Marzahn
Marzahn is a locality within the borough Marzahn-Hellersdorf of Berlin.
Marzahn became part of Greater Berlin in 1920, as a part of the Lichtenberg district. In 1979, the large housing estate of Marzahn was separated from Lichtenberg to become an East Berlin borough in its own right and in 1986 the new Hellersdorf district (including Kaulsdorf and Mahlsdorf) was split from it. Berlin's 2001 administrative reform led to the former boroughs of Marzahn and Hellersdorf fusing into a single new borough.
In the north the locality includes the neighbourhoods of Bürknersfelde and Ahrensfelde, an overbuilt strip of land which once belonged to the Brandenburg municipality of Ahrensfelde and was incorporated into Berlin in 1990.
The historic village of Marzahn was first mentioned as Morczane in a 1300 deed by Margrave Albert III of Brandenburg-Salzwedel, when he granted the estates to the Friedland Cistercian abbey (in today's Neuhardenberg). After the Thirty Years' War it fell to Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg.
Marzahn was the site of a labour camp (today a water treatment plant), where Roma were interned from July 16, 1936 on, two weeks prior to the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, away from visitor's eyes. As a part of the Nazi Porajmos extermination policy, up to 2000 inmates remained there until in 1943 they were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where most of them were gassed. In 1941 the large factory of the Carl Hasse & Wrede machine tool company (now Knorr-Bremse) was erected, where hundreds forced labourers were employed. The victims were buried at the nearby Parkfriedhof, a memorial marks the site.
In 1987, Marzahn hosted the Berliner Gartenschau a horticulture show on the occasion of Berlin's 750th anniversary. The area today called Erholungspark Marzahn includes the Gärten der Welt (Gardens of the World) project showing a Chinese, Japanese, Balinese and Korean garden, labyrinths modelled on Hampton Court Palace and Chartres Cathedral as well as a garden of the Italian Renaissance.
Transportation
Marzahn is served by the S-Bahn lines S7 and S75 at the stations Springpfuhl, Poelchaustraße, Marzahn, Raoul-Wallenberg-Straße, Mehrower Allee and Ahrensfelde. Tramway connections to the inner city are provided by the M6 and M8 lines of the Berlin Straßenbahn.
Other websites
- http://www.adam-jones.net/?album=marzahn Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine Photo essay of the area