Grunewald is Berlin's large forest area in the western and south-western
part of the city. The forest lies mainly in the districts of
Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and Steglitz-Zehlendorf and covers around
3,000 hectares. With its forests, lakes, hills and paths, Grunewald is
one of Berlin's most important recreational areas.
But Grunewald is much more than a natural area. The forest has a history
stretching back to the Middle Ages and the hunting grounds of the
Brandenburg rulers. It later became closely connected with Berlin's
development as an imperial capital, a centre of Nazi power, a city at
war and, during the Cold War, a divided city.
Grunewald before Berlin
The area around present-day Grunewald was originally part of a much
larger forest and heathland landscape on the Teltow plateau. Before
medieval settlement, large parts of what is now Berlin were covered
by forest. The Grunewald area included oak and pine forests as well
as wetlands and smaller marshes.
From the Middle Ages, the forest was used for firewood, timber and
grazing, among other purposes. Later, the area acquired particular
importance as a hunting ground for the Electors of Brandenburg and
the kings of Prussia.
Jagdschloss Grunewald
Jagdschloss Grunewald
One of the most important historic sites in Grunewald is Jagdschloss
Grunewald on the shore of Grunewaldsee. It is the oldest surviving
palace in Berlin.
In 1542, Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg had a hunting lodge built
beside the lake. The building was constructed in the Renaissance style
and was given the name Zum grünen Wald ("At the Green Forest").
The name was later applied to the surrounding forest area, and this
is the origin of the name Grunewald.
Hunting was an important part of court life, and for several centuries
Grunewald was used by the Brandenburg and later Prussian rulers. In the
early 18th century, King Frederick I had the complex remodelled and
extended in the Baroque style.
The court hunting tradition continued during the 19th century. Under
Emperor Wilhelm II, the palace was modernised again in the early
20th century in connection with the great imperial hunts.
Jagdschloss Grunewald has been a museum since 1932. Its collections
include works by Lucas Cranach the Elder and Lucas Cranach the Younger,
as well as art from Germany and the Netherlands. The museum also tells
the story of court hunting culture and the history of the palace.
Grunewald becomes a recreational area
During the 19th century, Berlin expanded rapidly, and Grunewald acquired
a new importance as a recreational area for the city's growing
population. The forest became a popular destination for excursions,
and transport connections between Berlin and Grunewald were gradually
improved.
At the same time, large parts of the surrounding area began to be
developed. In the late 19th century, the exclusive Grunewald villa
colony was established, attracting wealthy bankers, industrialists,
scientists, writers and artists.
Among its well-known residents were Walther Rathenau, Max Planck,
Gerhart Hauptmann and the Ullstein publishing family. The villa colony
thus became an important cultural and economic centre in western Berlin.
However, this development also threatened the forest itself. Around
1890, Grunewald consisted almost entirely of pine plantations, and
large areas of forest were sold for development towards the end of
the 19th century.
To prevent the remaining forests from being divided and developed,
the so-called Dauerwaldvertrag ("Permanent Forest Agreement")
was concluded in 1915. Large forest areas were thereafter to be
permanently preserved as recreational areas for Berlin's population.
The agreement was of great importance for the preservation of
Grunewald and other Berlin forests.
Grunewald and National Socialism
After the Nazis came to power in 1933, life in Grunewald also changed
dramatically. The elegant villa district was home to many Jewish
families, and according to Berlin's historical documentation, at least
one third of the area's population was affected by Nazi persecution,
oppression, expropriation or murder.
At the same time, members of the Nazi power apparatus moved into the
area. On Schwanenwerder, among those who had residences were Propaganda
Minister Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's physician Theo Morell and General
Building Inspector Albert Speer.
Nazi organisations also used the area. At the Hochschulsportplatz,
for example, there were grounds where the Hitler Youth could hold
events and mass gatherings.
Grunewald Station and the deportations
The darkest chapter in Grunewald's history is associated with
Grunewald railway station. From the station's freight tracks, thousands
of Jewish men, women and children were deported from Berlin to ghettos,
concentration camps and extermination camps in German-occupied Eastern
Europe.
The first deportation from Grunewald Station took place on 18 October
1941. The train transported 1,013 people to Łódź. The
deportations continued in various forms until 1945.
In total, more than 50,000 Jews were deported from Berlin under the
Nazi regime. Grunewald Station was one of the most important departure
points, while other transports left from Anhalter Bahnhof and the
freight station in Moabit.
Today, the site is marked by the Mahnmal Gleis 17 memorial. The memorial
is located at the former Track 17, from which many of the deportation
trains departed. Steel plaques along the track record the dates of the
transports and their destinations, making the scale of the deportations
visible.
At the entrance to the station there is also a memorial by the Polish
artist Karol Broniatowski. Unveiled in 1991, it consists of a concrete
wall bearing impressions of human bodies. The memorial refers both to
the railway deportations and to the many forced marches from assembly
points in Berlin to the deportation stations.
Grunewald during the Second World War
During the Second World War, Grunewald was also affected by military
developments and the Allied bombing of Berlin. The forest and the
surrounding districts were also close to important military and
transport installations in western Berlin.
During the final months of the war, the fighting moved steadily closer
to Berlin. In April and early May 1945, the city was surrounded by the
Red Army, and the fighting also reached the western parts of Berlin.
After the German surrender on 8 May 1945, Grunewald bore the marks of
the destruction caused by the war. But while other parts of Berlin were
rebuilt on the ruins of densely populated neighbourhoods, Grunewald
would in the post-war years become home to one of Berlin's most striking
symbols of the physical destruction caused by the war: Teufelsberg.
Teufelsberg – Teufelsseechaussee
10 – Grunewald
Teufelsberg – a mountain built from the ruins of war
After 1945, Berlin had to deal with enormous quantities of rubble from
the city's destroyed buildings. One of the places where this material
was deposited was in the northern part of Grunewald.
Here, Teufelsberg grew into an artificial mountain of rubble. The hill
is around 120 metres high and is therefore not a natural feature of
the landscape, but a direct result of the destruction caused by the
Second World War and the subsequent clearing of Berlin's ruins.
Teufelsberg later acquired another dramatic role in Berlin's history.
During the Cold War, its summit was used by the Western Allies as a
listening and surveillance station.
From 1962, the large American-British intelligence station was built
on the summit. The station was operated by the American NSA and the
British GCHQ and was used to intercept and analyse radio communications
and other telecommunications from the Warsaw Pact countries.
The station therefore stood on a mountain created from the ruins of
the war that had divided Europe. From here, the Western Allies monitored
communications behind the Iron Curtain. Teufelsberg thus became a very
tangible symbol of the transition from the Second World War to the
Cold War.
Read more about Teufelsberg.
Grunewald during the Cold War
After 1945, Grunewald became part of the American sector of West Berlin.
The forest lay close to the border with East Germany and Potsdam and
therefore became part of the distinctive border landscape surrounding
West Berlin.
The construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 changed the landscape
further. To the south-west and along the Havel, Grunewald became closely
connected with the border between West Berlin and East Germany. The
areas around Wannsee, Glienicke and the Havel were of particular
strategic importance.
Today, many traces of this period can still be found in the landscape.
One of the best-known sites is
Glienicke Bridge, where
American and Soviet agents were exchanged during the Cold War.
Schildhorn and Jaczo
On the western side of Grunewald, beside the Havel, lies the Schildhorn
peninsula. Here there is a monument associated with the old legend of
the Slavic prince Jaczo.
According to legend, Jaczo was defeated by Albert the Bear in 1157 and
fled across the Havel. When his horse could no longer swim, Jaczo is
said to have turned to the Christian God and was saved. The story later
became part of Prussian and German historical tradition and acquired
symbolic importance in connection with the Christianisation and
medieval expansion of Brandenburg.
Grunewald Tower and the Havel
On the Havel stands the Grunewald Tower, one of the best-known
viewpoints in the area. The tower was built in the late 19th century
in memory of Emperor Wilhelm I and quickly became a popular destination
for excursions.
The tower offers views across the Havel and the extensive forest and
lake landscape. The Havel area is also historically connected with
Potsdam and the Prussian palaces and parks.
Grunewald and Wannsee
In the south-western part of Grunewald lies the Wannsee area, including
Strandbad Wannsee. From the late 19th century onwards, the lakes and
forests became one of Berlin's most important recreational areas.
However, the area also has a much darker historical significance. On
20 January 1942, the Wannsee Conference was held in a villa on the
Großer Wannsee, where representatives of the Nazi regime coordinated
the implementation of the already ongoing systematic persecution and
deportation of Europe's Jews.
See also the page about
Strandbad Wannsee.
Other historic sites around Grunewald
Grunewald lies in the middle of an area where many of Berlin's historic
sites are located close to one another. To the north is, among other
places, Villa Riefenstahl,
while other sites in western Berlin tell the story of the Nazi period,
the war and the Cold War.
To the south and south-west, the area is connected with Wannsee, the
Havel and Potsdam, while
Glienicke Bridge lies
nearby.
For visitors interested in Berlin's underground and military history,
Grunewald can also be seen in connection with
Berliner Unterwelten,
Flak Towers and the other pages
about Berlin's military installations during the Second World War.
Grunewald today
Today, Grunewald is first and foremost a large recreational and natural
area. Berliners and visitors use the forest for hiking, cycling,
running and excursions. Its many lakes and the Havel landscape make
it one of the most varied natural areas in Berlin.
At the same time, Grunewald is an extraordinary historical landscape.
Within just a few kilometres, it is possible to move from a
16th-century hunting lodge through the imperial-era villa culture and
Nazi persecution to the deportations from Grunewald Station, the rubble
of Teufelsberg and the secret intelligence installations of the Cold War.
It is precisely this combination of nature and history that makes
Grunewald one of the most interesting areas in western Berlin. The
forest is not merely a green area within the metropolis, but also a
landscape in which several of the most important periods of Berlin's
history can still be traced.
Grunewald – from princely hunting ground to historical landscape
Grunewald's history thus spans almost 500 years. From Joachim II's
hunting lodge of 1542, through Prussian court culture and the
recreational forest of modern Berlin, to the crimes of the Nazi regime,
the ruins of the Second World War and the intelligence installations
of the Cold War.
Today, these different historical layers are no longer separated. They
exist side by side in the same landscape. Jagdschloss Grunewald,
Gleis 17, Teufelsberg, Schildhorn and the Havel each tell a different
part of Berlin's history – and together they show how the city and its
surroundings have changed from princely rule to the modern metropolis.
