Paul Ehrlich, have worked at the Charité. The Charité is spread over four campuses and comprises around 3,000 beds, 15,500 staff, 8,000 students, and more than 60 operating theaters, and it has a turnover of two billion euros annually.{{cite web |url=https://www.charite.de/en/the_charite/about_us/facts_figures/ |title=Facts & Figures |author=Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin |language=en |access-date=27 June 2020 |archive-date=22 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622171444/https://www.charite.de/en/the_charite/about_us/facts_figures/ |url-status=live }}

{{Main|Radio and telecommunication in Berlin}}

File:St oberholz.jpg devices]]

Since 2017, the digital television standard in Berlin and Germany is DVB-T2. This system transmits compressed digital audio, digital video and other data in an MPEG transport stream.

Berlin has installed several hundred free public Wireless LAN sites across the capital since 2016. The wireless networks are concentrated mostly in central districts; 650 hotspots (325 indoor and 325 outdoor access points) are installed.{{cite web| url=https://www.telecompaper.com/news/berlin-to-get-free-public-wi-fi-in-early-2016--1115805| title=Berlin to get free public Wi-Fi in early 2016| publisher=telecompaper|date=26 November 2015|access-date=14 February 2016|archive-date=13 April 2016| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413052105/https://www.telecompaper.com/news/berlin-to-get-free-public-wi-fi-in-early-2016--1115805|url-status=live}}

The UMTS (3G) and LTE (4G) networks of the three major cellular operators Vodafone, Telekom Deutschland and O2 enable the use of mobile broadband applications citywide.

{{Main|Education in Berlin}}

File:Berlin-Mitte Humboldt-Uni 05-2014.jpg, the world's first modern university,{{cite web | url=https://www.berlin.de/en/attractions-and-sights/3561617-3104052-humboldt-university.en.html#:~:text=Humboldt%20University%20at%20Unter%20den,the%20world%27s%20first%20modern%20university | title=Humboldt University | access-date=7 January 2024 | archive-date=7 January 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240107161351/https://www.berlin.de/en/attractions-and-sights/3561617-3104052-humboldt-university.en.html#:~:text=Humboldt%20University%20at%20Unter%20den,the%20world%27s%20first%20modern%20university | url-status=live }} is affiliated with 57 Nobel Prize winners.]]

{{as of|2014}}, Berlin had 878 schools, teaching 340,658 students in 13,727 classes and 56,787 trainees in businesses and elsewhere. The city has a 6-year primary education program. After completing primary school, students continue to the {{lang|de|Sekundarschule}} (a comprehensive school) or {{lang|de|Gymnasium}} (college preparatory school). Berlin has a special bilingual school program in the {{lang|de|Europaschule}}, in which children are taught the curriculum in German and a foreign language, starting in primary school and continuing in high school.{{cite web|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/;art270,2185300|title=Jahrgangsstufe Null|website=Der Tagesspiegel|access-date=19 August 2008 |language=de |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080520234625/https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/;art270,2185300|archive-date=20 May 2008}}

The Französisches Gymnasium Berlin, which was founded in 1689 to teach the children of Huguenot refugees, offers (German/French) instruction.{{cite web |url=https://www.fg-berlin.de/WebObjects/FranzGym.woa/wa/CMSshow/1064384 |title=Geschichte des Französischen Gymnasiums |website=Französisches Gymnasium Lycée Français Berlin |access-date=17 August 2008 |language=de, fr |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080615205603/https://www.fg-berlin.de/WebObjects/FranzGym.woa/wa/CMSshow/1064384 |archive-date=15 June 2008}} The John F. Kennedy School, a bilingual German–American public school in Zehlendorf, is particularly popular with children of diplomats and the English-speaking expatriate community. 82 {{lang|de|Gymnasien}} teach Latin{{cite web|url=https://www.gymnasium-berlin.net/latein |title=Latein an Berliner Gymnasien |date=29 March 2013 |access-date=6 May 2018 |language=de |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171004133934/https://www.gymnasium-berlin.net/latein |archive-date=4 October 2017}} and 8 teach Classical Greek.{{cite web |url=https://www.gymnasium-berlin.net/alt-griechisch |title=Alt-Griechisch an Berliner Gymnasien |date=31 March 2013 |access-date=6 May 2018 |language=de |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012215308/https://www.gymnasium-berlin.net/alt-griechisch |archive-date=12 October 2017}}

{{Main|Universities and research institutions in Berlin}}

File:Freie Universitaet Berlin - Gebaeudekomplex Rost- und Silberlaube.jpg]]

The Berlin-Brandenburg capital region is one of the most prolific centers of higher education and research in Germany and Europe. Historically, 67 Nobel Prize winners are affiliated with the Berlin-based universities.

The city has four public research universities and more than 30 private, professional, and technical colleges (Hochschulen), offering a wide range of disciplines.{{cite web|url=https://www.berlin-partner.de/622/?L=1|title=Metropolis of Sciences|website=Berlin Partner GmbH|access-date=19 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080424003113/https://www.berlin-partner.de/622/?L=1 |archive-date=24 April 2008}} A record number of 175,651 students were enrolled in the winter term of 2015/16.{{cite web|url=https://www.focus.de/regional/brandenburg/hochschulen-berlin-mit-neuem-studentenrekord_id_5111299.html|title=HochschulenBerlin mit neuem Studentenrekord|website=Focus|date=25 November 2015|access-date=1 December 2015|language=de|archive-date=8 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408172817/https://www.focus.de/regional/brandenburg/hochschulen-berlin-mit-neuem-studentenrekord_id_5111299.html|url-status=live}} Among them around 18% have an international background.

The three largest universities combined have approximately 103,000 enrolled students. There are the Freie Universität Berlin (Free University of Berlin, FU Berlin) with about 33,000{{cite web |url=https://www.fu-berlin.de/en/universitaet/leitbegriffe/zahlen/index.html |title=Facts and Figures |author=Free University of Berlin |date=29 November 2010 |access-date=27 June 2020 |archive-date=3 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171203075516/https://www.fu-berlin.de/en/universitaet/leitbegriffe/zahlen/index.html |url-status=live }} students, the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin (HU Berlin) with 35,000{{cite web |url=https://www.hu-berlin.de/en/about/humboldt-universitaet-zu-berlin/facts |title=Facts and Figures |author=Humboldt University of Berlin |access-date=27 June 2020 |archive-date=16 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200716113033/https://www.hu-berlin.de/en/about/humboldt-universitaet-zu-berlin/facts |url-status=live }} students, and Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin) with 35,000{{cite web |url=https://www.tu.berlin/en/about/profile/tu-berlin-statistics/ |title=Facts and Figures |author=Technische Universität Berlin|access-date=27 June 2020 |archive-date=26 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726214449/https://www.tu.berlin/en/about/profile/tu-berlin-statistics/ |url-status=live }} students. The Charité Medical School has around 8,000 students. The FU, the HU, the TU, and the Charité make up the Berlin University Alliance, which has received funding from the Excellence Strategy program of the German government.{{cite web |url=https://www.berlin-university-alliance.de/en/excellence-strategy/index.html |title=Excellence Strategy of the German Government |author=Berlin University Alliance |date=12 February 2018 |access-date=27 June 2020 |archive-date=27 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200627013223/https://www.berlin-university-alliance.de/en/excellence-strategy/index.html |url-status=live }}{{cite web|url=https://www.dfg.de/sites/exu-karte/en.html|title=Excellence Strategy|author=DFG|language=en|access-date=27 June 2020|archive-date=26 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726202732/https://www.dfg.de/sites/exu-karte/en.html|url-status=live}} The Universität der Künste (UdK) has about 4,000 students and ESMT Berlin is only one of four business schools in Germany with triple accreditation.{{cite web |url=https://www.udk-berlin.de/en/service/press-communication/figures-and-facts/ |title=Facts and Figures |author=Berlin University of the Arts |access-date=27 June 2020 |archive-date=28 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200628084223/https://www.udk-berlin.de/en/service/press-communication/figures-and-facts/ |url-status=dead }} The Hertie School, a private public policy school located in Mitte, has more than 900 students and doctoral students. The Berlin School of Economics and Law has an enrollment of about 11,000 students, the Berlin University of Applied Sciences and Technology of about 12,000 students, and the Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft (University of Applied Sciences for Engineering and Economics) of about 14,000 students.

File:Berlin Adlershof Photonics Center 2016.jpg in Adlershof]]

The city has a high density of internationally renowned research institutions, such as the Fraunhofer Society, the DLR Institute for Planetary Research, the Leibniz Association, the Helmholtz Association, and the Max Planck Society, which are independent of, or only loosely connected to its universities.{{cite web|title=Ten institutions that dominated science in 2015|url=https://www.natureindex.com/news-blog/ten-institutions-that-dominated-science-in-twentyfifteen|website=Nature Index|date=20 April 2016 |access-date=20 April 2016|archive-date=24 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424082505/https://www.natureindex.com/news-blog/ten-institutions-that-dominated-science-in-twentyfifteen|url-status=live}} In 2012, around 65,000 professional scientists were working in research and development in the city.

Berlin is one of the knowledge and innovation communities (KIC) of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).{{cite web|url=https://eit.europa.eu/home.html |title=European Institute of Innovation and Technology: Home |website=Europa (web portal) |access-date=8 June 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529152704/https://eit.europa.eu/home.html |archive-date=29 May 2010}} The KIC is based at the Center for Entrepreneurship at TU Berlin and has a focus in the development of IT industries. It partners with major multinational companies such as Siemens, Deutsche Telekom, and SAP.{{cite web|title=EIT ICT Labs – Turn Europe into a global leader in ICT Innovation|url=https://www.entrepreneurship.tu-berlin.de/menue/masterprogramme_qualifizierung/eit_ict_labs/|website=Technische Universität Berlin Center for Entrepreneurship|access-date=25 October 2016|archive-date=26 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161026162619/https://www.entrepreneurship.tu-berlin.de/menue/masterprogramme_qualifizierung/eit_ict_labs/|url-status=dead}}

One of Europe's successful research, business and technology clusters is based at WISTA in Berlin-Adlershof, with more than 1,000 affiliated firms, university departments and scientific institutions.{{cite web|title=Adlershof in Brief|url=https://www.adlershof.de/en/facts-figures/adlershof-in-numbers/|website=Adlershof.de|access-date=27 October 2016|archive-date=10 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161010165349/https://www.adlershof.de/en/facts-figures/adlershof-in-numbers/|url-status=live}}

In addition to the university-affiliated libraries, the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin is a major research library. Its two main locations are on Potsdamer Straße and on Unter den Linden. There are also 86 public libraries in the city. ResearchGate, a global social networking site for scientists, is based in Berlin.

{{Main|Culture in Berlin}}

File:Alte Nationalgalerie abends (Zuschnitt).jpg is part of the Museum Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.]]

Berlin is known for its numerous cultural institutions, many of which enjoy international reputation.{{cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/532|title=World Heritage Site Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin|website=UNESCO|access-date=19 August 2008|archive-date=8 August 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080808091530/https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/532|url-status=live}} The diversity and vivacity of the metropolis led to a trendsetting atmosphere.{{cite web |url=https://www.hubculture.com/groups/hubnews/news/162/ |title=Hub Culture's 2009 Zeitgeist Ranking |website=Hub Culture |access-date=30 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090331064158/https://www.hubculture.com/groups/hubnews/news/162/ |archive-date=31 March 2009 |url-status=dead}} An innovative music, dance and art scene has developed in the 21st century.

Young people, international artists and entrepreneurs continued to settle in the city and made Berlin a popular entertainment center in the world.{{cite web|url=https://www.observer.com/node/39370|title=A New Williamsburg! Berlin's Expats Go Bezirk|first=Nicholas|last=Boston|website=The New York Observer|date=10 September 2006|access-date=17 August 2008|archive-date=9 September 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080909023258/https://www.observer.com/node/39370|url-status=live}}

The expanding cultural performance of the city was underscored by the relocation of the Universal Music Group who decided to move their headquarters to the banks of the River Spree.{{cite web|url=https://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/bauen/bueroflaechen/en/friedrichshain.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070911125347/https://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/bauen/bueroflaechen/en/friedrichshain.shtml|archive-date=11 September 2007|title=Berlin's music business booms|website=Expatica|access-date=19 August 2008}} In 2005, Berlin was named "City of Design" by UNESCO and has been part of the Creative Cities Network ever since.{{cite web|url=https://projektzukunft.berlin.de/en/projekt-zukunft/services/international/unesco-creative-cities-network/|title=Unesco Creative Cities Network|website=projektzukunft.berlin.de|language=de|access-date=3 October 2018|archive-date=3 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003221050/https://projektzukunft.berlin.de/en/projekt-zukunft/services/international/unesco-creative-cities-network/|url-status=live}}

Many German and International films were shot in Berlin, including M, One, Two, Three, Cabaret, Christiane F., Possession, Octopussy, Wings of Desire, Run Lola Run, The Bourne Trilogy, Good Bye, Lenin!, The Lives of Others, Inglourious Basterds, Hanna, Unknown and Bridge of Spies.

{{Main list|List of museums and galleries in Berlin}}

File:Nofretete Neues Museum.jpg, Bust of Nefertiti, 1345 BCE, Egyptian Museum of Berlin]]

{{As of|2011}} Berlin is home to 138 museums and more than 400 art galleries.{{cite web |url=https://service.zitty.de/kultur-kunst/14539/ |title=Sprung in die Wolken |website=Zitty |date=2 July 2008 |access-date=19 August 2008 |language=de |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402162248/https://service.zitty.de/kultur-kunst/14539/ |archive-date=2 April 2012}} The ensemble on the Museum Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is in the northern part of the Spree Island between the Spree and the Kupfergraben. As early as 1841 it was designated a "district dedicated to art and antiquities" by a royal decree. Subsequently, the Altes Museum was built in the Lustgarten. The Neues Museum, which displays the bust of Queen Nefertiti,{{cite web|url=https://www.expatica.com/nl/egypt-battling-for-more-relics-after-louvre-success/|title=Egypt battling for more relics after Louvre success|publisher=Expatica|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190709211530/https://www.expatica.com/nl/egypt-battling-for-more-relics-after-louvre-success/|archive-date=9 July 2019|url-status=dead|access-date=9 July 2019}} Alte Nationalgalerie, Pergamon Museum, and Bode Museum were built there.

Apart from the Museum Island, there are many additional museums in the city. The Gemäldegalerie (Painting Gallery) focuses on the paintings of the "old masters" from the 13th to the 18th centuries, while the Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery, built by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe) specializes in 20th-century European painting. The Hamburger Bahnhof, in Moabit, exhibits a major collection of modern and contemporary art. The expanded Deutsches Historisches Museum reopened in the Zeughaus with an overview of German history spanning more than a millennium. The Bauhaus Archive is a museum of 20th-century design from the famous Bauhaus school. Museum Berggruen houses the collection of noted 20th century collector Heinz Berggruen, and features an extensive assortment of works by Picasso, Matisse, Cézanne, and Giacometti, among others.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/21/arts/dealer-will-enrich-art-of-the-berlin-he-fled.html|title=Dealer Will Enrich Art of the Berlin He Fled|last=Vogel|first=Carol|date=21 December 2000|work=The New York Times|access-date=28 December 2018|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=21 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190321180644/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/21/arts/dealer-will-enrich-art-of-the-berlin-he-fled.html|url-status=live}} The Kupferstichkabinett Berlin (Museum of Prints and Drawings) is part of the Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin (Berlin State Museums) and the Kulturforum at Potsdamer Platz in the Tiergarten district of Berlin's Mitte district. It is the largest museum of the graphic arts in Germany and at the same time one of the four most important collections of its kind in the world.{{Cite web |title=Kupferstichkabinett |url=https://www.smb.museum/en/museums-institutions/kupferstichkabinett/about-us/profile/ |website=Staatliche Museen zu Berlin |access-date=4 August 2022 |archive-date=24 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124201004/https://www.smb.museum/en/museums-institutions/kupferstichkabinett/about-us/profile/ |url-status=live }} The collection includes Friedrich Gilly's design for the monument to Frederick II of Prussia.{{Cite book |last=Tillack-Graf |first=Anne-Kathleen |title=Das Denkmal für Friedrich den Großen von Friedrich Gilly 1796 |year=2004 |location=Munich |language=de |publisher=GRIN Verlag |isbn=9783640966035}}

File:Ishtar Gate at Berlin Museum.jpg of Babylon at the Pergamon Museum]]

File:JewishMuseumBerlin.jpg presents two millennia of German–Jewish history.]]

The Jewish Museum has a standing exhibition on two millennia of German-Jewish history.{{cite web|url=https://www.juedisches-museum-berlin.de/site/EN/01-Exhibitions/exhibitions.php|title=Exhibitions|website=Jewish Museum Berlin|access-date=10 August 2008|archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090714235317/http%3A//www%2Ejuedisches%2Dmuseum%2Dberlin%2Ede/site/EN/01%2DExhibitions/exhibitions%2Ephp|archive-date=14 July 2009|url-status=dead}} The German Museum of Technology in Kreuzberg has a large collection of historical technical artifacts. The Museum für Naturkunde (Berlin's natural history museum) exhibits natural history near Berlin Hauptbahnhof. It has the largest mounted dinosaur in the world (a Giraffatitan skeleton). A well-preserved specimen of Tyrannosaurus rex and the early bird Archaeopteryx are at display as well.{{cite web |url=https://www.naturkundemuseum-berlin.de/en/ausstellungen/the-world-of-dinosaurs.html?Fsize=0&Lightversion=0%3Ftypo%3D2%3Ftypo%3D1%3Ftypo%3D0 |title=The World of Dinosaurs |publisher=Naturkundemuseum-berlin.de |date=20 October 2011 |access-date=7 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322182246/https://www.naturkundemuseum-berlin.de/en/ausstellungen/the-world-of-dinosaurs.html?Fsize=0&Lightversion=0%3Ftypo=2%3Ftypo=1%3Ftypo=0 |archive-date=22 March 2012}}

In Dahlem, there are several museums of world art and culture, such as the Museum of Asian Art, the Ethnological Museum, the Museum of European Cultures, as well as the Allied Museum. The Brücke Museum features one of the largest collection of works by artist of the early 20th-century expressionist movement. In Lichtenberg, on the grounds of the former East German Ministry for State Security, is the Stasi Museum. The site of Checkpoint Charlie, one of the most renowned crossing points of the Berlin Wall, is still preserved. A private museum venture exhibits a comprehensive documentation of detailed plans and strategies devised by people who tried to flee from the East.

The Beate Uhse Erotic Museum claimed to be the largest erotic museum in the world until it closed in 2014.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/travel/index/stories/beck04181999.htm |title=In Berlin, the Art of Sex |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=18 April 1999 |access-date=7 April 2012 |archive-date=9 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309164157/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/travel/index/stories/beck04181999.htm |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |title=Erotikmuseum aus dem Verkehr gezogen |url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/beate-uhse-in-berlin-charlottenburg-erotikmuseum-aus-dem-verkehr-gezogen/10305782.html |newspaper=Der Tagesspiegel Online |language=de |access-date=4 August 2022 |archive-date=4 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220804031411/https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/beate-uhse-in-berlin-charlottenburg-erotikmuseum-aus-dem-verkehr-gezogen/10305782.html |url-status=live }}

The cityscape of Berlin displays large quantities of urban street art.{{cite web|url=https://www.visitberlin.de/en/see/museums-art/street-art|title=Berlin – Urban Art – visitBerlin.de EN|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151031125131/https://www.visitberlin.de/en/see/museums-art/street-art|archive-date=31 October 2015}} It has become a significant part of the city's cultural heritage and has its roots in the graffiti scene of Kreuzberg of the 1980s.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/travel/02headsup.html|title=One Wall Down, Thousands to Paint|date=2 March 2008|work=The New York Times|access-date=14 February 2017|archive-date=18 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118004829/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/travel/02headsup.html|url-status=live}} The Berlin Wall itself has become one of the largest open-air canvasses in the world.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2014/apr/03/thierry-noir-graffiti-berlin-wall|title=Graffiti in the death strip: the Berlin wall's first street artist tells his story|website=The Guardian|date=3 April 2014|access-date=11 February 2016|archive-date=1 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201142426/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2014/apr/03/thierry-noir-graffiti-berlin-wall|url-status=live}} The leftover stretch along the Spree river in Friedrichshain remains as the East Side Gallery. Berlin today is consistently rated as an important world city for street art culture.{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/17/best-street-art-cities_n_5155653.html|title=The 26 Best Cities in the World To See Street Art|date=17 April 2014|website=The Huffington Post|access-date=21 November 2015|archive-date=22 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151122073932/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/17/best-street-art-cities_n_5155653.html|url-status=live}}

Berlin has galleries which are quite rich in contemporary art. Located in Mitte, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, KOW, Sprüth Magers; Kreuzberg there are a few galleries as well such as Blain Southern, Esther Schipper, Future Gallery, König Gallerie.

File:20150208 - Berlinale Palast and Red Carpet.JPG is the world's largest international spectator film festival.]]

Berlin's nightlife has been celebrated as one of the most diverse and vibrant of its kind.{{cite web|url=https://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/losing-your-mind-in-berlin/Content?oid=2180018|title=Losing your mind in Berlin|first=Walter|last=Wasacz|website=Metro Times|date=11 October 2004|access-date=18 November 2006|archive-date=10 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910010712/https://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/losing-your-mind-in-berlin/Content?oid=2180018|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.decodedmagazine.com/berlin-berlin-city-sin-city-never-sleeps-better-yet-never-sleep/|title=Berlin, Berlin, the city of sin. The city that never sleeps, or better yet, where you never have to sleep.|date=5 January 2017|publisher=Decoded Magazine|access-date=14 February 2022|archive-date=6 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220206084058/https://www.decodedmagazine.com/berlin-berlin-city-sin-city-never-sleeps-better-yet-never-sleep/|url-status=live}} In the 1970s and 80s, the SO36 in Kreuzberg was a center for punk music and culture. The SOUND and the Dschungel gained notoriety. Throughout the 1990s, people in their 20s from all over the world, particularly those in Western and Central Europe, made Berlin's club scene a premier nightlife venue. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, many historic buildings in Mitte, the former city center of East Berlin, were illegally occupied and re-built by young squatters and became a fertile ground for underground and counterculture gatherings.{{Cite web|title=Art of Now – Berlin's Nightlife – BBC Sounds|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000j1j7|access-date=6 July 2020|website=BBC|language=en-GB|archive-date=6 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200706225511/https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000j1j7|url-status=live}} The central boroughs are home to many nightclubs, including the Tresor and the Berghain. The KitKatClub and several other locations are known for their sexually uninhibited parties.

Clubs are not required to close at a fixed time during the weekends, and many parties last well into the morning or even all weekend, including near Alexanderplatz. Several venues have become a popular stage for the Neo-Burlesque scene.

File:Festival of Lights 2012 - Französischer Dom.jpg during the annual Festival of Lights ]]

File:Hanukkah, Brandenburg Gate (Berlin).jpg festival at the Brandenburg Gate]]

Berlin has a long history of gay culture, and is an important birthplace of the LGBT rights movement. Same-sex bars and dance halls operated freely as early as the 1880s, and the first gay magazine, Der Eigene, started in 1896. By the 1920s, gays and lesbians had an unprecedented visibility.{{cite book|last=Krauss|first=Kenneth|title=The drama of fallen France: reading la comédie sans tickets |year=2004|publisher=State University of New York |location=Albany, NY |isbn=978-0-7914-5953-9 |page=11}}{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/01/26/berlin-story |title=Berlin Story – The New Yorker |first=Alex |last=Ross |date=26 January 2015 |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=6 June 2016 |archive-date=20 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160420134154/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/01/26/berlin-story |url-status=live }} Today, in addition to a positive atmosphere in the wider club scene, the city again has a huge number of queer clubs and festivals. The most famous and largest are Berlin Pride, the Christopher Street Day,{{cite web|url=https://www.berlin-tourist-information.de/english/zielgruppen/e_zg_gay_bezirke.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061007101504/https://www.berlin-tourist-information.de/english/zielgruppen/e_zg_gay_bezirke.php |archive-date=7 October 2006 |title=Berlin for Gays and Lesbians |date=7 October 2006 |access-date=7 April 2012}} the Lesbian and Gay City Festival in Berlin-Schöneberg, the Kreuzberg Pride.

The annual Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) with around 500,000 admissions is considered to be the largest publicly attended film festival in the world.{{cite web |url=https://www.europeanfilmacademy.org/ |title=European Film Academy |publisher=European Film Academy |access-date=7 April 2012 |archive-date=25 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525004720/http://www.europeanfilmacademy.org/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://www.berlinale.de/ |title=Berlin Film Festival |publisher=Berlinale.de |access-date=7 April 2012 |archive-date=17 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110217150238/https://www.berlinale.de/ |url-status=live }} The Karneval der Kulturen (Carnival of Cultures), a multi-ethnic street parade, is celebrated every Pentecost weekend.{{cite web |url=https://www.karneval-berlin.de/de/english.175.html |title=English Summary |publisher=Karneval-berlin.de |access-date=7 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120419112335/https://www.karneval-berlin.de/de/english.175.html |archive-date=19 April 2012 |url-status=dead}} Berlin is also well known for the cultural festival Berliner Festspiele, which includes the jazz festival JazzFest Berlin, and Young Euro Classic, the largest international festival of youth orchestras in the world. Several technology and media art festivals and conferences are held in the city, including Transmediale and Chaos Communication Congress. The annual Berlin Festival focuses on indie rock, electronic music and synthpop and is part of the International Berlin Music Week.[https://www.berlinfestival.de/en.html Berlin Festival] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150314234453/https://www.berlinfestival.de/en.html |date=14 March 2015}} website[https://www.berlin-music-week.de/en/ Berlin Music Week] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140410203724/https://www.berlin-music-week.de/en/ |date=10 April 2014 }} website Every year Berlin hosts one of the largest New Year's Eve celebrations in the world, attended by well over a million people. The focal point is the Brandenburg Gate, where midnight fireworks are centered, but various private fireworks displays take place throughout the entire city. Partygoers in Germany often toast the New Year with a glass of sparkling wine.

{{Main|Music in Berlin}}

File:Rattle BPH-Rittershaus1-Wikipedia.jpg conducting the renowned Berlin Philharmonic]]

Berlin is home to 44 theaters and stages. The Deutsches Theater in Mitte was built in 1849–50 and has operated almost continuously since then. The Volksbühne at Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz was built in 1913–14, though the company had been founded in 1890. The Berliner Ensemble, famous for performing the works of Bertolt Brecht, was established in 1949. The Schaubühne was founded in 1962 and moved to the building of the former Universum Cinema on Kurfürstendamm in 1981. With a seating capacity of 1,895 and a stage floor of {{convert|2854|m2|0|sp=us}}, the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin Mitte is the largest show palace in Europe. For Berlin's independent dance and theatre scene, venues such as the Sophiensäle in Mitte and the three houses of the Hebbel am Ufer (HAU) in Kreuzberg are important. Most productions there are also accessible to an English-speaking audience. Some of the dance and theatre groups that also work internationally (Gob Squad, Rimini Protokoll) are based there, as well as festivals such as the international festival Dance in August.

Berlin has three major opera houses: the Deutsche Oper, the Berlin State Opera, and the Komische Oper. The Berlin State Opera on Unter den Linden opened in 1742 and is the oldest of the three. Its musical director is Daniel Barenboim. The Komische Oper has traditionally specialized in operettas and is also at Unter den Linden. The Deutsche Oper opened in 1912 in Charlottenburg.

The city's main venue for musical theater performances are the Theater am Potsdamer Platz and Theater des Westens (built in 1895). Contemporary dance can be seen at the Radialsystem V. The Tempodrom is host to concerts and circus-inspired entertainment. It also houses a multi-sensory spa experience. The Admiralspalast in Mitte has a vibrant program of variety and music events.

There are seven symphony orchestras in Berlin. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the preeminent orchestras in the world;{{cite news |author=Charlotte Higgins and Ben Aris in Berlin |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/apr/29/germany.arts |title=Is Rattle's Berlin honeymoon over? |newspaper=The Guardian |date=29 April 2004 |access-date=7 April 2012 |location=London |archive-date=28 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130828013033/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/apr/29/germany.arts |url-status=live }} it is housed in the Berliner Philharmonie near Potsdamer Platz on a street named for the orchestra's longest-serving conductor, Herbert von Karajan.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/25/travel/music-berlin.html |title=Music: Berlin |first=Daniel J. |last=Wakin |work=The New York Times |date=25 September 2005 |access-date=2024-08-29 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240829173728/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/25/travel/music-berlin.html |archive-date=2024-08-29}} Simon Rattle was its principal conductor from 1999 to 2018, a position now held by Kirill Petrenko. The Konzerthausorchester Berlin was founded in 1952 as the orchestra for East Berlin. Christoph Eschenbach is its principal conductor. The Haus der Kulturen der Welt presents exhibitions dealing with intercultural issues and stages world music and conferences.{{cite web |author=D |url=https://www.hkw.de/en/bottom/impressum/impressum.php |title=Haus der Kulturen der Welt |publisher=Hkw.de |access-date=7 April 2012 |archive-date=3 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120503225327/https://www.hkw.de/en/bottom/impressum/impressum.php |url-status=live }} The Kookaburra and the Quatsch Comedy Club are known for satire and comedy shows. In 2018, the New York Times described Berlin as "arguably the world capital of underground electronic music".{{Cite news|last=Wilder|first=Charly|date=21 June 2018|title=In the Capital of Electronic Music, Women Rule the Scene|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/arts/music/women-djs-berlin.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/arts/music/women-djs-berlin.html |archive-date=1 January 2022 |url-access=limited|access-date=7 August 2020|issn=0362-4331}}

{{main|Cuisine of Berlin}}

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The cuisine and culinary offerings of Berlin vary greatly. 23 restaurants in Berlin have been awarded one or more Michelin stars in the Michelin Guide of 2021, which ranks the city at the top for the number of restaurants having this distinction in Germany.{{cite web |url=https://guide.michelin.com/en/de/berlin-region/berlin/restaurants |title=MICHELIN Guide, Germany, Berlin Restaurants |publisher=MICHELIN Guide |access-date=15 November 2021 |archive-date=15 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211115075322/https://guide.michelin.com/en/de/berlin-region/berlin/restaurants |url-status=live }} Berlin is well known for its offerings of vegetarian{{cite web |url=https://www.saveur.com/vegetarian-restaurants-berlin-germany |title=Good Taste Award Winner 2015: Berlin, The New Vegetarian Capital |date=5 September 2015 |publisher=SAVEUR |access-date=1 March 2016 |archive-date=17 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160217063554/https://www.saveur.com/vegetarian-restaurants-berlin-germany |url-status=live }} and vegan{{cite web |url=https://www.dw.com/en/berlin-vegan-capital-of-the-world/a-35951064 |title=Berlin: Vegan capital of the world? |publisher=DW |access-date=4 April 2017 |archive-date=3 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170403195151/https://www.dw.com/en/berlin-vegan-capital-of-the-world/a-35951064 |url-status=live }} cuisine and is home to an innovative entrepreneurial food scene promoting cosmopolitan flavors, local and sustainable ingredients, pop-up street food markets, supper clubs, as well as food festivals, such as Berlin Food Week.{{cite web |url=https://www.dw.com/en/berlins-booming-food-scene/a-17983026 |title=Berlin's booming food scene |publisher=DW |access-date=4 April 2017 |archive-date=3 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170403200216/https://www.dw.com/en/berlins-booming-food-scene/a-17983026 |url-status=live }}{{cite web|url=https://foodtank.com/news/2016/09/conscious-food-consumption-at-berlins-restlos-gluecklich/|title=Conscious Food Consumption at Berlin's Restlos Glücklich|date=11 September 2016|publisher=Food Tank|access-date=4 April 2017|archive-date=4 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170404043408/https://foodtank.com/news/2016/09/conscious-food-consumption-at-berlins-restlos-gluecklich/|url-status=live}}

Many local foods originated from north German culinary traditions and include rustic and hearty dishes with pork, goose, fish, peas, beans, cucumbers, or potatoes. Typical Berliner fare include popular street food like the Currywurst (which gained popularity with postwar construction workers rebuilding the city), Buletten and the Berliner donut, known in Berlin as {{lang|de|Pfannkuchen}} ({{IPA|de|ˈp͡fanˌkuːxn̩|lang|De-Pfannkuchen.ogg}}).[https://www.germanfoods.org/consumer/facts/berlin.cfm Berlin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303102248/https://www.germanfoods.org/consumer/facts/berlin.cfm |date=3 March 2014 }} German Foods{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/spicy-sausage-that-is-worthy-of-a-shrine-in-berlin-1772530.html|title=Spicy sausage that is worthy of a shrine in Berlin|newspaper=The Independent|first=Tony|last=Paterson|date=15 August 2009|access-date=24 August 2017|archive-date=22 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322143121/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/spicy-sausage-that-is-worthy-of-a-shrine-in-berlin-1772530.html|url-status=dead}} German bakeries offering a variety of breads and pastries are widespread. One of Europe's largest delicatessen markets is found at the KaDeWe, and among the world's largest chocolate stores is Rausch.{{Cite news|url=https://luxeadventuretraveler.com/fassbender-rausch/|title=Chocolate Heaven at Fassbender & Rausch|publisher=Luxe Adventure Traveler|date=2013|access-date=1 March 2016|archive-date=5 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305092139/https://luxeadventuretraveler.com/fassbender-rausch/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.rausch.de/en/tradition|title=History from 1918 to today|publisher=Rausch Chocolate House|access-date=26 July 2023|archive-date=26 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230726072355/https://www.rausch.de/en/tradition|url-status=live}}

Berlin is also home to a diverse gastronomy scene reflecting the immigrant history of the city. Turkish and Arab immigrants brought their culinary traditions to the city, such as the lahmajoun and falafel, which have become common fast food staples. The modern fast-food version of the doner kebab sandwich which evolved in Berlin in the 1970s, has since become a favorite dish in Germany and elsewhere in the world.{{cite news| url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304432704577350194262835880| title=There's Nothing More German Than a Big, Fat Juicy Döner Kebab| author=James Angelos| date=18 April 2012| newspaper=The Wall Street Journal| access-date=6 June 2016| archive-date=30 May 2016| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160530140426/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304432704577350194262835880| url-status=live}} Asian cuisine like Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Indian, Korean, and Japanese restaurants, as well as Spanish tapas bars, Italian, and Greek cuisine, can be found in many parts of the city.

File:Berlin Elefantentor 09-2017 b.jpg]]

Zoologischer Garten Berlin, the older of two zoos in the city, was founded in 1844. It is the most visited zoo in Europe and presents the most diverse range of species in the world.{{cite web |url=https://www.rbb-online.de/_/nachrichten/vermischtes/beitrag_jsp/key=news4382800.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20061007155448/http://www.rbb-online.de/_/nachrichten/vermischtes/beitrag_jsp/key=news4382800.html |url-status=dead|archive-date=7 October 2006|title=Hauptstadt-Zoo beliebtester Tierpark|website=Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg|access-date=17 August 2008}} It was the home of the captive-born celebrity polar bear Knut.{{Cite news|first=Tristana|last=Moore|title=Baby bear becomes media star|date=23 March 2007|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6486993.stm|work=BBC News|access-date=17 August 2008|archive-date=1 April 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070401034258/https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6486993.stm|url-status=live}} The city's other zoo, Tierpark Friedrichsfelde, was founded in 1955.

Berlin's Botanischer Garten includes the Botanic Museum Berlin. With an area of {{convert|43|ha|acre}} and around 22,000 different plant species, it is one of the largest and most diverse collections of botanical life in the world. Other gardens in the city include the Britzer Garten, and the Gärten der Welt (Gardens of the World) in Marzahn.{{cite web |url=https://www.gruen-berlin.de/gesellschaft/ |title=Grün Berlin |language=de |trans-title=Green Berlin |publisher=Die Grün Berlin GmbH |access-date=27 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522183154/https://www.gruen-berlin.de/gesellschaft/ |archive-date=22 May 2011 |url-status=dead}}

File:Siegessäule10 b.jpg in Tiergarten]]

The Tiergarten park in Mitte, with landscape design by Peter Joseph Lenné, is one of Berlin's largest and most popular parks.{{cite web |url=https://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/aktuell/wettbewerbe/lenne/en/biographie.shtml |title=Peter Joseph Lenné, Senate Department of Urban Development |publisher=Stadtentwicklung.berlin.de |date=30 September 2011 |access-date=10 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130421101545/https://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/aktuell/wettbewerbe/lenne/en/biographie.shtml |archive-date=21 April 2013 |url-status=dead}} In Kreuzberg, the Viktoriapark provides a viewing point over the southern part of inner-city Berlin. Treptower Park, beside the Spree in Treptow, features a large Soviet War Memorial. The Volkspark in Friedrichshain, which opened in 1848, is the oldest park in the city, with monuments, a summer outdoor cinema and several sports areas.{{cite web|author1=Paul Sullivan|title=Volkspark Friedrichshain|url=https://www.slowtravelberlin.com/volkspark-friedrichshain/|website=Slow Travel Berlin|access-date=30 August 2014|date=30 July 2010|archive-date=3 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903203937/https://www.slowtravelberlin.com/volkspark-friedrichshain/|url-status=live}} Tempelhofer Feld, the site of the former city airport, is the world's largest inner-city open space.{{cite news |last=Stephan |first=Felix |url=https://www.zeit.de/lebensart/2012-09/lust-auf-stadt-tempelhofer-feld |title=Entfaltung auf dem Rollfeld |location=Berlin (Germany) |newspaper=zeit.de |date=10 December 2012 |access-date=8 February 2018 |archive-date=21 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021183842/https://www.zeit.de/lebensart/2012-09/lust-auf-stadt-tempelhofer-feld |url-status=live }}

Potsdam is on the southwestern periphery of Berlin. The city was a residence of the Prussian kings and the German Kaiser, until 1918. The area around Potsdam in particular Sanssouci is known for a series of interconnected lakes and cultural landmarks. The Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin are the largest World Heritage Site in Germany.

Berlin is also well known for its numerous cafés, street musicians, beach bars along the Spree River, flea markets, boutique shops and pop-up stores, which are a source for recreation and leisure.{{cite news |last=Lee |first=Denny |url=https://travel.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/travel/10hours.html |title=36 Hours in Berlin |location=Berlin (Germany) |publisher=Travel.nytimes.com |date=10 December 2006 |access-date=7 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120624141002/https://travel.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/travel/10hours.html |archive-date=24 June 2012 |url-status=dead}}

{{clear}}

{{Main|Sport in Berlin}}

File:Berliner Olympiastadion night 2.jpg hosted the 1936 Summer Olympics and the 2006 FIFA World Cup final.]]

File:Berlin marathon.jpg is the current second world record course (world record course is {{As of|2024|August|lc=y}} Chicago Marathon).]]

File:Berlin Mercedes-Benz-Arena.jpg (formerly Mercedes-Benz Arena)]]

Berlin has established a high-profile as a host city of major international sporting events.{{cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/01/2204562.htm?section=sport|title=Melbourne retains ultimate sports city title|website=ABC News|date=1 April 2008|access-date=1 July 2008|archive-date=13 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090113164852/https://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/01/2204562.htm?section=sport|url-status=dead}} The city hosted the 1936 Summer Olympics and was the host city for the 2006 FIFA World Cup final.{{cite web|url=https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/germany2006/overview.html |title=Italy conquer the world as Germany wins friends |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080821050509/https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/germany2006/overview.html |archive-date=21 August 2008}} The World Athletics Championships was held at Olympiastadion in 2009 and 2025.{{cite web |url=https://www.berlin2009.org/ |title=12. IAAF Leichtathletik WM berlin 2009 |publisher=Berlin2009.org |access-date=10 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090720233014/https://www.berlin2009.org/ |archive-date=20 July 2009 |url-status=dead}} The city hosted the Euroleague Final Four basketball competition in 2009 and 2016,{{cite web|url=https://www.euroleague.net/news/i/5y55csanso845gfb|title=Euroleague Final Four returns to Berlin in 2016|publisher=Euroleague|date=11 May 2015|access-date=5 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019170810/https://www.euroleague.net/news/i/5y55csanso845gfb|archive-date=19 October 2016|url-status=dead}} and was one of the hosts of FIBA EuroBasket 2015. In 2015 Berlin was the venue for the UEFA Champions League Final. The city bid to host the 2000 Summer Olympics but lost to Sydney.{{Cite web |date=June 2009 |title=Berlin's Failed Bid to Host the 2000 Summer Olympic Games: Urban Development and the Improvement of Sports Facilities |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/46541517}}

Berlin hosted the 2023 Special Olympics World Summer Games. This is the first time Germany has ever hosted the Special Olympics World Games.{{cite web|url=https://www.specialolympics.org/about/press-releases/berlin-germany-selected-to-host-the-2023-special-olympics-world-games|title=Berlin, Germany selected to host the 2023 Special Olympics World Games|publisher=Special Olympics|access-date=21 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181221041349/https://www.specialolympics.org/about/press-releases/berlin-germany-selected-to-host-the-2023-special-olympics-world-games|archive-date=21 December 2018|url-status=dead}}

The annual Berlin Marathon{{snd}}a course that holds the most top-10 world record runs{{snd}}and the ISTAF are well-established athletic events in the city.{{cite web |url=https://www.scc-events.com/en/events/halbmarathon/ |title=Berlin Marathon |publisher=Scc-events.com |access-date=7 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402162248/https://www.scc-events.com/en/events/halbmarathon/ |archive-date=2 April 2012 |url-status=dead}} The Mellowpark in Köpenick is one of the biggest skate and BMX parks in Europe.{{cite web|url=https://www.urbancatalyst-studio.de/en/projects/project-site/mellowpark-berlin.html |title=Mellowpark Campus |publisher=urbancatalyst-studio.de |access-date=29 August 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904031925/https://www.urbancatalyst-studio.de/en/projects/project-site/mellowpark-berlin.html |archive-date=4 September 2014}} A fan fest at Brandenburg Gate, which attracts several hundreds of thousands of spectators, has become popular during international football competitions, such as the UEFA European Championship.{{cite web|url=https://blogs.bettor.com/The-best-sports-stadiums-in-the-world-a21645 |title=500,000 spectators to watch the game together |publisher=Blogs.bettor.com |access-date=7 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322085540/https://blogs.bettor.com/The-best-sports-stadiums-in-the-world-a21645 |archive-date=22 March 2012}}

Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, who is often hailed as the "father of modern gymnastics", invented the horizontal bar, parallel bars, rings, and the vault around 1811 in Berlin.{{Cite book|title=Gymnastics|last=Mcintosh|first=J. S.|publisher=Mason Crest|year=2010|isbn=978-1422217344}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/history-gymnastics-ancient-greece-modern-times/|title=A History of Gymnastics: From Ancient Greece to Modern Times {{!}} Scholastic|last=Strauss|first=Michael|website=www.scholastic.com|access-date=4 December 2019|archive-date=19 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191219051634/https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/history-gymnastics-ancient-greece-modern-times/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.insidesport.com.au/news/friedrich-jahn-invented-gymnastics-apparatus-422812|title=Friedrich Jahn invented gymnastics' apparatus|last=Drane|first=Robert|date=16 March 2016|website=Inside Sport|access-date=4 December 2019|archive-date=4 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191204131519/https://www.insidesport.com.au/news/friedrich-jahn-invented-gymnastics-apparatus-422812|url-status=live}} Jahn's Turners movement, first realized at Volkspark Hasenheide, was the origin of modern sports clubs.{{cite web | url=https://www.ndr.de/geschichte/Aeltester-Sportverein-HT16-feiert-200-Jahre,jubilaeumht100.html | title=Ältester Sportverein der Welt wird 200 Jahre | access-date=20 January 2024 | archive-date=26 January 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240126003431/https://www.ndr.de/geschichte/Aeltester-Sportverein-HT16-feiert-200-Jahre,jubilaeumht100.html | url-status=live }} In 2013, around 600,000 Berliners were registered in one of the more than 2,300 sport and fitness clubs.{{cite web |url=https://www.lsb-berlin.net/wir-ueber-uns/der-lsb-berlin/ |title=Der Landessportbund Berlin – Mitglieder |publisher=LSB |access-date=3 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141004065645/https://www.lsb-berlin.net/wir-ueber-uns/der-lsb-berlin/ |archive-date=4 October 2014 |url-status=dead}} The city of Berlin operates more than 60 public indoor and outdoor swimming pools.{{cite web |url=https://www.newinthecity.de/en/sports-leisure-berlin/2976-berlin-swimming-pools-and-bathing-spots.html |title=Berlin's swimming pools and bathing spots |publisher=New in the City |access-date=12 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216213503/https://www.newinthecity.de/en/sports-leisure-berlin/2976-berlin-swimming-pools-and-bathing-spots.html |archive-date=16 February 2016 |url-status=dead}} Berlin is the largest Olympic training center in Germany, with around 500 top athletes (15% of all German top athletes) being based there. Forty-seven elite athletes participated in the 2012 Summer Olympics. Berliners would achieve seven gold, twelve silver, and three bronze medals.{{cite web |url=https://www.berlin-sportmetropole.de/english/olympiastuetzpunkt/index.html |title=Sports Metropolis |publisher=Be Berlin |access-date=12 February 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216042009/https://www.berlin-sportmetropole.de/english/olympiastuetzpunkt/index.html |archive-date=16 February 2016}}

Several professional clubs representing the most important spectator team sports in Germany are based in Berlin. The oldest and most popular first-division team based in Berlin is the football club Hertha BSC.{{cite web |url=https://www.herthabsc.de/ |title=Hertha BSC |publisher=Herthabsc.de |date=27 December 2011 |access-date=7 April 2012 |archive-date=23 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223123453/https://www.herthabsc.de/ |url-status=dead }} The team represented Berlin as a founding member of the Bundesliga in 1963. Other professional team sport clubs include:

• List of fiction set in Berlin
• List of honorary citizens of Berlin
• List of people from Berlin
• List of songs about Berlin

{{reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Berlin | volume= 3 |last1= Ashworth |first1= Philip Arthur |author1-link= Philip Arthur Ashworth | last2= Phillips |first2= Walter Alison |author2-link= Walter Alison Phillips |pages = 785–791}}
• {{cite book |last=Chandler|first=Tertius|title=Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census|publisher=Edwin Mellen Pr|year=1987|isbn=978-0-88946-207-6}}
• {{cite book |editor-last=Daum|editor-first=Andreas|title=Berlin ‒ Washington, 1800‒2000: Capital Cities, Cultural Representation, and National Identities|publisher=Berghahn|year=2006| isbn=978-0-521-84117-7}}
• Daum, Andreas. Kennedy in Berlin. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008, {{ISBN|978-0-521-85824-3}}.
• {{cite book|last=Gill|first=Anton |title=A Dance Between Flames: Berlin Between the Wars |publisher=John Murray|year=1993|isbn=978-0-7195-4986-1}}
• {{cite book|last=Gross|first=Leonard|title=The Last Jews in Berlin|publisher=Carroll & Graf Publishers|year=1999|isbn=978-0-7867-0687-7}}
• {{cite book|last=Large|first=David Clay|title=Berlin|url=https://archive.org/details/berlin00larg_0|url-access=registration|publisher=Basic Books|year=2001|isbn=978-0-465-02632-6}}
• {{cite book |last=Maclean|first=Rory |title=Berlin: Imagine a City |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=2014|isbn=978-0-297-84803-5}}
• {{cite book|last=Read|first=Anthony|author2=David Fisher|title=Berlin Rising: Biography of a City|publisher=W.W. Norton|year=1994|isbn=978-0-393-03606-0|url=https://archive.org/details/berlinrisingbiog00read}}
• {{cite book |last=Reissner|first=Alexander |title=Berlin 1675-1945: The Rise and Fall of a Metropolis, a Panoramic View |publisher=Oswald Wolff|year=1984|isbn=978-0-85496-140-5}}
• {{cite book|last=Ribbe|first=Wolfgang|title=Geschichte Berlins|publisher=Bwv – Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag|year=2002|isbn=978-3-8305-0166-4}}
• {{cite book|last=Roth|first=Joseph|title=What I Saw: Reports from Berlin 1920–33|publisher=Granta Books|year=2004|isbn=978-1-86207-636-5}}
• {{cite book|last=Taylor|first=Frederick|title=The Berlin Wall: 13 August 1961 – 9 November 1989|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2007|isbn=978-0-06-078614-4}}

{{refend}}

• [https://www.berlin.de/en/ berlin.de] – official website
• {{Osmrelation-inline|62422}}

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