Last weekend has been far too beautiful to not go out and shoot 323 pictures to choose from for an article on the the six villages of Reinickendorf.
We know several settlement sites from reindeer hunters in the area of Reinickendorf from prehistoric times. The region then experienced the Neolithic Revolution (people settle down and start agriculture and cattle-breeding), the Bronze Age (metal tools) and Iron Age of course (more metal tools). Around 1230 (in the context of eastward expansion) our six villages were founded or assumed by German settlers: Hermsdorf, Heiligensee, Tegel, Reinickendorf (yes, there is a small one in the big one!), Wittenau and Lübars. Houses and farm buildings were erected around a central piece of green which accomodated the church and meadow, in most cases a small village pond, sometimes a blacksmith and after the Middle Ages also the school and fire brigade. The so-called village green was common property of the people in the village. People would keep poultry on that piece of land and round up their cattle at night in the middle of the village to protect it.
Alt-Heiligensee
You might know Heiligensee already from one of my previous articles. The village lies between Lake Heiligensee and River Havel at the northwestern corner of Berlin and Reinickendorf. As soon as you cross the river you’re actually leaving Berlin. The old village was first mentioned in 1308 already. Its name was „Hyelegense“ which can be pronounced the same way as the recent name with a bit of good will. I am glad to revisit Heiligensee so soon because you get an idea of what it looks like when the sun is shining. The church got its recent appearance as late as the 18th century (construction of the steeple) but probably has its origin in the late Middle Ages respectivley even earlier as a wooden predecessor which is the general development for Berlin’s village churches. The smith and fire brigade a more recent but still in operation. Heiligensee’s meadow is the longest of the six in Reinickendorf. It takes me ten minutes to cross to get to the supermarket when I am at Kurt’s (boyfriend).
Alt-Lübars
On your way to Lübars with the bus 222 you will recognize Berlin getting more and more rural with every kilometre. Shortly before the bus stops in the very heart of the old village you can turn your head to the left and get a quick view on the extended paddocks and meadows of the periphery that used to be confined only by the Berlin Wall until 1989. When I got off the bus at the end of the line I recognized I wasn’t the only „tourist“ to visit the suburbs that day. People spread with their cameras and sandwiches into the sun for a quick journey to the little church and school house or further north to explore what lay behind the village (greenfields and country lanes that will inevitably make you drift away from the city). It must be a nice spot to live in and the photos can hardly indicate the athmosphere of that cute little place where you’re surrounded by horses, history and the smell of nature (and horse dung).
Alt-Hermsdorf
In Alt-Hermdorf you will have difficulties to recognize the original shape of the old village green. I feel like I should know why because fifteen years ago I worked at the Reinickendorf museum of local history for the summer (which is also located just there). But I don’t. The church seems to stand aside. What I know is that there was a an old village and some kind of extension. But then we shouldn’t go over the top with history, right? To be honest, visiting Alt-Hermsdorf was a bit confusing, but we met a nice little squirrel which I tried to lure with an orange I had just found in front of the museum. (It didn’t work though.)
Alt-Wittenau
The historic centre of Wittenau is long and narrow and appears tidy and cleaned up. In fact you will find nothing else than the old church and its tiny churchyard on it. The church seems very old though it’s not. The village was founded around 1230 (just like the others) named „Daldorff“ and probably had a wooden church by that time (just like the others) although we don’t know what the wooden version looked like. At the end of the 15th century a cobblestone church was built and got its contemporary form by numerous modifictions during the next centuries due to fire and fashion. At the two surrounding roads you find the fire brigade and the old tavern („Dorfkrug“). The tavern with a special tavern license („Krugrecht“) is like in other cases mentioned in old documents already, significantly in the Landbook of Karl IV. (When the Holy Roman Emperor Karl IV. got the Margraviate Brandenburg from Otto V. in 1373 he wanted to kind of describe and catalogue the new area and created the Landbook which is in some cases the first historic source for a mention of villages, provincal towns or cities.).
Alt-Reinickendorf
Alt-Reinickendorf, to be honest, impressed me the most. Between the provincialism of the Reinickendorf (the big one) and the chici inner city it has preserved and refined its own charme and personality. When I got off the train on that seemingly abandoned single-track station I submerged into a different… I wouldn’t say world but… yes, I would say world. That place seemed so calm and easygoing that I imagined myself (and Kurt) (and dog) (which we don’t have) (yet) living there. I have inserted two pictures on the right. And yes, it might seem corny and white-bread but you haven’t been there, have you? 😉
The old village was founded in (surprise!) 1230. We do not have too much information on its equipment in former times though. The little church probably followed more or less the same career as the others: from wood or carcass to stone (late medieval stonework, in this case no palstering, even after the middle ages), being an aisleless one-room church which is common for Brandenburg. In contrast to the other old villages we do not find any historic buildings surrounding the meadow. I guess, too much was altered in the course of industrialisation and city development.
Alt-Tegel
The last of the six villages is Alt-Tegel which is located at Lake Tegel and has a nice lakeside promenade that offers everything from cotton candy to steamboat trips and a bulk of ducks, coots, swans and seagulls. Except from the lakeside which is crammed with tourists of all ages you will probably almost exclusively meet old people. Whenever I visit Tegel (for ice-cream or shopping) I am staggered by the average age. We often hear that Germany in total hasn’t got enough young people. But here you can actually see it! You could probably ask any of them for stories from Tegel’s past. If only I had the courage!
Alt-Tegel has one speciality compared to the other Reinickendorf villages. Its old village is a dead end. So you can enter the meadow from one side but then just circle it at the end and go back. The church also looks a bit different. All the previous church buildings (from the first shortly after 1230 until the last from the end of the 19th century) have been replaced by this one with an urban appearance in 1911. The village green is surrounded by a good mixture of old houses (like the one with the red bricks) and younger multi-storey apartment buildings from the end of the 19th century. You can still find quite a lot cobble stone roads which look nice but feel terrible when travelling by bike.
Greater Berlin Act (1920)
After the Industrial Revolution and the inception of the German Empire in 1871 the population increased immensely. People were leaving the countryside and headed towards the cities hoping for jobs and better living standards. Berlin as many other cities needed more living space. In 1920 six independent towns, fifty-nine rural municipalities and twenty-seven commodity districts were incorporated. Apart from a few (partly just temporary) modifications (like administrative re-organisation or the Berlin Wall) this is what Berlin still looks like today.
gruß, heike.
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