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Lichtenberg

10 localities

Michael Grunst (Left)

52.30 km2 (20.19 sq mi)

296,837

5,700/km2 (15,000/sq mi)

Overview[edit]

The district contains the Tierpark Berlin in Friedrichsfelde, the larger of Berlin's two zoological gardens. During the period of Berlin's partition between West and East, Lichtenberg was the location of the headquarters of the Stasi, the East German state security service. Prior to the establishment of the GDR it housed the main office of the Soviet Military Administration in Berlin, and before that it was an officers' mess of the Wehrmacht. The complex is now the location of the Stasi Museum. The Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial is on the site of the main remand prison of the Stasi. Additionally, Lichtenberg is the location of the German-Russian Museum, the historical venue of the unconditional surrender of the German armed forces (Wehrmacht) on 8 May 1945.


The population is ethnically diverse, and has a significant Vietnamese community.

History[edit]

The historic village of Lichtenberg together with neighbouring Friedrichsfelde, Karlshorst, Marzahn, Biesdorf, Hellersdorf, Kaulsdorf and Mahlsdorf was incorporated as the 17th borough of Berlin by the 1920 Greater Berlin Act.


In the 1970s, the East German government had large pre-fabricated high-rise housing estates (Plattenbau) built in the east of the Lichtenberg borough. This area was separated off and became the new borough of Marzahn, which included Biesdorf, Hellersdorf, Kaulsdorf and Mahlsdorf in 1979. In 1986, this district in turn was split into the two boroughs of Marzahn and Hellersdorf in 1986, and again merged as Marzahn-Hellersdorf by the 2001 administrative reform.

Politics[edit]

District council[edit]

The governing body of Lichtenberg is the district council (Bezirksverordnetenversammlung). It has responsibility for passing laws and electing the city government, including the mayor. The most recent district council election was held on 26 September 2021, and the results were as follows:

(1911–1942), German journalist and resistance fighter

Ilse Stöbe

(1913–1992), German Waffen-SS combat and training officer

Hans Kempin

(born 1947), German construction worker, co-founder of the German organization Movement 2 June and author

Bommi Baumann

(born 1948), German politician (SED, The Linke)

Gregor Gysi

(born 1951), German writer

Katja Lange-Müller

(born 1961), German politician (SED, The Linke)

Gesine Lötzsch

(born 1979), German actress

Annett Fleischer

(born 1981), German actor

Alexander Fehling

(1985–2020), German journalist

Christoph Sydow

(born 1984), German football referee

Daniel Siebert

(born 1989), German diver

Patrick Hausding

Berlin-Lichtenberg (electoral district)

. New International Encyclopedia. 1905.

"Lichtenberg" 

. Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.

"Lichtenberg" 

Official homepage

Official homepage of Berlin

Event- und Informationportal of Berlin Lichtenberg