Mitte
Borough of Berlin
Flag of Mitte
Flag
Coat of arms of Mitte
Coat of arms
Location of Mitte in Berlin
Mitte is located in Germany
Mitte
Mitte
Mitte is located in Berlin
Mitte
Mitte
Coordinates: 52°31′N 13°22′E / 52.517°N 13.367°E / 52.517; 13.367
CountryGermany
StateBerlin
CityBerlin
Subdivisions6 localities
Government
 • Borough MayorStefanie Remlinger (Greens)
Area
 • Total39.47 km2 (15.24 sq mi)
Population
 (2020-12-31)[1]
 • Total383,360
 • Density9,700/km2 (25,000/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Vehicle registrationB
WebsiteOfficial homepage

Mitte (German: [ˈmɪtə] ⓘ) is the first and most central borough of Berlin. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel, Moabit, Tiergarten and Wedding.

It is one of the two boroughs (the other being Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg) which were formerly divided between East Berlin and West Berlin. Mitte encompasses Berlin's historic core and includes some of the most important tourist sites of Berlin like the Reichstag and Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Checkpoint Charlie, Museum Island, the TV tower, Brandenburg Gate, Unter den Linden, Potsdamer Platz, Alexanderplatz, the latter six of which were in former East Berlin.

Geography

Berlin Cathedral and Television Tower

Mitte (German for "middle", "centre") is located in the central part of Berlin along the Spree River. It borders on Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in the west, Reinickendorf in the north, Pankow in the east, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg in the southeast, and Tempelhof-Schöneberg in the southwest.

In the middle of the Spree lies Museum Island (Museumsinsel) with its museums and Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom). The central square in Mitte is Alexanderplatz with the prominent Fernsehturm (TV tower), Germany's highest building, and the large railway station with connections to many subway (U-Bahn), tramway (Berlin trambahn), city trains (S-Bahn) and buses.

There are some important streets which connect Mitte with the other boroughs, e.g. the boulevard Unter den Linden which connects Alexanderplatz to the west with Brandenburg Gate and runs further as Straße des 17. Juni to the Victory Column and the centre of former West Berlin in Charlottenburg, or Karl-Marx-Allee from Alexanderplatz to Friedrichshain and the eastern suburbs.

History

Checkpoint Charlie,1963

The former Mitte district had been established by the 1920 Greater Berlin Act and comprised large parts of the historic city around Alt-Berlin and Cölln. Brandenburg Gate was the western exit at the Berlin city boundary until 1861.

Between 1961 and 1990, the area's East Berlin portion was surrounded by the Berlin Wall on the north, south and west. There were some border control points, the most notable of which was Checkpoint Charlie between Kreuzberg and Mitte, which was operated by the United States Army and was open to foreigners and diplomats.

Two other checkpoints were at Heinrich-Heine-Straße/Prinzenstraße east of Checkpoint Charlie, open to citizens of West Germany and West Berlin and on Invalidenstraße in the north on the border with the West Berlin Tiergarten district (the present-day Moabit locality).

Regierungsviertel (Government District)

The government district is located in the locality of Tiergarten around the Reichstag Building. Most institutions of the German government have their seat at the Regierungsviertel

Botschaftsviertel (Embassy Quarter)

Many embassies and the Federal Ministry of Defence in the historic embassy quarter in the south of the Tiergarten Park.

Tiergarten Park

Großer Tiergarten is the name of the biggest urban park in Mitte, located in the same-named locality. Tiergarten Park was established as a hunting ground in the 16th century by the Prussian kings. Today it is enclosed by densely built-up areas by Hansaviertel and Moabit in the north, the Government District in the east and the City West and the Embassy Quarter in the southwest.

Many cultural monuments and memorials are located in the Tiergarten Park, like the Siegessäule, the Soviet War Memorial and a historic rose garden. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, the biggest victim group of the Nazi dictatorship, is located on the east side of the park, near the Brandenburg Gate and near the place where Hitler's New Reich Chancellery once was.

Kulturforum

The Kulturforum was built in the 1950s and 1960s at the edge of West Berlin, after most of the once unified city's cultural assets had been lost behind the Berlin Wall. The Kulturforum is characterized by its innovative modernist architecture; several buildings are distinguished by the organic designs of Hans Scharoun, and the Neue Nationalgalerie was designed by Mies van der Rohe, albeit originally as a private house.

Among the cultural institutions housed in and around the Kulturforum are:

In arts and literature

Subdivision

Subdivisions of Mitte

The present-day borough of Mitte consists of six localities:

(the former Mitte borough)

(the former Tiergarten borough)

(the former Wedding borough)

Demographics

As of 2010, the borough had a population of 322,919, of whom 144.000 (44.5%) had a migration background. In the former West Berlin areas of Wedding, Gesundbrunnen and Moabit, foreigners and Germans of foreign origin compose nearly 70% of the population, while in Mitte proper the share of migrants is relatively low. The immigrant community is quite diverse, however, Turks, Africans, Eastern Europeans and East Asians form the largest groups.[2]

Percentage of people with migration background[3]
Germans without migration background/Ethnic Germans55.5 % (184.000)
Germans with migration background, or Foreigners/Ausländer44.5 % (144.000)
Muslim/Middle Eastern origin (Turkey, Arab League, Iran etc.)18.0% (60.000)
non-German European origin (UK, Netherlands, United States, Russia, Poland, Spain, France etc.)10.7% (35.400)
Others (East Asians, Vietnamese, Afro-Germans, Sub-Saharan Africans etc.)14.5% (48.000)

Politics

Borough assembly

The governing body of Mitte is the borough assembly (Bezirksverordnetenversammlung). It has responsibility for passing laws and electing the borough administration, including the mayor. The most recent borough assembly election was held on 26 September 2021, and led to a coalition between the Greens and the social democrats.[4]

Coalitions and mayors in the borough assembly of Mitte
Legislative period Borough Mayor Coalition

(Zählgemeinschaft)

 Borough assembly seats of the coalition
2023-2026[5] To be confirmed To be confirmed To be confirmed
2021-2023[5] Stefanie Remlinger (Greens, 2022-2023)

Stephan von Dassel (Greens, 2021-2022)[6]

 Greens and SPD[7]




30/55

2016-2021 Stephan von Dassel Greens and SPD[8]




28/55

2011-2016 Christian Hanke (SPD) SPD and CDU[9]




28/55

2006-2011 Christian Hanke (SPD) -[10] -
2001-2006 Joachim Zeller (CDU)[11] CDU, PDS, Greens[12]



32/55[13]

The 2021 results were as follows:

Party Lead candidate Votes  % +/- Seats +/-
Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne) Laura Neugebauer 44,653 28.5 Increase 4.6 18 Increase 4
Social Democratic Party (SPD) Ephraim Gothe 28,997 18.5 Decrease 5.3 12 Decrease 2
The Left (LINKE) Christoph Keller 26,256 16.8 Decrease 1.1 10 ±0
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Carsten Spallek 20,088 12.8 Decrease 0.7 8 Increase 1
Free Democratic Party (FDP) Bastian Roet 10,419 6.7 Increase 0.6 4 Increase 1
Alternative for Germany (AfD) Sabine Schüler 7,565 4.8 Decrease 5.1 3 Decrease 2
Volt Germany 3,668 2.3 New 0 New
Tierschutzpartei 3,410 2.2 New 0 New
Die PARTEI 3,358 2.1 New 0 New
dieBasis 2,193 1.4 New 0 New
Klimaliste 1,927 1.2 New 0 New
The Greys 1,112 0.7 New 0 New
Pirate Party Germany 919 0.6 Decrease 2.9 0 Decrease 2
Free Voters 903 0.6 New 0 New
The Humanists 602 0.4 New 0 New
Ecological Democratic Party 287 0.2 New 0 New
The Eligible 99 0.1 New 0 New
Valid votes 156,456 99.1
Invalid votes 1,384 0.9
Total 157,840 100.0 55 ±0
Electorate/voter turnout 247,338 63.8 Increase 10.0
Source: Elections Berlin

Borough government

The borough mayor (Bezirksbürgermeister) is elected by the borough assembly, and positions in the borough administration (Bezirksamt) are apportioned based on party strength. Stefanie Remlinger of the Greens was elected mayor on 20 October 2022. Since the 2021 municipal elections, the composition of the borough administration is as follows:

Councillor Party Portfolio
Stefanie Remlinger GRÜNE Borough Mayor
Staff and Finance
Ephraim Gothe SPD Deputy Mayor
Urban Development and Logistics
Stefanie Remlinger GRÜNE Education, Sport and Culture
Carsten Spallek CDU Social Affairs and Civil Service
Almut Neumann GRÜNE Order, Environment, Streets and Green Spaces
Christoph Keller LINKE Youth and Health
Source: Berlin.de

Twin towns – sister cities

Mitte is twinned with:[14]

View over Mitte from Berlin Cathedral

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Einwohnerinnen und Einwohner im Land Berlin am 31. Dezember 2020" (PDF). Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg. February 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-09-04. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  2. ↑ "Seite wird geladen" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2013-09-22. Retrieved 2011-08-16.
  3. ↑ "Seite wird geladen" (PDF). www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 August 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  4. ↑ Bündnis 90/Die Grünen Kreisverband Mitte und Fraktion in der BVV Mitte (3 November 2021). "https://www.spd-berlin-mitte.de/dl/ZG_Vereinbarung.pdf" (PDF). SPD Berlin Mitte. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 April 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2023. {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. 1 2 Shorter period due to the 2023 Berlin election re-run
  6. ↑ "BVV wählt Grüne ins Amt: Stefanie Remlinger ist neue Bezirksbürgermeisterin von Berlin-Mitte". Der Tagesspiegel Online (in German). ISSN 1865-2263. Archived from the original on 2022-11-13. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  7. ↑ "Wedding kurz & knapp - Weddingweiser" (in German). Archived from the original on 2022-12-17. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  8. ↑ "Grün-rote Zählgemeinschaft in Mitte steht". BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN Berlin-Mitte (in German). Archived from the original on 2023-12-03. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  9. ↑ Rada, Uwe (2012-07-05). "Wie Rot-Schwarz regiert: Alles wird platt gemacht". Die Tageszeitung: taz (in German). ISSN 0931-9085. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  10. ↑ "Berlin: SPD holt sich Mehrheit bei PDS und FDP". Der Tagesspiegel Online (in German). ISSN 1865-2263. Archived from the original on 2023-12-03. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  11. ↑ "Berlin: Nicht immer stellt der Gewinner den Bürgermeister". Der Tagesspiegel Online (in German). ISSN 1865-2263. Archived from the original on 2023-12-03. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  12. ↑ "Berlin: Besetzung der Bezirksamtsposten: Im Rathaus von Mitte sind alle Stühle schon vergeben". Der Tagesspiegel Online (in German). ISSN 1865-2263. Archived from the original on 2023-12-03. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  13. ↑ "Die Wahlen zu den Bezirksverordnetenversammlungen am 21. Oktober 2001" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-12-03. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  14. ↑ "Städtepartnerschaften des Bezirks Mitte". berlin.de (in German). Berlin. 25 August 2020. Archived from the original on 2023-10-07. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
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