BOMBED BERLIN
FEATURES OF CAPITAL
PHENOMENAL GROWTH. GREAT INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION. Berlin, chief city of the Third Reich and heart of Hitler’s Germany, is built on a flat, sandy plain on the River Spree, under 600 miles by direct airline from the English coast. A comparatively young town dating from the 13th century, it has enjoyed phenomenal growth, partly because of its geographical position and partly because of the economic consequences of its choice by the former ruling house of Hohenzollern as their seat. In 1840 the population as 330,000. in 1909 2,500,000, and in 1939 the figure stood at over 4,330,000. Targets for the 6000 tons of bombs dropped by the R.A.F. on the city during last week were the industrial plants, aircraft works, power stations and gasworks, the yards of the seven railway stations on the city perimeter, oil tanks and airfields, as well as the administrative buildings. Probably the canal system, which supplements the natural waterway of the Spree in providing an outlet for the congested routes of commerce, also would be a target. ADMINSTRATIVE AREA. Iron and steel goods, cloth and their by-products were the staple manufactures before the war, but there were also large chemical works, the huge plant of the Siemens electrical equipment factory and a heavy concentration of munitions and industrial plants at Spandau, on the north-west of the city. While the whdle area of Greater Berlin embraces 322 square miles, the city itself spreads over only about 60 square miles and is heavily industrialised.
The new Berlin has grown since the founding of the German Empire in 1870 and has naturally become a business rather than a cultural capital. Centring round Unter den Linden, the street on which most of the main routes to the city converge, are the administrative headquarters of the Reich. They include the new Air Ministry buildings on the Leipzigerstrasse, the Chancellery and the Propaganda Ministry. the Ministry of War in Bendlerstrasse, south of the famous Tiergarten park, and the rebuilt Reichstag, on the n'orth of Unter den Linden. To the south lies the'Friedrichstadt, the official quarter, with its straight lines of parallel streets. WOODLAND AND LAKES. In peacetime Berlin was one of the tourist attractions of the world, although outclassed architecturally by many other German cities. Since the Tiergarten was turned into a park by Frederick William 1., care has been taken to preserve the open spaces and woods where possible, and the city has an attractive appearance in spite bf fits lack of geographical features. Large stretches of water such as the beautiful Havel Lakes and the Tegelersee on the western side add to its charm, while the mile-long Unter den Linden was one of the most famous streets in the world. Berlin University, the largest in the Reich, was founded as long ago as 1809 and expanded recently to meet the needs of its 6400 students and over 800 professors and teachers. Another university is that of Friedrich Wilhelm, founded in 1810 to take the place of the famed University of Halle, which was lost when Napoleon formed . the kingdom of Westphalia. The minor educational institutions, such as technical high schools and colleges, were given full Governmental suppoit.
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 December 1943, Page 4
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532BOMBED BERLIN Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 December 1943, Page 4
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