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WD_423/ 2008
(  Satoshi Kinoshita )
| Series: | Works on paper: Drawings 5 | | Medium: | oilstick on paper | | Size (inches): | 25.6 x 17.9 | | Size (mm): | 650 x 455 | | Catalog #: | WD_0423 | | Description: | Signed, date and copyright in pencil on the reverse.
1920s Berlin -
The Golden Twenties, in Berlin was a vibrant period in the history of Berlin, German history, and European history in general. This "fertile culture" of Berlin extended onwards until Adolf Hitler rose to power in early 1933 and stamped out any and all resistance to the Nazi Party. Likewise, the Nazis decried Berlin as a haven of vice. A sophisticated, innovative culture developed centered around Berlin and included architecture and design (Bauhaus, 1919-33), literature (Döblin, Berlin Alexanderplatz, 1929), film (Lang, Metropolis, 1927, Dietrich, Der blaue Engel, 1930), painting (Grosz), music (Weill, Threepenny Opera, 1928), criticism (Benjamin), philosophy/psychology (Jung), and fashion. This culture was generally considered as decadent and socially disruptive by rightists.
Germany's liberal Weimar constitution (1919) could not guarantee a stable government in the face of rightist violence (Rathenau assassination, 1922) and Communist refusal to cooperate with Socialists. Tremendous printing of currency to pay Reparations caused staggering inflation that destroyed middle-class savings, but economic expansion resumed after mid-decade, aided by U.S. loans.
As stated, this modern Renaissance occurred throughout the Weimar Republic where art, music, film, and other art-forms flourished, but was firmly rooted in Berlin. Berlin was the centerpiece of European culture from about 1923-1932. It caught on fully once the hyper-inflation and other economic problems of the very early 1920s were brought under control by the newly elected government.
Film especially was making huge technical and artistic strides during this period of time in Berlin, and gave rise to the influential movement called German Expressionism. "Talkies" were also becoming more popular with the general public across Europe but especially in 1920s Berlin. (see the article on UFA) See also: List of films featuring Berlin
Radical ideas on both the right and left floated through the wild and exciting streets of Berlin throughout the post-World War I years, with open-clashes between the left-wing Communists and right-wing Fascists not at all uncommon.
The heyday of Berlin began in the mid-1920s. It became the largest industrial city of the continent. People like the architect Walter Gropius, physicist Albert Einstein, painter George Grosz and writers Arnold Zweig, Bertolt Brecht, and Kurt Tucholsky made Berlin the cultural and intellectual center of Europe. Night life was blooming in 1920s Berlin.
Tempelhof Airport was opened in 1923 and a start was made on S-Bahn electrification from 1924 onwards. Berlin was also the second biggest inland harbor of the country; all of this infrastructure was needed to transport and feed the over 4 million Berliners throughout the exciting yet hectic 1920s.
The Humboldt University of Berlin (formerly The University of Berlin) became a major intellectual center in Germany, Europe, and the World. The sciences were especially favored -- from 1914 to 1933, Albert Einstein served as director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics in Berlin, only leaving after the anti-Semitic Nazi Party rose to power.
The so-called "mystical arts" also experienced a revival during this time-period in Berlin, with astrology, the occult, and esoteric religions and off-beat religious practices becoming more mainstream and acceptable to the masses, who were now more open-minded to spiritual alternatives after witnessing the horrors and traumas of World War I.
-en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1920s_Berlin
Friedrichstraße -
The title of this article contains the character ß. Where it is unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as Friedrichstrasse.
The Friedrichstraße (IPA: [ˈfʀiːdʀɪçˌʃtʀaːsə]) (lit. Frederick Street) is a major shopping street in central Berlin, forming the core of the Friedrichstadt neighborhood. It runs from the northern part of the old Mitte district (north of which it is called Chausseestraße) to the Hallesches Tor in the district of Kreuzberg. Due to its north-southerly direction, it forms important junctions with the east-western axes, most notably with Leipziger Straße and Unter den Linden. The U6 U-Bahn line runs underneath. During the Cold War it was bisected by the Berlin Wall and was the location of Checkpoint Charlie.
As central Berlin's traditional shopping street, Friedrichstraße is three blocks east of the parallel Wilhelmstraße, the historic heart of the old government quarter (Regierungsviertel) until 1945.
The Friedrichstraße was badly damaged during World War II and only partly rebuilt during the division of Berlin. The section in West Berlin was partly rebuilt as a residential street; in the late 1960s, the remains of the former Belle-Alliance-Platz at the end of the Friedrichstraße, renamed Mehringplatz, were completely demolished and replaced with a concrete housing and office development designed by Hans Scharoun. Despite its central location, this area remains relatively poor.
In the East Berlin section, plans were put into place to widen the street to four lanes as was done to the Leipziger Straße; the Hotel Unter den Linden (demolished 2006) and the original Lindencorso (demolished 1991) were the only structures built during this time with the wider profile of the street in mind. The Grand Hotel Berlin, East Germany's top 5-star hotel, was built across from the Hotel Unter den Linden in 1987. Further plans were drawn up for a rebuilding of the street, and construction was well underway at the time of German reunification in 1990, when the East German Plattenbau-based construction was stopped and subsequently demolished; only a few buildings that were already complete and occupied were spared. The completed Berlin Casino building located at the corner of Leipziger Straße was torn down in 1994.
Friedrichstraße was rebuilt in the 1990s, and at the time it was the city's largest construction project; work continues north of Friedrichstraße station. A number of well-known architects contributed to the plans, including Jean Nouvel, who designed the Galeries Lafayette department store and Philip Johnson, who created the American Business Center at Checkpoint Charlie. The redevelopment received mixed reviews, but the street once again became a popular shopping destination.
During the Cold War and division of Berlin, the Friedrichstraße underground station, despite being located in East Berlin, was utilized by two intersecting West Berlin S-Bahn lines and the West Berlin subway line U6. The station served as a transfer point for these lines, and trains stopped there, although all other stations on these lines in East Berlin were sealed-off ghost stations (Geisterbahnhof), where trains passed through under guard without stopping. At Friedrichstraße station, West Berlin passengers could transfer from one platform to another but could not leave the station without the appropriate papers. The section of the station open to West Berlin lines was heavily guarded and was sealed off from the smaller part of it serving as a terminus of the East Berlin S-Bahn and as a station for long-distance trains.
-en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrichstra%C3%9Fe
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