Editing Kurfürstendamm

{{Short description|Street avenue in Berlin, Germany}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{For|the underground station|Kurfürstendamm (Berlin U-Bahn)}}
{{Infobox street
| name                    = Kurfürstendamm
| image                   = Berlin - Kürfurstendamm Gehsteig.jpg
| image_size              = 
| image_alt               = Restaurants on the Kurfürstendamm
| image_map               = 
| caption                 = Restaurants on the Kurfürstendamm
| map_type                = Germany Berlin
| map_size                = 
| map_caption             = Location within Berlin
| map_alt                 = Location within Berlin
| former_names            = {{ubl|''(unnamed)''|{{small|(1542–{{circa|1767}})}}|{{lang|de|Churfürsten Damm}}|{{small|(by {{circa|1767)}}}}}}
| part_of                 = 
| namesake                = {{ubl|[[Joachim II Hector]],|[[Prince-elector]] of [[Margraviate of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]]}}
| type                    = [[Avenue (landscape)|Avenue]] / [[Boulevard]]
| owner                   = 
| maint                   = 
| length                  = {{cvt|3500|m}}<ref name="b.de k">{{cite web |author1=<!--not stated--> |title=Kurfürstendamm |url=https://www.berlin.de/en/attractions-and-sights/3561166-3104052-kurfuerstendamm.en.html |website=berlin.de |publisher=[[State of Berlin]] |access-date=20 October 2024 |language=en}}</ref>
| length_m                =  
| length_km               = 
| length_ref              = 
| length_notes            = 
| width                   = {{cvt|53|m}}<ref name="b.de k"/>
| area                    = 
| addresses               = 
| location                = [[Berlin]], Germany
| quarter                 = [[Charlottenburg]], [[Wilmersdorf]], [[Halensee]], [[Grunewald (locality)|Grunewald]]
| postal_code             = 
| metro                   = {{ubl|{{ric|Berlin U-Bahn|U1|size=x12}} {{ric|Berlin U-Bahn|U9|size=x12}} | [[Kurfürstendamm (Berlin U-Bahn)|Kurfürstendamm]] | {{ric|Berlin U-Bahn|U1|size=x12}} | [[Uhlandstraße (Berlin U-Bahn)|Uhlandstraße]] | {{ric|Berlin U-Bahn|U7|size=x12}} | [[Adenauerplatz (Berlin U-Bahn)|Adenauerplatz]] | {{ric|Berlin S-Bahn|S41|size=x12}} {{ric|Berlin S-Bahn|S42|size=x12}} {{ric|Berlin S-Bahn|S46|size=x12}} | [[Berlin-Halensee station|Halensee]]}}
| coordinates             = {{coord|format=dms|region:DE-BE_type:landmark|display=i}}
| direction_a             = East
| terminus_a              = {{ubl|[[Tauentzienstraße]]|[[Breitscheidplatz]]}}
| direction_b             = West
| terminus_b              = {{ubl|{{ill|Rathenauplatz (Berlin)|de|lt=Rathenauplatz}}|Hubertusallee}}
| junction                = {{ubl|{{ill|Rankestraße|de|Rankestraße (Berlin)}}|Joachimsthaler Platz|{{ill|Joachimsthaler Straße|de}}|{{ill|Fasanenstraße (Berlin)|de|lt=Fasanenstraße}}|{{ill|Uhlandstraße (Charlottenburg/Wilmersdorf)|de|lt=Uhlandstraße}}|{{ill|George-Grosz-Platz|de}}|{{ill|Olivaer Platz|de}}|Leibnizstraße|{{ill|Adenauerplatz (Berlin)|de|lt=Adenauerplatz}}|Lewishamstraße|Brandenburgische Straße|{{ill|Lehniner Platz|de}}|Agathe-Lasch-Platz|Joachim-Friedrich-Straße|{{ill|Henriettenplatz (Berlin)|de|lt=Henriettenplatz}}}}
| main_contractor         = 
| cost                    = 
| references              = 
| commissioning_date      = 
| construction_start_date = 
| completion_date         = 
| inauguration_date       = {{Start date|1542<!--|MM|DD-->}}
| demolition_date         = 
| designer                = 
| known_for               = 
| status                  = 
| website                 = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
| browse                  =
| embedded                =
}}

The '''Kurfürstendamm''' ({{IPA|de|ˌkuːɐ̯fʏʁstn̩ˈdam|audio=De-Kurfürstendamm.ogg}}; colloquially '''{{lang|de|Ku'damm}}''', {{IPA|de|ˈkuːdam||De-Kudamm.ogg}};<ref name="ushmm-1931" /> {{langx|en|Prince Elector Embankment}}) is one of the most famous [[avenue (landscape)|avenues]] in [[Berlin]]. The street takes its name from the former {{lang|de|Kurfürsten}} ([[prince-elector]]s) of [[Margraviate of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]]. The broad, long [[boulevard]] can be considered the {{lang|fr|[[Champs-Élysées]]|italic=np}} of Berlin and is lined with shops, houses, hotels and restaurants. In particular, many [[fashion designers]] have their shops there, as well as several car manufacturers' show rooms.

==Description==
[[File:Kurfürstendamm 2003.JPG|thumb|left|View over Kurfürstendamm]]
The avenue includes four lines of [[platanus|plane trees]] and runs for {{convert|3.5|km|mi|abbr=on}}<ref name="b.de k"/> through the city. It branches off from the [[Breitscheidplatz]], where the ruins of the [[Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church]] stand, and leads southwestward up to the district of [[Grunewald (locality)|Grunewald]].

At the junction with {{lang|de|Joachimstaler Straße|italic=no}} it passes the [[Café Kranzler]], successor of the {{lang|de|Café des Westens|italic=no}}, a famous venue for artists and [[Bohemianism|bohémiens]] of the pre–World War I era. The [[Kurfürstendamm (Berlin U-Bahn)|Kurfürstendamm U-Bahn station]] and the [[Swissôtel Berlin]] can be found at the same junction. One block farther, near [[Uhlandstraße (Berlin U-Bahn)|Uhlandstraße U-Bahn station]], is the Hotel Bristol Berlin (formerly [[Kempinski]]) hotel as well as the {{lang|de|Theater am Kurfürstendamm|italic=no}}, at the site of a former exhibition hall of the [[Berlin Secession]] art association.

At [[Adenauerplatz (Berlin U-Bahn)|Adenauerplatz]] the boulevard reaches the district of [[Wilmersdorf]], where it passes the {{lang|de|[[Schaubühne]]|italic=no}} theatre on {{lang|de|Lehniner Platz|italic=no}}. The more sober western or "upper" end of the Kurfürstendamm is marked by the [[Berlin-Halensee railway station]] on the [[Berlin Ringbahn|Ringbahn]] line and the junction with the {{lang|de|[[Bundesautobahn 100]]|italic=no}} ({{lang|de|Stadtring}}) at the {{ill|Rathenauplatz (Berlin)|de|lt=Rathenauplatz}} roundabout, featuring the long-disputed 1987 "Beton Cadillacs" sculpture by [[Wolf Vostell]].

<gallery class="center" caption="Luxury Boutiques Kurfürstendamm">
File:Berlin - Kurfürstendamm 193-194.jpg|Versace Boutique
File:Berlin - Kurfürstendamm 57.jpg| Valentino
File:Berlin - Kurfürstendamm 185.jpg|Louis Vuitton Berlin
File:Berlin - Kurfürstendamm 188-189.jpg|Chanel Berlin
File:Berlin Kurfürstendamm 186.jpg|Prada Berlin
File:Berlin - Kurfürstendamm 190-192.jpg|Gucci Berlin
File:Berlin - Kurfürstendamm 58.jpg|Hermès Berlin
</gallery>

==History==
Unlike the adjacent streets, the Kurfürstendamm developed out of a historic [[corduroy road]] ({{langx|de|Damm}}) laid out by the Brandenburg margraves to reach the [[Grunewald (locality)|Grunewald]] hunting lodge, which was erected about 1542 at the behest of the [[House of Hohenzollern|Hohenzollern]] elector [[Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg|Joachim II Hector]]. Although the exact date of the building is unknown, an unnamed causeway leading from the [[Stadtschloss, Berlin|Stadtschloss]] through the swampy area between the settlements of Charlottenburg (then called ''Lietzow'') and Wilmersdorf to Grunewald is already depicted in a 1685 map. The name ''Churfürsten Damm'' was first mentioned between 1767 and 1787.<ref name=Sturickow>{{cite magazine|title=Vom Feldweg zum Boulevard |trans-title=From a Field Track to a Boulevard |language=German |first=Regina |last=Stürickow |magazine=[[Damals]] |volume=45 |issue=1 |year=2013 |pages=62–69}}</ref>
[[File:Berlin-Charlottenburg Postkarte 049.jpg|thumb|left|View to Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, 1916 postcard]]
[[File:Colloquial abbreviation for Kurfürstendamm shown in name of the Ku'Damm 101 hotel.jpg|thumb|left|Colloquial abbreviation for Kurfürstendamm shown in name of the Ku'Damm 101 hotel]]
From 1875 the former bridlepath was embellished as a boulevard with a breadth of {{convert|53|m|ft|abbr=on}} on the personal initiative of chancellor [[Otto von Bismarck]], who also proposed the building of the Grunewald mansions colony at its western end.<ref name="b.de k"/><ref name=Sturickow/> In 1882, [[Ernst Werner von Siemens]] presented his [[Elektromote]] trolley bus concept at an experimental track near Halensee station. The nearby Lunapark opened in 1909, then Europe's largest [[amusement park]], modelled on [[Coney Island]], where boxer [[Max Schmeling]] won his first title of a German Lightheavyweight Champion in 1926. After a long period of decline the park was finally closed in 1933. Large parts are today covered by the Stadtautobahn.
[[File:Berlin Kurfürstendamm 013033.jpg|thumb|Kurfürstendamm, 1937]]
[[File:Ku'Damm Bridge.jpg|thumb|Ku'Damm Bridge]]
In 1913 the new [[Marmorhaus]] cinema opened. A number of major film premieres were held here during the [[silent era]].

Especially during the "[[1920s Berlin|Golden Twenties]]" the Kurfürstendamm area of the "New West" was a centre of leisure and nightlife in Berlin, an era that ended with the [[Great Depression]] and the Nazi ''[[Machtergreifung]]'' in 1933. On Sep 12, 1931, radical antisemite, Nazi [[Wolf-Heinrich Graf von Helldorff]] organizes a riot,<ref  name=ushmm-1931/><ref>Dimitrov, G. (1934). The Reichstag Fire Trial: The Second Brown Book of the Hitler Terror. United Kingdom: Bodley. [https://books.google.com/books?id=aNk1AAAAIAAJ&q=riot p.214].</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=TIMES |first=Special Cable to THE NEW YORK |date=1931-11-08 |title='NAZI' STORM LEADERS SENTENCED FOR RIOTS; Hitler's Legal Aide Defends Men Charged With Attacks on Jews, Denying Participation. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1931/11/08/archives/nazi-storm-leaders-sentenced-for-riots-hitlers-legal-aide-defends.html |access-date=2022-12-30 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Loberg |first=Molly |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8VBSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA263 |title=The Struggle for the Streets of Berlin: Politics, Consumption, and Urban Space, 1914–1945 |date=2018-03-29 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=263|isbn=978-1-108-28486-8 |language=en}}<blockquote><span style="font-size:x-small;">Officers hesitated to make arrests on Kurfürstendamm in 1935 because they had a new boss: Wolf-Heinrich von Helldorf. In his prior role as leader of the Berlin SA, Helldorf had instigated in September 1931 the very same kind of street violence that took place on Kurfürstendamm in July 1935. In 1931, he had faced criminal charges for his actions.</span></blockquote>
</ref> about a thousand men appear from within the crowd on the streets and start attacking people who they think are Jewish, scream at them and then they beat them, scream anti-Jewish threats at them.<ref name=ushmm-1931>{{Cite web |title=The Rioter {{!}} 12 Years That Shook the World Podcast |url=https://www.ushmm.org/learn/podcasts-and-audio/12-years-that-shook-the-world/the-rioter |access-date=2022-12-29 |website=www.ushmm.org |language=en}}<blockquote><span style="font-size:x-small;">It’s Saturday night, September 12, 1931. Today is Rosh Hashanah— the Jewish New Year. In Berlin, people are out walking and socializing with friends on restaurant patios. Many have flocked to a popular boulevard they call Ku'damm, short for Kurfürstendamm. And just around the corner, Helldorff is ready to riot. He climbs into his open car, and starts driving down Ku’damm boulevard. Suddenly, his men — more rioters— appear out of nowhere...
Dr. Lindsay MacNeill:
About a thousand men basically appear from within the crowd on the streets and start attacking people. 
Erin Harper:
That’s Dr. Lindsay MacNeill, a historian at the Museum.
Dr. Lindsay MacNeill:
They grab people who they think are Jewish. They scream at them and then they beat them. They scream things like “Germany awaken,” “Jews die.” So this is really violent and terrifying.</span></blockquote></ref>

On July 15, 1935, about 200 Nazi<ref>{{Cite news |last=TIMES |first=Wireless to THE NEW YORK |date=1935-07-16 |title=JEWS ARE BEATEN BY BERLIN RIOTERS; CAFES ARE RAIDED; 200 Nazis Swoop Down Upon Capital's 'White Way' Driving Bleeding Men Along Street. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1935/07/16/archives/jews-are-beaten-by-berlin-rioters-cafes-are-raided-200-nazis-swoop.html |access-date=2022-12-28 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> [[Sturmabteilung|Storm Troopers]] went on a sadistic attack,<ref name=sf>Friedlander, S. (2009). ''Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1933-1945: Abridged Edition''. United States: HarperCollins. p. 44.
<blockquote><span style="font-size:x-small;">From the beginning of 1935 intense anti Jewish incitement had newly surfaced among party radicals.... Jochen Klepper, a deeply religious Protestant writer whose wife was Jewish, wrote in his diary on July 13: "Anti-Semitic excesses on the Kurfürstendamm.... The cleansing of Berlin of Jews threateningly announced." A week later Klepper again wrote of what had happened on the Kurfürstendamm: Jewish women had been struck in the face; Jewish men had behaved courageously. "Nobody came to their help, because everyone is afraid of being arrested."</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size:x-small;">[Citing, Klepper, ''Unter dem Schatten deiner Fluegel: Aus den Tagebuechern der Jahre 1932-1942'', (Stuttgart, 1983), p.269].</span></ref><ref name=nyteditors>{{Cite news |date=1935-07-17 |title=EDITOR DESCRIBES RIOTING IN BERLIN; Varian Fry of The Living Age Tells of Seeing Women and Men Beaten and Kicked. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1935/07/17/archives/editor-describes-rioting-in-berlin-varian-fry-of-the-living-age.html |access-date=2022-12-29 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> in "the most brutal anti-Jewish manifestation since Hitler's rise to power,"<ref name=mg>{{Cite journal |last=Gottlieb |first=Moshe |date=1970 |title=The Berlin Riots of 1935 and Their Repercussions in America |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23877861 |journal=American Jewish Historical Quarterly |volume=59 |issue=3 |pages=302–328 |jstor=23877861 |issn=0002-9068}}<blockquote><span style="font-size:x-small;">
On the night of July 15, 1935, about 200 German toughs invaded Berlin's fashionable Kurfürstendamm, seizing, chasing and savagely beating men and women who looked Jewish to them or displeased them by attitude and appearance. The young ruffians were clad in civilian clothes, but from the boots and trousers worn by many, it was clear that  they were Nazi Storm Troopers. 
Howling down their victims with cries of "Out with Jews!" and "Destruction to Jews!", the rowdies freely vented their passion against an unsuspecting defenseless populace. Including some foreigners.
Frantic and hurried phone calls made to the police by café proprietors had very little effect because the police appeared most reluctant to prevent the sadistic attack.
The outbreak was the most brutal anti-Jewish manifestation since Hitler's rise to power.</span></blockquote></ref> with [[Hitler]]'s instigation,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hitler Charged with Instigating Berlin Riots |url=https://www.jta.org/archive/hitler-charged-with-instigating-berlin-riots |date=1935-07-18|access-date=2022-12-28 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US}}</ref> and Nazi managed press blaming the victims.<ref name=mg/><ref name=sf/> [[Varian Fry]], an American journalist and future [[Righteous Among the Nations]], witnessed the brutality and was inspired to become an "ardent anti-Nazi."<ref>Barry Gewen, [https://writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/Holocaust/fry.html "For the American Schindler, Writers and Artists First"]</ref><ref name="nyteditors" /> The shops and businesses owned by Jewish tradespeople became the target of several pogroms, culminating in the "[[Reichskristallnacht]]" of 9 November 1938. In World War II the boulevard suffered severe damage from [[Bombing of Berlin in World War II|air raids]] and the [[Battle of Berlin]].<ref name=Sturickow/>

Nevertheless, after the war rebuilding started quickly, and when Berlin was separated into [[East Berlin|East]] and [[West Berlin]], the Kurfürstendamm became the leading commercial street of West Berlin in its [[Wirtschaftswunder]] days. For that reason, too, [[John F. Kennedy]]'s tour of West Berlin on June 26, 1963, included a portion of it.<ref>[[Andreas Daum]], ''Kennedy in Berlin'', New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2008, pp. 105‒6, 115 129, 207.</ref>  A few years later, the Kurfürstendamm became the site of [[protest]]s and major [[Demonstration (people)|demonstrations]] by the [[German student movement]]. On 11 April 1968, spokesman [[Rudi Dutschke]] was shot in the head while leaving the office of the [[Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund]] on Kurfürstendamm No. 140.<ref name=Sturickow/>

After [[German reunification]] the Kurfürstendamm had to compete with central places like [[Potsdamer Platz]], [[Friedrichstraße]], and [[Alexanderplatz]], which led to the closing of numerous cafés and cinemas. It retained the character of a [[flâneur]] and upscale shopping street as the western continuation of the [[Tauentzienstraße]] with its large department stores.

The globally unique international art project [[United Buddy Bears]] was presented in Berlin on the Kurfürstendamm during the summer of 2011.<ref>{{Cite web |title=United Buddy Bears in Berlin 2011 |url=https://www.buddy-baer.com/en/united-buddy-bears/world-tour/berlin-2011 |access-date=2023-10-30 |website=www.buddy-baer.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[City West]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons|Kurfürstendamm}}
{{Attached KML|display=inline,title}}
*[http://www.stadtpanoramen.de/berlin/kurfuerstendamm.html Kurfürstendamm 360° Panorama]
*[http://www.kurfuerstendamm.de/en/ kurfuerstendamm.de cityguide]
*[http://www.berlin1969.com/stories-geschichte/23rd-hour-23rd-psalm/23rd-hour-the-british-sector/ "23rd Hour, 23rd Psalm"] Chapter includes midnight visit by Americans to the Ku'damm in 1969-71 period.

{{Visitor attractions in Berlin}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurfurstendamm}}
[[Category:Streets in Berlin]]
[[Category:Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf]]
[[Category:Shopping districts and streets in Germany]]