Theodor-Heuss-Platz

Theodor-Heuss-Platz (German pronunciation: [ˈteːodoːɐ̯ ˈhɔʏsˌplats] ^ⓘ; colloquially called Theo by locals, pronounced [ˈteːo] ^ⓘ) is a large city square in the Westend district of Berlin, Germany. It is named after Theodor Heuss (1884–1963), the first President of Germany after World War II.

Location

The square is located at the western end of the wide

City Palace in Berlin-Mitte. The axis is continued to the west by the Heerstraße up to Scholzplatz and further towards Spandau and the Berlin city limits. Underneath the square is the U-Bahn station Theodor-Heuss-Platz

.

History

The square was laid out as part of the development of the new Westend district between 1904 and 1908 and then named Reichskanzlerplatz after the office of the

Wilhelm II

on 29 March 1908, the square was still without any houses.

After the

Welthauptstadt Germania plans by Hitler and his architect Albert Speer, it was to have an important role at the western end of the monumental east–west axis, including a vast heroes' memorial. It was also planned to rename the square after Benito Mussolini

. After World War II, its name officially returned to Reichskanzlerplatz on 31 July 1947. Only six days after the death of President Theodor Heuss on 18 December 1963, the square was given its present name.

In 2014, Google apologized after labeling Theodor-Heuss-Platz as Adolf-Hitler-Platz on its Google Maps service.^[1]

Buildings

At the south of the square is the former Edinburgh House, the Deutschlandhaus and the Amerikahaus (clockwise). The Edinburgh House, was erected from 1960 to 1962 as a British Forces guest house and officers' hotel. It is today run as a boarding house by the Berlin Studentenwerk. The adjacent Deutschlandhaus and Amerikahaus were built from 1928 to 1930, including a hotel, a coffee house and a cinema. Since 1937 the studios of TV Station Paul Nipkow were located in the Deutschlandhaus. The Amerikahaus at the corner of Heerstraße was known as the Summit House, Jerboa Cinema and NAAFI centre after the war until the British Forces left Berlin in 1994. Today it is used as the cabaret theatre Die Wühlmäuse.^{[citation needed]}

In 1970, on the eastern edge of the square located 18-story high TV centre of the former

Funkturm.^{[citation needed}

]

Memorials and art

In 1955 an

Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–50) during and after World War II. The flame was extinguished in the day of German reunification on 3 October 1990, but again lit three months later on Human Rights Day

10 December.

In 1989 the sculpture duo Two Heads was erected at the eastern edge of the square. The Blue Obelisk was placed opposite the eternal flame monument in 1995.^{[citation needed]}

Notable residents

Richard Strauss (1864–1949), composer, lived in Heerstraße 2 at the corner of Reichskanzlerplatz from 1913 to 1917
Magda Quandt (1901–1945) lived in Reichskanzlerplatz 3 after her divorce in 1929, where she received Hitler and her future husband Joseph Goebbels

In popular culture

The novel In the Presence of Mine Enemies by Harry Turtledove has several crucial scenes set in Adolf Hitler Platz, in an alternate history where the Third Reich rules much of the world at the dawn of the 21st century.

References

^ "Google apologizes for "Hitler" name on maps". CBS News. 10 January 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2014.

External links

Bezirkslexikon at berlin.de (German):
- Theodor-Heuss-Platz
- Deutschlandhaus and Amerikahaus
Berliner Untergrund.de about Theodor-Heuss Platz (german)

52°30′34″N 13°16′22″E / 52.50944°N 13.27278°E / 52.50944; 13.27278

[1] "Google apologizes for "Hitler" name on maps". CBS News. 10 January 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2014.

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