The socialist city? A critical analysis of Neubaugebiet hellersdorf

Journal of Urban History

Volumn 24, Issue 5, 1998, Pages 563-602

  Pensley, Danielle Sibener ^a  

^a Above the Ice Fog Community Land Trust ^*

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

SOCIALISM; URBAN HISTORY; URBAN POLITICS;

GERMANY, BERLIN;

EID: 0031669876     PISSN: 00961442     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/009614429802400501     Document Type: Article

References (77)

1. Brigitte Reimann, Franciska Linkerhand (Berlin, 1974), 99. The novel relates how Franciska Linkerhand, a newly divorced young architect, rebuilds her life by helping to design and construct a planned city. I have translated this passage into English as well as all other quotations from German sources found throughout the article.
2. Bruno Flierl, "Stadtgestaltung in der ehemaligen DDR als Staatspolitik" in Wohnen und Stadtpolitik im Umbruch (City formation in the former GDR as the politics of state, residing and urban politics in turmoil), ed. P. Marcuse and F. Staufenbiel (Berlin, 1991);
3. Peter Marcuse and Wolfgang Schumann, "Housing in the Colours of the GDR," in The Reform of Housing in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union (Routledge, 1992).
4. Jeffry M. Diefendorf, In the Wake of War: The Reconstruction of German Cities after World War II (New York, 1993).
5. Nicholas Bullock, "Housing in Frankfurt, 1925-1931 and the New Wohnkultur," Architectural Review (June, 1978), 335-6.
6. Ronald Wiedenhoeft, Berlin's Housing Revolution: German Reform in the 1920s (Ann Arbor, 1985), 2-5.
7. Barbara Miller Lane, Architecture and Politics in Germany, 1918-1945 (Cambridge, 1968), 42.
8. 2 per capita. Moreover, in that year, only 37 percent of all East German dwellings contained a bath/shower or a toilet, as most apartment facilities were shared among the residents of a floor. Statistisches Jahrbuch der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik (Statistical yearbook of the German Democratic Republic) (Berlin, 1989), 169, 171.
9. Klaus von Beyme, Der Wiederaufbau (The reconstruction) (Munich, 1987).
10. SED, Bericht des Zentralkomitees an den VIII. Parteitag der Sozialistischen Eineitspartei Deutschland (Report of the Central Committee to the Eighth Congress of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany) (Berlin, 1971), 33.
11. Gerhard Keiderling, Berlin, 1945-1986 (Berlin, 1987), 687.
12. Steffi Knop and Gunter Peters, "Wohnen in Berlin: Berliner seit einem Jahr," Die Wochenpost (Living in Berlin: already, Berliners for a year, The Weekly) (Berlin, 1987).
13. Sigrun Below, "Zur Entwicklung der Neubaubezirke," Berliner Statistik Monatsschrift (On the development of the newly built districts, Berlin Statistical Monthly) (July, 1992), 182.
14. Werner Rietdorf et al., Vitalisierung von Großsiedlungen (Rejuvenating hypersettlements) (Bonn, 1991), 13, 16.
15. The configurations were apportioned as follows: One-room apartments, 11 percent Two-room apartments, 22 percent Three-room apartments, 47 percent Four-room apartments, 19 percent Five-room apartments, 1 percent These figures were taken from Magistrat von Berlin, Beschluß: Komplex-territoriate Aufgabenstellung (Resolution: comprehensive territorial assignment), July 7, 1986, 32, 87, 9.
16. Marcuse and Schumann, 108.
17. 2 and sustain pressure of up to 63kN. The outside wall and the roof elements are composed of three layers: one to carry weight, the second to retain heat, and a third for water protection. The series evolved as follows: Multistoried: 5-stories: built between 1973-77 5+1-stories: built between 1977-82 6-stories: built between 1981-87 5+6-stories (B): built between 1987-90 Many-storied: 11-stories (3-span): built between 1973-90 5-11-stories (4-span): built between 1983-90
18. Politbüro des Zentralen Komitee, "Aufgaben zur Entwicklung der Haupstadt der DDR, Berlin bis 1990," Internes Partei Archiv (Tasks to develop the capital of the GDR, Berlin, through 1990, Internal Party Archive) (Berlin, 1987), 2.
19. Magistrat von Berlin, Beschluß: Komplex-territoriale Aufgabenstellung (Resolution: comprehensive territorial assignment), July 7, 1986, 89.
20. O. Pfeng - former superintendent in State Residential Construction Kombinat Berlin and a founding member of the Hellersdorf Historical Society - interview by the author, Berlin-Hellersdorf, June 12, 1992.
21. Lane, Architecture and Politics in Germany, 1918-1945, 43-4.
22. Paul Scheebart, "Das Neue Leben," Die Stadtkrone (The new life, the crown of the city) (Jena, 1919).
23. Diefendorf, In the Wake of War: The Reconstruction of German Cities after World War II, 44.
24. Bruno Taut, Die Auflösung der Städte (The dissolution of cities) (Westfin, 1920), plate 12.
25. The well-known Romerstadt and Bruchfeldstraße housing developments in Frankfurt are exemplary of their type. Berlin-Britz is a radial example of a Bauhaus small-scale settlement and Frankfurt-Hellershof is a linear example. Two other large settlements built in Berlin between 1929 and 1930 are Siemensstadt, which was designed primarily by Gropius to provide municipally funded housing for workers of the Siemens company, and Reinickendorf, designed by O. R. Salvisberg.
26. Simone Hain, Bruno Taut und die Wohnstadt Carl Legien im Prenzlauer Berg (Bruno Taut and the residential city Carl Legien in Prenzlauer Berg) (Berlin, 1992). All in all, Taut designed settlements that comprised more than 10,000 Berlin apartments.
27. Wiedenhoeft, Berlin's Housing Revolution, 46.
28. Peter H. Oberlaander and Eva Newbrun, "Catherine Bauer: Ahead of Her Time," Planning (May, 1995), 10.
29. Bullock, "Housing in Frankfurt, 1925-1931 and the New Wohnkultur," 338.
30. Bullock, Housing in Frankfurt, 1925-1931 and the New Wohnkultur Ibid., 338-40.
31. Beyme, Der Wiederaufbau, 290.
32. Deutsche Bauakademie, Architektur und Städtebau in der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik (Architecture and city building in the German Democratic Republic) (Berlin, 1961), 10.
33. Ebenezer Howard, Garden Cities of Tomorrow (Cambridge, MA, 1965), 149-50.
34. R. A. French and F. E. Hamilton, "Is There a Socialist City?" in The Socialist City, ed. R. A. French and F. E. Hamilton (Chichester, 1979), 1.
35. Stalingrad (Volgograd) clearly bases itself on this linear arrangement, as does LeCorbusier's cité linéaire industrielle of the 1940s. Nikolai Aleksondrovich Miliutin, Sotsgorod (Cambridge, 1974), 1.
36. Miliutin, Sotsgorod, 62-3.
37. Miliutin, Sotsgorod, Ibid., 64.
38. Anatole Kopp, Town and Revolution (New York, 1970), 184.
39. French and Hamilton, "Is There a Socialist City?" 11.
40. Miliutin, Sotsgorod, 79.
41. Miliutin, Sotsgorod, Ibid., 106.
42. Alexei Gutnov et al., The Ideal Communist City (New York, 1968), 99.
43. James Bater, The Soviet City (London, 1980), 9.
44. Siegfried Mampel, Die sozialistsiche Verfassung der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik (The Socialist Constitution of the German Democratic Republic) (Frankfurt am Main, 1972), 15.
45. Statistisches Jahrbuch der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, 168.
46. Werner Rietdorf, Neue Wohngebiete Sozialistische Länder (New residential areas of socialist countries) (Berlin, 1976), 9.
47. Bernd Kaden, Das Gesellschaftliche Leben im Wohngebiet: Handbuch (Handbook: social life in a residential area) (Berlin, 1989), 261.
48. The term Rational is a direct translation of the German word rationell and may be understood best in a combined sense of efficient and self-evident. Magistrat von Berlin, Beschluß, 1, 54.
49. Rietdorf, Neue Wolingebiete Sozialistische Länder, 9.
50. Politbüro des Zentralen Komitee, "Aufgaben zur Entwicklung der Haupstadt der DDR, Berlin bis 1990," Internes Partei Archiv (Tasks to develop the capital of the GDR, Berlin, Internal Party Archive), February 8, 1976, 12-3.
51. Politbüro des Zentralen Komitee, "Beschluß über die Zentrale Orientierung," Internes Partei Archiv (Resolution about the central orientation, Internal Party Archive), October 21, 1975, 20-1.
52. "Bevölkerung und Wohnungen," Statistische Information, Heft I (Population and residences, statistical information, book 1) (Berlin, 1990), 7.
53. Politbüro des Zentralen Komitee, "Aufgaben zur Entwicklung der Haupstadt der DDR, Berlin bis 1990," 12-3.
54. "Bevölkerung und Wohnungen," 19.
55. Karlheinz Wendisch, architect, interview by the author, Berlin-Köpenick, July 3, 1992.
56. Hans G. Claussen, Weiterentwicklung der Großsiedlung Berlin-Hellersdorf, in Die Stadt als Gabentisch (The further development of the hypersettlement Berlin-Hellersdorf, the city as altar), ed. H. Helms (Leipzig, 1992), 554.
57. "Wirtschaft," Statistische Informationen, Heft 5 (Economy, statistical information, book 5) (Berlin, 1990), 20.
58. "Wirtschaft," Statistische Informationen, Heft 5 (1990), 20. Ibid.
59. French and Hamilton, "Is There a Socialist City?" 15.
60. Architektur der DDR (Architecture of the GDR) (Berlin, 1987), 9.
61. Heinz Willomat, Chief Architect of Neubaugebiet Hellersdorf, interview by the author, Berlin-Mitte, July 17, 1992.
62. Architektur der DDR, 25.
63. Martina Reich, Visitenkarte Hellersdorf (A visitor's map to Hellersdorf) (Berlin, 1987).
64. Architektur der DDK, 23.
65. Simone Hain, former member of the Building Academy and presently a director of the Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning, interview by the author, Berlin-Mitte, July 6, 1992.
66. Rietdorf et al., Vitalisierung von Großsiedlungen, 67.
67. Magistrat von Berlin, Beschluß, 26;
68. Barbara Kantrowitz, "In Berlin, A World Turned Upside Down," Newsweek (December 7, 1992), 40.
69. Rietdorf et al., Vitalisierung von Großsiedlungen, 71.
70. Freie Planungsgruppe Berlin GmbH, Ideenwettbewerb Stadtteilzentrum Berlin-Hellersdorf (Design contest for a neighborhood center in Berlin-Hellersdorf) (Berlin, 1991), 1, 4.
71. Wolfgang Schumann, former Professor of Sociology at Humboldt University of Berlin and presently a private consultant, interview by the author, Berlin-Mitte, July 9, 1992. The Marzahn Report of 1986, issued by the Sociology Department at Humboldt University of Berlin, contains these findings.
72. Siegfried Kress, "Funktionelle Qualitätsreserven der WBS-70," Architektur der DDR (Potential strengths in residential construction series 70, Architecture of the GDR) (Berlin, 1986), 108.
73. Christine Hannemann, "Die 'Platte' im Kontext der Ideologie der DDR," Berichte (The 'panel' in the context of GDR ideology, Reports) (1992), 288.
74. "Berufstätige in Bertin-Ost," Berliner Statistik - Statistische Berichte (Occupationally active in East Berlin, Berlin statistics - Statistical Reports) (Berlin, 1992), 5.
75. Marilyn Rueschmeyer, "New Towns in the German Democratic Republic" in The Quality of Life in the German Democratic Republic, ed. M. Rueschmeyer and C. Lemke (Armonk, New York, 1989), 134.
76. Marilyn Rueschmeyer and Sonia Szelenyi, "Socialist Transformation and Gender Inequality: Women in the GDR and Hungary," East Germany in Comparative Perspective (London, 1989), 34.
77. The Institut für Stadt-und Regionalplanung in Berlin is attempting to provide such a model in another fashion - by bringing residents of GDR and Polish Neubeugebiete into discussion with one another, thereby developing a model of development based on resident participation.