Pankow () is the second largest and most populous

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

of the German capital

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 ...

. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, it was merged with the former boroughs of

Prenzlauer Berg Prenzlauer Berg () is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin, forming the southerly and most urban district of the borough of Pankow. From its founding in 1920 until 2001, Prenzlauer Berg was a district of Berlin in its own right ...

and Weißensee; the resulting borough retained the name Pankow. Pankow was sometimes claimed by the Western Allies (United States, United Kingdom, and France) to be the capital of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), while the German Democratic Republic itself considered East Berlin to be its capital.

Overview

The borough, named after the Panke river, covers the northeast of the city region, including the inner city locality of Prenzlauer Berg. It borders

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 ...

and Reinickendorf in the west,

Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg () is the second Boroughs of Berlin, borough of Berlin, formed in 2001 by merging the former East Berlin borough of Friedrichshain and the former West Berlin borough of Kreuzberg. The historic Oberbaum Bridge, formerly ...

in the south, and

Lichtenberg Lichtenberg may refer to: Places * Lichtenberg, Austria * Lichtenberg, Bas-Rhin, France * Lichtenberg, Bavaria, Germany * Lichtenberg, Berlin, Germany * Lichtenberg, Mittelsachsen, Saxony, Germany * Lichtenberg (Lausitz), Saxony, Germany * Lichte ...

in the east. Pankow is Berlin's largest borough by population and the second largest by area (after

Treptow-Köpenick Treptow-Köpenick () is the ninth Boroughs of Berlin, borough of Berlin, Germany, formed in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform by merging the former boroughs of Treptow and Köpenick. The borough was formerly part of East Berlin. Overview Among ...

). Between 1945 and 1960, Schönhausen Palace and the nearby Majakowskiring street in the

Niederschönhausen Niederschönhausen (, literally "Lower Schönhausen") is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality (''Ortsteil'') within the borough (''Bezirk'') of Pankow in Berlin, Germany. It is also known as "Pankow-Schönhausen" to differ it from Alt-Hoh ...

locality of Pankow was the home to many members of the

East German East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

government. Western writers therefore often referred to ''Pankow'' as a

metonym Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something associated with that thing or concept. For example, the word "wikt:suit, suit" may refer to a person from groups commonly wearing business attire, such ...

for the East German regime—as reflected by Udo Lindenberg's song '' Sonderzug nach Pankow''. The fact that "-ow" is rare as an ending for place names in West Germany and – especially in the wrong but common pronunciation /'pankof/ – sounds Slavic or more specifically "Russian" to German ears may have played a role in this use as it carried a connotation of the East German government being a foreign, more specifically Russian/Soviet, puppet regime — a claim right leaning newspapers and politicians often made much more openly than through this mere insinuation and connotation. The Rykestrasse Synagogue, Germany's largest

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

, is located in the Prenzlauer Berg locality. The Weißensee Cemetery is one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Europe. In northern Prenzlauer Berg, the ''Wohnstadt'' ("residential town") '' Carl Legien'' is part of the Berlin Modernist Housing Estates UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Weißer See is the borough's largest natural body of water.

Subdivision

The Pankow borough consists of 13 localities: *

* Weissensee * Blankenburg * Heinersdorf * Karow * Stadtrandsiedlung Malchow *

Pankow Pankow () is the second largest and most populous Boroughs and quarters of Berlin, borough of the German capital Berlin. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, it was merged with the former boroughs of Prenzlauer Berg and Weissensee (Berlin), W ...

* Blankenfelde *

Buch Buch (the German word for book or a modification of the German word '' Buche'' for beech) may refer to: People * Buch (surname), a list of people with the surname Buch - mostly, in India or abroad as of Indian origin. Geography Germany * Buch ...

Französisch Buchholz Französisch Buchholz (), also known simply as Buchholz, is a German locality (''Ortsteil'') within the Berlin borough (''Bezirk'') of Pankow. History First mentioned in 1242 as ''Buckholtz'' in a document, it became the property of Frederick ...

* Rosenthal * Wilhelmsruh

Politics

District council

The governing body of Pankow is the district council (''Bezirksverordnetenversammlung''). It has responsibility for passing laws and electing the city government, including the mayor. The most recent district council election was held on 26 September 2021, and the results were as follows: ! colspan=2, Party ! Lead candidate ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- , - , , align=left,

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (, ), often simply referred to as Greens (, ), is a Green (politics), green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of the Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (formed in East Ger ...

(Grüne) , align=left, Cordelia Koch , 56,349 , 24.7 , 4.1 , 16 , 4 , - , , align=left, The Left (LINKE) , align=left, Sören Benn , 44,351 , 19.4 , 1.6 , 12 , 1 , - , , align=left,

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

(SPD) , align=left, Rona Tietje , 38,984 , 18.1 , 3.0 , 11 , 1 , - , , align=left, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , align=left, Denise Bittner , 28,165 , 12.3 , 0.4 , 8 , ±0 , - , , align=left,

Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...

(AfD) , align=left, Daniel Krüger , 17,822 , 7.8 , 5.5 , 5 , 3 , - , , align=left, Free Democratic Party (FDP) , align=left, Thomas Enge , 13,241 , 5.8 , 1.9 , 3 , 1 , - , colspan=8 bgcolor=lightgrey, , - , , align=left, Tierschutzpartei , align=left, , 6,053 , 2.7 , New , 0 , New , - , , align=left,

Die PARTEI (''Party for Labour, Rule of Law, Animal Protection, Promotion of Elites and Grassroots Democratic Initiative''), or Die PARTEI (''The PARTY''), is a German political party. It was founded in 2004 by the editors of the German satirical magazine ...

, align=left, , 5,310 , 2.3 , 0.3 , 0 , ±0 , - , , align=left, dieBasis , align=left, , 4,236 , 1.9 , New , 0 , New , - , , align=left, Volt Germany , align=left, , 3,980 , 1.7 , New , 0 , New , - , , align=left, The Greys , align=left, , 3,429 , 1.5 , New , 0 , New , - , , align=left,

Free Voters Free Voters (, FW) is a political party in Germany. It originates as an umbrella organisation of several Free Voters Associations (), associations of people which participate in an election without having the status of a registered party. These a ...

, align=left, , 2,315 , 1.0 , New , 0 , New , - , , align=left, Klimaliste , align=left, , 1,885 , 0.8 , New , 0 , New , - , , align=left, Renters' Party , align=left, , 1,523 , 0.7 , 0.9 , 0 , ±0 , - , , align=left, Ecological Democratic Party , align=left, , 459 , 0.2 , New , 0 , New , - ! colspan=3, Valid votes ! 228,102 ! 99.3 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=3, Invalid votes ! 1,561 ! 0.7 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=3, Total ! 229,663 ! 100.0 ! ! 55 ! ±0 , - ! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout ! 310,049 ! 74.1 ! 7.3 ! ! , - , colspan=8, Source
Elections Berlin

District government

The district mayor (''Bezirksbürgermeister'') is elected by the Bezirksverordnetenversammlung, and positions in the district government (Bezirksamt) are apportioned based on party strength. Sören Benn of The Left was elected mayor on 27 October 2016. Since the 2021 municipal elections, the composition of the district government is as follows:

Transportation

Motorised transportation

Pankow's road network is characterised by three radial axes to and from the city centre at

Alexanderplatz (, ''Alexander Square'') is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin. The square is named after the Russian Tsar Alexander I, which also denotes the larger neighbourhood stretching from in the north-ea ...

- all of them running in a north/north-eastern direction: B96a ( Schönhauser Allee/Berliner Straße), B109 ( Prenzlauer Allee/Prenzlauer Promenade) and B2 (Greifswalder Straße/Berliner Allee). B109 leads to A114; Pankow is also the only borough in Berlin which is directly served by the Berliner Ring A10. The ring roads of Danziger Straße (within the Berlin S-Bahn circle line) and Ostseestraße - Wisbyer Straße - Bornholmer Straße also of high importance.

Public transportation

Pankow is served by the S-Bahn lines S1, S2, S25, S26, S41, S42, S8 and S85. The northeastern part of the

Berlin S-Bahn The Berlin S-Bahn () is a rapid transit railway system that services the reigon in and around Berlin, the capital city of Germany. It has been in operation under the name since December 1930, having been previously called the special tariff are ...

circle line is located in Pankow, which includes the stations of Storkower Straße, Landsberger Allee, Greifswalder Straße, Prenzlauer Allee and Schönhauser Allee. Bornholmer Straße station and Wollankstraße station border the borough of

, while Schönholz station and Wilhelmsruh station border Reinickendorf. The Stettiner Bahn serves

, Pankow-Heinersdorf, Blankenburg, Karow and

. These stations are spread across the borough and are particularly important in connecting its western and northern parts, which do not have tram access. In addition to the S-Bahn, five

U-Bahn Rapid transit in Germany consists of four systems and 14 systems. The , commonly understood to stand for ('underground railway'), are conventional rapid transit systems that run mostly underground, while the or ('city rapid railway') are c ...

stations of the U2 line are located in the south of the borough of Pankow: Senefelderplatz, Eberswalder Straße, Schönhauser Allee, Vinetastraße and Pankow. At Schönhauser Allee and Pankow, travellers can change to S-Bahn services. Many tram lines serve the borough in its southern, more urban half, with a particular density in the central and densely populated Prenzlauer Berg. In many parts of the borough, trams are the most important mode of public transportation.

Twin towns – sister cities

Pankow is twinned with: *

Ashkelon Ashkelon ( ; , ; ) or Ashqelon, is a coastal city in the Southern District (Israel), Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The modern city i ...

, Israel (1994) *

Kołobrzeg Kołobrzeg (; ; ) is a port and spa city in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in north-western Poland with about 47,000 inhabitants (). Kołobrzeg is located on the Parsęta River on the south coast of the Baltic Sea (in the middle of the section ...

, Poland (1994)

Photogallery

References

External links

Official website

Official website of Berlin

tic-berlin: tourist & historical information about Pankow district
{{Authority control Districts of Berlin Former boroughs of Berlin