During the GDR, Wilhelmstraße was known as the Otto-Grotewohl-Straße, before being returned to its original name in 1991. This street is one of the major thoroughfares through Berlin’s Mitte and Kreuzberg districts. It has long held historical and political significance. Until 1945, it was considered the centre of the country’s government. During the Kingdom of Prussia and during the first unified German Reich, the street housed both the Chancellery and the Foreign Office.
The street was named in honour of Friedrich-Wilhelm I, King of Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 to 1740, after his death. The street originally featured several palaces of the royal family and its close advisors, but became the Prussian government precinct in the mid-19th century. It became a seat of the government of the Weimar Republic after 1919, and featured the residence of the first Reichspräsident Friedrich Ebert at Wilhelmstraße 73. After their rise to power, the National Socialists conducted a torch-lit march down this street to celebrate their victory. Newly elected chancellor Adolf Hitler classed the presidential residence as inadequate and had a new chancellery constructed farther down the street. Several organs of the National Socialist government such as Joseph Goebbel’s Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda also relocated to the street. Most of the historic buildings on the street were destroyed by Allied bombings during the Battle of Berlin.
After the country’s partition, the remaining Prussian and National Socialist ruins were demolished by the GDR government in 1950, as they were considered relics of Prussian and Nazi militarism and imperialism. In 1964 the street was renamed for the former GDR ministerial president Otto Grotewohl, who had passed away while in office that year. Originally a printer, Grotewohl had links to the Socialist Democrats Party before the founding of the GDR, in which he was partially responsible for the forced unification of the SPD and the German Communist Party, the KPD. As first president of the GDR, he had significant influence in cementing the rule of the resulting Socialist Unity Party, or SED, and their repressive regime. The street bearing his name became a site for the embassies of allied nations and apartment blocks that were popular for their unimpeded view into West Berlin.
Today, the street is still an important traffic artery, and a few foreign embassies and government ministries have returned. But it has not attained its historic influence or iconic stature, which has been likened to that of the Kreml, the White House, or Downing Street. The site of the former Reichskanzlei is now a popular Chinese restaurant. The turbulent 20th century history of the site has been subtly suppressed. A name related to a regime of Germano-Prussian militarism and colonial expansion was chosen over that of a leader of an oppressive communist regime.
