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Berlin is a city-state and the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Berlin is the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany. The President of Germany, whose functions are mainly ceremonial under the German constitution, has his official residence in Schloss Bellevue. [1] Berlin is the seat of the German executive, housed in the Chancellery, the Bundeskanzleramt.
Facing the Chancellery is the Bundestag, the German Parliament, housed in the renovated Reichstag building since the government moved back to Berlin in 1998. The Bundesrat ("federal council", functioning as an upper house) is the representation of the Federal States (Bundesländer) of Germany and has its seat at the former Prussian House of Lords.
The relocation of the federal government and Bundestag to Berlin was completed in 1999, however with some ministries as well as some minor departments retained in the federal city Bonn, the former capital of West Germany. Discussions to move the remaining branches continue. [2] The ministries and departments of Defence, Justice and Consumer Protection, Finance, Interior, Foreign, Economic Affairs and Energy, Labour and Social Affairs , Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, Food and Agriculture, Economic Cooperation and Development, Health, Transport and Digital Infrastructure and Education and Research are based in the capital.
Since German reunification on 3 October 1990, Berlin has been one of three city-states (with Hamburg and Bremen) among Germany's 16 states. The city and state parliament is the House of Representatives, (Abgeordnetenhaus), with 141 seats. Berlin's executive body is the Senate of Berlin (Senat von Berlin). The Senate consists of the Governing Mayor (Regierender Bürgermeister) and up to eight senators with ministerial positions (one holding the official title "Mayor" (Bürgermeister) as deputy to the Governing Mayor). The Social Democratic Party (SPD) and The Left (Die Linke) took control of the city government after the 2001 state election, winning another term in the 2006 state election. [3] The 2011 state election produced a coalition of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union, which was followed by a Red-Red-Green coalition of the Social Democrats, Greens, and Left Party after the 2016 state election and 2021 state election. The current government consists of a coalition between the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats after the 2023 state election. [4]
The Governing Mayor is Lord Mayor of the city (Oberbürgermeister der Stadt) and Prime Minister of the federal state (Ministerpräsident des Bundeslandes). The office of Berlin's Governing Mayor is in the Rotes Rathaus (Red City Hall). From 2001 to 2014, this office was held by Klaus Wowereit of the SPD. [5] Between 2014 and 2021 the position was held by Michael Müller, who was succeeded by Franziska Giffey. Both politicians are also of the SPD. [6] In April 2023, Berlin got its first conservative mayor, Kai Wegner of CDU, in more than two decades. [7]
The total annual state budget of Berlin in 2007 exceeded €20.5 ($28.7) billion, which included a budget surplus of €80 ($112) million (the first surplus in the city-state's history). [8] Due to increasing growth rates and tax revenues, the Senate of Berlin calculated an increasing budget surplus for 2008. The total budget was an estimated amount €5.5 ($7.7) billion, financed by the German government or the German Bundesländer. [9] Primarily due to reunification-related expenditures, Berlin as a German state accumulated more debt than any other city in Germany (an estimated €60 ($84) billion in December 2007). [10]
The city has ten state-level ministries (Senatsverwaltungen, Senate Departments), each led by a Senator, plus the Senate Chancellery, which is the office of the Governing Mayor. [11] [12] It also has seven state-level agencies (Landesämter), such as the Berlin Immigration Office. [13]
Berlin is divided into twelve boroughs (Bezirke), reduced from 23 boroughs before Berlin's 2001 administrative reform. Each borough has a number of localities (Ortsteile), which often have historic roots in older municipalities predating the formation of Greater Berlin on 1 October 1920 and were urbanised and incorporated into the city. Many residents strongly identify with their localities (or boroughs). Berlin has 96 localities, commonly made up of several city neighbourhoods (known as Kiez in the Berlin dialect).
Each borough is governed by a council (Bezirksamt) with five councillors (Bezirksstadträte) and a borough mayor (Bezirksbürgermeister). The borough council is elected by the borough assembly (Bezirksverordnetenversammlung). The boroughs of Berlin are not independent municipalities; the borough governments' power is limited, and subordinate to the Berlin Senate. The borough mayors form a council of mayors (Rat der Bürgermeister, led by the city's governing mayor), which advises the Senate. The localities have no local government bodies, and the administrative duties of the former locality representative (the Ortsvorsteher) were assumed by the borough mayors.
Berlin maintains official partnerships with 17 cities. [14] Town twinning between Berlin and other cities began with Los Angeles in 1967. East Berlin's partnerships were cancelled at German reunification, but later partially reestablished. West Berlin's partnerships were limited to the borough level. During the Cold War the partnerships reflected spheres of influence, with West Berlin partnering with Western capitals and East Berlin partnering primarily with cities of the Warsaw Pact and its allies.
There are joint projects with a number of other cities, such as Belgrade, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Johannesburg, Shanghai, Seoul, Sofia, Sydney and Vienna. Berlin participates in international city associations such as the Union of the Capitals of the European Union, Eurocities, Network of European Cities of Culture, Metropolis, Summit Conference of the World's Major Cities, Conference of the World's Capital Cities. Its partner cities are: [14]
A darkened box under a party in any given year denotes that the party had either not yet been founded, or the party had become defunct, by the date of that election.
Pre-1990 in West Berlin
| Election year | Total seats | Seats won | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPD | CDU | FDP | Grüne | Other | ||||
| 1948 | 98 | 60 | 21 | 17 | ||||
| 1950 | 127 | 61 | 34 | 32 | ||||
| 1954 | 127 | 64 | 44 | 19 | ||||
| 1958 | 133 | 78 | 55 | |||||
| 1963 | 140 | 89 | 41 | 10 | ||||
| 1967 | 137 | 81 | 47 | 9 | ||||
| 1971 | 138 | 73 | 54 | 11 | ||||
| 1975 | 147 | 67 | 69 | 11 | ||||
| 1979 | 135 | 61 | 63 | 11 | ||||
| 1981 | 132 | 51 | 65 | 7 | 9 | |||
| 1985 | 144 | 48 | 69 | 12 | 15 | |||
| 1989 | 138 | 55 | 55 | 17 | 11 [a] | |||
1990-, Post-reunification
| Election year | Total seats | Seats won | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPD | CDU | Grüne | PDS | FDP | Linke | AfD | Other | ||
| 1990 | 241 | 76 | 101 | 23 [b] | 23 | 18 | |||
| 1995 | 206 | 55 | 87 | 30 | 34 | ||||
| 1999 | 169 | 42 | 76 | 18 | 33 | ||||
| 2001 | 141 | 44 | 35 | 14 | 33 | 15 | |||
| 2006 | 149 | 53 | 37 | 23 | 23 | 13 | |||
| 2011 | 152 | 48 | 39 | 30 | 20 | 15 [c] | |||
| 2016 | 160 | 38 | 31 | 27 | 12 | 27 | 25 | ||
| 2021 | 147 | 36 | 30 | 32 | 12 | 24 | 13 | ||
| 2023 | 159 | 34 | 52 | 34 | 22 | 17 | |||
People who live in the former West Berlin tend to vote for the CDU and the SPD, While voters in the former East Berlin tend to vote for Linke and the AfD.
| No | Constituency | Member [16] | 2021 | Voters | 2017 | 2013 | 2009 | 2005 | 2002 | 1998 | 1994 | 1990 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 74 | Berlin-Mitte | Hanna Steinmüller | Grüne | 207,483 | SPD | SPD | SPD | SPD | SPD | Created for 2002 election | |||
| 75 | Berlin-Pankow | Stefan Gelbhaar | Grüne | 235,647 | Left | Left | Left | SPD | SPD | Created for 2002 election | |||
| 76 | Berlin-Reinickendorf | Monika Grütters | CDU | 176,585 | CDU | CDU | CDU | SPD | SPD | SPD | CDU | CDU | |
| 77 | Berlin-Spandau – Charlottenburg North | Helmut Kleebank | SPD | 180,251 | SPD | CDU | CDU | SPD | SPD | SPD | CDU | CDU | |
| 78 | Berlin-Steglitz-Zehlendorf | Thomas Heilmann | CDU | 217,814 | CDU | CDU | CDU | CDU | SPD | SPD | CDU | CDU | |
| 79 | Berlin-Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf | Michael Müller | SPD | 196,800 | CDU | CDU | SPD | SPD | SPD | SPD | CDU | CDU | |
| 80 | Berlin-Tempelhof-Schöneberg | Kevin Kühnert | SPD | 231,500 | CDU | CDU | CDU | SPD | SPD | Created for 2002 election | |||
| 81 | Berlin-Neukölln | Hakan Demir | SPD | 197,037 | SPD | SPD | CDU | SPD | SPD | SPD | CDU | CDU | |
| 82 | Berlin-Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg – Prenzlauer Berg East | Canan Bayram | Grüne | 220,014 | Grüne | Grüne | Grüne | Grüne | Grüne | Created for 2002 election | |||
| 83 | Berlin-Treptow - Köpenick | Gregor Gysi | Left | 207,127 | Left | Left | Left | Left | SPD | SPD | SPD | ||
| 84 | Berlin-Marzahn - Hellersdorf | Mario Czaja | CDU | 197,988 | Left | Left | Left | Left | PDS | PDS | PDS | PDS | |
| 85 | Berlin-Lichtenberg | Gesine Lötzsch | Left | 200,673 | Left | Left | Left | Left | PDS | PDS | PDS | ||
The Berlin Police (Der Polizeipräsident in Berlin' - The Police Chief of Berlin), or commonly Berliner Polizei is the German Landespolizei force for the city-state of Berlin. Law enforcement in Germany is divided between federal and state (Land) agencies. Berlin Police is divided into 6 local directorates (Direktion). Each local directorate is responsible for one to three Berliner districts:
The Federal Police (Bundespolizei or BPOL) is a (primarily) uniformed federal police force in Berlin and Germany. It is subordinate to the Federal Ministry of the Interior (Bundesministerium des Innern (BMI)). [23]
The Bundespolizei can also be used to reinforce state police if requested by a state (Land) government. The BPOL maintains these reserve forces to deal with major demonstrations, disturbances or emergencies, supplementing the capabilities of the State Operational Support Units. Several highly trained detachments are available for crisis situations requiring armored cars, water cannon or other special equipment.
BPOL has investigators conduct criminal investigations only within its jurisdiction; otherwise the cases are referred to the appropriate state police force or to the federal criminal investigative agency, the Federal Criminal Police (Bundeskriminalamt, BKA). In addition, the Bundespolizei cooperates closely with German state executive authorities, such as prosecutor's offices ( Staatsanwaltschaft ) in pursuing criminal investigations.
The Bundespolizei has the following missions:
Mitte is the first and most central borough of Berlin. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel, Moabit, Tiergarten and Wedding.
Pankow is the second largest area of Berlin by population. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, it was merged with the former boroughs of Prenzlauer Berg and Weißensee; the resulting borough retained the name Pankow. Pankow was sometimes claimed by the Western Allies to be the capital of the German Democratic Republic, while the German Democratic Republic itself considered East Berlin to be its capital.
Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf is the fourth borough of Berlin, formed in an administrative reform with effect from 1 January 2001, by merging the former boroughs of Charlottenburg and Wilmersdorf.
Steglitz-Zehlendorf is the sixth borough of Berlin, formed in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform by merging the former boroughs of Steglitz and Zehlendorf.
Tempelhof-Schöneberg is the seventh borough of Berlin, formed in 2001 by merging the former boroughs of Tempelhof and Schöneberg. Situated in the south of the city it shares borders with the boroughs of Mitte and Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg in the north, Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and Steglitz-Zehlendorf in the west as well as Neukölln in the east.
Marzahn-Hellersdorf is the tenth borough of Berlin, formed in 2001 by merging the former boroughs of Marzahn and Hellersdorf.
Berlin is divided into boroughs or districts for administration. The boroughs are further divided into neighborhoods which are officially recognised but have no administrative bodies of their own. Neighborhoods typically have strong identities that sometimes pre-date their inclusion into the modern boundaries of Berlin. These function differently to other subdivisions in Germany because of the dual status of Berlin as both a city and a federated state of Germany in its own right.
The Greater Berlin Act, officially Law Regarding the Creation of the New Municipality of Berlin, was a law passed by the Prussian state government in 1920, which greatly expanded the size of the Prussian and German capital of Berlin.
The state flag of Berlin, Germany has three stripes of red-white-red, the two outer stripes each occupying a fifth of its height, the middle the remaining three-fifths. It is emblazoned with a bear on the civil flag, while it bears the coat of arms of Berlin on the state flag.
Alt-Treptow is a German locality in the borough of Treptow-Köpenick in Berlin. Known also as Treptow it was, until 2001, the main and the eponymous locality of the former Treptow borough.
Bus transport is the oldest public transport service in Berlin, the capital city of Germany, having been introduced in 1846. Since 1929, services have been operated by the Berlin Transport Company, although during the Cold War-era division of the city they operated in West Berlin only. In East Berlin the public transport agency split off from the BVG and rebranded as BVB, operating the buses in the Soviet sector of Berlin.
Berliner Straße or Berliner Strasse is the name of several streets:
The Berlin Police is the Landespolizei force for the city-state of Berlin, Germany. Law enforcement in Germany is divided between federal and state (Land) agencies.
Ort der Vielfalt is an initiative launched in 2007 by the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Federal Government Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration with the aim of strengthening the commitment of communities, towns and districts in Germany to cultural diversity. This initiative comes from the federal programmes Vielfalt tut gut. Jugend für Vielfalt, Toleranz und Demokratie and kompetent. für Demokratie – Beratungsnetzwerke gegen Rechtsextremismus. Since 1 January 2011, the Federal Programme Toleranz fördern – Kompetenz stärken has again been continuing the two federal programmes under one roof.
The Berliner Abendblatt is the leading weekly advertising paper in Berlin, Germany alongside the Berliner Woche and, along with Einkaufaktuell, one of the three main media for the collective distribution of the weekly brochures of retail chains in Berlin.
People of the Saefkow-Jacob-Bästlein Organisation is a list of participants, associates and helpers of the Saefkow-Jacob-Bästlein Organization, which was one of the largest anti-Nazi resistance organisations that came into existence during World War II in Germany. It was formed in Berlin and had contacts to many other regions that hosted industrial manufacturing. It is therefore also referred to in the literature as the operational leadership of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). However, it was not only communists among the groups of the Saefkov Jacob Bästlein organisation. The 506 known persons included about 200 before 1933 to the KPD, 22 to the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) or to the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (SAP) and around 200 were non-party; one in four was a woman. 160 men and women were unionised before 1933, more than 60 of them in the German Metal Workers' Union (DMV). The local or region is indicated for the people who worked outside Berlin and Brandenburg.
The state of Berlin has three instruments of direct democracy. These enable German citizen residents to directly influence policy, in addition to indirect democracy via elected officials in the House of Representatives. In addition, there are two instruments at the borough level.
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