Wilhelmstrasse

For the street in the Berlin district of Spandau, see Wilhelmstraße (Spandau).
Wilhelmstrasse
Wilhelmstraße today: anti-car bomb bollards at the British embassy
Wilhelmstraße today: anti-car bomb bollards at the British embassy
Wilhelmstrasse is located in Berlin
Wilhelmstrasse
Location within Berlin
Former name(s)
  • Central and southern parts:
  • Husarenstraße
  • (after 1731–1740)[1]
  • Wilhelmstraße
  • (1740–1964)[1]
  • Northern part:
  • Neue Wilhelmstraße
  • (1822–1964)[2]
  • Northern and central parts:
  • Otto-Grotewohl-Straße
  • (1964–1993)[1][2]
  • Southern part:
  • Wilhelmstraße
  • (1964–1993)[1][3]
  • Northern and central parts:
  • Toleranzstraße
  • (1991,[3] not implemented[4])
NamesakeFrederick William I of Prussia
TypeStreet
Length2,400 m (7,900 ft)[5][6][7]
LocationBerlin, Germany
QuarterMitte, Kreuzberg
Nearest metro station
Coordinates52°30′29″N 13°22′39″E / 52.50792°N 13.37744°E / 52.50792; 13.37744
North end
Major
junctions
South end
Construction
InaugurationAfter 1731 (1731)[1][2]

Wilhelmstrasse (German: Wilhelmstraße [ˈvɪlhɛlmˌʃtʁaːsə] ⓘ, see ß[8]) is a major thoroughfare in the central Mitte and Kreuzberg districts of Berlin, Germany. Until 1945, it was recognised as the centre of the government, first of the Kingdom of Prussia, later of the unified German Reich, housing in particular the Reich Chancellery and the Foreign Office. The street's name was thus also frequently used as a metonym for overall German governmental administration: much as the term "Whitehall" is often used to signify the British governmental administration as a whole. In English, "the Wilhelmstrasse" usually referred to the German Foreign Office.[9]

  1. ^ a b c d e Vinkler, Aleš (2010). Die Straßennamen in Berlin und Wien heute: Ein Beitrag zur Mikrotoponymie [The names of streets in Berlin and Wien today: A contribution to microtoponymy] (Masters thesis). Palacký University Olomouc. pp. 49–50. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  2. ^ a b c "Wilhelmstraße". Kauperts Straßenführer durch Berlin (in German). Kaupert [de]. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Ironie einer »Umbenennung«" [Irony of a "renaming"]. die tageszeitung (taz) (in German). 11 November 1991. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  4. ^ Saarinen, Hannes (2008). "Symbolic Places in Berlin before and after the Fall of the Wall". In Aunesluoma, Juhana; Kettunen, Pauli (eds.). The Cold War and the Politics of History. Helsinki: Edita Publishing / University of Helsinki Department of Social Science History. p. 91. ISBN 9789521046377.
  5. ^ Reich, Anja (16 November 2012). "Die Geschichte der Berliner Wilhelmstraße: Schönheitsfehler Plattenbau" [The History of Berlin's Wilhelmstraße: Flawed Prefabricated Buildings]. Berliner Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 18 October 2024.
  6. ^ Heinke, Lothar (27 January 2013). "Wilhelmstraße: Auf verwischten Spuren" [Wilhelmstraße: On blurred tracks]. Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Retrieved 18 October 2024.
  7. ^ Teuber, Dirk (5 August 2022). "Die Wilhelmstraße ist eine Straße mit Geschichte" [Wilhelmstraße is a street with history]. Berliner Morgenpost / Gesellschaft Historisches Berlin [de] (in German). Retrieved 18 October 2024.
  8. ^ For the spelling, see, inter alia, Paul Seabury: The Wilhelmstrasse, Joachim Joesten, The "New" Wilhelmstrasse, and the works of George Frost Kennan. The Oxford Illustrated Dictionary gives only this spelling; so do the Second Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, and all five of its quotations.
  9. ^ See Daisy, Princess of Pless by Herself, p. 63. OED, "Wilhelmstrasse"