Monthly Archives: July 2022

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Berlin – the Bäke from Kleinmachnow to the Havel (Glienicke) (cted)

In June 2022, I was at Berlin again, for five weeks. Berlin is my mother town. I explored some corners off the beaten tracks. So far, we have looked at the Rüdesheimer Platz and at the Fichtenberg at Steglitz. Furthermore, we have followed the tracks of the Bäke at Steglitz.  

Now we will continue to follow the Bäke from Kleinmachnow’s Bäkemühle (mill) to Glienicke near Potsdam.

 

Review: The marks of the Bäke from the source, along the Teltow Channel and up to the Havel near Potsdam (Glienicke Brücke)

The Bäke starts at the Fichtenberg, appears in the Bäkepark, “enters” the Teltow Channel that took over the former valley of the Bäke, reappears at Kleinmachnow (Bäketal, Bäkemühle), appears again at Kohlhasenbrück (the two Bäkewiesen) and at Klein-Glienicke (Pattengraben). 

With a cousin of mine, I will now follow the Bäke from the Bäke mill at Kleinmachnow to the Pattengraben at Klein-Glienicke.

 

The Bäke reappearing at Kleinmachnow

The Bäke mill (Bäkemühle) has been documented since 1695. The building of today is from 1862. It belonged to the noble family von Hake, as the three hooks (hook = Haken) in the coat of arms indicate. The ruins of the von Hake castle is just north of the mill, and so is the church with the tombs of the von Hake family (in the church of the von Hake family, the Dorfkirche Kleinmachnow, my parents married on 4th of March 1941). 

The mill was a restaurant until 2013. In 2017, two medical doctors, father and daughter, took over the mill and had it renovated. It is now a doctor’s practice. 

The Bäketal is a beautiful nature reserve north of the street called Bäkedamm.  

We enter the park near the mill. We reach the bridge that once belonged to the park of the von Hake family; the bridge has recently been restored.

The forest opens to this meadow. On the map, it is called “Festwiese” or “party meadow”.

Near the  church of the von Hake family, we enter the forest again and come across boggy places that show…  

… what the wetlands of the Bäke once might have looked like. Difficult to access, indeed.

Just below the sluice, the Kleinmachnow Bäke arm “enters” the Teltow Channel.

The sluice of Kleinmachnow (Kleinmachnower Schleuse) was built to overcome the height difference of 2.70 meters between the Havel near Potsdam and the Spree at Köpenick (Bernstengel, p. 35).

 

Strolling along the Teltow Channel that has taken over the Bäke again

On a small foot path, we walk along the Teltow Channel. The Bäke has again been taken over by the Teltow Channel. Far ahead of us we can see a bridge. 

I propose to walk up to that bridge and then cross the channel. The closer we come, the noisier the bridge is – “swish – swish – swish”. My cousin laughs: “I do not believe that we can cross this bridge on foot, let us take a photo of the boat that carries the name of my daughter!” I check google maps on my smartphone, and now I understand: This is the highway A115. I usually cross this highway bridge by car, entering Berlin from the south – swish – swish – swish. You are right, my cousin, we cannot cross the channel here!

We continue on our small footpath. Two ugly pillars appear on both sides of the Teltow Channel. Bernstengel, p. 33, tells me that this was the so-called cemetery train (Friedhofsbahn) from Wannsee to Stahnsdorf (south of Kleinmachnow). The train was removed, when the wall separating Berlin from the GDR was built.  Just two pillars are left – this is one of them.

We carry on walking on our small footpath and pass under a bridge with trees on it (look at the photo on the link). It is the old highway A115. Later, I learn from Bernstengel, p. 31, that we could have crossed the channel here, as the bridge is solid. We did not know then and continued on our small footpath south of the Teltow Channel.

Why the old highway A115? Matters were complicated here: The channel formed the border between Berlin (West) and Brandenburg (GDR): A patch of (West) Berlin was south of the channel and a patch of Brandenburg (GDR) was north of the channel. The former highway A115 crossed this patch of West Berlin south of the channel and entered Brandenburg again north of the channel. To avoid crossing West Berlin and re-entering the GDR, they moved the highway east, and they built the new customs facilities Dreilinden to check the transit traffic through the GDR. 

Panels explain the wall separating Berlin (West) from Brandenburg (GDR). We are on the so called Wall Route.

In the small patch of Berlin south of the Teltow Channel, we enter Albrechts Teerofen. In GDR times, only one small road allowed to access this place from West Berlin. 

At Albrechts Teerofen, there were ovens that produced tar from the pine trees rich in resin. In 1680, the place was mentioned under the name “tar production Kohlhasenbrück”. In 1767, the owner of the oven was called Albrecht (Bernsteigel, p. 31 and wiki entry for Albrechts Teerofen). Today it is a small settlement with a few houses. Here, the camping site for children and young people is called “Bäkewiese” – the Bäke creek turns up again.

The Owl Estate (Landgut Eule) was built by the Prussian kings. The guards of the royal hunting area “Parforce Heide” stayed here. 

The Parforce Heide has its name from the parforce (medieval) hunting that was performed by the Prussian kings and by nobility: Dogs chased the animals, until they were tired and could be shot by the hunters. 

Just near Kohlhasenbrück, we come across the first railway line Berlin – Potsdam, inaugurated in 1838, the so-called “Stammbahn”. This railway has been out of service since 1945. Nature has taken over.

Still south of the Teltow Channel, we enter Kohlhasenbrück, a suburb that is part of Berlin. At the Bäkestrasse, we consider taking the bus. However, we decide to carry on walking. 

At Neue Kreisstrasse, we see signs pointing to the Bäkewiese. It is a natural park that cannot be accessed. I take a photo looking over the fence. 

The Nature Reserve (NSG) Bäkewiese has been set up in 1988 to preserve this piece of the former Bäke wetlands with their fauna and flora. Frogs and toads live here, cranes, various kinds of woodpeckers and cormorans as well, and in addition wild boars, foxes, and raccoons. The Bäke is now called “Kohlhasengraben”.

We cross the bridge and stop at a restaurant with a large balcony. The take away service is open today, and I have Bockwurst with potato salad. The Bockwurst reminds me of the 1960’s, when I was at Berlin for the first time.

From our table, we can see the nature reserve Bäkewiese across the Teltow Channel.

We next climb a mountain, Moritzberg, almost 95m high. This was a garbage dump set up in a former quarry in 1954. The garbage dump was closed in 1982 and secured (see blog of Antje). The woods are dense, and I cannot imagine, that I am walking on a garbage dump.

We head for Klein-Glienicke, where we will come across the Bäke again… and in addition we will experience a daunting surprise.

 

Klein-Glienicke: The Bäke Creek, now called Pattengraben, with the Swiss Houses

At Klein-Glienicke, an arm of the former Bäke flows between the Griebnitz Lake and the Böttcherberg (67m).  This tamed Bäke arm is called “Pattengraben”.

Above the Pattengraben, there are some Swiss Chalets. This one is undergoing renovation. 

Surrounded by green meadows, the next chalet seems to stand somewhere in the Bernese Oberland.

Ten Swiss Chalets were built between 1863 and 67 to echo the artificial rocks at the Böttcherberg above them; four of the chalets are left today.

 

Daunting memories of the wall separating West Berlin from the GDR at Klein-Glienicke

Entering Klein-Glienicke, we walk down this road which descends with green meadows and trees on both sides. A peaceful and quiet area. 

I notice this information plate and understand, it has not always been peaceful here. The road belonged to the GDR, the area left and right of it was part of West Berlin. This road was a small passage between two gloomy walls.

There is a box with maps under the information plate. The map shows the odd boundary line and the narrow passage. 

I have marked the narrow passage with a red oval. I look around me: This peaceful and quiet place once looked that daunting? I feel scared. 

 

The Glienicker Lake and the Hunting Castle Glienicke

West of Klein-Glienicke, we arrive at Glienicke. We pass this inviting gate with two griffins to enter the park of the Glienicke Palace. 

It was the summer residence of prince Carl of Prussia. The architect Schinkel remodelled the former estate in the year 1825, in neoclassic style. 

Modern Ikea hanging oddly on a bike meets the tradition and nobility of the palace.

The beautiful park along the Havel has been designed by Peter Joseph Lenné.   

It is a beautiful park with tall trees and many eye catching corners.

We leave the park and walk over to the Glienicker Brücke. It was closed for 40 years, as the border between GDR and West Berlin was in the middle of this bridge. I tell my cousin about my impressions from 1966, when my mum took me here (as described in my blog about our tour of seven lakes). 

It is here, where the Bäke and the Teltow Channel end; we have reached the river Havel. 

We take the bus back to the S-Bahn station Wannsee, leave the suburban train at Charlottenburg and have a lovely dinner at the Georgian restaurant Salhino at Waitzstrasse 1, just next door to where my mother was born in 1916, at Waitzstrasse 2.

 

Bäke, you old faithful – good-bye for now

Bäke, you old faithful, I do thank you for having opened my eyes for your former wetlands. And in addition you have opened my eyes for the history of the Teltow Channel and how important this channel was for the development of the south west districts of Berlin and its suburbs. 

Bäke, good-bye for now, I will return.

 

Sources:

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Berlin: The Bäke creek from the Fichtenberg to the Havel

In June 2022, I was at Berlin again, for five weeks. Berlin is my mother town. I explored some corners off the beaten tracks. So far, we have looked at the Rüdesheimer Platz at Steglitz and at the Fichtenberg.

The Bäke is our next topic. The Bäke is a creek that has its source at the Fichtenberg. Bäke meant “Bach” or “creek”  in medieval Low German (see Wille, p. 45). 

Before the year 1900, the Bäke meandered forming wild, largely impassable wetlands, 250 meters wide. The natural reserve Bäketal at Kleinmachnow shows, what the Bäke wetlands once might have looked like. Impassable, indeed.

After having meandered for about 20km, the Bäke joined the river Havel near Potsdam. 

Around 1900, the Bäke wetlands the Teltow Channel was built and took over the bed of the Bäke. However, some marks of the Bäke are left.

 

Overview: The tracks of the Bäke from the source, along the Teltow Channel and up to the Havel near Potsdam

At the Fichtenberg, the Bäke has its source, under the ground (dotted red line). The Bäke shows up above the ground in the Bäke park (solid red line) and “disappears” in the Teltow Channel (again dotted line)The Bäke continues to live in the names of streets, bridges, parks, meadows and buildings, as indicated on the map.

The Teltow Channel was inaugurated in 1906. Ernst von Stubenrauch managed the construction. His objectives were to create a navigable water channel, to provide drainage for the rapidly growing settlements south of Berlin, to dry the wetlands to allow further settlement and to set the basis for further economic development of the Teltow district. By the way, the name “Teltow Channel” is based on the second name for the Bäke, which was “Telte”.

We will follow the tracks of the Bäke and investigate the area, now up to the Bäkestrasse/brücke, later from Kleinmachnow to the Havel near Potsdam.

 

The Bäke emerges at the Fichtenberg, I cannot find the source

The source of the Bäke is below the platform on the right hand side of the photo; however, I cannot find the source. 

Does the trough in the meadow indicate the former bed of the Bäke?

Looking downhill from the same spot, I can see this trough continue.

I do not know, whether the Bäke is under the meadow here or whether the start has completely dried out.

 

The Bäke underground

The Bäke is said to continue under the Zeunepromenade steeply leading down to Steglitz (I look uphill here).

This path is called after Johann August Zeune who founded his school for blind and visually impaired people in 1806.

In 1914, Betty Hirsch initiated education for people that turned blind in the war, together with Paul Zille, as the plate next to her and her dog explains.

The Bäke fed a pond surrounding the neoclassical Wrangel castle; the pond has disappeared (Seeger/Zimmermann, p. 89). 

 

Field marshal Wrangel set up his summer residence in the Wrangel castle in 1853. The Steglitz station of the new train from Potsdam to Berlin became busier and busier, and Wrangel asked it to be closed to stop all that noise. The station was reopened in 1869, when Wrangel stopped staying at his castle regularly (Seeger/Zimmermann, p. 89).  The annexe of the Wrangel Castle is now a small theatre (Schlosspark Theater) with an excellent reputation. 

Across the castle, the street is called “Am Bäkequell” or “at the source of the Bäke”. 

The Bäke is still under the ground here. It crosses the suburban train (S-Bahn) and continues under the Oberlinweg. 

Behind the suburban train, there once was a comfortable swimming pool of 900 square meters, with a restaurant, a park and a bowling alley. The owner Pantzier replaced the water supply from the then dirty Bäke by water from the Berlin channel system; he deemed hygiene to be important. The swimming pool has disappeared today; the last remaining buildings were pulled down in the 1960’s (Seeger/Zimmermann, p. 91f). 

 

The Bäke shows up in the Bäke Park

The Bäke Park is a green reserve.

Under the bridge of the Haydnstrasse, the Bäke appears from under the ground.

It is not a beautiful place, not at all worthy for the old faithful Bäke.

Strictly tamed, it flows in a narrow channel through the Bäkepark. This small creek once fed wetlands 250 meters wide?

At the end of the Bäke Park, the Bäke is “allowed” to spread out as a pond. 

As a matter of fact, this pond is a collecting tank to control the amount of water that the Bäke feeds into the Teltow Channel after heavy rainfall (Bernstengel, p. 60).

 

The Bäke taken over by the Teltow Channel

The Bäke Park and the open flow of the Bäke end at the Teltow Channel. The Teltow Channel, starting at Köpenick, seems to “swallow” the Bäke here.

Across is the Port of Steglitz. It is a “leftover” of the Bäke that made a wide turn to the west here; this eased the construction of the port. Around the port, there were a powerstation and storage place for coal. Now there is a museum about the production and distribution of electricity (Bernstengel, p. 58).

I follow the Teltow Channel, pass the Bäke Bridge and end my walk at Emil-Schulz-Brücke, as it starts to rain heavily.

I take the bus back home. 

Let us continue looking for marks of the Bäke at Kleinmachnow in the following blog.

 

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Berlin: The pine tree mountain or Fichtenberg, 69m high

In June 2022, I was at Berlin again, for five weeks. Berlin is my mother town. I explored some corners off the beaten tracks. In my previous blog, we were at the Rüdesheimer Platz, now it is the Fichtenberg (literally “pine tree mountain”). 

Yes, you find mountains at Berlin, and the Fichtenberg at Steglitz is one of them.

 

The Fichtenberg IS a mountain, 69m high

The Fichtenberg IS a mountain. Look at the traffic signs and trees leaning uphill. The man is working hard pulling up his trolley. Kurt Pomplun says that the steep inclination of 1:12 is a problem for the garbage removal men (p. 76).

Oh yes, I know, mountains are steeper in Switzerland. Berlin, however, is flat, and I am always astonished, when I see some inclination here.

More than a hundred years ago, the Fichtenberg rewarded climbers with a gorgeous view from the top: In 1892, they could see Potsdam and the Havel mountains as well as the suburbs Lichterfelde and Zehlendorf (Pomplun, p. 75).

Today, we see trees from the top, beautiful tall trees. There is a platform topping the Ruth-Andreas Friedrich Park. Dogs run around on the meadows, sportsmen jog uphill and take a rest on the platform.

Behind the platform, there must be the entry to the subterranean bunker tunnels of the Second World War that Seeger and Zimmermann mention in the 1980’s (p. 108). The stone slab marking the entrance was still visible then. Access was forbidden. The tunnels collapsed under the street. The street had to be barred. 40 years later, I found no signs indicating this gloomy past.

Below the platform, the Bäke creek has its source (Olaf Seeger et al, p.89). I cannot find the spring tapping, though. It is said to have dried out.

Yes, the Fichtenberg IS a mountain – it even has its creek! We will follow the Bäke creek up to the Havel near Potsdam later.

 

The best maintained garden of Berlin: The Botanic Garden

The western part of the Fichtenberg is the best maintained garden of Berlin, as Pomplun proudly points out.  It is the Botanic Garden of Berlin, with paths and roads winding up and down.

There are greenhouses with tropical plants.

More than 20’000 plant varieties grow on about 40 ha. It is one of the largest botanic gardens of Germany. It was laid out between 1897 and 1910, as the site of the Botanic Garden explains.

Even the grapevine snails enjoy life at the Botanic Garden. They find enough food here.

 

Sumptuous villas, the oldest from the late 19th century

The Fichtenberg was a wild area, until Frederic the Great cultivated it: In the middle of 18th century, he mandated to plant pine trees here. In the late 18th century, wine was grown here. In the 19th century, the silk factory owner Heese planted mulberry trees. In 1841, the Prussian government acquired the mountain. In 1871, it subdivided it into lots and started to sell them. The first villa was built in 1874, and more followed (Olaf Seeger et al., p. 100).

Let us look at some of the sumptuous villas. Just some of them, there are many more beautiful villas .

Some villas hide behind defensive fences  – this is Schmidt-Ott Strasse 11a, built by the architect Endell. 

Bishop Dibellius lived here in the 1930’s (Olaf Seeger et al, p. 105). Endell also built the Hotel am Steinplatz near Savignyplatz (In Berlin zu Hause, p. 46f).

Other villas hide behind trees.

I do not know details about this villa number 11b.

This is the villa Anna at Schmidt-Ott Strasse 14, built out of bricks, with a slim and pointed tower attached, behind the trees.  

Pomplun says, the villa seems to have been built with elements of “Richters Ankersteinbaukasten” (p. 76).

The Ankersteinbaukasten was a construction kit for children made at Rudolstadt from 1884 to 1963; production was reinitiated in 1995, as I learn from Wikipedia. As a child, I used to play with such a construction kit, when staying with my grand-mother; now I know, what it was.

The former water tower, now the FU Institute of Space Sciences and Meteorology at the Schmidt-Ott-Strasse 13, was built in 1886 (Free University=FU).

In former times, you could climb the tower for ten pfennig and enjoy the view at 40m above street level (Pomplun, p. 75.)

Despite the trees, the owner of this neo-classical villa has decided to install a red umbrella which nicely matches the green and white colours.

This is Schmidt-Ott Strasse 21, the oldest villa at the Fichtenberg: The registrar Mancke had settled here in the year 1874 (Pomplun, p. 74 and Olaf Seeger et al., p. 100).

Pomplun says that this palais was built by the architect Paul Baumgarten (senior) for the merchants’ family Henoch in 1912.

When looking for the name Henoch, I see that for members of this family stumbling blocks (Stolpersteine) have been set up at Berlin, Sybelstrasse 29 – here they are.

I feel guilty, when looking at these reminiscences.

Schmidt-Ott-Strasse 17 is this beautiful villa built in the 1930’s style of new objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit).  

Someone later lacked the feeling for taste and tradition. He added this ugly supposedly modern house, probably in the 1960’s.

Like two unequal brothers, this ugly building and the architecture gem of new objectivity are attached to one another.

Across the street, at Schmidt-Ott-Strasse 6, I like this neo-classic villa. The villa belonged to the merchant Degener.

The façade is divided into three parts with four ionic columns in the middle forming the basis for the balcony (Olaf Seeger et al., p.103).

Next door, number 4, is the Evangelisches Jugend und Fürsorgewerk (EJF). In the garden, the bull gives audience to his friend, the grey cat with sparkling green eyes.

The bull is called Heinz, after the actor Heinz Hönig. Since 2003, Heinz has organized instructive journeys for children, as the notice says.  Wiki tells me that Heinz Hönig was born in Bavaria in 1951. His foundation “Heinz der Stier” has invited traumatized children and young people to Mallorca and to the Harz to show them new horizons for their future.

I do not know more details about the beautiful cat. It looked at me for a short moment and run away.

The EJF hosts the Ringelbande (“Ringel” gang). It is  a day care facility for children and a house for small researchers. Maybe they have performed some research about millipedes. 

The large property belonged to the paper factory owner Max Krause. He made money, because he had the brilliant idea to sell envelopes in combination with stationery. His slogan was: «Schreibste mir, schreibste ihr, schreibste auf MK-Papier (whether you write to me or you write to her, you will write on MK stationery)» (Olaf Seeger et al., p. 100)

The villas are full of history and histories. Many of the street names commemorate personalities that once lived here. Carl-Heinrich Becker, for instance, was a Prussian minister and professor of orientalism that lived in the area.

What the dun crow and I see from this point is the eyesore of Steglitz. 

This ugly tower at the foot of the Fichtenberg and near the Steglitz city hall seems to undergo construction now and may be completed one day.

I prefer not to further look at the eyesore, and I turn right to Lepsiusstrasse, where there are more beautiful houses,…

… and this beautiful gable that reminds me of the Spreewald.

I descend the Fichtenberg, walk along Lepsiusstrasse and sit down in the small and family-owned restaurant la Piccola Perla to enjoy some delicious pasta. It was a wonderful afternoon. I will return to identify more architecture gems on the Fichtenberg.

 

Post Scriptum 1: Flee markets are a good source for books about Berlin

Flee markets are a wonderful place to buy books that invite you to explore Berlin beyond the “usual” touristic sights. I came across Pomplun’s “Berlin und keine Ende” on the Sunday market at Steglitz (Hermann Ehlers Platz) and later I found two more books on the Sunday market at the Kupfergraben near the museums island:  Olaf Seeger’s and Burkhard Zimmermann’s “Steglitzer Geschichten” as well as Klaus Dieter Wille’s “Spaziergänge in Steglitz”.

 

Post Scriptum 2: Visiting Kurt  Pomplun

Kurt Pomplun is buried at the cemetery of Wilmersdorf.

Thank you, Kurt Pomplun, for telling me so much about Berlin.

 

Sources:

  • Kurt Pomplun, “Berlin und kein Ende», Berliner Kaleidoskop Band 26, Verlag Bruno Hessling Berlin 1977
  • «In Berlin zu Hause», B History, das Berliner Geschichtsmagazin, Nr 4/2022
  • Olaf Seeger und Burkhard Zimmermann, «Steglitzer Geschichte(n), Berliner Reminiszenzen No 56, Haude & Spenzer, Berlin 1985
  • Klaus Dieter Wille, “Spaziergänge in Steglitz”, Berliner Reminiszenzen No 60, Haude & Spenzer, Berlin 1989
  • Ingrid Nowel, «Berlin, die alte neue Metropole. Architektur und Kunst, Geschichte und Literatur», Dumont Kunst Reiseführer Ostfildern 2007
  • Website of the Botanic Garden of Berlin https://www.bgbm.org/de
  • Wikipedia entry for Heinz Hönig https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_Hoenig
  • Wikipedia entry about Anker-Steinbaukasten https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anker-Steinbaukasten