Fischerinsel (, ''Fisher Island'') is the southern part of the island in the River Spree which was formerly the location of the city of

Cölln Cölln () was the Twin cities, twin city of Old Berlin (Alt-Berlin) from the 13th century to the 18th century. Cölln was located on the Fischerinsel, Fisher Island section of Spree Island, opposite Altberlin on the western bank of the River ...

and is now part of central

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. The northern part of the island is known as

Museum Island The Museum Island (, ) is a museum complex on the northern part of Spree (river), Spree Island in the Mitte (locality), historic heart of Berlin, Germany. It is one of the capital's most visited sights and one of the most important museum sites ...

. Fischerinsel is normally said to extend south from Gertraudenstraße and is named for a fishermen's settlement which formerly occupied the southern end of the island. Until the mid-twentieth century it was a well preserved pre-industrial neighbourhood, and most of the buildings survived World War II, but in the 1960s and 1970s under the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

it was levelled and replaced with a development of residential tower blocks.

History

The original settlement of fishermen and other boatmen and their families was part of Cölln from 1237 on. The neighbourhood, which occupies approximately had many relatively well to do inhabitants, but during the 17th century it became a crowded neighbourhood of poor people and came to be known as the ''Fischerkiez'' (fishing village).Fischerinsel
, Berliner Bezirkslexikon, Mitte, Luisenstädtische Bildungsverein, 2002, updated 7 October 2009 Fischerinsel
, Sehenswürdigkeiten, Berlin.de Kirsten Niemann

Auf den Spuren von Berlins berühmten Einwohnern (12), ''

Berliner Zeitung The ''Berliner Zeitung'' (; ) is a daily newspaper based in Berlin, Germany. Founded in East Germany in 1945, it is the only East German paper to achieve national prominence since Reunification of Germany, reunification. It is published by Berl ...

'', 10 June 2009 In 1709, Cölln united with Berlin, whose old centre lay on the east bank of the river. In the 18th century, boating professions became less important as the city industrialised. As a result, in the early 19th century, the Fischerinsel district stopped developing and became a neighbourhood which preserved the look of old Berlin, including the last gabled houses in the city. In the 20th century it became a tourist attraction. The neighbourhood and its high street, Fischerstraße, remained comparatively untouched after World War II.As if.The Luisenstädtische Bildungsverein encyclopedia entry an
the city tourist information page on the Fischerinsel
state that there was considerable destruction in the Fischerinsel: "stark zerstört", "weitgehend zerstört". Like the rest of the borough of

Mitte 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. It is one of the two boroughs (the other being Friedrichshain-Kreuz ...

, it fell into the Soviet Zone which became

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

. In 1954, a plan was drawn up for the neighbourhood which emphasised conservation of the surviving buildings. Later plans envisaged replacement with low density housing (1957) and a perimeter development of tower blocks. However, in 1960 an overall plan was adopted for central Berlin which required demolition of all the buildings in the Fischerinsel area.Martin Kieren, "The 1960s: The Legacy of Modernism—Curse or Blessing?" in ''City of Architecture, Architecture of the City: Berlin 1900–2000'', ed. Thorsten Scheer, Josef Paul Kleihues and Paul Kahlfeldt, Berlin: Nicolai, 2000, , pp. 282–93, p. 290. This was done beginning in 1964, including 30 registered landmarks, and the ancient street plan was effaced. The painter Otto Nagel, in the last years of his life, documented it in a series of pastels entitled ''Abschied vom Fischerkiez'' (Farewell to the Fishing Village), after calling in vain for its preservation in 1955. Breite Straße was extended and beginning in 1967, five residential tower blocks were built; they were announced as the "first group of high-rise buildings in the capital", but later conflicted with plans for a grand central urban axis. In 1971–73, the dramatic '' Großgaststätte Ahornblatt'' (Great Maple Leaf Restaurant) was added to serve the neighbourhood, which ultimately also included the five 21-storey blocks, a double block with 18- and 21-storey sections,According to the city tourist information page, there are two double tower blocks. a swimming centre opened in October 1979, two kindergartens, and a supermarket. In 2000 the Ahornblatt was demolished, to be replaced by a multi-use centre including a hotel, flats and offices, despite protests that it should be preserved.Steve Danesch, ''Zum Umgang mit dem städtebaulichen Erbe der DDR-Moderne in Berlin-Mitte'', thesis,

University of Kassel The University of Kassel () is a university founded in 1971 located in Kassel, Hessen, in central Germany. As of February 2022 it had about 25,000 students and about 3300 staff, including more than 300 professors. A special unit (Studienkoll ...

, GRIN, 2011,
pp. 109–10
As a result of the redevelopment of the site, the old locations of Roßstraße, Petristraße, Grünstraße and Gertraudenstraße can be seen in places. Fischerinsel is today the seat of Historic port of Berlin (Historischer Hafen Berlin), a non profit association focused on renovating old ships and giving them new life. One of them, MS Heimatland, built in 1910, is a seat of Hošek Contemporary, art residency and gallery. The gallery focuses primarily on site specific installations,

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which involve the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. P ...

and experimental sound installations.

Notable buildings

The Petrikirche (St. Peter's Church) on Petriplatz, abutting Gertraudenstraße on the north side, was the parish church of Cölln and is presumed to have been founded in the first half of the 13th century, around the time the cities of Berlin and Cölln were both granted their charters.Gerhild H. M. Komander
Petrikirche
, Die Geschichte Berlins, Verein für die Geschichte Berlins, e.V., August 2004 The last of five churches on the site, the second

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

church in the city, was designed by Heinrich Strack and built in 1846–53.Mehrere Bauphasen der Kirche, Friedhof
Denkmale in Berlin, Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung und Umwelt, revised 13 July 2012
, Berliner Bezirkslexikon, Mitte, Luisenstädtische Bildungsverein, 2002, updated 7 October 2009 It had a spire high which was for some time the tallest building in Berlin. The building was wrecked by artillery fire and burnt during the battle for Berlin in 1945 because a

Waffen-SS The (; ) was the military branch, combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscr ...

unit was holed up inside, and was demolished in 1964 as part of the clearance of the Fischerinsel. In its place will be built the House Of One - the world's first house of prayer for three religions. The last Cölln Town Hall (''Rathaus'') faced the Köllnischer Fischmarkt. It was designed by the court architect, Martin Grünberg, and built in 1710–23 in

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

style, but as a cost-cutting measure, the tower and entrance stairs were not built. It was demolished in 1899/90. The inn '' Zum Nußbaum'' at Fischerstraße 21, built in 1705 according to an inscription over the cellar entrance and named for the nut tree which formerly stood outside it, was one of the oldest remaining drinking establishments in the city. It was popular with tourists and had been frequented and depicted by Heinrich Zille and Otto Nagel. Destroyed in 1943, it was recreated in 1987 in the

Nikolaiviertel The (; 'Nicholas Quarter') is an old Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter of the German capital of Berlin, founded . Together with nearby Cölln, they jointly make up Alt-Berlin, the reconstructed historical heart of the city. Located in the M ...

as part of the East German creation of a tourist old town there.The Ermelerhaus, a patrician townhouse in

rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

style that stood at Breite Straße 11, within old Cölln but north of the Fischerinsel neighbourhood, was demolished in 1966/67 but likewise reconstructed, at Märkisches Ufer 12 in Neukölln am Wasser, on the other side of the Spree Canal from the Fischerinsel
Ermeler-Haus
Denkmale in Berlin, Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung und Umwelt, revised 13 July 2012 . The city tourist information page, however, says that this was a house from Friedrichsgracht 15. The Großgaststätte Ahornblatt, designed by Gerhard Lehmann, Ulrich Müther, Rüdiger Plaethe and Helmut Stingel, was built in 1971–73. It was registered as a city landmark in 1995 for its modern East German architecture, but was nonetheless demolished in 2000.

Notable residents

Hans Kohlhase Hans Kohlhase (c. 1500 – 1540), according to early modern German accounts, was a merchant whose grievance against a Saxon nobleman developed into a full-blown feud against the state of Electorate of Saxony, Saxony, thus infringing the Ewiger L ...

, on whom Heinrich von Kleist's novella '' Michael Kohlhaas'' is based; the house at Fischerstraße 28 was presumed to have been his. *

Markus Wolf Markus Johannes Wolf (19 January 1923 – 9 November 2006), also known as Mischa, was a German spymaster who served as the head of the Main Directorate for Reconnaissance (), the foreign intelligence division of East Germany's Ministry for Sta ...

, chief of foreign intelligence for the

Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...

, lived in one of the tower blocks in the 1970s."Die Insulaner von Mitte"
Unsere Stadt, '' B.Z.'', 30 October 2001 File:Petristraße, Berlin 1880.jpg, View south on Petristraße, around 1880 File:Waldemar Titzenthaler - Grünstraße (1903).jpg, View down Grünstraße with the old ''Grünstraßenbrücke'' to the Petrikirche, 1903 File:M Petristrasse Berlin 1910.jpg, Houses in Petristraße, 1910 File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-10508-0001, Berlin, Petrikirche, Ruine.jpg, Petrikirche with war damage, 1951 File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H0514-0010-001, Berlin, Fischerkiez.jpg, Old buildings on Wallstraße awaiting demolition in 1969, new residential tower blocks in background File:Heinrich Zille Fischerstraße Berlin.jpg, Zum Nußbaum in Fischerstraße; illustrated by Heinrich Zille, 1922 File:Berlin Nikolaiviertel Nussbaum.jpg, Zum Nußbaum in the

, 2005 File:Fischerinsel Berlin 1.jpg, Residential tower blocks and new ''Grünstraßenbrücke'' on Fischerinsel, 2009 File:2000-08-06 Ahornblatt.jpg, Großgaststätte Ahornblatt, 2000 File:20240815 View cupola Berlin Cathedral 01.jpg, View from

Berlin Cathedral Berlin Cathedral (), also known as the Evangelical Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church, is a monumental Protestant Church in Germany, German Protestant church and dynastic tomb (House of Hohenzollern) at the Lustgarten on the Museum Island ...

to the residential tower blocks on Fischerinsel, 2024

Notes

References

External links