At the Edge of the Wall

Hanno Hochmuth is a research fellow at the Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History in Potsdam (ZZF) and teaches at the Free University of Berlin. He is editor, with Paul Nolte, of Stadtgeschichte als Zeitgeschichte: Berlin im 20. Jahrhundert (Urban History as Contemporary History: Berlin in the Twentieth Century) published in 2019 by Wallstein, and with Martin Sabrow and Tilmann Siebeneichner, of Weimars Wirkung. Das Nachleben der ersten deutschen Republik (Weimar’s Legacy. The Afterlife of the First German Republic), published in 2020 by Wallstein.

“[This book] provides a rich account of the dual history of cultural change and economic restructuring in post-socialist Europe. The methodological and theoretical framework is fascinating and productive. The book will be of interest to students and researchers in the field of urban history in post-socialist Europe as well anyone engaged in modern urban historical research in general.” • Baltic WorldsPraise for the German edition:“A lively, detailed and well-written book… It provides profound and exciting insights into urban life in Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg in the 20th century, and makes a sound contribution to the history of Berlin.” • H-Soz-Kult“Historians of cities and urbanization rarely succeed in linking local with broader social history. Hanno Hochmuth's study on the two Berlin working-class districts of Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg masters this methodological challenge by analyzing the specific stories of the two districts as a comparative history of integration.” • Sehepunkte“This is a thorough and exemplary study, shedding light not just on the past under discussion, but, by implication, illuminating current developments too. The focus on the years of division allows for a particularly clear profile of general and specific forces that are at work in Berlin’s urban environment.” • The Year’s Work in Modern Language Studies“Overshadowed by the Cold War and global confrontation, the complexity and utter normality of everyday life on both sides of the Berlin Wall have often been overlooked. Hanno Hochmuth’s fascinating account of two neighborhoods on the margins of West and East uniquely succeeds in providing a fresh picture of urban society, seen through the eyes of its principal actors: proletarians and pastors, drop-outs and dissidents. Here is the historian as “wall-pecker”: The story Hochmuth tells is 20th-century German history in a nutshell, full of insights that also provide background for understanding the current transformation of Germany’s capital.” • Paul Nolte, Freie Universität Berlin

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsList of AbbreviationsMap of Friedrichshain and KreuzbergIntroductionChapter 1. Historical FoundationsPart I: HousingChapter 2. Housing as a Constitutive Field of the Public and Private SpheresChapter 3. The Long “Gestation Period” of Tenement Buildings: Sorauer StrasseChapter 4. The Public and Private Sphere in Urban Transformation: Strasse der Pariser KommuneChapter 5. Kreuzberg Counter-Public SpheresChapter 6. Neighborhood Appropriation in FriedrichshainInterim Conclusion IPart II: The ChurchChapter 7. The Church as a Constitutive Field of the Public and Private SpheresChapter 8. Church and the Neighborhood Public Sphere in the KreuzbergChapter 9. The Church as a Surrogate Public Sphere in FriedrichshainInterim Conclusion IIPart III: EntertainmentChapter 10. Entertainment as a Constitutive Field of the Public and Private SpheresChapter 11. Neighborhood Entertainment: Fruchtstrasse TavernsChapter 12. The Diversification of Kreuzberg Bar CultureChapter 13. Festival Culture Between East and WestInterim Conclusion IIIChapter 14. Perspectives: Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg in Transformation since 1989–90ConclusionBibliographyIndex