Lichtenberg

This article is about the district in Berlin. For other uses, see Lichtenberg (disambiguation).

Lichtenberg
Borough of Berlin
Coat of arms
Location of Lichtenberg in Berlin
Lichtenberg Lichtenberg
Coordinates: 52°32′N 13°30′E
Country	Germany
State	Berlin
City	Berlin
Subdivisions	10 localities
Government
• Mayor	Michael Grunst (Left)
Area
• Total	52.30 km2 (20.19 sq mi)
Population  (2012-11-30)
• Total	268,466
• Density	5,100/km2 (13,000/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Vehicle registration	B
Website	Official homepage

Lichtenberg is the eleventh borough of Berlin, Germany. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it absorbed the former borough of Hohenschönhausen.

Overview

The district contains the Tierpark Berlin in Friedrichsfelde, the larger of Berlin's two zoological gardens. Lichtenberg was also the site of the extensive headquarters complex of the Stasi, the East German intelligence service. Prior to the establishment of the GDR it housed the main office of the Soviet Military Administration in Berlin, and before that it was an officers' mess of the Wehrmacht. The complex is now the location of the Stasi Museum. The Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial is on the site of the main remand prison of the Stasi. Lichtenberg is also the location of the German-Russian Museum, the historical venue of the unconditional surrender of the German armed forces (Wehrmacht) on 8 May 1945.

Subdivision

Subdivisions of Lichtenberg

Lichtenberg is divided into 10 localities:

Locality	Area (km2)	Inhabitants 30 June 2008	Density (inhabitants/km2)
1101 Friedrichsfelde	5.8	50,010	8,622
1102 Karlshorst	6.6	21,057	3,190
1103 Lichtenberg	7.33	32,295	4,406
1104 Falkenberg	3.0	1,164	388
1106 Malchow	3.0	450	150
1107 Wartenberg	5.31	2,433	458
1109 Neu-Hohenschönhausen	5.32	53,698	10,094
1110 Alt-Hohenschönhausen	10.0	41,780	4,178
1111 Fennpfuhl	1.75	30,932	17,675
1112 Rummelsburg	4.16	17,567	4,223

History

The historic village of Lichtenberg together with neighbouring Friedrichsfelde, Karlshorst, Marzahn, Biesdorf, Hellersdorf, Kaulsdorf and Mahlsdorf was incorporated as the 17th borough of Berlin by the 1920 Greater Berlin Act.

In the 1970s the East German government had large pre-fabricated high-rise housing estates (Plattenbau) built in the east of the Lichtenberg borough. This area was separated off and became the new borough of Marzahn, which included Biesdorf, Hellersdorf, Kaulsdorf and Mahlsdorf in 1979. In 1986 this district in turn was split into the two boroughs of Marzahn and Hellersdorf in 1986, and again merged as Marzahn-Hellersdorf by the 2001 administrative reform.

Berlin's Asiatown in the East

Lichtenberg is a developing center of Asian culture and dubbed the eastern Asiatown or Chinatown of Berlin. The Dong Xuan Center around Herzbergstrasse on former industrial grounds is a development quarter with many different Asian businesses, various shops, food producers and wholesalers/distributors, residential areas and cultural offers.

Politics

At the 2016 elections for the parliament of the borough (Bezirksverordnetenversammlung) the following parties were elected:

• The Left 18
• SPD 13
• Alternative for Germany 12
• CDU 7
• Alliance 90/The Greens 5

Twin towns

The Lichtenberg borough has five twin towns:

• 5. district, Maputo, Mozambique since 1995
• Białołęka, Warsaw, Poland since 2000
• Kaliningrad, Russia since 2001
• Hajnówka County, Poland since 2001
• Jurbarkas district municipality, Lithuania since 2003
• Margareten, Vienna, Austria
• Hoan Kiem, Hanoi, Vietnam
• Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium
• Crailsheim, Germany
• Alexandria, Egypt

See also

• Berlin Lichtenberg (electoral district)

External links

• "Lichtenberg" . New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
• "Lichtenberg" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
• Official homepage
• Official homepage of Berlin
• Event- und Informationportal of Berlin Lichtenberg