Pankow

Pankow (German pronunciation: [ˈpaŋkoː]) is the most populous and the second-largest borough of Berlin. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was merged with the former boroughs of Prenzlauer Berg and Weißensee; the resulting borough retained the name Pankow.

Overview

The borough named after the Panke river covers the northeast of the city region, including the inner city locality of Prenzlauer Berg. It borders Mitte and Reinickendorf in the west, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg in the south, and Lichtenberg in the east. Pankow is Berlin's largest borough by population and the second largest by area (after Treptow-Köpenick).

Between 1945 and 1960, Schönhausen Palace and the nearby Majakowskiring street in the Niederschönhausen locality of Pankow was the home to many members of the East German government. Western writers therefore often referred to Pankow as a metonym for the East German regime—as reflected by Udo Lindenberg's song Sonderzug nach Pankow.

The Rykestrasse Synagogue, Germany's largest synagogue, is located in the Prenzlauer Berg locality. The Weißensee Cemetery is one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Europe. In northern Prenzlauer Berg, the Wohnstadt ("residential town") Carl Legien is part of the Berlin Modernist Housing Estates UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Weißer See is the borough's largest natural body of water.

Pankow (surname)

Pankow or Pankov (Russian: Панков) is a surname of Slavic origin, used mostly in Russia. In Slavic countries it is reserved for males, while the feminine counterpart is Pankowa or Pankova. It is also a habitational name from a Slavic place name derived from the Slavic element pank, penk "swamp" and -ow "place" (German: -au). Notable people with the surname include:

Pankow (German band)

Pankow are a German rock band, founded in East Berlin in 1981. Their name came from the Berlin district of Pankow, which was once home to most of the officials of the East German government. The band's original lineup consisted of Jürgen Ehle, André Herzberg, Rainer Kirchmann, Jäcki Reznicek and Frank Hille. Other members were Stefan Dohanetz, Ingo York and Jens Jensen.

As their lyrics often contained criticism of the East German regime, they frequently encountered problems releasing their music. "Like many writers, they were among the established sizes of aesthetic subversion", the journalist Christoph Dieckmann wrote in an 1999 article published in Rolling Stone.

With the fall of the Iron Curtain and the associated open access to media outside Germany Pankow also moved briefly into the focus of the Anglo-American journalism. The U.S. American historian Timothy W. Ryback, known for his 1990 published book Rock around the bloc: a history of rock music in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union characterized Pankow as one of two most prestigious and most professional groups of East Berlin's rock music scene, "originally showed the influence of the Rolling Stones, but has developed into a dynamic band that combines the energy of the Clash with the innovation of the Talking Heads'.