Niederkirchnerstraße

{{Short description|Street in Berlin, Germany}} {{EngvarB|date=December 2024}} {{use dmy dates|date=December 2024}} {{Infobox street | name = Niederkirchnerstraße | marker_image = | alternate_name = Niederkirchnerstrasse | image = {{multiple image | align = center | direction = vertical | width = 230 | image1 = Berlin-Mitte Niederkirchner 05-2014.jpg | alt1 = | caption1 = A preserved section of the [[Berlin Wall]] adjacent to Niederkirchnerstraße in 2014 | image2 = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R97512, Berlin, Geheimes Staatspolizeihauptamt b.jpg | alt2 = | caption2 = The same location showing [[Reich Security Main Office]] (Prinz-Albrecht-Straße No.8) in 1933. }} | image_size = | image_alt = | image_map = | caption = | former_names = {{ubl|{{nowrap|{{lang|de|Verlängerte Zimmerstraße}}}}|{{small|(to 1891)}}<ref>{{cite book |author1= |title=Stenographische Berichte über die öffentlichen Sitzungen der Stadtverordnetenversammlung der Haupt- und Residenzstadt Berlin |trans-title=Stenographic Reports on the Public Sessions of the City Council of the Capital and Residence City of Berlin |date=1892 |volume=18 (1891) |pages=XX, 212 |url=https://digital.zlb.de/viewer/resolver?urn=urn:nbn:de:kobv:109-1-8906159 |access-date=27 December 2024 |location=Berlin |publisher=City of Berlin |language=de}}</ref><ref name="kauperts">{{cite web |title=Niederkirchnerstraße |url=https://berlin.kauperts.de/Strassen/Niederkirchnerstrasse-10117-10963-Berlin |website=Kauperts Straßenführer durch Berlin |publisher={{ill|Kaupert (publisher)|de|Kaupert (Verlag)|lt=Kaupert}} |access-date=27 December 2024 |language=de}}</ref>|{{lang|de|Prinz-Albrecht-Straße}}|{{small|(1891–1951)}}<ref name="kauperts"/>}} | part_of = | namesake = [[Käthe Niederkirchner]] | type = [[Street]] | owner = | maint = | length = | length_m = | length_km = | length_ref = | length_notes = | width = | area = | addresses = | location = [[Berlin]], Germany | quarter = [[Mitte (locality)|Mitte]] | postal_code = | metro = {{ubl| {{ric|Berlin U-Bahn|U6|size=x12}} [[Kochstraße (Berlin U-Bahn)|Kochstraße]] | {{ric|Berlin S-Bahn|S1|size=x12}} {{ric|Berlin S-Bahn|S2|size=x12}} {{ric|Berlin S-Bahn|S25|size=x12}} {{ric|Berlin S-Bahn|S26|size=x12}} {{ric|Berlin U-Bahn|U2|size=x12}} | [[Berlin Potsdamer Platz station|Potsdamer Platz]] | {{ric|Berlin S-Bahn|S1|size=x12}} {{ric|Berlin S-Bahn|S2|size=x12}} {{ric|Berlin S-Bahn|S25|size=x12}} {{ric|Berlin S-Bahn|S26|size=x12}} {{ric|Berlin U-Bahn|U2|size=x12}} | [[Berlin Anhalter Bahnhof|Anhalter Bahnhof]]}} | coordinates = {{nowrap|{{coord|format=dms|region:DE-BE_type:landmark|display=it}}}} | direction_a = East | terminus_a = {{ubl|Zimmerstraße|[[Wilhelmstrasse|Wilhelmstraße]]}} | direction_b = West | terminus_b = {{ill|Stresemannstraße (Berlin)|de|lt=Stresemannstraße}} | junction = | main_contractor = | cost = | references = | commissioning_date = | construction_start_date = | completion_date = | inauguration_date =  | demolition_date = | designer = | known_for = | status = | website =  | browse = | embedded = }}

'''Niederkirchnerstraße''' or '''Niederkirchnerstrasse''' (see [[ß]];<ref> {{cite web|access-date=20 September 2023 |url=https://grammis.ids-mannheim.de/rechtschreibung |title=Deutsche Rechtschreibung: Regeln und Wörterverzeichnis |trans-title=German Spelling: Rules and Glossary |at=2.3 E3 |quote={{lang|de|Steht der Buchstabe ß nicht zur Verfügung, so schreibt man ss.}} [If the letter ß is unavailable, then one writes ss.]}}</ref> {{IPA|de|ˈniːdɐkɪʁçnɐˌʃtʁaːsə|lang}}) is a street in [[Berlin]], [[Germany]] and was named after [[Käthe Niederkirchner]]. The thoroughfare was known as '''Prinz-Albrecht-Straße''' until 1951 but the name was changed by the [[German Democratic Republic|East German government]] to honour Niederkirchner's legacy as a resistance fighter against the Nazi regime. The street was the location of the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] [[Reich Security Main Office]] (RSHA), the headquarters of the ''[[Sicherheitspolizei]]'', [[Sicherheitsdienst|SD]], ''[[Einsatzgruppen]]'' and [[Gestapo]]. The site is now marked by the [[Topography of Terror]] memorial and a museum, which includes a permanent exhibition showing the crimes of Nazism.<ref>[http://www.city-getaway.com/en/guide/3/Berlin Potsdamer Platz Guide]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130318083004/http://www.city-getaway.com/en/guide/3/Berlin|date=2013-03-18}}. Berlin City Getaway Guide.</ref>

==Course== The street runs east-west from [[Wilhelmstraße]] to Stresemannstraße near [[Potsdamer Platz]], forming the border between the districts of [[Mitte (locality)|Mitte]] and [[Kreuzberg]].

Niederkirchnerstraße is also the site of the [[Martin Gropius Bau|Martin-Gropius-Bau]] exhibition hall, built in 1881 by [[Martin Gropius]] and [[Heino Schmieden]] as a Museum of Decorative Arts, and the [[Abgeordnetenhaus von Berlin]], from 1899 until 1933 seat of the [[Preußischer Landtag]], the second chamber of the Prussian parliament. On 1 January 1919 the [[Communist Party of Germany]] was founded in this building. Since 29 April 1993 it houses the parliament of the Berlin city state.

[[File:Niederkirchnerstraße.JPG|thumb|left|250px|Martin-Gropius-Bau]]

==History== The street was laid out in 1891 and named for Prince [[Prince Albert of Prussia (1809-1872)|Albrecht of Prussia]] (1809-1872, the youngest son of King [[Friedrich Wilhelm III]] of Prussia), who had owned a large house called ''[[Prinz-Albrecht-Palais]]'' on the corner of this street and the Wilhelmstraße.

In 1905 an extension building of the Museum of Decorative Arts was erected adjacent to the Martin-Gropius-Bau on Prinz-Albrecht-Straße 8. From May 1933 this building served as the headquarters of the [[Gestapo]] created by the order of [[Hermann Göring]], where many political prisoners were tortured and executed. In December 1934, it also housed the headquarters of the [[Concentration Camps Inspectorate]], which oversaw all German concentration camps. It formed the nucleus of the complex of buildings including the neighbouring ''Hotel Prinz Albrecht'' on Prinz-Albrecht-Straße 9 and the ''Prinz-Albrecht-Palais'' itself, which was taken over by the ''[[Sicherheitsdienst]]'' (SD) under [[Reinhard Heydrich]] in 1934. In September 1939, it developed into a centre for the [[Reich Security Main Office]] (RSHA). The RSHA, formed in September 1939 by [[Heinrich Himmler]] and placed under the command of Heydrich, operated throughout Germany and occupied Europe. Himmler himself operated out of the building from an office on the top floor, thus making #8 Prince Albrecht Street the default headquarters for the entire SS.

The buildings, including the first building of the [[Ethnological Museum of Berlin]] (at the southern corner with Stresemannstraße), were destroyed by Allied bombing in early 1945 and demolished after the war. After [[World War II]], in 1951, the authorities of [[East Berlin]] renamed Prinz-Albrecht-Straße to Niederkirchnerstraße in honour of [[Käthe Niederkirchner]] (1909–1944), a member of the communist [[German resistance to Nazism| resistance]] to the Nazis. The [[Berlin Wall]] ran along the southern side of the street from 1961 to 1989 – one of the few preserved sections is located at the eastern end.

== In popular culture == A building labeled "SS Headquarters" appears in the 2008 motion picture ''[[Valkyrie (film)|Valkyrie]]'', the complex shown appearing as a large concrete building in a plaza draped with [[swastika]] flags. In reality, this was never an SS building but was the [[Messe Berlin|Berlin fairgrounds]]. The mini-series ''[[Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil]]'' further depicts SS headquarters as a grand hotel in a courtyard plaza, with the interior shown as a large lobby with a grand staircase leading up to Heinrich Himmler's office. Both depictions in no way resemble the historic Prinz-Albrecht-Straße, although "Hitler's SS" did accurately depict the building as being located within a former hotel. Numerous historical novels and thrillers set in Nazi Germany have sections taking place in the Prinz-Albrecht-Straße headquarters.

== References == {{reflist}}

== External links == * {{official website|url=http://www.topographie.de/|name=Topographie des Terrors}} * [http://www.potsdamer-platz.org/staetten-des-ns-terrors.htm Stätten des NS Terrors in Berlin und rund um den Potsdamer Platz] *{{cite journal |last1=Bucholtz |first1=Erika |title=Die Zentralen des nationalsozialistischen SS- und Polizeistaats. Gebäudenutzung und Bauplanung in Berlin 1933-1945 |journal=Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft |date=2004 |volume=52 |issue=12 |pages=1106–1125 |url=http://www.topographie.de/de/pdf/bucholtz_zfg_12_04.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929124325/http://www.topographie.de/de/pdf/bucholtz_zfg_12_04.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2007-09-29 |accessdate=8 September 2018 |language=de}} * [http://www.zeitgeschichte-online.de/film/der-anti-knopp ''Das Gelände'']

{{DEFAULTSORT:Niederkirchnerstrasse}} [[Category:Streets in Berlin]] [[Category:Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg]]