Hermannplatz - Neukölln

Named after Herman the Cherusk (a.k.a. Gaius Julius Arminius) who defeated a Roman army in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, this place, situated in North Neukölln, constitutes one of the borders between Kreuzberg and Neukölln. The Karstadt department store occupies the corner belonging to Kreuzberg, the remaining area being part of Neukölln.

In 1929 Karstadt opened a huge department store on Hermannplatz. At the time it was Europe's most modern department store with an Art Deco architecture reminiscent of New York's skyscrapers.

The impressive building towered above Hermannplatz and survived the bombings of World War II. Sadly it was destroyed in 1945 - presumably by the SS who wanted to prevent the Red Army from laying hands on all the yummy stuff stored in the building.

Today's Karstadt is not comparable to the former one. It still has a terrace on its roof top though, from where you have a nice view over the busy neighborhood. A model of the or Karstadt can be found on its highest floor (see pictures below).
Historical pictures of Hermannplatz

 

Welcome to the Buyer's Paradise - KADEWE

This monstrous bat was hovering above the restaurant's guests today in Berlin's KADEWE (Kaufhaus Des Westens = Department Store of the West). For a lousy 160 € the eager consumer could purchase a ticket to gain access to their Halloween Party. Cheers!

The more than 100 years old KADEWE was opened in March 1907. It is the largest department store on the European continent. In 1927 the store was incorporated into the Hertie group. In the course of  the "Aryanization" during the National Socialist era, the owners were forced to sell and an "Aryan" managing director was appointed. An American airplane crashed into the building in 1943 - the KADEWE almost burned to the ground.

The original KADEWE was designed by the architect Johann Emil Schaudt. It was  a five stories high ferroconcrete building in unadorned neoclassical style. The storefront made out of shell limestone was structured horizontally (residential building like) with two central projections.

Today the giant store welcomes up to 180.000 visitors from all over the world each day - many of them just strolling around and marveling at the luxurious goods offered for sale.

Entrance hall in 1908

 

Storefront 1907 

KADEWE homepage