Imagine this: It is June 26, 1963. Tens of thousands of people are thronging in front of Schöneberg Town Hall. Stepping up to the microphone on the steps, John F. Kennedy utters the sentence that would go down in history: “Ich bin ein Berliner.” Two years after the construction of the Wall, he gives courage to the people of this divided city—and the square erupts with enthusiasm.
Yet the history of this building begins much earlier. Built of light-colored sandstone between 1911 and 1914, it was once the administrative center of the independent city of Schöneberg. Until 1920, the City Assembly met here—that is, until Schöneberg became part of Greater Berlin.
Dark years followed: After 1933, the National Socialists seized power here as well. During the Second World War, bombs struck the Town Hall heavily, and in the final days of the war, it was used solely for defensive purposes.
Beginning in 1949—while still under reconstruction—the Berlin government moved in. From Schöneberg, West Berlin was governed until 1993. Time and again, the Town Hall square became the setting for moving moments: in 1949 and 1953, Berliners gathered to commemorate the end of the airlift blockade and the suppressed popular uprising in the GDR.
But there were also days of mourning: On June 2, 1967, violent clashes broke out nearby during a visit by the Shah of Persia. The student Benno Ohnesorg was fatally shot—an event that deeply shook the Federal Republic.
And then: November 10, 1989. One day after the fall of the Wall, people here celebrated late into the night. Willy Brandt gave voice to what everyone was feeling: “Berlin will live, and the Wall will fall.” To this day, every noon at the stroke of twelve, the Freedom Bell—a gift from the Americans in 1950—serves as a reminder, with its deep resonance, of the values for which people here fought, hoped, and celebrated.
Image 1: Original work
Image 2: By unknown author – Grüße aus Berlin und Umgebung (Greetings from Berlin and the Surrounding Area), published by Kunstanstalt W. Sommer, Berlin-Schöneberg, 1898; Public Domain; https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1019690
Image 3: By Robert Knudsen, White House – The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston [1]; Public Domain; https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2221406
