Dear INURA-Members and Friends - Inura Berlin

share of the ‘foreign’ population at thirteen percent
seems remarkably low. The number of people from
a migration background is higher though, since between
1945 and 1989 55.437 and between 1990 and
2001 114.119 Berliners of foreign origin obtained
German citizenship.
There is an imbalance in the spatial distribution
of “foreigners” between the inner-city and the outer
boroughs and, more importantly, between former
East and West Berlin. While in 2000 17 percent of
De- and Reindustrialization in Berlin:
From Osram to New Media Industry
The History of Berlin’s Industrialization
Industrialization in Berlin was not started by early
capitalist entrepreneurs, but rather initiated by
the Prussian state itself. The state’s politics of
industrialization started with founding small arms
and gunpowder factories in the early 19th century.
In addition, the founding of steam-driven textile and
machine tool factories was supported.
In the 1840s, industrialization in Berlin experienced
its “take-off” period, which was quickened by
the heavily subsidized growth of railroad construction.
The 1840s also saw the rise of the first trade unions
within the city, in particular printers and cigar
makers.
It took a few more decades, though, until the
area we explored during our field trip, now called
“Oberbaum City”, was industrialized. Meanwhile,
the surrounding areas were developed according to
the ideas of city planner James Hobrecht, who proposed
the combining of residential and work spaces
– the so-called “Hinterhofindustrie”, i.e. “courtyard
industry”, which Berlin is famous for. This kind
of “mixed zoning” was actually rediscovered and
revived by Kreuzberg’s squatter movement of the
1970s and 80s.
While Bismarck was working on his reactionary
program of uniting Germany under the auspices of
the Prussian state, Berlin grew rapidly. After the
French-German War of 1871, the city became the
German capital. This “locational factor” caused the
leading financial institutions of the country to move
their headquarters to Berlin.
In addition, the electric industry grew rapidly,
driven by the invention of the electric motor and the
light bulb. In fact, this industry had become the
city’s leading economic sector by the early 20th
the population in the West was “foreign”, a mere 5
percent of the population in the East held non-
German passports. This disproportion mirrors not
only the historical heritage of different recruitment
policies for labor migrants in the two German
states, but also the – unfortunately not unfounded –
fear of racist violence not only in the “brown belt” of
the suburban and rural hinterland but also in many
parts of former East Berlin.
by Ingo Bader & Albert Scharenberg
century. Simultaneously, the electric industry was
increasingly monopolized by the corporations
Siemens and AEG. By the same token, industrialization
was now so thoroughly developed that the
large corporations had to relocate their expanding
facilities in what was then the outskirts of the city.
In the early decades of the 20th century, Berlin
Presentation at the RAW Tempel
was the leading industrial city in Europe. During the
Nazi era, the city and the surrounding area,
Brandenburg, became a centre for producing
weaponry, in particular airplanes and cars.
After the Red Army had conquered Berlin the
city was eventually divided. With regards to the economy
this was as much a watershed as it was for
politics. While Berlin used to have more than two
thirds of the large German banks, none was left
in West-Berlin after 1955. Moreover, almost all
large companies left Berlin.
In the era of the Cold War, the isolated
city of West-Berlin did not have
any regional hinterland to produ-
Fieldtrip
ce for, no space to expand into,
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